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According to today's Guardian, ITN is to never be heard of on ITV again.
Reporters will sign off with 'ITV News', it will not be 'From ITN the News at Ten'.
Here's the article...
End of ITN name as company could lose lucrative contract to Sky group
Matt Wells, media correspondent
Monday August 27, 2001
The Guardian
ITN is facing the serious prospect of losing its lucrative ITV news contract to a consortium led by Sky.
The bid by Sky News and four other companies for the right to make programmes such as News at Ten is said to be a 'serious runner'.
The Guardian has learned that even if ITN retains the deal, it will drop the use of its 50-year-old name in its bulletins. Reporters will sign off with a formula such as 'John Sergeant, ITV News, Westminster' and the ITN logo will disappear from the end of the programmes.
ITV is keen to integrate its news programmes fully into the network, in the same way as Channel 4 News and 5 News - also provided by ITN - are seen as part of their respective broadcasters.
The indication that the Sky bid is being regarded as a serious contender by the ITV network will alarm those who fear the prospect of Rupert Murdoch, who has a 37.5% stake in BSkyB, gaining a foothold in terrestrial television.
But Sky sources point out he has a minority shareholding, and that Sky, in turn, has only a 20% stake in the consortium bidding for ITV news.
ITN is desperate to retain the contract, which forms the mainstay of its business. But ITV shareholders are aggrieved that it appears to use the £46m contract to subsidise its other services - Channel 5 pays it little more than £3m, and the 24-hour ITN news channel makes much use of material first prepared for ITV.
It had been thought the bid by the Sky consortium, which includes Chrysalis, Bloomberg, CBS and Ulster TV and is called Channel 3 News, would fail because the main ITV companies have stakes in ITN.
Granada, Carlton and United each hold 20% in ITN - but since United sold off Anglia, Meridian and HTV earlier this year, it no longer has any ITV franchises. That means the stakes held in ITN by ITV companies has fallen from 60% to 40%. Even more importantly, Channel 3 News has been approved as a potential ITV news provider by the regulator, the independent television commission.
At the Guardian Edinburgh Television Festival yesterday, ITN executives were hopeful. Nigel Dacre, who oversees its bulletins for ITV, said: 'We are confident about the process, but not complacent.'
Nick Pollard, the head of Sky News, insisted his company was not the dominant partner in Channel 3 News, although he revealed the idea to bid for ITV news came from a discussion between Sky and Chrysalis.
Roger Mosey, the BBC's head of television news, said he hoped the quality of news programmes on ITV would not suffer because of cost-cutting - both bidders say they can provide the service for around £10m less than at present.
Steve Anderson, the controller of news at the ITV network, who is assessing the bids, refused to be drawn on the process. 'There are lawyers crawling all over it,' he said.
Reporters will sign off with 'ITV News', it will not be 'From ITN the News at Ten'.
Here's the article...
End of ITN name as company could lose lucrative contract to Sky group
Matt Wells, media correspondent
Monday August 27, 2001
The Guardian
ITN is facing the serious prospect of losing its lucrative ITV news contract to a consortium led by Sky.
The bid by Sky News and four other companies for the right to make programmes such as News at Ten is said to be a 'serious runner'.
The Guardian has learned that even if ITN retains the deal, it will drop the use of its 50-year-old name in its bulletins. Reporters will sign off with a formula such as 'John Sergeant, ITV News, Westminster' and the ITN logo will disappear from the end of the programmes.
ITV is keen to integrate its news programmes fully into the network, in the same way as Channel 4 News and 5 News - also provided by ITN - are seen as part of their respective broadcasters.
The indication that the Sky bid is being regarded as a serious contender by the ITV network will alarm those who fear the prospect of Rupert Murdoch, who has a 37.5% stake in BSkyB, gaining a foothold in terrestrial television.
But Sky sources point out he has a minority shareholding, and that Sky, in turn, has only a 20% stake in the consortium bidding for ITV news.
ITN is desperate to retain the contract, which forms the mainstay of its business. But ITV shareholders are aggrieved that it appears to use the £46m contract to subsidise its other services - Channel 5 pays it little more than £3m, and the 24-hour ITN news channel makes much use of material first prepared for ITV.
It had been thought the bid by the Sky consortium, which includes Chrysalis, Bloomberg, CBS and Ulster TV and is called Channel 3 News, would fail because the main ITV companies have stakes in ITN.
Granada, Carlton and United each hold 20% in ITN - but since United sold off Anglia, Meridian and HTV earlier this year, it no longer has any ITV franchises. That means the stakes held in ITN by ITV companies has fallen from 60% to 40%. Even more importantly, Channel 3 News has been approved as a potential ITV news provider by the regulator, the independent television commission.
At the Guardian Edinburgh Television Festival yesterday, ITN executives were hopeful. Nigel Dacre, who oversees its bulletins for ITV, said: 'We are confident about the process, but not complacent.'
Nick Pollard, the head of Sky News, insisted his company was not the dominant partner in Channel 3 News, although he revealed the idea to bid for ITV news came from a discussion between Sky and Chrysalis.
Roger Mosey, the BBC's head of television news, said he hoped the quality of news programmes on ITV would not suffer because of cost-cutting - both bidders say they can provide the service for around £10m less than at present.
Steve Anderson, the controller of news at the ITV network, who is assessing the bids, refused to be drawn on the process. 'There are lawyers crawling all over it,' he said.