They're phasing it in - itv.com/utv is essentially just a new web address for the UTV website, with a new look too. It also means that from Monday they can at least take u.tv off the list of websites they now show on ITV shows, just in time for the Euros.
Thanks - I think it's strange that the UTV section of the ITV website doesn't have the UTV logo (old or new) on it.
The UTV section of the ITV News website is already up and running. Doesn't quite have all the same content as u.tv/news so I suspect they have been doing some tests of uploading content and making sure there is something there for when it goes live on Monday.
As far as we know it's only the website changing, with news going to http://www.itv.com/news/utv/ and UTV Player moving to ITV Hub, with UTV's regional programmes at http://www.itv.com/utvprogrammes where there are already editions of UTV Life available among other programmes. This pretty much makes the u.tv website redundant as that's pretty much all that was on it.
Surely better to leave u.tv in place albeit changed to something similar to ITV.com but with the new UTV logo.
You mean pay to completely redesign u.tv to look similar to itv.com? How would that be better for them than just adding a UTV section to the existing itv.com portal?
They're phasing it in - itv.com/utv is essentially just a new web address for the UTV website, with a new look too. It also means that from Monday they can at least take u.tv off the list of websites they now show on ITV shows, just in time for the Euros.
Didn't somebody on this thread predict this would happen?
If you go to the ITV homepage or UTV news page there is no hint at all that there is a separate page for UTV programming only, so it is strange they have it separate like this. Has the 'utvprogrammes' section been advertised or mentioned anywhere? I imagine no-one knows it's actually there.
If you go to the news page there is no hint at all that there is a separate page for UTV programming only, so it is strange they have it separate like this. Has the 'utvprogrammes' section been advertisied or mentioned anywhere? I imagine no-one knows it's actually there.
Not yet because it's not officially launched. I assume from Monday it will be more visible on the ITV Hub somehow and UTV player will redirect to it.
Some thoughts on that site:
It's good, but there is room for improvement. Here are a few ideas- Add the UTV logo to the header
Set up www.u.tv to redirect to it from next week
Make it easier to get to the news from there instead of the separate link.
The itv.com/utv website suffers from an issue known to all of us who've worked for companies who decide to centralise things with a one size fits all mentality - there's always an exception which doesn't really fit. Not saying it's the wrong thing for ITV to do, but UTV is a bit more complicated than local stations in England (for now).
This whole logo redesign and move to itv.com feels very much like a slow move towards UTV becoming ITV in the future. Much in the way of Global treading carefully when rebranding the likes of Real Radio to Heart. It feels like a matter of time now. I looked at that clumsy website address part of Soccer Aid listing three addresses thinking "Last time we're going to see it in that format".
One thing about the /utvprogrammes site is that I wonder whether it'll even be promoted or linked to at all. ITV Cymru Wales has had a similar page (itv.com/walesprogrammes) for quite a while but most, if not all material is also posted to the news website as 'topic' pages, and the URLs promoted on air usually redirect to those - for example, itv.com/walesthisweek and itv.com/coastandcountry. They really ought to introduce a workflow for getting the UTV and ITV Cymru Wales programmes onto the proper ITV Hub across all devices.
Last edited by Silver Nemesis on 6 June 2016 12:14am
Surely better to leave u.tv in place albeit changed to something similar to ITV.com but with the new UTV logo.
You mean pay to completely redesign u.tv to look similar to itv.com? How would that be better for them than just adding a UTV section to the existing itv.com portal?
No, either include the UTV logo at the top of the UTV section of ITV news, or keep the UTV website as it is for now except with the new logo.