Channel 5 Puts The Boot In To ITV News

Channel 5 is continuing its jibes at ITV’s early evening news coverage with a campaign on perimeter boards at Chelsea’s away leg of the European Cup Winners’ Cup match against Valerenga. The boards at the game, which is to be screened on C5, will read: “ITV: You’re late and you know you are”, referring to the screening of the Network’s news programme after Channel 5’s new 6pm bulletin (see Channel 5 Moves News Bulletin).

Last week C5 ran a trade press ad for its news programme which had the tagline, “Repeated 6:30pm on ITV”. This led ITV marketing and commercial director, John Hardie, to write to Channel 5 to complain about the ad, warning that if the campaign were to be run again, ITV would contact its solicitors.

Hardie’s letter claimed that the ads had “strayed beyond the bounds of permissible wit and humour into downright misleading and derogatory copy.” Channel 5, however, disagrees that this is the case and has repeated the campaign in the national press this week.

Channel 5: 0171 550 5555 ITV Network Centre: 0171 843 8000