BBC May Move Nine O’Clock News To Ten

Greg Dyke, the director-general of the BBC, is expected to announce today that BBC1’s evening news will move from 9pm to 10pm. The plans have been revealed in a week when ITV has announced its intention to take legal measures against regulators the Independent Television Commission (ITC) regarding a ruling that ITN’s Nightly News must be moved from 11pm to a time closer to its original 10pm slot (see ITV Granted Judicial Review Of ITC News Direction).

The announcement is expected to form part of the MacTaggart lecture, which Dyke will deliver tonight at the Edinburgh Television Festival. It is thought that the move would free up more prime time viewing hours on BBC1 for dramas, movies and factual programming. This could see BBC 1 take on the populist role many believe it will have within the new structure of “themed” BBC TV channels, which Dyke is to explain further during the same lecture (see BBC Plans Themed Future For TV Channels).

The decision to move the news bulletin would be subject to the approval of both the BBC’s board of governors and Culture Secretary Chris Smith.

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