ITV Considers Early Evening News Move

ITV is believed to be considering plans to move its early evening news bulletin to 6pm in an attempt to compete with the BBC’s Six O’Clock News.

The move, which would revive ITV’s long running disagreement with the BBC over news, is thought to be a response to the lack-lustre performance of ITV’s 6pm regional bulletin which is beaten in the ratings by the BBC’s national Six O’Clock News.

A spokeswomen for ITV confirmed that ITN, which produces all of ITV’s news bulletins, has been working on a pilot programme, which could see the national and regional news bulletins integrated into a news hour between 6pm and 7pm. However, the spokeswomen confirmed that ITV’s controller of news and current affairs, Steve Anderson, had not yet seen the pilot and said that there were no plans to move the 6.30pm programme in the near future.

Disagreements took place in October 2000 when the BBC moved its flagship 9pm news bulletin to 10pm (see BBC To Broadcast News At Ten) after ITV, under pressure from the ITC (see News At Ten To Return To ITV), announced that it was restoring its News At Ten three times a week (see News At Ten To Return To ITV). Both broadcasters were criticised by politicians who feared that the move could lead to a drop in the overall number of people watching the news.

Overall the figures did not drop, but the BBC claimed victory over ITV in terms of ratings, claiming that its ten pm news bulletin consistently attracted more viewers than ITV’s nightly news.

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com

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