ITV To Close News Channel Early

ITV will close its 24-hour news channel a month earlier than expected, with its final broadcasts airing this Friday following a consultation between the broadcaster, staff and suppliers.

The decision to close before the end of the year was made following requests from ITN staff working on the channel, according to the broadcaster.

Commenting on the closure, Clive Jones, chief executive of ITV News and Regions said: “The staff and management of the channel have agreed that we could not expect the News Channel’s dedicated staff to work their usual long hours and shift patterns over Christmas at a time when the channel’s closure is imminent.

“Following ITV’s announcement last week of a £2m investment in other areas of ITV’s news service we will be looking at the opportunities created by the expansion of our news gathering operation to redeploy as many staff as possible in the New Year.”

The close of ITV’s News Channel will see around 70 jobs under threat, although the broadcaster has pledged to redeploy as many staff as possible, and work with unions on the scale of any required redundancies (see ITV To Axe News Channel By End Of January).

ITV: 020 7843 8000 www.itv.com