Feature: How Much More News Can We Take?
A decline in viewing figures for ITV’s Nightly News programme prompted talk of a court battle last week after the ITC insisted that the network bring forward the time of its 11pm news slot. ITV had asked permission to scrap the News at Ten a year earlier but after the schedule change lead to a slump in viewers of its evening news services, the ITC stepped in.
Many, however, wondered what all the fuss was about. As news increasingly becomes just another commodity in a multi-channel world, such terrestrial scheduling skirmishes seem insignificant. With the launch of ITN’s 24-hour news service later this summer, which will broadcast updated news bulletins every fifteen minutes, the time of a single news programme loses its importance.
Wall-to-wall news is now available in almost 8 million multi-channel homes across the UK. ITN’s contribution will mean that multi-channel viewers can tune in to up to five dedicated channels, and brings extra competition to an already crowded market. Sky pioneered the 24-hour news channel almost 10 years ago and tracking the weekly reach of Sky News since its inception allows an insight into this increasingly competitive market.
In 1992, the channel was unique in the marketplace and it recorded its highest weekly reach, topping 30%. This began to slip however as the market became populated by similar services. Euronews entered the European pay-tv arena in 1993, followed two years later by Bloomberg and CNN. As take-up of multi-channel provision continued to accelerate, the weekly reach of the Sky News fell back as competition increased.
When its greatest competitor to date – BBC News 24 – entered the market in 1998, Sky News saw a tumble in its viewing figures, which then fell away as migration to digital services replaced analogue viewers. BBC News 24 is available free on all platforms and its presence has reportedly pushed Sky News into the red again just when it had begun to show profit.
So is there room for another news 24-hour news service when the market leader itself is struggling to keep up? With up to 17 hours of daily news programming on terrestrial channels, our interest in news must surely be reaching saturation point. A report by the ITC goes against this, however, its findings showing that of all television programme types, regional news is of most interest to viewers, with 88% expressing an interest in it, closely followed by national and international news at 87%. Film, one of the original drivers of multi-channel take-up, was pushed into third place, which may suggest that news will prove a more popular commodity yet.