ITV is to close its 24 hour rolling news channel at the end of January, threatening around 70 jobs, although the broadcaster has pledged to redeploy as many staff as possible, and work with unions on the scale of any required redundancies.
The move, announced this morning alongside a £2 million investment in news programming for ITV1, follows a strategic review of ITV’s news services as a whole.
The broadcaster now plans to “increase its focus on developing new media solutions and strengthening ITV1’s news offering,” while the airspace freed up by the ITV News Channel’s closure will enable new channels, such as the broadcaster’s forthcoming children’s channel, to be aired on the Freeview platform.
Amongst ITV’s other plans for its news divisions is the introduction of bulletins to ITV2 and ITV3 broadcasts, the creation of a news bureau in Beijing, expanded newsgathering in the North of the UK, with increased emphasis on sports news; a significant investment in newsgathering technology and an expanded news unit, including a “breaking news team” ready to broadcast open ended news coverage if necessary.
ITV’s regional news offerings will also be reinforced with the new investment, receiving digital news rooms amongst other improvements. The broadcaster will also continue to develop broadband and mobile on-demand services, outlined earlier this year.
Explaining the decision to scrap ITV’s news channel, Simon Shaps, director of television for ITV said: “The question we have asked ourselves is what does news look like in five or ten years’ time? The answer is that it looks very different from the traditional 24 hour rolling news format that we are used to now. Increasingly viewers will want news on demand via a variety of different platforms and we are investing in the technology and expertise to deliver that.
“We also asked if we could better serve the needs of our viewers by increasing investment in our flagship shows and as a result we are strengthening our core network news gathering operation.”
Clive Jones, chief executive of ITV News and Regions added: “News remains at the heart of ITV’s public service commitment which is why we need to safeguard its future health. By reinvesting this money in the flagship news shows and exploring new media opportunities we will guarantee that the ITV News stays powerful and relevant in the digital age.”
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