News At Ten Makes A Come Back On New ITN Channel
ITN’s News at Ten will return to television screens this evening, not on terrestrial ITV as the ITC would like (see ITC Says ITV Must Reschedule Nightly News) but on the news provider’s new 24-hour digital, cable and satellite news service.
As well as the much-mourned News at Ten, viewers of terrestrial ITN will recognise the returning face of Julia Somerville, who was ousted from her ITV position by desk-perching Channel 5 newscaster Kirsty Young last year. Somerville will present the evening programming, while another ITN stalwart, John Suchet, will take on the morning shift.
The ITN News Channel, a joint venture between ITN and NTL, is to be available on cable, DTT and digital satellite television, via videostream to PCs via www.itn.co.uk and as video-on-demand on ADSL. Orange mobile phones will be able to receive audio and text versions, while Digital One will broadcast audio with headline text nationally to digital radios. An audio version will also be broadcast via satellite and cable to digital TV sets, on the ITN website to PCs and via Psion Wavefinder to laptops. Orange are planning a videophone version in the future.
The new channel joins a crowded market already dominated by Sky News, which has run for over a decade and the BBC’s News 24 (see Feature: How Much More News Can We Take?). It hopes to increase its competitiveness by offering NTL digital customers an interactive feature from the outset, delivering additional stories, pictures and special reports. In addition, ITN promises “no chat shows, phone-ins or features”. Instead, two presenters at a time will present rolling news in 15 minute loops, with presentation in a traditional, behind-the-desk format.
With this new channel ITN is venturing into Sky’s home territory, but in what was seen by some as a spoiler attempt this weekend, BSkyB announced that it was taking steps to elbow in on ITN’s contract to supply news to terrestrial ITV (see BSkyB Looks To Oust ITN As ITV News Provider).
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