Independent Television News
Encyclopedia
ITN is a news and content provider with headquarters in the United Kingdom
. It is made up of four key businesses: ITN News, ITN Source, ITN Productions and ITN Consulting. The ITN logotype can be displayed in any of 4 different colours, each of which represents a business unit. This is the logotype in ITN News colour. ITN is based in London
, with bureaux and offices in Beijing
, Brussels
, Jerusalem, Johannesburg
, New York City, Paris
, Sydney
and Washington DC
.
ITN produces content for ITV
, Channel 4
, UK mobile phone operators, online outlets such as YouTube
, MSN
, Telegraph Media Group
, Yahoo!
, and film
producers and researchers worldwide.
. It began as a consortium of the initial broadcasters with former Labour
MP Aidan Crawley
as editor-in-chief. One of those broadcasters, the London weekday contract-holder Associated-Rediffusion
offered the new company studio space in their headquarters in Aldwych
. The ITN 'newscaster' presenting their first broadcast was champion athlete Christopher Chataway
. Geoffrey Cox
joined as News Editor in 1956 after Crowley resigned and got interviewers like Robin Day
. As ITV expanded, each ITV company that made up the networks' federal structure had to purchase a stake in ITN and to continue to finance the company.
ITN has provided the main national news bulletins for ITV since 1955. News was always branded as ITN until 1999 when the Carlton
and Granada partnership which were important stakeholders renamed it simply as ITV News. From this point, the name ITN was gradually phased out and only appears in the end production caption.Even though national coverage is produced by ITN, it has no role in the regional coverage provided for each individual ITV region's newsroom, with the exception of the news for the London ITV region (Carlton
/LWT
), which has been run by ITN since March 2004, following its acquisition of the London News Network
a company previously owned by the now merged Carlton
and Granada. With the launch of Britain's second commercial station in 1982, ITN was given the job of providing news for Channel 4
, named as Channel 4 News
.
Until the 1990s, ITN had a guaranteed right and obligation to provide news for ITV and Channel 4. Changes however, dating from the Broadcasting Act 1990
, meant that ITN had to apply and bid for a licence to provide such services on these networks and would have to fight competition in order to preserve its services, as it had become the case with other ITV franchisees. In August 2000, the organisation launched its own 24 hour news channel in the UK, which was broadcast on satellite, cable and digital terrestrial. It was 50% owned by ITN and 50% owned by NTL
. Carlton
and Granada gradually bought out the two stakes and renamed the channel the ITV News Channel
.
The biggest challenge came in 2001 when British Sky Broadcasting
bid to supply network news to ITV as part of a consortium. ITN eventually succeeded and was awarded a contract extension to 2008. Failure did eventually strike however, when in January 2005 Sky News
took over supplying bulletins to Channel 5. ITN had produced Five News
since its launch in 1997. In the same year, ITN started producing The Queen's speech to the Commonwealth at Christmas
on a biennial basis (once every two years), meaning that for the first time since the inception of Independent Television in 1955, ITN produced a programme for its rival the BBC
.
The ITV News Channel closed down at 6pm on 23 December 2005, with poor ratings in comparison to BBC News 24 and Sky News
and ITV's desire to re-use the channel's allocation on Freeview, being cited as the reasons for its closure.
John Hardie is the Chief Executive Officer of ITN, a position he took up in June 2009. Prior to this, he was Executive VP and MD of Walt Disney Television EMEA.
bulletins in the late 1980s, which were shown around the world on local television channels, particularly on PBS
stations in the US
, where presenter Daljit Dhaliwal
(now with Al-Jazeera English) enjoyed cult status.
These were discontinued in 2001, in the face of competition from dedicated news channels such as BBC World
(now known as BBC World News), although it still provides footage to CNN International
and reports often appear on PBS NewsHour. Its ITV Evening News bulletin was shown on the Newsworld International
cable channel in the US.
In the 1990s, under new ownership, it was accused of abandoning its previous news style, which was broadsheet in style to mid-market tabloid with news stories that focused on personalities in the news rather than heavy news coverage.
The change in style matched changes in the nature of news coverage on the ITV Network (which has seen the network and ITN accused of dumbing down
its style), which saw the axing of the long-running and award winning World in Action
current affairs and investigative journalism news programme in 1998.
ITN's most famous news programme, News at Ten was also controversially replaced by an 11pm news bulletin in 1999, in order to allow ITV to broadcast films without the interruption of a 10 o'clock news bulletin. News at Ten was subsequently re-instated in 2001 after heavy public criticism over the change.
The restored News at Ten, was however, 10 minutes shorter than its predecessor and carried less in-depth news coverage. It also was broadcast at a later time at least 1 day a week, which meant it was often referred to as News at When?.
Since March 1999, the name ITN and its logo no longer features in the opening credits of the organisation's bulletins, with the term ITV News
assuming prominence instead. The ITN name is now only seen at the end of bulletins.
There was increasing speculation that News at Ten was once again moved permanently, after under-performing against the Ten O'Clock News on BBC One
which is broadcast every day at 10:00pm. In October 2003, the Independent Television Commission
gave ITV approval to move News at Ten.
The ITV News at 10.30 launched on ITV
on 2 February 2004 (the day that ITV in England and Wales came under the ownership of a single company
) and was presented by Sir Trevor McDonald
. The programme was longer than its predecessor and carried an integrated regional bulletin.
ITV News editors say that they are aiming at a more upmarket audience and the new programme carries a nightly sports roundup, more business stories and a preview of the next day's newspapers. Mark Austin took over main presenting duties on 16 January 2006.
The rebranded programme again saw new titles, this time featuring people walking over the face of Big Ben and has lately followed a more "sensationalist" approach to its main headlines. When ITV Executive Chairman Michael Grade joined ITV, he made it clear that he saw news as the key in defining any channel.
It was no surprise to see News at Ten returning to ITV on 14 January 2008 anchored by Sir Trevor McDonald and Julie Etchingham.
Similarly, ITN's 24-hour news channel (launched some distance behind the wake of Sky News
and BBC News 24
) was jointly bought by the main ITV companies Carlton
and Granada
and subsequently renamed and re-branded as the ITV News Channel
.
In March 2004, ITN took over production of ITV London
's regional news programmes, which relocated from The London Television Centre on the South Bank
to ITN's Gray's Inn Road
base.
ITN used to operate a radio news service on behalf of IRN Independent Radio News
but on 15 October 2008, IRN announced that Sky News Radio
was to replace ITN as its main supplier from March 2009.
Between 1996 and 2002, it also owned a share of London News Radio, which was based at ITN's Gray's Inn Road HQ and operated the LBC
and News Direct London
radio stations.
, producing the programme since the channel's inception in 1982.
Channel 4 News flagship programme is 55 minutes of in-depth news and current affairs broadcast at 7pm each weekday and at 6.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays. The weekday evening programme is anchored by Jon Snow
, whereas Krishnan Guru-Murthy
presents the weekend bulletins.
A five-minute long news summary goes out Monday to Friday at midday. The bulletin replaced Channel 4's defunct half hour News at Noon programme in late 2009, six years after its launch during the Iraq War of 2003.
In December 2009 Channel 4 also axed More4 News
, which originally aired weekdays at 8pm on its sister channel More4
.
ITN created More4 News when the digital channel was launched in October 2005. It was originally presented by Sarah Smith; Kylie Morris
took over presenting duties in June 2007 and Smith was posted to the US as Channel 4 News' Washington correspondent.
was awarded the contract to provide the news for Channel 5
, replacing ITN which had provided the channel's news service from the channel's launch in 1997.
ITN has since regained the contract in a three year deal to provide news for Channel 5
starting early 2012.
The deal follows an agreement by Sky, which has produced the bulletins for the last six years, and Northern & Shell, which owns Channel 5, to terminate their 5 News contract early.
was a 24-hour sports news television channel produced by ITN and jointly owned by Virgin Media Television and Setanta Sports
, launched on 29 November 2007. The channel ceased broadcasting on 23 June 2009, when Setanta's UK operation were placed into administration, following financial difficulties.
ITN Source also syndicates on-the-day news footage generated by ITN to the world's leading broadcasters and producers through ITN Source News
ITN Source represents the world’s largest collection of moving image libraries including Reuters
, ITV
, ANI
, UTV
, Fox News, Fox Movietone, Nine Network
and other specialist collections.
ITN Source relaunched its website itnsource.com in September 2008. The site now allows customers to licence and download broadcast quality video directly to their desktop.
In 2005, ITN became a shareholder in Espresso Group. Espresso is the leading provider of digital content to primary schools in the UK with its service now running in 60% of English primary schools.
It features an extensive library of high quality, video rich broadband teaching resources and student activities that motivates pupils and supports teachers. Much of the content used in the service is from ITN Source.
In May 2008, ITN Source created the Education Clip Library a unique, video licensing service for educational publishers and broadcasters around the world. The Education Clip Library is aimed at educational publishers and broadcasters seeking to add video to their instructional products and services.
In October 2008, ITN Source announced the creation of Diagonal View a joint venture with Matt Heiman, a digital entrepreneur.
Diagonal View packages quirky and unique content from ITN Source’s vast archive and syndicates it to a range of commercial partners including MySpace
, YouTube
and MSN
. Diagonal View is already one of the top 5 most watched channels of all time on MySpace.
With headquarters in London, ITN Source has sales offices in New York, Canada, Paris, Johannesburg, Sydney and Tokyo.
With its partner, Venture Consulting, it has offices in London, Milan, Dubai, Singapore and Sydney. It operates as a network with its consultants working on engagements globally.
ITN Consulting's focus is "on how strategy can be implemented to deliver to real change". They state that an understanding of how global, regional and local media markets conflict and come together enables them to identify the opportunities this creates. They take both an external, outsider perspective as well as having the viewpoint of senior "insider" media executives.
Recently, ITN Consulting has been extensively involved in the development of television business plans for local TV in the UK. It has also consulted a range of national broadcasters on improving news services.
ITN On sits under the ITN Productions banner and came into being in 2003, providing the first news bulletins for third generation (3G) mobile phone operator 3.
It has since expanded its video news service providing content to the UK's leading mobile operators including Vodafone Live!, T-Mobile and Orange. ITN On also provides content to handset manufacturers such as Nokia's Ovi store.
ITN Productions offers a range of news and entertainment and lifestyle content to broadband operators including MSN, YouTube, Yahoo, Daily Mail, Bauer Media, Express Group and Imagine Fashion amongst others. ITN Productions also produces bespoke programming for Telegraph's website. It also produces "The Fix", a daily celebrity bulletin for the UK's biggest music channel, 4Music
, as well as delivering a daily tea-time programme to Shanghai's biggest English speaking channel.
Since becoming a partner in the Education Digital 2 Consortium, alongside Brook Lapping/Ten Alps, ITN On has produced Teachers TV
News. This included daily video news updates online as well as a bi-weekly 15-minute programme presented by Charlotte Hume. Teachers TV
has since been withdrawn as a TV channel remaining online only, and the news programme also ended.
The department previously known as ITN Factual sits under the ITN Productions brand and has creates programming for international broadcasters, including all the UK's main broadcasters as well as Discovery Channel, A&E TV Networks, PBS and National Geographic Channel.
limited the ITV companies to a maximum joint 49% stake, with no single company allowed more than a 20% holding. These requirements were abolished by the Communications Act 2003
.
As of 2010, ITN is owned by ITV plc
(40%), Daily Mail and General Trust
(20%), Thomson Reuters
(20%) and UBM plc (20%). ITV plc's shareholding forms part of the wider ITV News Group, incorporating their regional operations in England and Wales, plus ITV Sport
. The Director of the ITV News Group is Michael Jermey, a former editor and executive at ITN.
ITV's ownership of 40% of ITN (at that time equally split between Carlton and Granada) made the 2001 bid from Sky for ITV bulletins unlikely to succeed, the network having a vested interest to see ITN continue. The ITN contract for ITV News expires at the end of 2012. On 2 April 2007 ITN signed a deal which superseded the existing contract, worth at least £42m per year. ITV, which owns 40% of ITN, is investing more than £15m to upgrade ITN's newsroom as part of the deal.
, namely in one 1971 show with the logo reading "NIT" instead of "ITN" and with Benny Hill as Reginald Boozenquet and Andrew Gardner
.
ITN was also spoofed in 1978 in the Leprechaun Independent Television sketch with Benny as Angela O'Rippon, a parody of Angela Rippon
, and again with Benny as Ann Afford, a parody of Anna Ford
. It was also spoofed in a black and white 1971 show and a 1973 episode.
In the 2008 video game Saints Row 2
, the news broadcast on the radio opens and closes with the same theme tune as ITN. This is also true for the 2009 video game Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It is made up of four key businesses: ITN News, ITN Source, ITN Productions and ITN Consulting. The ITN logotype can be displayed in any of 4 different colours, each of which represents a business unit. This is the logotype in ITN News colour. ITN is based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, with bureaux and offices in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Jerusalem, Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, New York City, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
and Washington DC
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
ITN produces content for ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, UK mobile phone operators, online outlets such as YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
, Telegraph Media Group
Telegraph Media Group
The Telegraph Media Group is the proprietor of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph. It is a subsidiary of Press Holdings. David and Frederick Barclay acquired the group in July 2004, after months of intense bidding and lawsuits, from Hollinger Inc...
, Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
, and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
producers and researchers worldwide.
History
ITN was founded in 1955 as part of the new British commercial television network, referred to as "Independent Television" (later ITV), by the Independent Television AuthorityIndependent Television Authority
The Independent Television Authority was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" , the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom...
. It began as a consortium of the initial broadcasters with former Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MP Aidan Crawley
Aidan Crawley
Aidan Merivale Crawley, MBE was a British journalist, television executive and editor, and politician...
as editor-in-chief. One of those broadcasters, the London weekday contract-holder Associated-Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion, London, was the British ITV contractor for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 1954 and 29 July 1968. Transmissions started on 22 September 1955.-Formation:...
offered the new company studio space in their headquarters in Aldwych
Aldwych
Aldwych is a place and road in the City of Westminster in London, England.-Description:Aldwych, the road, is a crescent, connected to the Strand at both ends. At its centre, it meets the Kingsway...
. The ITN 'newscaster' presenting their first broadcast was champion athlete Christopher Chataway
Christopher Chataway
Sir Christopher John Chataway is a British former middle- and long-distance runner, television news broadcaster, and a Conservative politician...
. Geoffrey Cox
Geoffrey Cox (journalist)
Sir Geoffrey Sandford Cox, CNZM, CBE was a New Zealand-born newspaper and television journalist. He was a former editor and chief executive of ITN and a founder of News at Ten....
joined as News Editor in 1956 after Crowley resigned and got interviewers like Robin Day
Robin Day
Sir Robin Day, OBE was a British political broadcaster and commentator. His obituary in the Guardian stated that "he was the most outstanding television journalist of his generation...
. As ITV expanded, each ITV company that made up the networks' federal structure had to purchase a stake in ITN and to continue to finance the company.
ITN has provided the main national news bulletins for ITV since 1955. News was always branded as ITN until 1999 when the Carlton
Carlton Communications
Carlton Communications was a British media company. It was led by Michael Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it taken over by Granada plc to form ITV plc with Carlton gaining 32% of the new company....
and Granada partnership which were important stakeholders renamed it simply as ITV News. From this point, the name ITN was gradually phased out and only appears in the end production caption.Even though national coverage is produced by ITN, it has no role in the regional coverage provided for each individual ITV region's newsroom, with the exception of the news for the London ITV region (Carlton
Carlton Television
Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
/LWT
London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and...
), which has been run by ITN since March 2004, following its acquisition of the London News Network
London News Network
London News Network was a television news and facilities organisation in London. It was created in 1992 as a joint operation between London's two ITV contractors, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television, with each company holding a 50% stake...
a company previously owned by the now merged Carlton
Carlton Communications
Carlton Communications was a British media company. It was led by Michael Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it taken over by Granada plc to form ITV plc with Carlton gaining 32% of the new company....
and Granada. With the launch of Britain's second commercial station in 1982, ITN was given the job of providing news for Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, named as Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
.
Until the 1990s, ITN had a guaranteed right and obligation to provide news for ITV and Channel 4. Changes however, dating from the Broadcasting Act 1990
Broadcasting Act 1990
The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential example of Thatcherism. The aim of the Act was to reform the entire structure of British broadcasting; British television, in particular, had earlier been...
, meant that ITN had to apply and bid for a licence to provide such services on these networks and would have to fight competition in order to preserve its services, as it had become the case with other ITV franchisees. In August 2000, the organisation launched its own 24 hour news channel in the UK, which was broadcast on satellite, cable and digital terrestrial. It was 50% owned by ITN and 50% owned by NTL
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
. Carlton
Carlton Communications
Carlton Communications was a British media company. It was led by Michael Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it taken over by Granada plc to form ITV plc with Carlton gaining 32% of the new company....
and Granada gradually bought out the two stakes and renamed the channel the ITV News Channel
ITV News Channel
The ITV News Channel was a 24-hour television news channel in the United Kingdom which broadcast from 1 August 2000 to 23 December 2005. It was available on Sky, NTL:Telewest, Freeview and analogue cable, presenting national and international news plus regular business, sport, entertainment and...
.
The biggest challenge came in 2001 when British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
bid to supply network news to ITV as part of a consortium. ITN eventually succeeded and was awarded a contract extension to 2008. Failure did eventually strike however, when in January 2005 Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
took over supplying bulletins to Channel 5. ITN had produced Five News
Five News
5 News is the news programme of British broadcaster Channel 5, produced by Sky News. From 1 January 2005, Sky News was awarded the contract to provide the news for Channel 5, replacing ITN, which had provided the channel's news service from the channel's launch in 1997...
since its launch in 1997. In the same year, ITN started producing The Queen's speech to the Commonwealth at Christmas
Royal Christmas Message
The Queen's Christmas Message is a broadcast made by the sovereign of the Commonwealth realms to the Commonwealth of Nations each Christmas. The tradition began in 1932 with a radio broadcast by George V on the British Broadcasting Corporation Empire Service...
on a biennial basis (once every two years), meaning that for the first time since the inception of Independent Television in 1955, ITN produced a programme for its rival the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
The ITV News Channel closed down at 6pm on 23 December 2005, with poor ratings in comparison to BBC News 24 and Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
and ITV's desire to re-use the channel's allocation on Freeview, being cited as the reasons for its closure.
John Hardie is the Chief Executive Officer of ITN, a position he took up in June 2009. Prior to this, he was Executive VP and MD of Walt Disney Television EMEA.
ITN (ITV News)
ITN's first bulletin aired on 22 September 1955, the day commercial television was born in the UK. ITN began its own World NewsITN World News
ITN World News was a newscast shown during the late-eighties and most of the nineties. It was either shown on cable or satellite television, or shown internationally. The newscast was broadcast from London, England, and was produced by Independent Television News...
bulletins in the late 1980s, which were shown around the world on local television channels, particularly on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
stations in the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where presenter Daljit Dhaliwal
Daljit Dhaliwal
Daljit Dhaliwal is a British newsreader and television presenter.Dhaliwal is currently one of the news presenters for the Al-Jazeera English news service and broadcasts from Washington DC. Previously, she was the anchor chair of Worldfocus on PBS, which aired its last broadcast on 2 April 2010...
(now with Al-Jazeera English) enjoyed cult status.
These were discontinued in 2001, in the face of competition from dedicated news channels such as BBC World
BBC World
BBC World News is the BBC's international news and current affairs television channel. It has the largest audience of any BBC channel in the world...
(now known as BBC World News), although it still provides footage to CNN International
CNN International
CNN International is an international English language television network that carries news, current affairs, politics, opinions, and business programming worldwide. CNN is one of the world's largest news organizations. It is owned by Time Warner, and is affiliated with CNN, which is mainly...
and reports often appear on PBS NewsHour. Its ITV Evening News bulletin was shown on the Newsworld International
Newsworld International
Newsworld International was a cable TV news channel broadcasting in the United States, whose content contained a mix of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and other international newscasts. The channel reached about 20 million homes and provided its audience with the news from a variety of global...
cable channel in the US.
In the 1990s, under new ownership, it was accused of abandoning its previous news style, which was broadsheet in style to mid-market tabloid with news stories that focused on personalities in the news rather than heavy news coverage.
The change in style matched changes in the nature of news coverage on the ITV Network (which has seen the network and ITN accused of dumbing down
Dumbing down
Dumbing down is a pejorative term for a perceived trend to lower the intellectual content of literature, education, news, and other aspects of culture...
its style), which saw the axing of the long-running and award winning World in Action
World in Action
World in Action was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television from 1963 until 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its production teams often took audacious risks and gained a solid reputation for its often...
current affairs and investigative journalism news programme in 1998.
ITN's most famous news programme, News at Ten was also controversially replaced by an 11pm news bulletin in 1999, in order to allow ITV to broadcast films without the interruption of a 10 o'clock news bulletin. News at Ten was subsequently re-instated in 2001 after heavy public criticism over the change.
The restored News at Ten, was however, 10 minutes shorter than its predecessor and carried less in-depth news coverage. It also was broadcast at a later time at least 1 day a week, which meant it was often referred to as News at When?.
Since March 1999, the name ITN and its logo no longer features in the opening credits of the organisation's bulletins, with the term ITV News
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. Since 1955, ITV's news bulletins have been produced by Independent Television News . The channel's news coverage has won awards from the Royal Television Society, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs. Between 2004 and 2008, the...
assuming prominence instead. The ITN name is now only seen at the end of bulletins.
There was increasing speculation that News at Ten was once again moved permanently, after under-performing against the Ten O'Clock News on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
which is broadcast every day at 10:00pm. In October 2003, the Independent Television Commission
Independent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003....
gave ITV approval to move News at Ten.
The ITV News at 10.30 launched on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
on 2 February 2004 (the day that ITV in England and Wales came under the ownership of a single company
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
) and was presented by Sir Trevor McDonald
Trevor McDonald
Sir Trevor McDonald OBE is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist. He had a long career as a news presenter with ITN...
. The programme was longer than its predecessor and carried an integrated regional bulletin.
ITV News editors say that they are aiming at a more upmarket audience and the new programme carries a nightly sports roundup, more business stories and a preview of the next day's newspapers. Mark Austin took over main presenting duties on 16 January 2006.
The rebranded programme again saw new titles, this time featuring people walking over the face of Big Ben and has lately followed a more "sensationalist" approach to its main headlines. When ITV Executive Chairman Michael Grade joined ITV, he made it clear that he saw news as the key in defining any channel.
It was no surprise to see News at Ten returning to ITV on 14 January 2008 anchored by Sir Trevor McDonald and Julie Etchingham.
Similarly, ITN's 24-hour news channel (launched some distance behind the wake of Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
and BBC News 24
BBC News 24
BBC News is the BBC's 24-hour rolling news television network in the United Kingdom. The channel launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 17:30 as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic television channels, becoming the first competitor to Sky News, which had been running since 1989...
) was jointly bought by the main ITV companies Carlton
Carlton Television
Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
and Granada
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
and subsequently renamed and re-branded as the ITV News Channel
ITV News Channel
The ITV News Channel was a 24-hour television news channel in the United Kingdom which broadcast from 1 August 2000 to 23 December 2005. It was available on Sky, NTL:Telewest, Freeview and analogue cable, presenting national and international news plus regular business, sport, entertainment and...
.
In March 2004, ITN took over production of ITV London
ITV London
ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the two Channel 3 broadcast franchises, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television in the London ITV region.-History:...
's regional news programmes, which relocated from The London Television Centre on the South Bank
South Bank
South Bank is an area of London, England located immediately adjacent to the south side of the River Thames. It forms a long and narrow section of riverside development that is within the London Borough of Lambeth to the border with the London Borough of Southwark and was formerly simply known as...
to ITN's Gray's Inn Road
Gray's Inn Road
Gray's Inn Road, formerly Gray's Inn Lane, is a major road in central London, in the London Borough of Camden. It is named after Gray's Inn, one of the main Inns of Court. The road starts in Holborn, near Chancery Lane tube station and the boundaries of the City of London and the London Borough...
base.
ITN used to operate a radio news service on behalf of IRN Independent Radio News
Independent Radio News
Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the UK and beyond.The managing director of IRN is Tim Molloy, who succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009...
but on 15 October 2008, IRN announced that Sky News Radio
Sky News Radio
Sky News Radio is the radio arm of the Sky News division of British Sky Broadcasting. It has been operating since June 1999, providing a news bulletin service for UK commercial radio stations operators across the UK and for a number of English-speaking radio stations across the world.The Sky News...
was to replace ITN as its main supplier from March 2009.
Between 1996 and 2002, it also owned a share of London News Radio, which was based at ITN's Gray's Inn Road HQ and operated the LBC
LBC
LBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...
and News Direct London
LBC News 1152
LBC News 1152 is London's only rolling news radio station broadcasting in Greater London on AM, DAB, Sky, Virgin Media and online. The station's aim is to provide more in depth coverage of the day's news stories...
radio stations.
Channel 4 News
ITN is also home to Channel 4 NewsChannel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
, producing the programme since the channel's inception in 1982.
Channel 4 News flagship programme is 55 minutes of in-depth news and current affairs broadcast at 7pm each weekday and at 6.30pm on Saturdays and Sundays. The weekday evening programme is anchored by Jon Snow
Jon Snow
Jon Snow is an English journalist and presenter, currently employed by ITN. He is best known for presenting Channel 4 News.He was Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.-Early life:...
, whereas Krishnan Guru-Murthy
Krishnan Guru-Murthy
Krishnan Guru-Murthy , is a British television presenter and journalist employed by Channel 4. He presents the Channel 4 Evening News and the foreign affairs programme Unreported World.-Education:...
presents the weekend bulletins.
A five-minute long news summary goes out Monday to Friday at midday. The bulletin replaced Channel 4's defunct half hour News at Noon programme in late 2009, six years after its launch during the Iraq War of 2003.
In December 2009 Channel 4 also axed More4 News
More4 News
More4 News was a daily news programme on the More4 digital television channel in the United Kingdom, airing Monday to Friday from 8.00pm to 8.30pm from 2005 to 2009.-History:More4 News launched at the inception of the More4 channel on 10 October 2005...
, which originally aired weekdays at 8pm on its sister channel More4
More4
More4 is a digital television channel, run by British broadcaster Channel 4, that launched on 10 October 2005. It is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky, UK IPTV broadcaster TalkTalk TV and on UK cable network Virgin Media and in the Republic of Ireland cable networks...
.
ITN created More4 News when the digital channel was launched in October 2005. It was originally presented by Sarah Smith; Kylie Morris
Kylie Morris
Kylie Morris is an Australian newsreader. She moved to the United Kingdom in 1998 after working with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She started working for the BBC in 2000 as a foreign correspondent. During her time there she covered the second intifada in Gaza, and postwar Afghanistan...
took over presenting duties in June 2007 and Smith was posted to the US as Channel 4 News' Washington correspondent.
Channel 5 News
From 1 January 2005, Sky NewsSky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
was awarded the contract to provide the news for Channel 5
Channel Five
Channel 5 is a television network that broadcasts in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1997, it was the fifth and final national terrestrial analogue network to launch. The station was branded as Five between 2002 and 2010...
, replacing ITN which had provided the channel's news service from the channel's launch in 1997.
ITN has since regained the contract in a three year deal to provide news for Channel 5
Channel Five
Channel 5 is a television network that broadcasts in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1997, it was the fifth and final national terrestrial analogue network to launch. The station was branded as Five between 2002 and 2010...
starting early 2012.
The deal follows an agreement by Sky, which has produced the bulletins for the last six years, and Northern & Shell, which owns Channel 5, to terminate their 5 News contract early.
Setanta Sports News
Setanta Sports NewsSetanta Sports News
Setanta Sports News was a television channel from Virgin Media Television and Setanta Sports. The channel launched on 29 November 2007. as a rolling 24-hour sports news channel using the strength of the Setanta Sports brand across the United Kingdom and Ireland . It was available to all Virgin...
was a 24-hour sports news television channel produced by ITN and jointly owned by Virgin Media Television and Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...
, launched on 29 November 2007. The channel ceased broadcasting on 23 June 2009, when Setanta's UK operation were placed into administration, following financial difficulties.
ITN Source
ITN Source (formerly ITN Archive) is one of the world’s largest commercial providers of video footage, with access to over one million hours of content from 1896 to present day, including news, drama, celebrity, comedy, music, wildlife, natural history and film.ITN Source also syndicates on-the-day news footage generated by ITN to the world's leading broadcasters and producers through ITN Source News
ITN Source represents the world’s largest collection of moving image libraries including Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
, ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, ANI
Asian News International
The Asian News International is a leading news agency based in Delhi, India. It provides multimedia news to 50 bureaus in India and also to other parts of Asia. It covers virtually all of South Asia since its foundation and presently claims, on its official website, to be the leading South...
, UTV
UTV
UTV is a television channel based in the UK region of Northern Ireland. The channel is the Channel 3 or Independent Television licensee for Northern Ireland and is operated by UTV Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of UTV Media.- Terrestrial :* Analogue: Normally tuned to 3 * Freeview : 3...
, Fox News, Fox Movietone, Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
and other specialist collections.
ITN Source relaunched its website itnsource.com in September 2008. The site now allows customers to licence and download broadcast quality video directly to their desktop.
In 2005, ITN became a shareholder in Espresso Group. Espresso is the leading provider of digital content to primary schools in the UK with its service now running in 60% of English primary schools.
It features an extensive library of high quality, video rich broadband teaching resources and student activities that motivates pupils and supports teachers. Much of the content used in the service is from ITN Source.
In May 2008, ITN Source created the Education Clip Library a unique, video licensing service for educational publishers and broadcasters around the world. The Education Clip Library is aimed at educational publishers and broadcasters seeking to add video to their instructional products and services.
In October 2008, ITN Source announced the creation of Diagonal View a joint venture with Matt Heiman, a digital entrepreneur.
Diagonal View packages quirky and unique content from ITN Source’s vast archive and syndicates it to a range of commercial partners including MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
. Diagonal View is already one of the top 5 most watched channels of all time on MySpace.
With headquarters in London, ITN Source has sales offices in New York, Canada, Paris, Johannesburg, Sydney and Tokyo.
ITN Consulting
ITN Consulting is the management consultancy arm of ITN, combining the resources of ITN with the consulting team’s experience to advise global media companies on issues spanning all areas of strategy and operations, including financial planning, marketing, scheduling and content, recruitment, and interim management.With its partner, Venture Consulting, it has offices in London, Milan, Dubai, Singapore and Sydney. It operates as a network with its consultants working on engagements globally.
ITN Consulting's focus is "on how strategy can be implemented to deliver to real change". They state that an understanding of how global, regional and local media markets conflict and come together enables them to identify the opportunities this creates. They take both an external, outsider perspective as well as having the viewpoint of senior "insider" media executives.
Recently, ITN Consulting has been extensively involved in the development of television business plans for local TV in the UK. It has also consulted a range of national broadcasters on improving news services.
ITN Productions
ITN Productions was formed in February 2010 and incorporates the non-news operations of ITN, including the former ITN On, ITN Factual and ITN's corporate production arm.ITN On sits under the ITN Productions banner and came into being in 2003, providing the first news bulletins for third generation (3G) mobile phone operator 3.
It has since expanded its video news service providing content to the UK's leading mobile operators including Vodafone Live!, T-Mobile and Orange. ITN On also provides content to handset manufacturers such as Nokia's Ovi store.
ITN Productions offers a range of news and entertainment and lifestyle content to broadband operators including MSN, YouTube, Yahoo, Daily Mail, Bauer Media, Express Group and Imagine Fashion amongst others. ITN Productions also produces bespoke programming for Telegraph's website. It also produces "The Fix", a daily celebrity bulletin for the UK's biggest music channel, 4Music
4Music
4Music is a music and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and available on some digital television providers in the Republic of Ireland - its web component can be found at with its own and pages. It is the only channel within the Box Television Network to be branded under Channel 4 and...
, as well as delivering a daily tea-time programme to Shanghai's biggest English speaking channel.
Since becoming a partner in the Education Digital 2 Consortium, alongside Brook Lapping/Ten Alps, ITN On has produced Teachers TV
Teachers TV
Teachers TV was a website and former free-to-air Distance education television channel which provided video and support materials for those who work in education in the UK, including teachers, school leaders, governors, teacher trainers, student teachers and support staff.Its aims included raising...
News. This included daily video news updates online as well as a bi-weekly 15-minute programme presented by Charlotte Hume. Teachers TV
Teachers TV
Teachers TV was a website and former free-to-air Distance education television channel which provided video and support materials for those who work in education in the UK, including teachers, school leaders, governors, teacher trainers, student teachers and support staff.Its aims included raising...
has since been withdrawn as a TV channel remaining online only, and the news programme also ended.
The department previously known as ITN Factual sits under the ITN Productions brand and has creates programming for international broadcasters, including all the UK's main broadcasters as well as Discovery Channel, A&E TV Networks, PBS and National Geographic Channel.
Ownership
From its inception in 1955, ITN was originally owned jointly by all the ITV operating companies, the shares split roughly in proportion to each company's advertising income. However the 1990 Broadcasting ActBroadcasting Act 1990
The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, often regarded by both its supporters and its critics as a quintessential example of Thatcherism. The aim of the Act was to reform the entire structure of British broadcasting; British television, in particular, had earlier been...
limited the ITV companies to a maximum joint 49% stake, with no single company allowed more than a 20% holding. These requirements were abolished by the Communications Act 2003
Communications Act 2003
The Communications Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It gave regulation body Ofcom its full powers. Among other measures, it introduced legal recognition of Community Radio and paved the way for full-time Community Radio services in the UK; as well as controversially...
.
As of 2010, ITN is owned by ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
(40%), Daily Mail and General Trust
Daily Mail and General Trust
Daily Mail and General Trust plc is a British media conglomerate, one of the largest in Europe. In the UK, it has interests in national and regional newspapers, television and radio. The company has extensive activities based outside the UK, through Northcliffe Media, DMG Radio Australia, DMG World...
(20%), Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...
(20%) and UBM plc (20%). ITV plc's shareholding forms part of the wider ITV News Group, incorporating their regional operations in England and Wales, plus ITV Sport
ITV Sport
ITV Sport is a sport producer and brand name owned by ITV plc. It was formed from the amalgamation of Granada Sport, Carlton's sports department and ISN, the sports division of London News Network. The company produces Champions League and FA Cup Football, along with coverage of England's national...
. The Director of the ITV News Group is Michael Jermey, a former editor and executive at ITN.
ITV's ownership of 40% of ITN (at that time equally split between Carlton and Granada) made the 2001 bid from Sky for ITV bulletins unlikely to succeed, the network having a vested interest to see ITN continue. The ITN contract for ITV News expires at the end of 2012. On 2 April 2007 ITN signed a deal which superseded the existing contract, worth at least £42m per year. ITV, which owns 40% of ITN, is investing more than £15m to upgrade ITN's newsroom as part of the deal.
Parodies
ITN has been spoofed several times on ITV's The Benny Hill ShowThe Benny Hill Show
The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill.There were various incarnations of the show between 1951 and 1991, and it aired in over 140 countries. The show is generally sketch-based with heavy use of slapstick, mime, parody and double-entendre...
, namely in one 1971 show with the logo reading "NIT" instead of "ITN" and with Benny Hill as Reginald Boozenquet and Andrew Gardner
Andrew Gardner (newsreader)
Andrew Gardner was a newscaster on Independent Television News in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1977. He was also one of the original presenters of News at Ten when it began in 1967....
.
ITN was also spoofed in 1978 in the Leprechaun Independent Television sketch with Benny as Angela O'Rippon, a parody of Angela Rippon
Angela Rippon
Angela M. Rippon, OBE, born 12 October 1944, Plymouth, Devon, England, is an English television journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter. Rippon presented radio and television news programmes in South West England before moving to BBC One's Nine O'Clock News, becoming a regular presenter in 1975...
, and again with Benny as Ann Afford, a parody of Anna Ford
Anna Ford
Anna Ford is a retired English journalist and television presenter, best known as a newsreader....
. It was also spoofed in a black and white 1971 show and a 1973 episode.
In the 2008 video game Saints Row 2
Saints Row 2
Saints Row 2 is an open world action-adventure video game developed by Volition, Inc. and published by THQ for the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 systems. It is the second title in the Saints Row series, after the release of Saints Row in 2006. It is succeeded by Saints Row: The...
, the news broadcast on the radio opens and closes with the same theme tune as ITN. This is also true for the 2009 video game Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time is a platform game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 video game console...
.