ITV: Difference between revisions

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Regional branding is very rarely seen on screen, apart from ITV1 Wales and the still independently-owned STV and UTV services. While [[Media Watchdog|Ofcom]] still obliges each region to have its own local news programmes (for the time being), regional programming on ITV1 has now become virtually non-existent.

ITV gets its news programmes from ITN (Independent Television News), who have provided news bulletins for the network since Day One and which was originally controlled by all of the ITV companies. The station's flagship news bulletin, ''[[News At Ten]]'', was first broadcast in 1967 and has continued on and off since (also, nowadays most ITV news bulletins still use a variation on the original ''[[News At Ten]]'' theme tune). ITN also provides [[Channel ~~Four~~]] with its news programme, as well as celebrity/entertainment news coverage for [[Channel ~~Four~~]]'s flagship music channel, 4Music. They used to do the news for [[Channel Five]], as well, until they lost the contract to [[Rupert Murdoch|Sky]]- although they do still do a short-form entertainment news show for one of their digital channels.

ITV gets its news programmes from ITN (Independent Television News), who have provided news bulletins for the network since Day One and which was originally controlled by all of the ITV companies. The station's flagship news bulletin, ''[[News at Ten]]'', was first broadcast in 1967 and has continued on and off since (also, nowadays most ITV news bulletins still use a variation on the original ''[[News at Ten]]'' theme tune). ITN also provides [[Channel 4]] with its news programme, as well as celebrity/entertainment news coverage for [[Channel 4]]'s flagship music channel, 4Music. They used to do the news for [[Channel Five]], as well, until they lost the contract to [[Rupert Murdoch|Sky]]- although they do still do a short-form entertainment news show for one of their digital channels.

ITV has been having a lot of problems recently, due to the "credit crunch" hitting its income in a huge manner and general poor quality. Drama shows have been hit badly — ''[[Demons]]'' was poor, for a start. ''[[Wire in The Blood]]'' and its flagship prime-time show ''[[Primeval]]'' were cancelled, though the latter was brought back with help from [[The BBC|The Other Side]].

Many of ITV's prime-time flagships have received a lot of viewer attention but very little critical success, such as ''Pop Idol'' (and its successors ''[[The X Factor]]'' and ''[[American Idol]]'') and ''[[Britain's Got Talent ~~(TV)~~|Britains Got Talent]]''. It has also found a (justified) reputation for celebrity-reality rubbish like ''Celebrity Wrestling'' and ''Celeb Air''. Its biggest [[Long Runners]] are soaps ''[[Coronation Street]]'' and ''[[Emmerdale]]'', and there are concerns that ITV is losing any new quality programming.

Many of ITV's prime-time flagships have received a lot of viewer attention but very little critical success, such as ''Pop Idol'' (and its successors ''[[The X Factor]]'' and ''[[American Idol]]'') and ''[[Britain's Got Talent|Britains Got Talent]]''. It has also found a (justified) reputation for celebrity-reality rubbish like ''Celebrity Wrestling'' and ''Celeb Air''. Its biggest [[Long Runners]] are soaps ''[[Coronation Street]]'' and ''[[Emmerdale]]'', and there are concerns that ITV is losing any new quality programming.

The children's department closed a couple of years back, its last production being [http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Scratch_%27n%27_Sniff%27s_Den_of_Doom a show involving two child-eating hyenas.] Regional studio centres were shut down and sold off, leading to ''[[The Street]]'' (which it makes for [[The BBC]]) being cancelled despite winning Emmys.

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* '''ITV1''': The main channel.

* '''ITV2''': Mostly aimed at younger viewers. Airs the behind-the-scenes spinoffs of [[~~Britains~~ Got Talent|Cowell-based]] [[The X Factor|talent contests]], as well as celebrity documentaries and, er, ''[[The Only Way Is Essex]]''. Also does midweek repeats of ITV1 weekend programming.

* '''ITV2''': Mostly aimed at younger viewers. Airs the behind-the-scenes spinoffs of [[Britain's Got Talent|Cowell-based]] [[The X Factor|talent contests]], as well as celebrity documentaries and, er, ''[[The Only Way Is Essex]]''. Also does midweek repeats of ITV1 weekend programming.

* '''ITV3''': Aimed at older viewers. Mostly broadcasts British crime dramas, like ''[[Poirot|Agatha Christie's Poirot]]'', ''[[A Touch of Frost]]'' and ''[[Midsomer Murders]]'', as well as older comedies like ''[[On the Buses]]'' and ''[[Mr. Bean]]''.

* '''ITV4''': Something a 'miscellaneous' channel; the programming is mostly aimed at men. A lot of it's cop shows (real and fictional) and sports.