History ITV News Central

1 history

1.1 december 2006 – february 2009
1.2 february 2009 – september 2013
1.3 september 2013 – present

history

launched on friday 1 january 1982, replacing atv today, central news pan-regional service based in birmingham airing 6pm programme on weeknights alongside shorter weekday bulletins after itn s news @ 1 , news @ ten. during rest of decade, region broken 3 sub-regions, receive own news service.

separate services west , east of region planned begin day 1 – industrial dispute on launch of east midlands service – , opening of new studios in nottingham – resulted in entire region continuing receive sole pan-regional programme birmingham. launch of nottingham-based service delayed month,. dispute not resolved until september 1983, when news service east introduced. within few months, nottingham operations moved temporary set-up @ giltbrook central s new complex @ nearby lenton lane.

on monday 9 january 1989, separate south midlands service covering oxfordshire, gloucestershire, herefordshire , parts of northamptonshire, buckinghamshire , wiltshire launched new computerised news centre in abingdon. thereafter, birmingham edition covered solely west midlands region (shropshire, staffordshire, warwickshire, west midlands , worcestershire).

originally, main weekday evening programme did not have different title other bulletins. changed in late 1990s, when title central news @ 6 adopted – coinciding being rescheduled 6.25pm 6pm. monday 24 july 2006, 6pm programme had been renamed again, central tonight (except south midlands edition, retained central news @ 6 name until final 6pm programme on 1 december 2006). december 2006, central news bulletins during gmtv had become pan-regional across 3 sub-regions. weekend bulletins became pan-regional across west , east midlands earlier in year, whilst south midlands retained own weekend bulletins right until end of central news south on 3 december 2006.

itv central located in gas street, birmingham


december 2006 – february 2009

on 4 december 2006, south midlands sub-region disbanded, follows:

the parts of gloucestershire served central south joined majority of county covered itv west , receiving west tonight broadcast bristol.
herefordshire covered west midlands edition birmingham.
in rest of region (buckinghamshire, oxfordshire , swindon area), news operations merged meridian west, form non-franchise itv thames valley service, broadcasting thames valley today/tonight existing meridian west studio in whiteley, hampshire. new programme, covered berkshire, hampshire , parts of surrey , wiltshire retained central s abingdon newsroom main news gathering base new region studio closed.

central news bulletins during gmtv pan-regional across west midlands , east midlands only. meanwhile, in had become itv thames valley region, bulletins during gmtv pan-regional across entire combined itv meridian , itv thames valley regions (i.e., entire south , south east of england), , branded gmtv news. while weekend meridian news bulletins pan-regional in south , south east sub-regions, thames valley today/tonight continued produce own weekend bulletins.

central tonight branding november 2009– january 2013


february 2009 – september 2013

as of 23 february 2009, lunchtime , evening bulletins in west , east midlands on weekdays became pan-regional. final sub-regional 6pm editions of central tonight broadcast on friday 20 february 2009. sameena ali-khan , bob warman announced main anchors. matt teale rejoined programme on 2 february 2012 , job shares warman.

the previous sub-regional elements were:

a 6-minute opt-out during main 6pm programme
localised weather forecast during 6pm programme
the full 8-minute late weeknight bulletins

both sub-regional editions utilise same presenter(s) , studio, therefore 1 of 2 opt-outs (depending on days news) pre-recorded live shortly before broadcast.

on monday 14 january 2013, news service relaunched , rebranded itv news central.

september 2013 – present

on 23 july 2013, proposals more localised channel 3 news service approved – latterly, itv news central extended east , west opt-out services 6 minutes 20 minutes during half hour 6pm programme, in addition separate lunchtime , weekend bulletins 2 sub-regions. late night bulletins retained.

in former thames valley region, plans approved 10-minute opt out within 6pm edition of itv news meridian south of england , late night bulletin after news @ ten. expanded sub-regional service launched on monday 16 september 2013.