ITN

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Independent Television News Limited
Company typePrivate company limited by shares
GenreMedia Production and News Broadcasting
Founded4 May 1955
(68 years ago)
 (1955-05-04)
FounderIndependent Television Authority
Headquarters200 Gray's Inn Road,
London
,
United Kingdom
Key people
Rachel Corp[1] (CEO)
RevenueIncrease £135.9 million (2019)
Increase £2.4 million (2019)
Increase £1.7 million (2018)
Total assetsIncrease £39 million (2019)
Total equityIncrease £105.4 million (2019)
Owners
Number of employees
706 (2019)
Websiteitn.co.uk
Footnotes / references
[3][4][5]

Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaus and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washington, D.C.

ITN produces the daily news programmes for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 in the UK, and in recent years has diversified to produce a wide range of content including documentaries, sports, advertising and digital material for a range of international clients.

Between 1955 and 1999, ITN was more commonly known as the general brand name of ITV's news programmes. Since 8 March 1999, ITV has used ITV News as the brand name for its news programmes, though ITN continues as the network's news provider. The network's largest franchise owner, ITV plc (through its Channel 3 franchising subsidiary ITV Broadcasting Limited),[2] is the largest shareholder of ITN, owning 40% of the company's shares. Other shareholders are Daily Mail and General Trust, Thomson Reuters and Informa plc, each owning 20% of shares.

History

ITN was founded in May 1955 by a consortium of the initial four Independent Television (later ITV) broadcasting companies, with former Labour MP Aidan Crawley as editor-in-chief. The first bulletin was broadcast at 10 pm on 22 September 1955 on ITV's launch night. Its original theme tune was 'Non Stop', by John Malcolm, which was used for the next 30 years. The bulletin was presented by former champion athlete Christopher Chataway. From the start, ITN broke new ground by introducing in-vision and named 'newscasters' (rather than the BBC's nameless and sound-only 'newsreaders'), and reporter packages. The unique, probing reporting style of Robin Day caused shock among politicians, finding themselves questioned continually for information – this had never been the case with the BBC. There was also some early tensions with the ITV companies. ABC Weekend TV, the ITV contractor for the north and Midlands on weekends, immediately called for shorter ITN bulletins. While the ITA ruled on a minimum of a 20-minute bulletin, disagreements with the ITV companies over ITN's budget triggered the resignation of its news editor Aidan Crawley after just one year in 1956. He was replaced by Geoffrey Cox.[6]

Throughout the early years, ITN continued to develop its service to the ITV network with an agenda to firstly, fulfil its public service broadcasting requirements and secondly satisfy the ITV companies by attracting viewers. Under this method, ITN continued to differentiate itself from the BBC by conducting probing interviews, introducing more human interest stories and bringing ordinary people on to screen by using so-called 'vox pops' (interviews, usually held in the street, with members of the general public), all of which were seen as a radical departure at the time in British broadcasting.[6] As the ITN reporter and later ITN political editor Julian Haviland, put it: "My view was that at ITN we must be at least as responsible and accurate as the BBC, without being so damned boring".[7] As ITV expanded, each ITV company that made up the network's federal structure had to purchase a stake in ITN and to continue to finance the company.

In 1967, ITN was given the go-ahead by the ITA to provide a full 30-minute daily news programme at 10 pm on ITV. There was further tension with the ITV executives as they were sceptical of the idea that viewers would want a full 30 minutes of news every Monday to Friday and they were also losing valuable peak time slots which could be used for the sale of commercial advertising.

Lord Annan's 1977 report on the future of broadcasting, which declared: "We subscribe to the generally held view that ITN has the edge over BBC news."[8]

ITN obtained the contract to produce

Sarah Hogg. The hour-long programme has been broadcast at 7 pm since it started and has a reputation for high-quality journalism and thorough analysis. Further expansion came with the launch of overnight television on ITV in 1988, with ITN providing hourly news bulletins, as well as the half-hour ITN Morning News
to conclude the overnight schedules.

Until the 1990s, the individual ITV companies had an obligation to provide a national news programme, which required them to take a share in the ITN operation. Following the Broadcasting Act 1990, ITN had to apply and bid for a licence to provide such services on these ITV networks, and would have to fight competition in order to preserve its services, as had become the case with other ITV franchisees. The Broadcasting Act also allowed the Independent Television Commission to introduce ownership rules for news providers. The move was to transform the company from a 'cost centre' to a 'profit-making business'. The move saw 400 staff made redundant, and the closure of a number of international bureaux to claw back a £10 million deficit in order to provide a competitive product to obtain the ITV news contract. Within three years the company turned to profit in 1993 with suggestions at the time that the company should be listed on the stock exchange.[6]

The company launched

Channel 5
.

The 1990s saw major changes to the television landscape in Britain. The growth of multichannel television saw ITV's share of audience fall. Against this backdrop ITV itself became increasingly commercially aggressive. This was to be a major turning point in ITN's history which saw a reduction in the ITV news contract. By this period the main ITV companies

Granada and Carlton had also viewed unfavourably the scheduling of News at Ten which became a subject of dispute between ITN and the ITV companies. ITN favoured keeping the bulletin; however, the ITV companies claimed audiences were lost at 10 pm as the news interrupted films and drama programming. News at Ten eventually ended in March 1999 with ITN's flagship bulletin moved to 6.30 pm with a shorter late night bulletin at 11 pm. Consolidation of the ITV network under a unified ITV brand also saw the removal of the on-screen ITN brand which was replaced with ITV News.[6]
From this point, the ITN brand was gradually phased out and it is now only referenced to in the end production caption.

In 1997, ITN started producing the

Royal Christmas Message every other year.[9]

The early years of the 21st century was to prove to be a challenging period. The axing of News at Ten caused public outcry and ITN's viewership figures fell by 13.9%

Channel 5; ITN had produced 5 News
since its launch in 1997 and the contract was returned in February 2012, following a change of ownership at Channel 5.

Previous ITN logo used between 2006 and 2022. Variations of this logo has been used by ITN from the launch of colour on ITV in 1969 until 2022.

In August 2000, ITN launched its own 24-hour news channel in the UK, broadcast on satellite, cable and digital terrestrial. It was 50% owned by ITN and 50% owned by

Granada gradually bought out the two stakes and renamed the channel the ITV News Channel. It closed down on 23 December 2005. Poor ratings in comparison to BBC News 24 and Sky News, and ITV's desire to re-use the channel's allocation on Freeview, were cited as the reasons.[11]

In March 2004 following its acquisition of the

Granada, ITN began producing local news bulletins for the ITV London region. ITN produced More4 News between 2005 and 2009. In 2007 it began producing Setanta Sports News; however it closed in 2009.[12]

Between 1996 and 2002, it also owned a share of

News Direct London radio stations. Since 5 October 1992, ITN used to operate a radio news service on behalf of Independent Radio News (IRN) but on 15 October 2008, IRN announced that Sky News Radio
was to replace ITN as its main supplier from March 2009.

While news production remains the cornerstone of ITN's business model, the company has diversified from its original remit. ITN Source (originally ITN Archive) is one of the world's largest sources of historical film.[13] ITN Productions creates multi-platform content for major global brands, covering genres such as factual, entertainment, news and corporate production. Clients that commission programmes from ITN Productions include major UK and international broadcasters such as ITV, the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, History and Discovery, with television commissions including Climbing Great Buildings on BBC2 and Mud Men on the History Channel.[14]

News and current affairs programmes

An ITN satellite van

ITV News

ITN has produced all national news bulletins on ITV since the network was launched on 22 September 1955. Originally, the ITN logo and brand featured prominently on all news bulletins on ITV; however, since March 1999, bulletins have been branded as

Westminster Palace, the chimes of Big Ben punctuating the day's headlines and the signature theme tune; The Awakening by Johnny Pearson
.

Throughout the early years, ITN established programmes in the ITV schedule including First Report at lunchtime, News at 5.45 in the evening and the flagship News at Ten. Today, ITV News on weekdays broadcasts the

.

ITN's history is inextricably linked to that of ITV as prior to the Broadcasting Act 1990 each of the ITV companies owned a share. 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, leading to accusations of dumbing down.

ITN's most famous news programme, News at Ten was also controversially replaced by an 11 pm news bulletin in 1999, said to be 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 programme was 10 minutes shorter than its predecessor and carried less in-depth news coverage. It was also broadcast at a later time at least one day a week, which meant it was often jokingly referred to as News at When? There was increasing speculation that the News at Ten would again be moved, after under-performing against the BBC's Ten O'Clock News on BBC One which broadcasts every day at 10:00 pm. 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, Wales and Southern Scotland 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, as well as more business stories, a nightly sports update and a preview of the following 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 to defining any channel. On 14 January 2008, the News at Ten returned, presented by Julie Etchingham and McDonald returned to his duties again. Mark Austin joined Etchingham as co-presenter in 2009. As of October 2015, Tom Bradby has been the main presenter on the programme.

The ITV Evening News has, since it was launched in 1999, been the network's most popular bulletin. Its main presenter is Mary Nightingale.

In March 2004, ITN took over production of

The London Television Centre on the South Bank to ITN's Gray's Inn Road
base.

On 24 January 2022, ITV announced that the 6:30pm ITV Evening News will be extended to an hour from March 2022, making it the third hour long news programme ITN will be producing for the national PSB channels in 2022, along with Channel 4 News and 5 News at 5.[15]

Channel 4 News

ITN is home to Channel 4 News, having produced the programme since the channel's inception in 1982.

The Channel 4 News flagship programme is 55 minutes of in-depth news and current affairs broadcast at 7 pm each weekday and at 6:30 pm on Saturdays and Sundays. The weekday evening programme was anchored by journalist Jon Snow[16][17] for 32 years until 23 December 2021, with the programme now being presented by a range of newscasters, including Unreported World presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy.[18]

A five-minute-long news summary goes out Monday to Friday at midday. The bulletin replaced Channel 4's 30-minute News at Noon programme in late 2009, six years after its launch during the Iraq War of 2003.

ITN created More4 News when the digital channel More4 was launched in October 2005. It ran at 8 pm, immediately after Channel 4 News. 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. In December 2009 Channel 4 cancelled More4 News.[19]

5 News