Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, with bureaux and offices in
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
,
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
,
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
,
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
,
New York,
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
,
Sydney
Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
and
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
ITN produces the daily news programmes for
ITV,
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
and
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
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...
'' 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
ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV (TV network), ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom.
ITV plc ...
(through its Channel 3 franchising subsidiary ITV Broadcasting Limited),
is the largest shareholder of ITN, owning 40% of the company's shares. Other shareholders are
Daily Mail and General Trust
Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British multinational media conglomerate, the owner of the '' Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chair and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office ...
,
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...
and
Informa
Informa plc is a British publishing, business intelligence, and exhibitions group based in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
It has offices in 30 countries and around 12,000 ...
plc, each owning 20% of shares.
History
After the
Independent Television Authority
The Independent Television Authority (ITA) was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 ( 2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 55) to supervise the creation of " Independent Television" (ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. The ...
(ITA) awarded the first six
ITV franchises to four companies, it decided that national news should be provided by a separate contractor.
ITN was founded in May 1955 by a consortium of the initial four 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
Major-General Sir John Malcolm GCB, KLS (2 May 1769 – 30 May 1833) was a Scottish soldier, diplomat, East India Company administrator, statesman, and historian.
Early life
Sir John Malcolm was born in 1769, one of seventeen children of G ...
, which was used for the next 30 years. The bulletin was presented by former champion athlete
Christopher Chataway
Sir Christopher John Chataway (31 January 1931 – 19 January 2014) was a British middle- and long-distance runner, television news broadcaster and Conservative politician.
Education
Chataway was born in Chelsea, London, the son of James Deny ...
. 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
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
. There was also some early tensions with the ITV companies.
ABC Weekend TV
ABC Television Limited, popularly known as ABC Weekend TV, was a British broadcaster which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one of ...
, 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 Crawley after just one year in 1956. He was replaced by
Geoffrey Cox.
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.
In 1956 the
General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Established in England in the 17th century, the GPO was a state monopoly covering the dispatch of items from a specific ...
ended its Fourteen Day Rule prohibiting discussion on television of topics for debate in Parliament during the following two weeks.
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". 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. ''
News at Ten'' began broadcasting on 3 July 1967 with a newscaster team consisting of
Alastair Burnet,
Andrew Gardner,
George Ffitch and
Reginald Bosanquet. It was initially given a 13-week trial run; however, the programme proved to be extremely popular with viewers and continued for a further 32 years. ''News at Ten'' was to become one of the most prestigious news programmes of its time in British history with a reputation for high-quality journalism and innovation.
ITN's ''News at Ten'' also prompted the BBC to gradually expand its 20:50 news bulletin from ten minutes to fifteen, twenty and then twenty-five minutes. ''
The Nine O'Clock News'' began broadcasting in 1970 as ''News at Ten's'' rival. ITN also established other programmes in the ITV schedule. ''First Report'', a lunchtime bulletin began in 1972 and by 1976, ''News at 5.45'' commenced. This was a period when ITN enjoyed its greatest plaudits, following
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."
ITN obtained the contract to produce ''
Channel 4 News
''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982.
Current productions ''Channel 4 News''
''Channel 4 News'' ...
'' when the channel started broadcasting in 1982. The programme was launched by
Peter Sissons,
Trevor McDonald
Sir Trevor Lawson McDonald (born George McDonald; 16 August 1939) is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with Independent Television News (ITN).
McDonald began his career working as a ...
and
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
The Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which aimed to liberalise and deregulate the British broadcasting industry by promoting competition; an example being ITV (TV network), ...
, 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.
The company launched ''
5 News
''5 News'' is the flagship news programme of British broadcaster 5. It is produced by ITN from its main newsroom on London's Gray's Inn Road, and has been broadcast since Channel 5's launch in March 1997.
History
''5 News'' was one of the n ...
'' in 1997 following the foundation of
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
Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...
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
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...
''.
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.
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% Political pressure and pressure from the media resulted in ITV bringing back a shorter 20-minute bulletin at 10 pm three nights a week. The programme eventually lost share to the ''
BBC News at Ten'' (which launched in 2000 to capitalise on ITV's move) and ITV eventually axed the programme again in 2004 and moved the bulletin to 10:30 pm before bringing it back to 10 pm again in 2008. The biggest challenge came in 2001 when
British Sky Broadcasting
Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers a ...
bid to supply network news to ITV as part of a consortium. ITN eventually succeeded and was awarded a contract extension to 2008. In January 2005 Sky News took over supplying bulletins to Channel 5; ITN had produced ''
5 News
''5 News'' is the flagship news programme of British broadcaster 5. It is produced by ITN from its main newsroom on London's Gray's Inn Road, and has been broadcast since Channel 5's launch in March 1997.
History
''5 News'' was one of the n ...
'' since its launch in 1997 and the contract was returned in February 2012, following a change of ownership at Channel 5.

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
NTL.
Carlton and
Granada
Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...
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.
In March 2004 following its acquisition of the
London News Network, a company previously owned by the now merged
Carlton and
Granada
Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...
, 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
Setanta Sports News was a television channel from Virgin Media Television and Setanta Sports. The channel launched on 29 November 2007. ; however it closed in 2009.
Between 1996 and 2002, it also owned a share of
London News Radio
LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment, Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed Commercial broadc ...
, which was based at ITN's Gray's Inn Road headquarters and operated the
LBC and
News Direct London radio stations. Since 5 October 1992, ITN used to operate a radio news service on behalf of
Independent Radio News
Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom and beyond. The managing director, Tim Molloy, succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009. Perkins had been ...
(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. 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.
News and current affairs programmes
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 ''
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...
''. Trademarks of ''ITV News'' include the use of the clock-face of the
Elizabeth Tower
Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, and, Pars pro toto, by extension, for the clock tower itself, which stands at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. Originally named the Cl ...
of
Westminster Palace
The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the ...
, the chimes of
Big Ben
Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, and, by extension, for the clock tower itself, which stands at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. Originally named the Clock Tower, it ...
punctuating the day's headlines and the signature theme tune; ''The Awakening'' by
Johnny Pearson
John Valmore Pearson (18 June 1925 – 20 March 2011) was a British composer, orchestra leader and pianist. He led the ''Top of the Pops'' orchestra for sixteen years, wrote a catalogue of library music, and had many of his pieces used as the ...
.
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 ''
ITV Lunchtime News'' at 1.30pm, the ''
ITV Evening News'' at 6.30pm and ''
ITV News at Ten'' with
bulletins broadcast at various times on weekends. ITN has at times interrupted the ITV schedule to provide updates on major breaking stories of national and international importance, including the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
,
London bombings, 2005 or events involving the
British Royal Family
The British royal family comprises Charles III and other members of his family. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member, although the Royal Household has issued different lists outlining who is considere ...
. ITN has covered every general election since 1959 for ITV, providing comprehensive coverage of the counts throughout election night and has also broadcast special programmes covering the
UK budget speech given by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...
.
ITN's history is inextricably linked to that of ITV as prior to the
Broadcasting Act 1990
The Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which aimed to liberalise and deregulate the British broadcasting industry by promoting competition; an example being ITV (TV network), ...
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
Dumbing down is the deliberate oversimplification of intellectual content in education, literature, cinema, news, video games, and culture. Originating in 1933, the term "dumbing down" was movie-business slang, used by screenplay writers, meanin ...
.
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
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...
which broadcasts every night at 10:00 pm. In October 2003, the
Independent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission (ITC) licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom (except S4C in Wales) between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003.
History
The creation of ITC, by the Broadcasting Act ...
gave ITV approval to move'' News at Ten.''
The ''
ITV News at 10.30
The ''ITV News at 10.30'' is a flagship news programme on British television network ITV, broadcast on Monday to Friday at 10:30pm, between 2 February 2004 and 10 January 2008. It was produced by ITN. It was introduced into the ITV schedule as th ...
'' 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
A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...
) and was presented by Sir
Trevor McDonald
Sir Trevor Lawson McDonald (born George McDonald; 16 August 1939) is a Trinidadian-British newsreader and journalist, best known for his career as a news presenter with Independent Television News (ITN).
McDonald began his career working as a ...
. 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 3 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
Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth (born 8 March 1943) is an English Media proprietor, television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive ...
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
Julie Anne Etchingham (born 21 August 1969) is an English journalist who works as a television newsreader with ITV News. A graduate of Newnham College, Cambridge, Etchingham joined the BBC as a trainee after completing her studies, and went on ...
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
ITV London's regional news programmes, which relocated from
The London Television Centre on the
South Bank
The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial area on the south bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Lambeth, central London, England.
The South Bank is not formally defined, but is generally understood to be situated betwe ...
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''.
Channel 4 News
ITN is home to
Channel 4 News
''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982.
Current productions ''Channel 4 News''
''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 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
Krishnan Guru-Murthy (born 5 April 1970) is a British journalist. He is the lead presenter of ''Channel 4 News''. He also presents ''Unreported World'', a foreign-affairs documentary series.
Early life
Guru-Murthy's father, an Indian consulta ...
.
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
More4 is a British free-to-air television channel, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel launched on 10 October 2005. Its programming mainly focuses on lifestyle and documentaries, as well as foreign dramas.
Content
The i ...
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''.
5 News
From the launch of
Channel 5 in 1997, ITN provided the news bulletins for
5 News
''5 News'' is the flagship news programme of British broadcaster 5. It is produced by ITN from its main newsroom on London's Gray's Inn Road, and has been broadcast since Channel 5's launch in March 1997.
History
''5 News'' was one of the n ...
. However, in January 2005, ITN lost the contract, which was awarded to
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...
. In 2011 ITN regained the contract in a three-year deal to provide news for Channel 5 from early 2012, but on a much-reduced budget. The deal followed an agreement by Sky and
Northern & Shell
Northern & Shell (holding company name Northern and Shell Network Ltd) is a British publishing group, founded in December 1974 and owned since then by Richard Desmond. Formerly a publisher of pornographic magazines including '' Penthouse'' and '' ...
, the then-owner of Channel 5, to terminate the 5 News contract early.
In addition to a number of short bulletins, ITN provided two main half-hour evening news programmes for Channel 5 until 2021. In September 2021, Ofcom approved the removal of the 6.30pm news slot by Channel 5 in order for the ViacomCBS channel to schedule ''
Neighbours
''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...
'' at 6pm and ''
Eggheads'' at 6.30pm with a new hour long ''5 News'' programme going out on the channel at 5pm. Ofcom's approval of the channel's new conditions recognised that there will be still three-hours of news between 5-8pm over all the main public service broadcasters’ channels, and that Channel 5 was still committed to delivering more than 280 hours of news each year. The relaunched hour long ''5 News at 5'' was first broadcast by the channel on 8 November 2021, with the programme presented by Sian Williams and Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije. In addition to the channel's news, ITN was given an extra hour slot by Channel 5 in January 2022 to extend their daily current affairs phone-in and discussion show ''
Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Guy Vine (born 17 May 1965) is an English television and radio presenter and journalist. He is best known as the host of his BBC Radio 2 lunchtime programme which presents news, views, interviews with live guests, consumer issues and popu ...
'' each weekday morning.
''The Wright Stuff/Jeremy Vine''
In 2018, ITN secured the contract for Channel 5's topical morning debate and chat show ''The Wright Stuff'', just before the host of 18 years,
Matthew Wright, announced he was going to leave the programme. Wright was replaced by BBC Radio 2 presenter
Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Guy Vine (born 17 May 1965) is an English television and radio presenter and journalist. He is best known as the host of his BBC Radio 2 lunchtime programme which presents news, views, interviews with live guests, consumer issues and popu ...
, who had been hosting a lunchtime phone-in debate show on the radio since 2003, with the programme becoming
eponymously named when Vine took over in September 2018. In 2022, the programme was extended by Channel 5, with the extra hour being known as ''Jeremy Vine Extra'' as it is presented by Storm Huntley rather than Vine, who starts his radio show at noon.
Other programmes of note
Royal Documentaries on 5
ITN's royal documentaries have been a ratings winner for 5 on Saturday nights, with programmes released about the current monarchy under names such as ''Harry and Meghan: Two Troubled Years'', ''Charles and Camilla: King and Queen in Waiting'' and ''Fergie & Andrew The Duke & Duchess of Disaster''. Documentaries about the past members of the British Royal Family are also getting good viewing figures, with a programme about
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
George was born during the reign of his pa ...
(whose reign was from 6 May 1910 until 20 January 1936) achieving a rating of 1.4 million viewers when it was first broadcast. Most of these documentaries feature archive clips with contributions from historians and royal watchers like former BBC royal correspondent
Jennie Bond or
Lady Colin Campbell. As well as the British Royal Family, the slot had also been used to schedule an ITN documentary called ''The Grace of Monaco: Hollywood Princess'' about
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982), also known as Grace of Monaco, was an American actress and Princess of Monaco as the wife of Prince Rainier III from their marriage on April 18, 1956, until her death in 1982. ...
, the American actor who married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in April 1956, one of the few ITN royal titles featuring foreign-born royalty.
Other Royal Documentaries
ITN also made the documentary ''Charles: Our New King'' for Beyond Rights, with the programme scheduled for a transmission slot on Channel 4, The
Smithsonian Channel
The Smithsonian Channel is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its media networks division under MTV Entertainment Group. It offers video content inspired by the Smithsonian Institution's museums, research facil ...
(in North America), SBS and M6. Similar to ITN's programmes for Channel 5, the programme was a trawl through its Royal archive with experts like
Ayesha Hazarika, Bonnie Greer, Polly Toynbee and Ian Skelly analysing various points in King Charles' life.
Operations
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 Corporate divisions.
Showbiz bulletins from ITN are broadcast daily on a number of television channels, including ''
FYI Daily'' on
ITV2
ITV2 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the fiv ...
,
ITV3
ITV3 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first launched on Monday 1 November 2004 at 9 pm, replacing Plus (British TV channel), Plus ...
and
ITV4, and ''Entertainment News on 5'' (formally called ''Access'') for Channel 5's range of channels. A daily showbiz breakfast show, ''The Breakfast Fix'' was broadcast on 4Music along with showbiz updates under the name of ''The Fix''.
From August 2013, ITN Productions was awarded the contract to produce the Premier League online and mobile highlights service for
News UK
News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...
. Content appears on ''
The Sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...
'' and ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' subscription websites and mobile apps.
ITN Productions also creates factual programming for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 as well as international broadcasters, including
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience.
It init ...
,
History
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
,
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
and
National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...
.
ITN has produced shows for Sky, with one of its later programmes being ''
Harrow: A Very British School''.
ITN also supplied programming to the now-closed
Teachers TV
Teachers TV was a United Kingdom, UK government–funded website and former free-to-air distance education television channel which operated from 2005–2011. The website provided video and support materials for those who work in education, inc ...
service.
Former operations
ITN began its own ''
World News'' 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
Al Jazeera English (AJE; , ) is a 24-hour English-language news channel operating under Al Jazeera Media Network, which is funded by the government of Qatar. Al Jazeera introduced an English-language division in 2006. It is the first global E ...
) 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
BBC News is an international English-language pay television channel owned by BBC Global News Ltd. – a subsidiary of BBC Studios – and operated by the BBC News division of the BBC. The network carries news bulletins, documentaries, an ...
), although it still provides footage to
CNN International
Cable News Network International or CNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel and website, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates ...
and reports often appear on ''
PBS NewsHour
''PBS News Hour'', previously stylized as ''PBS NewsHour'', is the news division of PBS and an American daily evening news broadcasting#television, television news program broadcast on over 350 PBS Network affiliate#Member stations, member stat ...
''. Its ''ITV Evening News'' bulletin was shown on the
Newsworld International cable channel in the US.
From December 1997 to April 2003, ITN held a 49% stake in European news channel
Euronews
Euronews (stylised in lowercase) is a pan-European television news broadcasting, news network, headquartered in Lyon, France. It is a provider of livestreamed news, which can be viewed in Europe and North Africa via satellite, and in most of the ...
.
ITN launched a 24-hour news channel on 1 August 2000, which in 2002 was sold to the main ITV companies
Carlton and
Granada
Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...
, and rebranded as the
ITV News Channel. It was closed down on 23 December 2005.
On the same day, ITN launched a 24-hour radio station called ITN News Radio. It broadcast nationally on the
Digital One multiplex until 2003.
In 2005, ITN became a shareholder in Espresso Group, a provider of digital content to more than 60% of primary schools in the UK and also internationally. Espresso services feature an extensive library of broadband teaching resources and student activities to motivate pupils and support teachers, including content from ITN Source. In May 2008, the Education Clip Library, a unique, video licensing service for educational publishers and broadcasters around the world, was launched. It is aimed at educational publishers and broadcasters seeking to add video to their instructional products and services. Espresso was acquired by Discovery Education (part of Discovery Communications) on 7 November 2013.
Setanta Sports News
Setanta Sports News was a television channel from Virgin Media Television and Setanta Sports. The channel launched on 29 November 2007. 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.
In October 2008, ITN founded digital production company
Diagonal View as a joint venture together with digital entrepreneur Matt Heiman. The company packages footage from the ITN archive and syndicates it to a range of commercial partners including
Myspace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
,
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
and
MSN. In March 2017, the company was sold to Sky, who paid £2.6m for ITN's stake.
ITN Consulting was 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 partner Venture Consulting, it had offices in London, Milan, Dubai, Singapore and Sydney. It operated as a network with its consultants working on engagements globally and focused "on how strategy can be implemented to deliver to real change". ITN Consulting stated that "an understanding of how global, regional and local media markets conflict and come together enables them to identify the opportunities this creates". They took an external, outsider perspective as well as having the viewpoint of senior "insider" media executives. ITN Consulting was extensively involved in the development of business plans for local TV in the UK. It also consulted a range of national broadcasters on improving performance. The unit closed in 2012.
ITN Source (formerly ITN Archive) licensed video footage from ITN's one million hours of archive content including news, drama, celebrity, comedy, music, wildlife, natural history and film. It also syndicated on-the-day news footage generated by ITN to other broadcasters and producers worldwide. The service represented the moving image libraries of
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency ...
, ITV (including
ITV Studios
ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is ba ...
),
ANI, UTV Media,
Fox News
The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
, Fox Movietone,
Gaumont-British
The Gaumont-British Picture Corporation was a British company that produced and distributed films and operated a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. It was established as an offshoot of France's Gaumont (company), Gaumont.
Film production
Gaumo ...
,
Nine Network
Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...
and other specialist collections. The division was closed at the end of 2016, when ITN outsourced its archive sales to
Getty Images
Getty Images Holdings, Inc. (stylized as gettyimages) is a visual media company and supplier of stock images, editorial photography, video, and music for business and consumers, with a library of over 477 million assets. It targets three mark ...
.
Corporate affairs
Headquarters and studios
ITN has been based at 200
Gray's Inn Road since 1991. The purpose-built headquarters were designed by architect
Sir Norman Foster, and officially opened by
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
on 8 May 1991. The building also houses the ITV Network Centre and
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
offices. Prior to the redevelopment, the site was the location of ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' and ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' offices from 1974 to 1986, and ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' offices from 1961 to 1976.
ITN's first base was Ingersoll House on
Kingsway, before moving across the road to
Associated-Rediffusion
Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, ...
's newly converted
Television House shortly before the first broadcast.
In August 1969, the company moved to ITN House at 48
Wells Street, close to the BBC's
Broadcasting House
London Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. T ...
.
As of December 2020, there are three operational television studios based at ITN. Studios 1 and 2 are located in the basement of the building, with both studios measuring 2,438 sq ft in size each. Studio 1 is currently used by ''ITV News'' bulletins and the ''ITV News London'' bulletins, and comprises a full green screen backdrop in the studio, with two desk areas facing each other. Studio 2 is used by ''5 News'' and also produces Jeremy Vine's morning show on 5. Studio 6 is located adjacent to the atrium of ITN and has been home to ''Channel 4 News'' since 1999.
Leadership
The Chief Executive of ITN is Rachel Corp. A former ITV News Editor, Rachel succeeded
Deborah Turness in September 2022, when Turness left to join the BBC. Prior to Turness, ITN was led by Anna Mallett, who left to join Netflix.
[ Mallett had been in post for around two years, having joined the company in April 2019.
The Times reported in 2022, that one former ITN staff member signed a secrecy clause or NDA after accepting a financial settlement and agreeing to drop allegations of victimisation and sex discrimination inside the company. The woman said she raised her grievance in 2020 after ITN’s then chief executive, Anna Mallett, told staff she wanted to create "a culture where people feel confident to speak up".
In 2023, ITN appointed Ian Rumsey as Managing Director of Content and Tami Hoffman as Director of News Distribution and Commercial Innovation.
]
Ownership
The current shareholders of ITN are:
* ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV (TV network), ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom.
ITV plc ...
(40%)
* Daily Mail and General Trust
Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) is a British multinational media conglomerate, the owner of the '' Daily Mail'' and several other titles. The 4th Viscount Rothermere is the chair and controlling shareholder of the company. The head office ...
(20%)
* Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational corporation, multinational content-driven technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and maintains its headquarters at 1 ...
(20%)
* Informa
Informa plc is a British publishing, business intelligence, and exhibitions group based in London, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
It has offices in 30 countries and around 12,000 ...
(20%)
Upon its inception, ITN was jointly owned by all the ITV operating companies, with shareholdings split roughly in proportion to each company's advertising income. However, the Broadcasting Act 1990
The Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which aimed to liberalise and deregulate the British broadcasting industry by promoting competition; an example being ITV (TV network), ...
allowed the ITC to set ownership rules. It was decided to limit the ITV companies to a maximum joint 49% stake, with no single company allowed more than a 20% holding. The powers were abolished by the Communications Act 2003
The Communications Act 2003 (c. 21) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act, which came into force on 25 July 2003, superseded the Telecommunications Act 1984. The new act was the responsibility of Culture Secretary Tessa ...
.
Parodies
ITN has been spoofed several times on ITV's ''The Benny Hill Show
''The Benny Hill Show'' is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketch comedy, sketches typified by slapstick, mime, parody, and ...
'', namely in one 1971 show with the logo reading "NIT" instead of "ITN" and with Hill as Reginald "Boozenquet" and Andrew Gardner.
ITN was also spoofed in a sketch in 1978 with Benny Hill as Angela O'Rippon, a parody of Angela Rippon
Angela May Rippon (born 12 October 1944) is an English broadcaster, former newsreader, writer and journalist.
Rippon presented radio and television news programmes in South West England before moving to BBC One's ''BBC Nine O'Clock News, Nine ...
, and as Ann Afford, a parody of Anna Ford. It was also spoofed in a black and white 1971 show and a 1973 episode.
See also
* List of ITV journalists and newsreaders
* Independent Radio News
Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom and beyond. The managing director, Tim Molloy, succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009. Perkins had been ...
References
External links
*
Original theme tune: John Wilson conducts 'Non Stop' by John Malcolm
Johnny Pearson – 'The Awakening'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Itn
1955 establishments in England
Companies based in the London Borough of Camden
Daily Mail and General Trust
Informa
International Emmy Awards Current Affairs & News winners
ITV (TV network)
Mass media companies based in London
Television news in the United Kingdom
Television production companies of the United Kingdom
Thomson Reuters