ITV West Country is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the
South West England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England, regions of England in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it is one of four regions that altogether make up Southern England. South West England con ...
franchise area on the
ITV network
ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is b ...
. Previously, between 2009 and 2013, the area was a non-franchise region, branded with the same name, incorporating the former
ITV Westcountry franchise area and the ITV West sub-region of the
ITV Wales & West franchise. The two companies which make up the new region - ITV Wales & West Ltd and Westcountry Television Ltd - each still legally exist; the former holding company for ITV Wales and West was however dissolved on 7 February 2023.
History
ITV West Country launched on 16 February 2009 (as ITV West & Westcountry), and merged the two regions of ITV West and ITV Westcountry into one amalgamated region. The idea was first proposed following a speech by
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 ...
about regional broadcasting post-switchover at the 2007 Nations and Regions conference in
Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
. There was speculation that ITV West and ITV Westcountry could merge operations, as part of further streamlining of regional operations, and rumours suggested that, while a newsroom (and separate regional identity) would be retained in the south west, the main ''
Westcountry Live'' programme would move to a studio alongside ''
The West Tonight'' at ITV West in Bristol.
On 12 September 2007, ITV issued a statement to the
City of London
The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
, saying that it wished to reduce the number of news studios from 17 to just 9. Shortly after the broadcasting regulator
Ofcom
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-rang ...
gave
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 ...
the go-ahead to merge the two regions.
Until 31 December 2013, the ITV West Country region was still legally covered by two franchises, the ITV Westcountry franchise for the South West and the ITV Wales & West franchise for the West of England (which also covered Wales). On 1 January 2014, the two franchises were updated to match the merger that had occurred in 2009; the ITV Wales & West franchise area lost ITV West and was renamed ITV Cymru Wales, while the ITV Westcountry franchise area gained ITV West and was renamed ITV West Country.
Studios
ITV Westcountry's studio operations were all moved to
ITV West
ITV or iTV may refer to:
Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including:
**ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...
's headquarters in
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, with the studio facilities at Plympton near Plymouth closed and newsgathering operations moved to a smaller news bureau elsewhere in the city.
Productions
ITV West Country produces the local news service ''
ITV News West Country''. The main evening programme at 6pm on weekdays includes separate opt-out bulletins for the first 20 minutes from each of the two regions, some of which are pre-recorded depending on the day's news and due to the use of only one presenting team.
The main 6pm evening programme is supplemented by shorter daytime bulletins, with the weekday ''
Good Morning West Country'', lunchtime and late night bulletins after the ''ITV News at Ten'' consisting of opt-out news for either the 'East' or 'West' of the region. Separate daytime bulletins for the regions were reintroduced in September 2011.
On 23 July 2013, proposals to further expand the sub-regional services were approved. ''ITV News West Country'' extended the East and West opt-out services to 20 minutes during the 6pm programme, in addition to separate weekend bulletins for the two sub-regions.
Ofcom sets out licence terms for ITV, STV, UTV and Channel 5
, Ofcom, 23 July 2013
ITV West Country are also required to produce 13 hours of non-news programming a year - currently, the only non-news programme in production is ''The West Country Debate'', a monthly political programme. Other non-news content is included in ''ITV News West Country''.
See also
* ITV Westcountry
* ITV Wales & West
* ITV (TV network)
ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is b ...
* History of ITV
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 ...
* Westward Television
Westward Television was the first ITV franchise-holder for the South West of England. It held the franchise from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward Television provided a popular, distinctive and highly reg ...
* Television South West
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:ITV West Country
West Country
The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...
West Country
The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...
Mass media in Bristol
Mass media in Cornwall
Mass media in Dorset
Television channels and stations established in 2009