Since its inception, this blog has keenly charted the tortuous issue of the future of regional news on ITV. In recent years, the only thing certain about that future was the fear that there might not be one.
Successive management regimes made increasingly gloomy predictions about the ability of the channel to continue to provide one of its founding, core services. Champions of plurality and competition in regional news watched in dismay as ITV's regions became larger and its staff fewer.
Alternative propositions - like independently-financed news consortia and sharing resources with the BBC - came and went, finally to be trumped by former Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt's great white hope/elephant (delete as appropriate), the soon-to-be-launched local TV. Whatever the future looked like and in spite of the exceptional output still being created by those working in its newsrooms, ITV seemed to be inching closer to the regional exit.
Yet despite this relentlessly bleak narrative, last week saw the start of a series of changes designed to create a sustainable and enhanced regional news service for the digital age. The sprawling super-regions created back in 2009 have made way for the regional and sub-regional coverage that viewers previously knew. This more targeted output does, however, come at a price - the flagship 6.00p.m. programmes, whilst still 30 minutes in duration, can now include 10 minutes of 'out-of-area' material drawn from other regions entirely.
When mooted by ITV eighteen months ago, it seemed a perplexing prospect. This shared material would, according to the channel, have "relevance, resonance and application" across more than one region. Yet within the constraints of a regional programme, it would be a daily challenge to ensure it was logically and seamlessly incorporated. Surely all but the most unsavvy of viewers would query the sudden presence of stories from outside even their pan-region; alternatively, if the geography were stripped from a story completely, the result could easily be an issue-led package more suited to the national bulletin.
ITV has, however, tested the model and is convinced it can be made to work. Although clearly a trade-off for the return of the sub-regions, the out-of-area quota is no mean undertaking in itself and will require deft editorial handling and delicate linkage so as to create a rounded programme in each region.
Of course, the occasional dual-region story has long been a feature of the output. Granada and ITV West both recently broadcast the story of a woman from Weston-super-Mare who had unearthed memorabilia of the Beatles, a group which - hey presto! - emanated from Granadaland. Such a gift of a shared story won't come along every day, but if the out-of-area strands are well-woven into the programmes (as ITV obviously intends them to be) and it sustains their increased sub-regional commitments elsewhere, then it could prove an inspired, if unlikely, innovation.
The '20+10' rule will not apply to all the English regions after OFCOM uncharacteristically refused to sanction it in the North West and London. As regions without any sub-opt-outs, ITV was unable to argue that it was a quid pro quo for more localised coverage. Instead they pointed to the fact that local TV would be strong in these areas and so viewers would still be well catered for. This was a shame as it didn't chime with their more positive vision for the other regions and it was ultimately rejected by the regulator. Meanwhile, the sparsely populated Border region has been rewarded for its continued love affair with regional news (whose viewing share in this area reads like a BARB statistic from 25 years ago) with the generous reinstatement of a full 30-minute Lookaround and a weekly political programme to improve political coverage for those in southern Scotland.
Super-serving the regions after digital switchover? That was a prospect which even the most optimistic flag-wavers for the ITV service (myself amongst them) failed to forecast. And at a time when many feared screens would metaphorically be going blank, there's finally some good news about regional news.
