The ITV Thread

irishfeen

To be honest and fair to UTV I understand where they are coming from with Foyle's War .. Maybe they didn't expect so many people had kept pace with UTV. I have never seen it so I suppose it's the likes of me they were targeting.

UTV including their MD must be taken aback with this reaction.

Charles Slane

Probably it's biggest own-programming test is about to start. I'll be very interested in people's opinions of it's news service.

JONJO THE MISER

Watching it now, there is no news, its just like a current affairs show.

JONJO THE MISER

Your wan reporting live nearly got knocked down my a van, better move in off the curve love.

Charles Slane

JONJO THE MISER wrote: »

Watching it now, there is no news, its just like a current affairs show.

True, it doesn't seem to be behaving like a news programme at all.

irishfeen

I like it!- nice to see competition for RTÉ - studio and graphics look well.

peppa 1986

Tomorrow night on UTV Ireland...Britains best back gardens and then the wonder of Britain...so much for UTV IRELAND

mackersdublin

Only positive from Ireland Live was that it was 100% HD, a first for an Irish news programme, i think

irishfeen

Much better attempt at news then TV3, they left sport completely out of it though

ciarandee1

the graphics and set reminded me of itv news

hotmail.com

The news programme is certainly more slicker and more professional than what TV3 offers.

I don't detect a different direction of the news coverage to RTE in terms of ethos and leanings, choice of stories etc, but I didn't expect anything different.

SPDUB

irishfeen wrote: »

they left sport completely out of it though (

Hooray

Hopefully they continue that

irishfeen

They really should move to 5.30 .. They would destroy TV3 and be a lead into RTÉ.

irishfeen

SPDUB wrote: »

Hooray

Hopefully they continue that

.. You have to have sport, not the same without it!

hotmail.com

irishfeen wrote: »

Much better attempt at news then TV3, they left sport completely out of it though

AFAIK, UTV's news programme also leaves out sport unless it's a really huge sporting event/occasion that affects the area locally.

I presume it doesn't make sense for UTV Ireland to bring sports news when they don't plan on showing any sport.

Personally, I never understood what sport has to do with news programmes, but that's another debate!

SPDUB

irishfeen wrote: »

.. You have to have sport, not the same without it!

No you don't .

Much better without it .That's what sport programmes are for .

galtee boy

I like it, I think RTE could have some serious competition here for news, and it leaves TV3 news completely in the shade. Studio and graphics very slick and Alison is quite pleasing on the eye too !

irishfeen

SPDUB wrote: »

No you don't .

Much better without it .That's what sport programmes are for .

They should have a sports programme at 7 so and don't bother with that Emmerdale s.hite

Gonzo

The only way this can be sorted is to make a very quick decision to add most ITV programming back to UTV Ireland (that TV3 does not have the rights to) and run all these programmes at same time as ITV.

Local UTV and ITV programming could be replaced with a showing of ITN news here?

Keep the UTV Ireland news because that seems like a really good job they are doing on that. Keep the Irish adverts and announcements obviously. Somehow they will have to secure the rights to the same films and sports as ITV. Add programming after midnight, no programming after midnight seems daft.

It seems nobody really wants UTV Ireland to add Irish programming other than the news, what the people really want is just ITV with Irish ads and 1 Irish news bulletin a day.

irishfeen

Gonzo wrote: »

The only way this can be sorted is to make a very quick decision to add most ITV programming back to UTV Ireland (that TV3 does not have the rights to) and run all these programmes at same time as ITV.

Local UTV and ITV programming could be replaced with a showing of ITN news here?

Keep the UTV Ireland news because that seems like a really good job they are doing on that. Keep the Irish adverts and announcements obviously. Somehow they will have to secure the rights to the same films and sports as ITV. Add programming after midnight, no programming after midnight seems daft.

It seems nobody really wants UTV Ireland to add Irish programming other than the news, what the people really want is just ITV with Irish ads and 1 Irish news bulletin a day.

Impossible for UTVi to do most if not all of what you suggest - films, sports and other itv content are locked down in rights agreements with RTÉ and TV3 so without buying TV3 UTVi will remain the same for at least 2-3 years as rights come up again.

Gonzo

if they can't sort it out then UPC are gonna lose alot of people. UTV NI has been around since the 60s, it was there long before TV3 was even tought of and at one stage was the second highest rated channel in the Republic of Ireland after RTE1.

Losing ITV2, 3 and 4 cost UPC quite a few viewers so they had to fix that and bring those channels back. Losing UTV NI is of a far bigger loss than the loss of the other 3 ITV channels so the fallout Im expecting is going to be on a much grander scale.

The Dark Knight

mackersdublin wrote: »

Only positive from Ireland Live was that it was 100% HD, a first for an Irish news programme, i think

If you can get it in HD!!
utvi need to get their HD channel up on Saoirview and get it out of the HD pack on Sky. Nobody is ever going to upgrade to HD only to get utvi HD (especially when they can tune in ITV/UTV-HD for free)

cnoc

The report from Mitchelstown was too much dragged out. More of a local news item if the report was that long.

expectationlost

irishfeen wrote: »

They really should move to 5.30 .. They would destroy TV3 and be a lead into RTÉ.

went downstaris specially to watch it, turned on RTE and then forgot it was on till the break and missed the first half of it.

no plans to stream it live say UTV Ireland at the moment, I presume the news will be on the playback later

endakenny

For now, there are no news bulletins at weekends on UTV Ireland. But what will it do if an exceptionally serious event takes place, e.g. another 9/11?

I'm aware that TV3 has simulcasted CNN on 9/11 and US presidential elections. Does UTV Ireland have such an arrangement with another news service?

irishfeen

Gonzo wrote: »

if they can't sort it out then UPC are gonna lose alot of people. UTV NI has been around since the 60s, it was there long before TV3 was even tought of and at one stage was the second highest rated channel in the Republic of Ireland after RTE1.

Losing ITV2, 3 and 4 cost UPC quite a few viewers so they had to fix that and bring those channels back. Losing UTV NI is of a far bigger loss than the loss of the other 3 ITV channels so the fallout Im expecting is going to be on a much grander scale.

Yes as I said I would be massively surprised if UTVNI wasn't on UPC again very soon.

irishmusicfeed

UTV Ireland the countries newest and latest television channel aired its first news bulletin tonight at 18:30 with Ireland Live. Broadcasting 30 minutes later than RTÉ News and one hour later than TV3 News, its first broadcast was led by their main female news anchor Alison Comyn. Alison who previously reported on RTÉ and Sky News Ireland proved to be the ultimate professional providing viewers with a relaxed presence. The broadcast did not rely too much on Dublin unlike its competitors instead Cork City & County and Limerick dominated in their reports. The studio is very impressive with its modern, brightly lite layout which could easily be compared with but not as colourful as the UK’s Channel 4’s News studio. The Ireland Live studio makes TV3’s Chroma Key news studio design look something from a value pack.

UTV’s Ireland Live could be a major threat for RTÉ well into the future while it already looks like it could decimate TV3’s news coverage especially if they decided to go into direct competition and move its bulletin to the 5.30 spot alongside TV3. No doubt UTV will reveal whether its first live broadcast took a bite of out of RTÉ News at 6 audience figures when it went head-to-head at 6.30pm.

Later tonight UTV Ireland will reveal its other news show, its late night Ireland Live at 10 will feature news updates, debate and more hosted by its male news anchor Chris Donoghue and Alison Comyn.

No sport features in their news updates, but they are expected to cover some major sports news stories similar to how UTV Live in Northern Ireland does at a later date. The weather was hosted by Jenny Buckely which covered both sides of the island unlike its sister channel in Northern Ireland.

Based on their first broadcast UTV’s Ireland Live is very impressive and brings much needed competition.

UTV News is available weekdays live at 18:30 with Ireland Live and Ireland Live at 10 at 22:00. Following their broadcast they will be available to view on the new look UTV Player (avaialble online, Apple Store and Google play). No news bulletins are scheduled for the weekends.

hotmail.com

endakenny wrote: »

For now, there are no news bulletins at weekends on UTV Ireland. But what will it do if an exceptionally serious event takes place, e.g. another 9/11?

I'm aware that TV3 has simulcasted CNN on 9/11 and US presidential elections. Does UTV Ireland have such an arrangement with another news service?

I can't see UTV Ireland concentrating too heavily on international stories.

The next big test for their news team is the impending general election. Will they bring us a special programme to rival RTE?

endakenny

[QUOTE=hotmail.com;93700878]I can't see UTV Ireland concentrating too heavily on international stories.

The next big test for their news team is the impending general election. Will they bring us a special programme to rival RTE?[/QUOTE]
I doubt that it's going to ignore them.

After all, US presidential and British general elections and major terrorist attacks and natural disasters are of huge interest to Irish people, as they are to people of other countries.

galtee boy

galtee boy wrote: »

Guys, give it a chance, it's not even on air a week yet ! As I said in a previous post, from 8.30 this morning to 9pm tonight, the schedules of both UTVs is the same. But since they showed an old Foyles War last night instead of the new series, I can't guarantee that the same episode of each programme was shown today. UTVI have said that their plan is to replicate the UTV NI / ITV schedule as much as possible, except for news and current affairs obviously . What's the big problem if the odd show or series is shown on a different night ? How many viewers did ITN news have in ROI ? Tiny I would think and UPC viewers have BBC News channel, that Sky don't have. and is it not the case, that whatever CL game is on UTV on a Tues/Wed night, is also on either TV3 or RTE2 ? It will take time and perhaps all the moaning and groaning from UPC customers, will speed up the process of UTVI simulcasting UTV, but the schedules will never be 100% identical due to news etc, but in time, the difference will be insignificant .

Do you work for UTV Ireland?