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What changes would you make to improve ITV?
jazzfunkster
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You are the channel controller of their flagship channel ITV, newly appointed and been given a free hand to make changes to their programme output and any other areas you consider need attention. What changes would you make and why?
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Well first thing I do is cut back on soaps especially after 8pm & put more comedy, music or anything that does not involve a celebrity. Football aside which in itself is not great I barely watch ITV1 before 9pm. I do watch The Chase & Loose Women now & then.
2. Reduce the number of soap episodes per week (Coronation Street on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Emmerdale on Tuesday and Thursday).
3. Axe Loose Women, or make it more like The View, with more intelligent conversation other than the menopause and sex lives.
4. Restore the ITN title to the news bulletins.
5. Improve the daytime schedule.
6. Cut back on shows like X Factor, BGT, I'm a Celebrity... etc.
Better news coverage from ITN. I like the idea of restoring the ITN title to the bulletins.
ITV were never as good as BBC at comedy. You tend to calm down during the adverts and it breaks the flow of the comedy. However there were some good comedies from ITV, they should keep trying.
ITV needs more money to spend on programmes. Loose Women for example is just a radio chat show with pictures. It needs more visual content.
Promote some of the best of National/Regional presenters for a light yet more hard News based Breakfast programme. I'd personally bring in sub-Regional News updates every half hour too*.
Produce a new Political programme on a Monday night after News At Ten. Have the programme last for a hour with 15 minutes dedicated to each Pan-Region (this would replace the 1 hour monthly Regional Political programmes). Move 'The Agenda' to a Wednesday night at 8pm after Corrie, with the programme now being a hour long.
I'd cut Corrie and Emmerdale to 4 episodes per week - Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Try and find new formats to bring other types of viewer to the channel. I'd move the Coronation Street and Emmerdale repeats back to the main ITV channel. Yes it would cost more due to repeat fees etc but those programmes are still seen as quality by many a viewer. It's all about image!
* IF STV and UTV ever get taken over by ITV plc, I feel they should ask to cut the 6pm Regional News to 20 minutes. Then as already stated I'd increase the amount of bulletins in Daybreak to compete with the BBC. Yes I'm aware that ITV would have a 20 minutes Evening Regional News programme compared with the BBC's 30 minutes. However ITV has more sub-regions than the BBC (especially in Scotland), meaning there is potential for a more localised service for the viewer. UTV and ITV Wales would also still benefit by a better Regional News service at Breakfast.
Have National idents and announcers for ITV Wales.
Embrace each Region with minimum Production obligations (I feel this should be happening for the BBC and Channel 4 too) replacing the current 'Outside London' quota.
Could you remind us of some of the ''good comedies'' from ITV because with the exception of Rising Damp I can't think of any.
What sort of minimum production quota would you impose on say Channel ITV ? The BBC produces far more programming outside London than ITV (ironic really when you think of the early days of ITV when places like Aberdeen, Norwich,Newcastle and even Carlisle were contributors to the network).
You'd cut back on the three most watched programmes on the channel? What would you replace them with that could achieve the same ratings and in turn revenue
Granada on it's own could still produce Corrie, Yorkshire could produce Emmerdale and both regions made money by SELLING the programmes to the other regions! Now it's 'ITV STUDIOS' But we still get them on STV because of the historic links. I can't understand why English viewers tolerated the take over! OFCOM have a lot to answer for!
Get rid of the regional news - they are serving no-one and just pretending to provide a news service to maintain the PSB requirement.
Instead I would divert the money and get the regional setups to make programmes for the national network, like they used to.
Maybe they could even choose what area to specialise in, but require every region to make documentaries, sitcoms, sketch shows. These do not have to be huge budgets and could be made by independents on a shoestring.
Some would work - some would be rubbish - I always remember the 10.30 slot on Thursdays was local "wacky night" on Anglia - we got all sorts of stuff like Arts show "Wide angle" which was one presenter shot on a camcorder covering local bands, theatre groups, movies etc.
The local "Snippets" news was pieces of A4 paper being dropped in a steam/ drain and flowing past the camera in closeup.
Go back to showing the soaps only twice a week per soap
Axe This Morning and Loose Women
Create/commission more dramas and comedies
Bring back ITV News channel
Launch an ITV Sports channel
Which is what the general public can do to ITV.
So ITV need to change their tune and serve the public, serve the household.
It would make them a small fortune every year, like they used to do.
No, they can keep the football if they dump Adrian Chiles. The rest of their team may not be perfect but at least they don't look/sound like they've woken up at 3am having just got divorced and suffering from depression because of it.
I am guessing that 99% of the suggestions are based purely on your own preference and not on performance or cost ?
Although i do miss the old regions myself, times change.
2) I would also limit soaps. Emmerdale would be shown on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm as it used to be. Corrie would be Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.30pm.
3) Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7pm I would ask regional companies to produce output for their region. This could include comedy, quizzes and documentaries. This could be a like a testing station for trying out new programming that, if successful regionally, could be picked up for Network.
4) I would promote certain nights of the week as specific events. For instance, "Monday night on ITV. The place for quality British drama". People would know that Monday night is drama night. This would give a higher profile to the shows they're airing.
I can't think of anything else right now, but that's enough for going on with!
Scrap loose women and replace with Crown Court
Bring back World in action
Bring back This Week , Weekend World,
Oh...and dig up Sir David Frost, and put him back on Tv-am on Sunday mornings.
While I'd personally like more of those and less of the populist non-drama, I don't expect them to cater for my tastes, so I can see they'll put more effort into whatever's cheapest which makes people watch.
I agree with your comment about times changing. To be honest (as much as I miss them) I think the Regions as they were would look naff if they were still around these days. However I think there is a case for more Regionally made Productions to be shown on the Network. That's why I feel the 'Outside London' quota should be scrapped on the PSB channels in exchange for a small quota for each Region instead. When an area as populous, important and big as the Midlands gets very little network Production then we know something is wrong.
I think you may be getting a bit ambitious with that one:D
The trouble with ITV is that their programmes are catering for the largest audiences that will attract the advertisers and show like Jeremy Kyle, which people are always saying is trash TV, must attract audiences, as it also attracts advertisers. The same goes for the soaps, talent shows and the like. If audiences drop advertisers will not advertise and so does revenue. Big something up and put something controversial on and the audiences soar.
ITV will screen the most brain dead, cheap to produce, moronic crud it can find, if it gets viewers watching, it will therefore attract the accompanying cruddy, brain dead, advertising. Keeping advertisers happy is what it is all about at the end of the day that is where the revenue comes from.
I think there is little one could do to improve ITV, it is what is is, run by advertisers.
Really irritating to get to the end of a drama thinking "who was that familiar face playing xxxxx", and then not being able to read it because it has been reduced to microscopic size.
• to cater for the widest possible range of audiences – across different times of day and through different types of programme; and
• to maintain high standards of programme-making.
See the first pdf at http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/reviews-investigations/public-service-broadcasting/annrep/psb13/
Ofcom says the PSB broadcasters taken together have to meet this remit, which in practice gives ITV considerable wriggle room, which it would argue it must have as it is advertising based. The question is, is it given too much? As audience figures decline steadily it's not likely to be given less!
FWIW I think ITV has been trying compared to a few years ago, with good quality shows such as Endeavour and Broadchurch.
Pity its permanent logo makes it look like one of the tuppence-ha'penny minor channels, but anyway...