ITC REJECT SHIFT OF CHANNEL 5 NEWS

CHANNEL 5’s hopes of moving their 6 O’clock news to 5.30 pm have been dashed by the ITC.
Channel 5 wanted to move the news to 5.30 pm with hourly bulletins at 7 pm and 8 pm. The ITC though, have stipulated in Channel 5’s licence agreement that peak time viewing between 6 pm - 10.30 pm must be adhered to.
A spokesperson for the ITC said: “Proposals put forward by C5 did not adequately meet the channels requirements under section 16.2 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 which states that a sufficient amount of time is given to news programmes and current news programmes at the peak viewing time. Whilst the ITC have some sympathy with the case that C5 put forward, the Commission was unwilling to change the licence requirements for C5 to provide 20 minutes of news and 10 minutes of current affairs in peak time being reduced and moved out of peak time”.
Channel 5’s Head of Press at Channel 5 Paul Leather said: “Even though the ITC have rejected our 5.30 pm news proposal, we still plan to get to air a special one hour news programme in the run up to the general election. For three weeks an extended version will begin at 5.30 pm and finish at 6.30 pm – which is in keeping with ITC peak viewing requirements.
“We are disappointed here at Channel 5 but we are looking at other options aimed at grabbing the maximum audience. During Bank Holidays when other news channels aren’t operating normally, our viewing statistics rise dramatically. Our current 6pm news slot is placed within a very competitive frame, particularly with the BBC. Our desire to change was based on achieving a wider audience but the ITC have ruled to keep the news within peak time.”
The new show called, ‘5 News and Talk’ will only use ITN news during the first half of the show. The second portion will consist of an interactive talk slot and will be produced by Anglia. (AMcE)