ITV may cut lunchtime news to 30 mins to boost ratings

by Joe Lepper, Brand Republic 20-Jul-06, 11:00

LONDON - ITV's hour-long lunchtime news bulletin could be slashed to just 30 minutes, under plans being considered by daytime controller Alison Sharman.

As part of a review of the entire daytime schedule, one option is to cut back the hour-long news bulletin that was launched last year.

This currently includes 40 minutes of national news with a viewer phone-in segment, as well as 20 minutes of local news, but under the plans this would be cut to just 20 minutes of national news and 10 minutes of local coverage.

The review is seen as vital to see off heightened competition from ITV's rivals during the daytime, in an effort to attract more ratings and advertiser revenue, most notably from Channel 4, which earlier this year poached one of ITV's prized daytime assets Paul O'Grady.

Sharman joined ITV in the newly created role of director of factual and daytime last year from the BBC, where her roles included controller of children's programming and daytime controller.

ITV confirmed that the initiative to reduce the timing of the lunchtime news within the daytime schedule was "under consideration".

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