Oddly enough, as ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 grew in size, I think people were beginning to call ITV "ITV1". But that's redundant now.
I watch little enough ITV to worry about their on-screen branding*. And no, there's very little difference now between regions. That standout exception is Scotland, where the STV rules the roost. For a while STV was so rebellious that in a cost saving measure, they didn't broadcast some ITV shows because they apparently didn't have massive appeal to Scots (who instead got repeats of the US remake of Cracker and other such fare). This disagreement even saw Scots miss the first broadcast of Downton Abbey, unless they had satellite or cable and access to an English feed! The one part of ITV's branding in recent times that has really annoyed me has been their insistence on a common font and style for programme end credits. Yes, they're as short and shrunk as they are anywhere else, but not allowing production companies to employ credits that suit their programmes seems very short-sighted. I'm hoping that ITV will have loosened its grip a little. We'll have to wait and see. I'm sorry to have to say that "ITN" as a consumer brand has gone. It's the "ITV News" now. ITN does exist, and they also make the Channel 4 news, but the days of lots of regional companies with their own brands has gone. In London we even had two brands - Thames (later Carlton) and LWT. Thames ran Monday until 5.15pm Friday, when they would "hand over" to LWT (London Weekend Television). But the companies really did have different sensibilities. Thames had the gritty dramas shot on film, and studio sitcoms. LWT's big thing was shiny-floored big game shows and variety shows shot in their studios on London's southbank. These studios are still used for those types of shows. Indeed you could argue that LWT and the BBC from the same era, created the big TV night that remains Saturday night in the UK. Whenever I read about US networks just showing re-runs, and then read about the massive audiences that X-Factor or Strictly get on a Saturday night, I do wonder if someone somewhere is missing a big trick. While in tinseltown and amongst the entertainment biz, everyone is "out" on Saturday nights, I just don't believe that's the case for everyone. Particularly when times are tough and households' entertainment budgets are limited. I'd love to discover some viewing stats for other countries around the world examining Saturday night viewing figures in comparison to the rest of the week. Adam *That said, I quite enjoyed the first episode of Mr Selfridge, with Jeremy Piven, last weekend. Coming to PBS once Downton's finished. On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 4:59 PM, Mark Jeffries <[email protected]>wrote: > Most people called ITV1 "ITV" anyway (and the oldies still called it by > the regional licensee names--there are probably some in London who still > refer to it as "Thames" or "Rediffusion" or in the Midlands who call it > "ATV"). > > I have a feeling that beyond the "anoraks" who want the regional > identities back (and the live on-camera announcers introducing shows and > test patterns and signon theme songs), there is going to be a reaction to > the local news shows losing their names, with the interesting exception of > Yorkshire's "Calendar." Once again, the anchors are the only remaining > local identity, since all of the local news shows now have similar titles > sequences, graphics packages, sets and theme music. Considering that ITV > had tried to get Ofcom to allow them to get out of the local news business, > the fact that the shows are still around is a good thing. > > And is Big Ben and "The Awakening" now out of the national ITV newscasts? > (And do the national ITV booth announcers still say what the regional > announcers always said--"we now cross over to the studios of ITN for 'News > at Ten,' presented this evening by...") > > Mark Jeffries > Saints Spotlight Editor > [email protected] > > > On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 3:45 AM, Kevin M. <[email protected]>wrote: > >> ITV1 is now simply ITV >> >> http://www.itv.com/news/2013-01-14/new-itv-logo-rebrand-2013/ >> >> Its new logo looks not-unlike the proposed-then-rejected logo for the UC >> system of colleges here in California (rejected because it was an >> abomination of graphic design -- might as well have used Comic Sans) >> >> >> http://www.bruinsnation.com/2012/12/15/3769256/the-rejected-uc-logo-and-our-universitys-leadership >> >> -- >> Kevin M. 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