''ITV News West Country'' is a British television news service broadcast and produced by
ITV West Country.
Overview
''ITV News West Country''
is broadcast from studios in
Brislington, Bristol, with district reporters and camera crews based in newsrooms at Plymouth, Exeter, Truro, Taunton, Swindon and Gloucester.
History
The nightly regional news programme was launched on 16 February 2009 as ''The West Country Tonight'', following the merger of two regional news services – ''
The West Tonight'' (
ITV West
ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV (TV network), ITV franchise area in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to a broadcaster by the regulator Ofcom.
There is no channel, past or present, ...
) and ''
Westcountry Live'' (
ITV Westcountry
ITV Westcountry, formerly known as Westcountry Television and Carlton Westcountry, was the ITV franchise holder for the south west of England, covering Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, southern and western Somerset and western Dorset. The com ...
).
From 24 November 2016, ''ITV News West Country'' began broadcasting in HD to the ITV West and ITV Westcountry regions on
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
and
Freesat only. At present,
Freeview Freeview may refer to:
*Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia
*Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand
*Freeview (UK), a ...
and
Virgin Media
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...
carry the
ITV News Central
''ITV News Central'' is a British television news service for The Midlands, broadcast and produced by ITV Central.
History
Launched on Friday 1 January 1982, replacing ''ATV Today'', ''Central News'' was initially a pan-regional service base ...
region on ITV HD in the West and Westcountry, requiring these viewers to use the standard definition
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
channel for their regional ''ITV News West Country'' service.
On air staff
When the programme launched, it was presented by ITV West presenters
Lisa Aziz
Lisa Soraya Aziz (born 19 June 1962) is a British news presenter. She is best known as the presenter of the Morning News on LBC. Before this she worked for ITV Westcountry as a co-presenter for the evening news programme: The West Country Tonig ...
and
Steve Scott (formerly of ''The West Tonight''). ITV West weather presenters
Alex Beresford and
Bob Crampton were both retained. Beresford left the programme in a full time capacity to present the weather for
''Good Morning Britain'' in 2017; Crampton remained in his role until his retirement in 2018.
However, Aziz was suspended in June 2009 from her position and left ITV in February 2010, with former ''
Westcountry Live'' freelancer Vanessa Cuddeford taking over. Scott left his position to become sports editor for
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since conti ...
in May 2010, and was replaced by former ''
Meridian Tonight
''ITV News Meridian'' is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV Meridian.
Overview
The news service is produced and broadcast from ITV Meridian's studios in Whiteley, near Fareham with reporters also based at bureaux i ...
'' presenter Ian Axton.
Bristol-based district correspondent Cordelia Lynch became a stand-in main presenter for Cuddeford from May 2012 when she went on maternity leave. Both Cuddeford and Lynch announced their departures from ITV West Country a year later.
Kylie Pentelow of ''
BBC East Midlands Today'' replaced Cuddeford from July 2013.
On 3 March 2017, it was announced that former
Sky News
Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...
presenter
Mark Longhurst would be taking over from Ian Axton, following his promotion to Head of News for
ITV West Country in January 2017. Longhurst left the programme seven months later.
On 22 January 2018, it was announced that interim presenter
Jonty Messer had become Longhurst's replacement.
Kylie Pentelow moved to ''Wales at Six'' on 4 February 2019, for a one-year secondment.
Eli-Louise Wringe is maternity leave cover for Pentelow from April 2022.
[Ex-BBC presenter Sabet Choudhury joins ''ITV News West Country'']
itv.com, 3 October 2022
Messer left ITV on 27 July. Sabet Choudhury succeeds Messer from 17 October 2022.
Notable on air staff include
Ben McGrail
Ben McGrail (born 4 November) is a British broadcast journalist, best known for his work at ITV News West Country as their Somerset Correspondent.
Career
McGrail studied broadcast journalism at the University of Leeds from 2004 to 2007 where ...
(Somerset correspondent).
Notable former on air staff include
Lisa Aziz
Lisa Soraya Aziz (born 19 June 1962) is a British news presenter. She is best known as the presenter of the Morning News on LBC. Before this she worked for ITV Westcountry as a co-presenter for the evening news programme: The West Country Tonig ...
,
Alex Beresford,
Bob Crampton,
Mark Longhurst,
Jonty Messer,
Peter Rowell
Peter Rowell (born 17 June 1958) is an English former radio and television presenter.
Rowell spent much of his career working in the West of England. In March 2012, he was jailed for six years after admitting 12 charges of indecent sexual assa ...
and
Steve Scott.
Sub-regional service
As part of the pan-regional launch of what was initially called ''The Westcountry Tonight'' in February 2009, two opt-out services were retained, incorporating the first half of the main evening programme on weeknights at 6pm, the full late bulletins after ''News at Ten'' on weeknights, and sports news on Mondays and Fridays. The opt-outs were known as East and West at first, then changed to more geographically accurate names. ITV News West Country (South West) covers Cornwall, Devon, parts of Dorset and parts of Somerset, while ITV News West Country (West) covers Bristol, parts of Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire.
On 5 September 2011, separate weekday daytime bulletins for the two sub-regions (at breakfast and lunchtime) were reintroduced.
In July 2013, proposals for a more localised Channel 3 news service were approved. ''ITV News West Country'' extended the East (now West) and West (now South West) opt-out services to at least 20 minutes of the 6pm programme, in addition to separate weekend bulletins for the two sub-regions, effectively restoring full services for the two areas.
OFCOM sets out licence terms for ITV, STV, UTV and Channel 5
, OFCOM, 23 July 2013 The changes came into effect from 16 September 2013. Both sub-regional services utilise the same presenter(s) and studio/set in Bristol, therefore one of the two opt-outs – depending on the day's news – is pre-recorded 'as live' shortly before transmission.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:ITV News West Country
2009 British television series debuts
2010s British television series
2020s British television series
ITV regional news shows
Mass media in Bristol
Television news in England