''UTV Live'' is a British television news service broadcast and produced by UTV.
Overview
The main edition of ''UTV Live'' airs from 18:00 to 18:30 every weeknight, covering the day's news, current affairs and sport from across Northern Ireland.
The 18:00 programme (known on air as ''UTV Live at Six'') is broadcast from UTV's headquarters in City Quays 2, Belfast. UTV also has studio facilities at Parliament Buildings, StormontUTV Annual Programme Statement 2008 and Programme Review 2007 UTV Media and news bureaux in Derry and
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
with an intention to open a further bureau in
Omagh
Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers Drumragh and Camowen meet to form the Strule. Northern Ireland's capital city Belfast is 68 m ...
. The station also makes use of video journalists based in Coleraine,
Enniskillen
Enniskillen ( , from ga, Inis Ceithleann , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,823 a ...
and
Newry
Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011.
Newry ...
.
History
''UTV Live'' was introduced in January 1993 as a new name for Ulster Television's existing news programmes; ''Six Tonight'', the station's half-hour evening news magazine, and ''Ulster Newstime'' for shorter bulletins.
Following the introduction of the ''
ITV Evening News
The ''ITV Evening News'' is the evening news programme produced by ITN on the British television network ITV. It airs Monday to Friday from 6:30pm, covering British national and international news stories and is presented by Mary Nightingale. ...
'' in March 1999, the programme was brought forward by half an hour to start at 17:30. The first half-hour saw feature reports, light-hearted stories and the weather forecast branded as part of a separate programme, ''UTV Life'', which ran before the main evening news, started at 18:00 and kept the ''UTV Live'' name."UTV unveils shake-up for news" Belfast Telegraph, 26 February 1999 ''UTV Live'' and ''UTV Life'' were merged into one hour-long programme, running from 17:30, in 2002 and were split into separate programmes again on 3 September 2007, with the original titles in use from 1999 to 2001.
Mid-morning weekday and lunchtime weekend ''UTV Live'' bulletins were axed in February 2009 when the station was permitted to reduce their weekly news output from five hours and twenty minutes to four hours by regulator Ofcom following a lengthy review of the viability of PSB content across the whole UK. A separate sports bulletin, ''Sport on Sunday'', was broadcast following the Sunday evening bulletin from September 1999 to early 2007. This bulletin was separate from the Sunday evening news as it was sponsored by the ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
''.
Between February 2007 and April 2009, only the main weekday evening programme was branded as ''UTV Live'', while all other bulletins were branded as ''UTV News''.
''UTV Live'' broadcast its final edition from Havelock House on 29 June 2018 and began broadcasting from UTV's new headquarters at City Quays on 2 July 2018.
''UTV Live Tonight''
On 27 April 2009, UTV launched a 30-minute late evening news and current affairs programme, ''UTV Live Tonight'', which aired after '' News at Ten'' on Monday – Thursday nights and incorporated the station's late news bulletin alongside extended political and business coverage.
On 10 August 2016, it was announced that UTV were axing the programme at the end of September 2016 and replacing it with a ten-minute late news bulletin, airing each weekday after '' News at Ten''.ITV axes UTV Live Tonight in network revamp Belfast Telegraph, 10 August 2016
The final edition of ''UTV Live Tonight'' aired on 29 September 2016. The station introduced a weekly hour-long Monday night current affairs programme called ''View from Stormont'' in October 2016.
''UTV Life''
''UTV Life'', a separate live magazine programme concentrating on features and light-hearted stories, was broadcast at 17:30 on weekdays. This programme had its own editor"Fan power wins back live show" Belfast Telegraph, 22 February 2004; accessed 17 June 2007 and presenting/reporting team.
''UTV Life'' originally began on 8 March 1999 as a stand-alone programme with features reports, light-hearted stories and an extended weather forecast. The programme ran from 17:30, preceding ''UTV Live at Six'' until the two programmes were integrated into an hour-long ''UTV Live'' programme in April 2002.
The ''UTV Life'' branding for the features section of ''UTV Live'' returned to on-air use in September 2007. UTV Today, accessed 18 January 2009 The features element of the became a separate programme to accommodate a sponsorship deal. The relaunch of ''UTV Life'' saw the programme gain a different theme tune, opening title sequence and graphic design, with a similar presenting, reporting and editorial team as the former features segment of ''UTV Live''.
As part of cost-cutting measures and a reduction in regional programming at the station, ''UTV Life'' was axed shortly after the broadcasting regulator OFCOM gave UTV the go ahead to reduce its non-news output, with the final programme airing on 6 February 2009.
The series returned in January 2016 in a weekly 30-minute timeslot on Friday nights, following the late UTV Live bulletin and presented by
Pamela Ballantine
Pamela Ballantine (née Rolston, born 20 October 1958, Belfast)
. The programme returned to a weekly primetime slot at 20:00 in September 2016.
Mark McFadden
Mark McFadden (born 1955, Derry, Northern Ireland) is a broadcaster and journalist with ITV News. He is based in Northern Ireland where he broadcasts for UTV.
He is currently the North West correspondent for UTV Live, the flagship early even ...
(North West correspondent)
* Rose Neill (''UTV Live'' co-presenter)
Former notable on air team
* Lynda Bryans – presenter (1996–2010)"Lynda Bryans makes dignified farewell to UTV" Belfast Telegraph, 1 July 2010; accessed 23 July 2010
* Tina Campbell – presenter
* Jamie Delargy (Business editor)
* Jane Loughrey (Correspondent)
* Frank Mitchell (Weather presenter)
* Mike Nesbitt – presenter (1993–2006); former Leader of the
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...
Northern Ireland Screen
Northern Ireland Screen is the national screen agency for Northern Ireland. The agency's purpose is to promote the development of a sustainable film, animation and television production industry.About Us > Overview Northern Ireland Screen website, ...
board
In October 2008, UTV announced its intention to cut 13 jobs in the news department due to corporate restructuring. The station declared it was offering staff a voluntary redundancy package. Staff who were reported to have accepted the redundancy package were:
* Ivan Little – reporter (1980–2009); now freelancer
* Claire McCollum – presenter/reporter (2000–09)
*
Jeanie Johnston
''Jeanie Johnston'' is a replica of a three masted barque that was originally built in Quebec, Canada, in 1847 by the Scottish-born shipbuilder John Munn. The replica ''Jeanie Johnston'' performs a number of functions: an ocean-going sail train ...
– Features Editor (2000–09); Reporter (1978–2009)
*
Fearghal McKinney
Fearghal McKinney (born 6 July 1962 in Derry, Northern Ireland)Adrian Logan – sports editor; sports presenter/reporter (1985–2009)"Angry Logie quits UTV" Belfast Telegraph, 24 April 2009, accessed 24 April 2009
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...