''ITV News Central'' is a British television news service for The

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and West Midlands, broadcast and produced by ITV Central.

History

Launched on Friday 1 January 1982, replacing ''

ATV Today ''ATV Today'' is a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ATV, serving the English Midlands. The programme aired from 5 October 1964 until 31 December 1981 – the final day of broadcasting from ATV before the c ...

'', ''Central News'' was initially a pan-regional service based in Birmingham airing a 6pm programme on weeknights alongside shorter weekday bulletins after ITN's ''News at One'' and '' News at Ten''. During the rest of the decade, the region was eventually broken up into three sub-regions, receiving their own news service. Separate services for the West and East of the region were planned to begin from day one, but an industrial dispute over the launch of the East Midlands service – and the opening of new studios in Nottingham – resulted in the entire region continuing to receive a sole pan-regional programme from Birmingham. The launch of the Nottingham-based service was initially delayed for a month, but the dispute was not resolved until September 1983, when the news service for the East Midlands was finally introduced. Within a few months, Nottingham operations were moved from a temporary set-up at Giltbrook to Central's new complex at nearby Lenton Lane. On Monday 9 January 1989, a separate South Midlands service covering most of

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

and parts of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, north

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

, north

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

and

Ludlow Ludlow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road (Great Britain), A49 road which bypasses the town. The town is near the conf ...

was launched from a new computerised news centre in Abingdon. The first programme was infamous for the failure of the studio's electronic video system resulting in a calamitous broadcast. Thereafter, the Birmingham edition covered solely the West Midlands region (

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

(except

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, the West Midlands and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

). Originally, the main weekday evening programme did not have a different title from other bulletins. This finally changed on 8 March 1999, when the title ''Central News at Six'' was adopted – coinciding with being rescheduled from 6.25pm to 6pm. By Monday 24 July 2006, the 6pm programme had been renamed again, to ''Central Tonight'' (except for the South Midlands edition, which retained the ''Central News at Six'' name until its final 6pm programme on 1 December 2006). By December 2006, ''Central News'' bulletins during ''

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

'' had become pan-regional across all three sub-regions. Weekend bulletins became pan-regional across the West and East Midlands earlier in the year, whilst the South Midlands retained its own weekend bulletins right up until the end of ''Central News South'' on 3 December 2006. ITV Central Headquarters Gas Street

December 2006 – February 2009

On 4 December 2006, the South Midlands sub-region was disbanded, as follows: *The parts of

served by Central South joined the majority of the county already covered by

ITV West ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

and receiving '' The West Tonight'' broadcast from

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. *

and

was now covered by the West Midlands edition from Birmingham. *In the rest of the region (

and the

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

area), news operations merged with Meridian West, to form the non-franchise '' ITV Thames Valley'' service, broadcasting '' Thames Valley Today/Tonight'' from the existing Meridian West studio in Whiteley,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

. The new programme, which also covered

and parts of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and

retained Central's Abingdon newsroom as the main newsgathering base for the new region but the studio was closed. ''Central News'' bulletins during ''GMTV'' were now pan-regional across the West Midlands and East Midlands only. Meanwhile, in what had now become the ''ITV Thames Valley'' region, bulletins during ''GMTV'' were pan-regional across the entire combined ''ITV Meridian'' and ''ITV Thames Valley'' regions (i.e., the entire South and South East of England), and branded as '' GMTV News''. While weekend ''Meridian News'' bulletins were pan-regional in the South and South East sub-regions, ''Thames Valley Today/Tonight'' continued to produce its own weekend bulletins.

February 2009 – September 2013

As of 23 February 2009, lunchtime and early evening bulletins in the West and East Midlands on weekdays became pan-regional. The final sub-regional 6pm editions of ''Central Tonight'' were broadcast on Friday 20 February 2009. The previous sub-regional elements were: *A 6-minute opt-out during the main 6pm programme *Localised weather forecast during the 6pm programme *The full 8-minute late weeknight bulletins Both sub-regional editions utilise the same presenter(s) and studio, therefore one of the two opt-outs (depending on the days news) is pre-recorded 'as live' shortly before broadcast. On Monday 14 January 2013, the news service was relaunched and rebranded as ''ITV News Central''.

September 2013 – present

On 23 July 2013, proposals for a more localised Channel 3 news service were approved – latterly, ''ITV News Central'' extended the East and West opt-out services from 6 minutes to at least 20 minutes during the half hour 6pm programme, in addition to separate lunchtime and weekend bulletins for the two sub-regions. The late night bulletins are also retained.OFCOM sets out licence terms for ITV, STV, UTV and Channel 5
, OFCOM, 23 July 2013 In the former Thames Valley region, plans were approved for a 10-minute opt out within the 6pm edition of '' ITV News Meridian'' for the south of England and a late night bulletin after ''News at Ten''. The expanded sub-regional service launched on Monday 16 September 2013. Central currently operates two sub-regions: *Central West serving

City of Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, West Midlands,

and parts of

*Central East serving

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

and parts of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

and

- broadcast from Birmingham with a newsgathering centre based in Nottingham.

References

External links

* {{ITV News Nations & Regions 1982 British television series debuts 1980s British television series 1990s British television series 2000s British television series 2010s British television series 2020s British television series British English-language television shows ITV regional news shows Television news in England Television shows produced by Central Independent Television