15 December 2005
ITV confirmed today that it will axe its struggling 24-hour news service.
The channel was introduced five years ago and was the third 24-hour news stream to be unveiled after Sky News and BBC News 24.
After recently cutting the channel's output on digital platform Freeview from 24 to 12 hours to make room for new channel ITV4 Digital, the broadcaster today announced its final closure.
Director of television for ITV Simon Shaps justified the decision.
"The question we have asked ourselves is what does news look like in five or ten years' time?
"The answer is that it looks very different from the traditional 24-hour rolling news format that we are used to now."
The move, which is estimated to cause about 70 redundancies, has met with strong reactions from unions who denounced it as an "absolute outrage" and a "kick in the stomach".
Despite investments of £3.5 million per annum the channel failed to make an impact on audiences, winning a mere 0.12 per cent stake in viewers in multi-channel homes compared to 0.55 and 0.54 per cent for Sky News and BBC News 24 respectively.
The broadcaster has promised to pump investment into other terrestrial and digital news channels, saying: "Increasingly viewers will want news on demand via a variety of different platforms and we are investing in the technology and expertise to deliver that."
Space freed up by axeing the service on Freeview will be used to provide a new children's channel in February next year, a spokesman said.
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