He says: It seems to be completely mad that ITV wish to but their regions from 12 to 9. ITV Meridian plans to axe the programme which serves the South East and replace it with one which covers an area from Southend to Weymouth, and up to Swindon. At a time when the internet means that localised services are expanding all the time, ITV is moving to centralise their news operations. Perhaps the day of local TV news really is over. Several South East MPs have tabled an EDM, no doubt recognising that their chances of being covered at all under these new plans are negligible. Their EDM reads...
That this House notes with grave concern the plans put forward by ITV to reduceBut to me, this makes perfect sense. ITV is getting ready for Regional Common Purpose government.
its number of regional newsrooms from 17 to 9; further notes with particular
concern its proposal to merge the three current Meridian regional news
programmes; believes this would lead to the loss of a dedicated service for
Sussex and Kent and radically reduce the provision of local information to
viewers in the South East; further believes that such a merger would equate to a
neglect of public service broadcasting commitments by ITV and would presage the
end of local output on the channel; and calls upon the Government to press Ofcom
to refuse its approval for the merger.
The ITV regions will now mirror those of the RDA's and the EU Commission, and are awaiting the ratification of the EU constitution to implement the changes.
