Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Minutes of Evidence


APPENDIX 5

Memorandum submitted by ITV Network Limited (ITV)

  Further to our telephone conversation last Thursday, please find attached the additional information requested by members of the Committee during the inquiry into News at Ten.

AUDIENCE FOR BBC 6 O'CLOCK NEWS AGAINST NEWS AT TEN (MR KAUFMAN)

  I enclose a briefing note from our Research Department relating to the Committee Chairman's line of questioning at the beginning of the inquiry last Thursday. As you know, our schedule proposals have been informed by actual audience behaviour, which we believe reveals a strong demand for a flagship news programme in early peak rather than late peak.

  The Chairman questioned this conclusion, because BARB figures reveal a declining audience for the BBC's 6 o'clock News.

  You will see from the attached note that there has been an annual decline in the audience to the 6 o'clock bulletin of 261,320; but this compares with a decline of 423,570 for News at Ten. In short, we are losing audiences for our flagship news programme at twice the rate of the BBC. ITV's Chief Executive explained our view that this is a problem of scheduling not programme quality.

  Analysis of the last two years confirms the point made by Mr Eyre that seasonal factors must be factored into the Chairman's analysis of relative performance of the two news programmes. Whilst News at Ten is by a small margin the most watched news programme during the summer months, the BBC's 6 o'clock news consistently out-performs it in the early Spring, Autumn and Winter months.

  Taken together with the relative popularity of the Channel 4 and Channel 5 news programmes scheduled head-to-head at 19.00, we stand by our contention that audience behaviour reveals an appetite for news scheduled in early peak.

SCOTTISH REGIONAL NEWS (MR MAXTON)

  Scottish Television (STV) have provided me with audience ratings by the quarter-hour for post-peak broadcasting (after 22.30). STV provides a dual service for later evening regional news, with a headline service immediately after News at Ten, followed by a substantial bulletin after the next scheduled programme. The exact scheduling of the later bulletin is therefore determined by the length of the preceding programme, which introduces a variable element to the scheduling of regional news. Our new proposals seek to establish a new, fixed point for late regional news at 23.20, in an attempt to bring more consistency to the scheduling of regional news across the network. STV have informed me that most of their regional news bulletins are broadcast at around this time.

  The figures show that, whilst there is a drop in the audience between 22.30-22.45 and 23.15-23.30, the fact remains that large numbers of people are still available to watch a later regional news programme (8.1 tvr at 23.15-23.30 compared to 11.0 tvr at 22.30-22.45). Moreover STV's share of the available audience actually increases from 28.8 per cent at 22.30-22.45 to 30.2 per cent at 23.15-23.30. So while the flagship regional news will continue to be scheduled in the early evening—as part of a new mass audience "news hour"—a substantial audience would also be available and willing to watch the later regional news at 23.30.

TIMING OF PARLIAMENTARY DIVISIONS (MR KAUFMAN)

  Based on divisions of the House between 7 May 1997 and 7 May 1998, some 68 per cent (182) took place before 22.00. By 22.30 85 per cent of divisions (227) were complete, by 23.00 90 per cent of divisions were complete (241) and by 23.30 93 per cent of divisions (249) were complete. As the Chief Executive pointed out, a news programme at 23.00 will cover many more parliamentary divisions, whilst allowing additional time for analysis of votes that take place before 23.00. ITV is also committed to breaking into the planned schedule between 21.30 and 23.00 to keep the audience abreast of major breaking news stories at home and abroad, including major parliamentary divisions.

  I hope that this information is useful during the Committee's deliberations. A copy of the transcript from last week's inquiry—with our amendments—is attached. We have copied our audience research note to the individual members of the Committee.

27 October 1998


 
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