UTV and UTV Ireland bought by ITV for £100m

Gonzo · 15-10-2015 02:25PM

Paddy C wrote: »

Seen this posted on another site as a mock-up, but looks good, no?

that looks really good!

iseegirls · 15-10-2015 02:49PM

Gonzo wrote: »

that looks really good!

Looks good, but should it be ITV Republic Of Ireland if it's to use those colours, and when it takes over UTV, will it be renamed ITV Northern Ireland. (Sorry for bringing politics into this :pac:)

channelsurfer2 · 15-10-2015 02:49PM

will they streamline it to just ITV?

Rick_ · 15-10-2015 02:52PM

UTV will most likely be known as "ITV Northern Ireland" but it will only ever be called or referenced on screen as ITV, apart from the local news which will have some new name instead of UTV Live.

UTV Ireland is accepted just fine, no-ones asking for it to be changed to UTV Republic of Ireland, so I don't see why ITV Ireland is somehow unacceptable... The colour scheme is irrelevant.

Elmo · 15-10-2015 03:13PM

Paddy C wrote: »

UTV will most likely be known as "ITV Northern Ireland" but it will only ever be called or referenced on screen as ITV, apart from the local news which will have some new name instead of UTV Live.

UTV Ireland is accepted just fine, no-ones asking for it to be changed to UTV Republic of Ireland, so I don't see why ITV Ireland is somehow unacceptable... The colour scheme is irrelevant.

ITV Ireland is unacceptable because it was always used to deride TV3 as purely a regional variant of ITV, not good for PR tbh. Also unlike BBC America it has far more connotations of regionalism or in the case of ITV pseudo-regionalism.

We all seem to think ITV will rebrand UTV as ITV Northern Ireland, why not ITV Ulster?

icdg · 15-10-2015 03:55PM

We might keep the politics of both Northern Ireland v Ulster and Republic of Ireland v Ireland out of this thread, discussions on those topics get quite heated and to be honest they are matters for Politics rather than Broadcasting

Elmo · 15-10-2015 04:08PM

icdg wrote: »

We might keep the politics of both Northern Ireland v Ulster and Republic of Ireland v Ireland out of this thread, discussions on those topics get quite heated and to be honest they are matters for Politics rather than Broadcasting

It's not a heated debate. You have pointed your to your view that it doesn't matter. I am pointing out the problems that exist with such a name change. Even UTV Ireland has political connotations weather we want to admit that or not. Most likely it will be name ITV Something to avoid audience getting confused with the reduced number of ITV programmes on the channel.

UTV will be rebranded ITV like other regional services. UTV, weather UTV itself wants to admit it, stands for Ulster Television, despite the fact that 3 counties are in the Republic. And most unionist view themselves as Ulster Unionist.

Also my post is far more about ITV regionalization than politics.

hotmail.com · 15-10-2015 10:39PM

What's going to happen to UTV News in the North?

Will they ditch the current lineup and introduce a couch setting? Or is the news in the North too serious for a couch.

Is Julian Simmons out of a job?

icdg · 15-10-2015 10:54PM

It won't go anywhere - the news department would likely emerge relatively unscathed. They have no sub-regions that can be cut. Given that this is Northern Ireland I imagine any new set would still feature a desk.

The presentation department however, I imagine would be completely cut. Though some may have a stay of execution given UTV Ireland would still require separate continuity.

16-10-2015 07:58AM

Doesn't look like there will be any news this week, talks probably still ongoing!

Elmo · 18-10-2015 02:31PM

zorro2566 wrote: »

Doesn't look like there will be any news this week, talks probably still ongoing!

Looks like a done deal. UTV Radio divisions become Radio Ireland and Radio GB. According to the guardian.

JTMan · 18-10-2015 03:08PM

Elmo wrote: »

Looks like a done deal. UTV Radio divisions become Radio Ireland and Radio GB. According to the guardian.

The Guardian article is here. Nothing major new other than the fact that the deal might be announced tomorrow.

icdg · 19-10-2015 06:13AM

So a deal is finally done, £100m as reported is the price. Will require shareholder approval on UTV Media's part and UTV Media will be required to change its name following completion.

http://www.utvmedia.com/resources/documents/U/T/V/UTVAnnouncement.pdf

icdg · 19-10-2015 06:20AM

Not completed - completion will only happen after UTV shareholders vote.

irishfeen · 19-10-2015 07:43AM

So that's that you would think of UTV... It will be very interesting to see what happens down here with ITV.

channelsurfer2 · 19-10-2015 08:05AM

"The completion of the takeover deal is subject to shareholder approval and regulatory approval by Ofcom, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, the Irish Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and the Irish Minister for Communications"

http://utv.ie/News/2015/10/19/UTV-Television-channels-sold-to-ITV-in-100m-deal-47216

I bet the TV3 whining to the BAI about big media companies and foreign investors taking over small indigenous Irish Broadcaster has already started:).

channelsurfer2 · 19-10-2015 08:12AM

Irish Times suggest closer relationship between TV3 and UTV Ireland just because Liberty has a 9% stake in ITV - that seems like a big imagination from the journalist? I would have thought that they would not in fact have any relationship unless they bought TV3!

irishfeen · 19-10-2015 08:59AM

Interesting to hear that ITV have no plan to change the UTV name.

icdg · 19-10-2015 09:02AM

channelsurfer2 wrote: »

Irish Times suggest closer relationship between TV3 and UTV Ireland just because Liberty has a 9% stake in ITV - that seems like a big imagination from the journalist? I would have thought that they would not in fact have any relationship unless they bought TV3!

Putting two and two together to make twenty there. 9% is not a big enough stake to carry that sort of influence.

On the brand, I've heard that line from ITV and its predecessors enough times before to know that won't last and the name will change. Not immediately but I'll be surprised if the UTV brand makes it to 2018, in the North anyway.

Rick_ · 19-10-2015 09:03AM

They have no plans to change the name for now. But once the deal is done and a little time has passed, I would say ITV will eventually change the name to ITV NI. It's what other changes they can/will make in the meantime that will be interesting...

Remember, they will have to sort out a +1 for NI on satellite, include NI now in ITV Player and on the ITV News website, so there is plenty more to be done than simply changing the name to ITV, so I wouldn't expect a name change until they had everything ready to go behind the scenes.

channelsurfer2 · 19-10-2015 09:03AM

UTV wont last.. It will become ITV something or other in the near future.

WheatenBriar · 19-10-2015 09:18AM

Well us here in the South-east survived the change from Itv cymru wales to ITV1
The continuity went mostly to London but local programming remained
They of course had their own coverage for the rugby
I presume UTV had local coverage for the Ireland games?

channelsurfer2 · 19-10-2015 09:18AM

WheatenBriar wrote: »

Well us here in the South-east survived the change from Itv cymru wales to ITV1
The continuity went mostly to London but local programming remained
They of course had their own coverage for the rugby
I presume UTV had local coverage for the Ireland games?

No. they used the ITV coverage

icdg · 19-10-2015 09:24AM

They don't have a sports department any more, last did separate coverage in 2007.

formerly scottish paddy · 19-10-2015 09:59AM

What happens to Havelock House, is that included in the deal, will ITV have to setup a new news studio?

19-10-2015 10:16AM

This paragraph tells a bit about their objectives.There is plenty of advertising revenue here for ITV and their EPG place is already established!

"UTV also owns 100 per cent of UTV Ireland, which launched a new dedicated channel for the Republic of Ireland on 1 January 2015. UTV Ireland is already the second most-watched channel in peak in Ireland and ITV intends to strengthen the channel further with ITV programming at its core."

http://insidermedia.com/insider/nort...-100m-utv-deal

JTMan · 19-10-2015 10:23AM

ITV are at the 'keeping everyone sweet while the deal gets agreed stage'. This means telling everyone what they want to hear to get the deal rubber stamped. Easier to say they have "no plans" to change the name and "no plans" to change UTV Ireland to keep everyone happy.

Once the deal is agreed, and a little time has elapsed, the integration phase starts and things then start to change. This series of events is always the case with mergers and acquisitions.

19-10-2015 10:30AM

It will be great if UTV Irelands schedule runs concurrently with ITV with the exception of whatever ITV content that TV3 still retains the rights for!

19-10-2015 10:30AM

Hopefully we will get ITV2,3 & 4 added tpo the Sky epg!

channelsurfer2 · 19-10-2015 11:11AM

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/end-of-an-era-for-utv-as-itv-buys-its-northern-cousin-1.2397305

updated piece by Laura Slattery speculating that ITV will just run opt-out advertising and close most of the UTV Irl output. It could be an option but who knows what their plans are at this stage.

UTV and UTV Ireland bought by ITV for £100m

Comments