Later slot for `News at Ten' ruled out

ITV'S HOPES of moving News at Ten faded yesterday as commercial television's regulator closed its consultation period on changing the time slot for the late-evening news with a record number of opposing submissions.

The Independent Television Commission received more than 1,800 submissions from the public and industry bodies, the largest ever received on any issue. The vast majority opposed any move, according to sources.

The ITC, which will announce its decision at the end of November, said it will be most influenced by the public's views. An opinion poll has been commissioned, the results of which will be released at the same time as its decision.

On top of the formal submissions, research into moving News at Ten has found large majorities opposed to change.

Last week, a Gallup poll, conducted for the technology company Pace, asked 1,031 people whether News at Ten should be moved to an earlier time. The poll found that 74 per cent of the population opposed the move. Telephone polls of newspaper readers, which are less scientific, have also found majorities against change.

ITV was proposing to move its main news bulletin to 6.30pm, with a later bulletin at 11pm. ITV wanted to clear the post-watershed part of its schedule so it could run films and dramas without interruption by the news. ITV claims that the future competition from digital, cable and satellite channels means its public service obligation to put news on in peak viewing times needs to be loosened.

Peter Rogers, the ITC's chief executive, has already given a broad hint that ITV's arguments have been rejected. He has told The Independent that the ITC is only looking at a snapshot of television competition now, not in the future.

The ITC also said that 70 per cent of the population still relied solely on terrestrial television and so the competition from new channels was irrelevant. Opposition to the move had also been registered by the Prime Minister.

The influential pressure group, Voice of the Listener and Viewer, submitted a report to the ITC outlining its opposition to the plan. "We don't see any evidence of public demand for the move," said Jocelyn Hay, the group's chairman.

"We want the ITC to consider the views of the public. We oppose the move because it will reduce the choice people have for news in peak time. It would also compress a large number of news programmes into an hour and a half. This could lead to competition for viewers and increased sensationalism in news coverage," she said.

"It also looks like they are pulling the first brick out of the dike. ITV has suffered very much from cable and satellite channels dedicated to children, so we can expect them to ask next for a relaxation of their public service obligations to children."

ITV, for its part, maintains that the public is already voting with its remote controls for change. "Our schedule proposals have been driven by actual audience behaviour, which we believe demonstrates a strong demand for a flagship news programme in early peak rather than late peak," said a spokesman.