'News at Ten' moves again. This time, it's at 10.30pm

ITV is to drop News at Ten and move its evening bulletin to 10.30pm. The programme is broadcast at 10pm about three days a week and later on other days - leading critics to call it "News At When".

From next year it will have a permanent slot at 10.30pm from Monday to Friday. David Mannion, editor of ITV News, said: "The schedule presents an exciting opportunity. We firmly believe that a fixed time-slot five days a week will make the programme more competitive and more attractive to viewers." The varying time-slot has meant poor ratings for the ITV bulletin, with some viewers switching to the BBC. In March News at Ten had 2.2 million viewers, compared with 6.6 million for BBC1's 10pm bulletin.

Nigel Pickard, ITV director of programmes, said: "This decision is absolutely in the public interest. Head-to-head news on the two main channels has not served viewers well."