38 Facts About ITN

ITN produces the daily news programmes for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 in the UK, and in recent years has diversified to produce a wide range of content including documentaries, sports, advertising and digital material for a range of international clients.

Between 1955 and 1999, ITN was more commonly known as the general brand name of ITV's news programmes.

ITN was founded in May 1955 by a consortium of the initial four Independent Television broadcasting companies, with former Labour MP Aidan Crawley as editor-in-chief.

In 1967, ITN was given the go-ahead by the ITA to provide a full 30-minute daily news programme at 10 pm on ITV.

ITN obtained the contract to produce Channel 4 News when the channel started broadcasting in 1982.

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ITN favoured keeping the bulletin; however, the ITV companies claimed audiences were lost at 10 pm as the news interrupted films and drama programming.

From this point, the ITN brand was gradually phased out and it is only referenced to in the end production caption.

In 1997, ITN started producing the Royal Christmas Message every other year.

ITN eventually succeeded and was awarded a contract extension to 2008.

In January 2005 Sky News took over supplying bulletins to Channel 5; ITN had produced 5 News since its launch in 1997 and the contract was returned in February 2012, following a change of ownership at Channel 5.

In March 2004 following its acquisition of the London News Network, a company previously owned by the now merged Carlton and Granada, ITN began producing local news bulletins for the ITV London region.

ITN used to operate a radio news service on behalf of Independent Radio News but on 15 October 2008, IRN announced that Sky News Radio was to replace ITN as its main supplier from March 2009.

ITN Source is one of the world's largest sources of historical film.

ITN Productions creates multi-platform content for major global brands, covering genres such as factual, entertainment, news and corporate production.

Clients that commission award-winning programmes from ITN Productions include major UK and international broadcasters such as ITV, the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, History and Discovery, with television commissions including Climbing Great Buildings on BBC2 and Mud Men on the History Channel.

ITN has produced all national news bulletins on ITV since the network was launched on 22 September 1955.

ITN has at times interrupted the ITV schedule to provide updates on major breaking stories of national and international importance including the September 11 attacks, London bombings, 2005 or events involving the British Royal Family.

ITN has covered every general election since 1959 for ITV, providing comprehensive coverage of the counts throughout election night and has broadcast special programmes covering the UK budget speech given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

ITN's history is inextricably linked to that of ITV as prior to the Broadcasting Act 1990 each of the ITV companies owned a share.

In March 2004, ITN took over production of ITV London's regional news programmes, which relocated from The London Television Centre on the South Bank to ITN's Gray's Inn Road base.

On 24 January 2022, ITV announced that the 6:30pm ITV Evening News will be extended to an hour from March 2022, making it the third hour long news programme ITN will be producing for the national PSB channels in 2022, along with Channel 4 News and 5 News at 5'.

ITN is home to Channel 4 News, having produced the programme since the channel's inception in 1982.

ITN created More4 News when the digital channel More4 was launched in October 2005.

In 2011 ITN regained the contract in a three-year deal to provide news for Channel 5 from early 2012, but on a much-reduced budget.

In 2018, ITN secured the contract for Channel 5's topical morning debate and chat show The Wright Stuff, just before the host of 18 years, Matthew Wright, announced he was going to leave the programme.

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ITN was one of the first companies to provide news content for 3G mobile phones, when it struck a deal to provide daily news bulletins for the 3 network in 2003.

Showbiz bulletins from ITN are broadcast daily on a number of television channels, including FYI Daily on ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4, and Entertainment News on 5 for Channel 5's range of channels.

From August 2013, ITN Productions was awarded the contract to produce the Premier League online and mobile highlights service for News UK.

ITN Productions creates factual programming for ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 as well as international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel, History, PBS and National Geographic.

ITN has produced shows for Sky, with one of its later programmes being Harrow: A Very British School.

ITN began its own World News bulletins in the late 1980s, which were shown around the world on local television channels, particularly on PBS stations in the US, where presenter Daljit Dhaliwal enjoyed cult status.

ITN launched a 24-hour news channel on 1 August 2000, which in 2002 was sold to the main ITV companies Carlton and Granada, and rebranded as the ITV News Channel.

In October 2008, ITN founded digital production company Diagonal View as a joint venture together with digital entrepreneur Matt Heiman.

ITN Consulting stated that "an understanding of how global, regional and local media markets conflict and come together enables them to identify the opportunities this creates".

ITN Consulting was extensively involved in the development of business plans for local TV in the UK.

ITN Source licensed video footage from ITN's one million hours of archive content including news, drama, celebrity, comedy, music, wildlife, natural history and film.

Chief Executive of ITN is Deborah Turness, who re-joined the company in April 2021 after her predecessor, Anna Mallett, left to join Netflix.

ITN was spoofed in a sketch in 1978 with Benny Hill as Angela O'Rippon, a parody of Angela Rippon, and as Ann Afford, a parody of Anna Ford.