Trisha Shetty (Editor)

ITV Local

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Type of site
  
News

Created by
  
ITV plc

Commercial
  
Yes

Owner
  
ITV plc

Website
  
itv.com/local

Registration
  
No

ITV Local was a broadband service provided by ITV plc, the contractor and provider of ITV in 11 of the 15 Television Regions. First established in 2005, the website provided local news, weather and features on demand 24 hours a day.

Contents

The project began with two trial services in Brighton and Hastings. Due to the success of this, the service was expanded to cover the entire region, then whole of the ITV plc network.

On 4 March 2009, it was announced that Local would close as a separate business. It did on 17 March 2009, with the regions integrated into ITV.com.

Features

ITV Local included the following:

  • Local jobs, classified adverts and dating
  • All versions of the regional news bulletins
  • Extended news features and updates through the day
  • Entertainment features, extended interviews and an entertainments listings service
  • Five-day forecasts for all regions
  • Many regional programmes, such as Country Ways and current affairs series Focus as shown on Meridian and Metroland in London
  • Short films sent in by viewers
  • Live streaming cameras from scenic locations and special events
  • Short features from local professional filmmakers

    • Each region's site also featured special channels unique to that area and short-duration special events. ITV Local has hosted special features for British University Sports Association, Cowes Week, the Notting Hill Carnival, Thames Festival, Latitude Festival and the British International Motor Show.

    Additional UGC services

    ITV Local also offered a range of UGC-based multi-regional services under the brand, including an iReport-like video upload and social networking site known as YourNews and a site based around local sports events. A new photo-sharing and photo-mapping site was planned for mid-August.

    ITV restructuring and planned closure

    Changes to the regional structure and output of ITV negatively affected ITV Local, which was heavily dependent on ITV regional content. ITV's core TV advertising business also performed poorly due to the economic downturn. As a result, on March 4, 2009 ITV announced that Local would close in April, subject to consultation. The Scoot sub-brand was marked for sale along with Friends Reunited. Some services such as news, weather and UGC may be transferred to the ITV.com parent brand. ITV Local closed on 17 March 2009 as a separate business, with the regions integrated to ITV.com After months of waiting ITV Local has been put online however the site has not officially launched.

    References

    ITV Local Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA