UTV trails beginning to acknowledge ITV X verbally

A subtle change seems to have been made to UTV’s promotions for local programmes.

They now seem to be routinely referring to ITV X orally.

For example, they might end with words such as: “Dogs with Jobs, coming soon on UTV and ITV X.”

This is in line with the practice on network promotions and, indeed, the practice on some rival channels.

Visually, local trails have been identical to ITV 1 network trails since the last revamp in 2022. 

The visual reference to UTV comes along with the name of the programme – not as part of the branding for the channel itself.

This may seem like a minor change but it is worth acknowledging because it is a reminder of just how careful ITV had been with the UTV name.

It is just over 5 years since ITV 1 continuity and branding was introduced around network programmes on UTV – initially as a temporary measure during the first Covid lockdown.

There has been no rush to deal with what may seem like branding anomalies.

The EPG still refers to UTV – even though satellite viewers see a catch up service branded as ITV 1 + 1.

UTV Live and the local weather still do not contain explicit ITV branding.

There is no reason for ITV to kill off the UTV name completely. It is no more of an anomaly In Itself than the legacy of Granada, Meridian or what is referred to as Channel TV.

But all these names clearly exist under the ITV masterbrand. Some of what remains of UTV is still a masterbrand itself which so happens to share the properties of the ITV brand.

It’s a little bit like the branding of Ulster Bank. If you didn’t know any better, you wouldn’t spot the similarities to NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland. 

But it increasingly seems hard to justify the lack of ITV branding on local output.

Would anyone notice if the caption at the start of the weather was modified? (Occasionally the iTV caption has been shown in error.)

Would a few tweaks to the branding of UTV Live to bring it fully into line visually with the regional news programmes elsewhere really cause any controversy? 

The EPG issue is the one which bugs me though. To all intents and purposes the channel is clearly called ITV 1 now – the EPG entry should be something like ITV 1 UTV or ITV 1 NI.

I don’t say that dismissively of the brand heritage.

In a crowded market, you simply cannot assume that everyone – especially younger people – automatically get the connection between ITV 1 and UTV.

I am still convinced we will continue to see the end of UTV’s special visual status by stealth with future revamps and refreshes. 

But would it not make sense now to just get it over and done with? 

Acknowledgements