The late ITV 1 national news had to be taken off the air for over ten minutes last night, after sound was lost shortly after the programme started.
Glitches with the sound started almost immediately after the opening headlines.
The fault worsened rapidly until sound was lost completely during presenter Julie Etchingham’s link into the first package.
The initial package ran without sound for just over a minute. An ITV News at Ten logo was then displayed, in silence, for just over two minutes.
ITV’s playout operation then cut up a looped breakdown caption, which ran for over a minute-and-a-half.
There was no verbal apology from an announcer – live or prerecorded.
A short standby programme – On Assignment – then kicked in.
Over seven-and-a-half minutes later, the static ITV News at Ten logo reappeared.
Moments later, we were returned to the ITV News studio, where presenter Julie Etchingham apologised:
“Well welcome back to News at Ten. With huge apologies from us for the loss of sound during that early part of the programme.
“We’ve been experiencing a major difficulty with our sound system here…”
The programme then effectively restarted and continued normally.
At the end of the programme, Julie acknowledged the technical issues at the top of the programme:
“And that is it for tonight. Thanks for sticking with us through those technical problems and of course just for staying up. From everyone here, goodnight. Have a great weekend.”
The ITV News studio and gallery is undergoing upgrade work at present, in preparation for on air changes which will go live in January.
Worth noting that whilst the programme was branded as ITV News at Ten, it started at 10.45pm.
Acknowledgements
FEATURE IMAGE:
PICTURED: ITV News at Ten logo. COPYRIGHT: ITN/ITV plc.
Acknowledgements