It looks like there’s been a change to UTV’s weekend weather arrangements.
Normally UTV forecasts at the weekend are voiced out-of-vision by a journalist.
Today there was an in-vision forecast from Tori Lacey at ITV’s northern weather hub.
Tori – in line with the practice of recent years – also provided forecasts for the Granada TV, Calendar/Yorkshire TV, Tyne Tees TV and Border TV regions.
It remains to be seen if this is a permanent change to the arrangements.
But if it is, it is welcome.
The out-of-vision forecasts at the weekend are disengaging at best and simply tedious and boring at worst.
If UTV does not consider 7-day local weather presentation to be an appropriate use of resources, then a proper forecast from one of ITV’s hubs is preferable.
It will become apparent on Sunday and over the coming weekends if this change is permanent.
It may also mean a further reduction by stealth in the remaining UTV branding.
Tonight’s forecast began with an ITV-branded caption.
UTV branding is, of course, now confined to local output such as UTV Live and UTV Life.
On programme promotions, visual references to UTV play second fiddle to the ITV 1 masterbrand.
UTV channel branding ended at the start of the covid pandemic almost 6 years ago.
UPDATE: Tori also presented the weather in-vision on Sunday 4th January 2026. UTV branding was used at the start of the weather bulletin.
Acknowledgements
FEATURE IMAGE:
PICTURED: UTV Weather presented by Tori Lacey. COPYRIGHT: ITV plc.
Acknowledgements