Three significant changes to ITV 1 happen on Monday. To breakfast and news, to daytime and to the flagship soaps.
Sadly, they are all driven by economic necessity – a fall in advertising linked to declining linear audiences over the longer term.
These have been difficult times for some staff.
Many people who worked on Good Morning Britain and the daytime shows have been let go.
The cuts to Coronation Street and Emmerdale have also meant less work is available.
Wider challenges within TV production mean that some of those who have lost their jobs may find it hard to secure regular employment in television again.
Surveys by trade union BECTU have highlighted the number of TV freelance workers who do not have regular employment in the industry.
It will be interesting though to see what impact the changes have on viewing patterns.
In different circumstances, it would seem sensible to fully integrate Good Morning Britain into the wider ITV News operation at ITN.
For a long time, the overall credibility of ITV’s news service was undermined by the separate breakfast operation.
The shameful coverage by TV-am of the Brighton bomb in 1984 nearly caused the IBA to pull the plug. Perhaps they should have?
ITN must have been furious on that terrible morning, left unable to provide coverage of the attempted assassination of Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet.
Did the public realise that TV-am was an entirely separate operation? Or did some viewers wrongly assume ITV and ITN could do no better?
In more recent years, nobody would question the professionalism of GMTV’s news operation.
After ITV took full control of GMTV in 2010, the news operation during Daybreak and later the modern incarnation of GMB started to be properly integrated with the rest of the ITV News team at ITN. But the wider programme remained separate.
There is certainly the potential for a leaner, meaner, more efficient operation. It’s just a shame this is happening amid wider cuts and job losses.
The cosmetic changes to GMB and ITV News should be interesting.
At this point it is unclear whether the on-screen changes will be evolutionary or lead to obvious changes in the programmes.
The cuts to the rest of daytime though are much more depressing.
Essentially – make no mistake – this is about cutting the cost of Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women.
If the ratings can be maintained on lower budgets, the production teams will have worked wonders.
I cannot help but wonder if Lorraine’s programme will be dropped in the next year or two. And what will replace Loose Women while it is off for half the year? A new programme? Or a repeat of Tenable?
I have slightly mixed feelings about the changes to evening soaps. While the job cuts are a matter of regret, might less mean more?
The exponential expansion of the main soaps in recent years has almost certainly been a false economy.
The initial ratings justified the extra episodes. But in the longer term, did viewer fatigue set in? Storylines were gobbled up quickly. And were those viewers who could not commit to watching quite so many episodes left cold?
It will be worth keeping an eye on Emmerdale and Coronation Street’s ratings. Might they actually improve in the coming months?
Note too the end of regular direct clashes between the two big ITV soaps and EastEnders. This could be win-win.
Having said all that, the ITV soap hour is likely to be thumped in the ratings on Thursdays and Fridays for the next few weeks by The Traitors.
So, Monday and next week will prove very interesting. And so too will the coming months.
But it must not be forgotten that these changes are cuts and for some TV workers recent months have been painful.
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FEATURE IMAGE:
PICTURED: promotion for ITV daytime changes, featuring Ben Shephard, Lorraine Kelly and Cat Deeley. COPYRIGHT: ITV plc.
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