It looks like the cuts to ITV’s daytime schedule will mean changes to the time of the ITV Lunchtime News.
Lorraine and Loose Women end their current runs on Friday. They will return later in the year.
Lorraine’s slot at 9.30am is being filled by an extension to Good Morning Britain.
However Loose Women is not being directly replaced.
On Monday 9th March, the ITV Lunchtime News is at 12.30pm. This is followed at 1pm by a repeat of Celebrity Catchphrase.
The afternoon schedule for the rest of the week is devoted to the Cheltenham Festival with the news earlier than usual.
However the schedule for the following week shows the news at 12.30pm each day followed by more episodes of Celebrity Catchphrase.
Of course, the change also means the regional bulletins will be brought forward by an hour to 12.55pm.
The change in the news schedule is a welcome development from my point of view.
A bulletin starting at 1.30pm was too late for people on their lunch break.
It seemed the news was playing second fiddle to what may have been best for ITV’s daytime schedule overall.
12.30pm is a better time surely?
However the BBC News at One absolutely dominates lunchtime viewing with around 2m viewers. It often outrates its ITV rival by three to one.
It is unclear if the ITV News will stay at 12.30pm permanently or return to 1.30pm when Loose Women is back on the air.
However there seems to be a sense in the TV world that the cuts to both Lorraine and Loose Women mean the shows could now be on borrowed time.
The ITV Lunchtime News has been at 1.30pm for around 20 years. But it had moved around the schedule previously.
The programme is descended from First Report – the first full lunchtime news programme on British TV. It began in 1972 and was shown at 12.40pm. In 1974 it moved to 1pm and was later renamed News at One.
The programme moved briefly to 12.30pm in 1987 when ITV introduced a full morning schedule. But this was initially unsuccessful so it returned to 1pm a few months later.
In 1991, the 12.30pm slot was given another go. The move coincided with what is now known as the First Gulf War.
It should be remembered that the recent cuts to ITV’s daytime schedule have been primarily driven by economic necessity. Many people have left their jobs.
If an extended GMB and an afternoon repeat of an old gameshow is more cost effective, I can envisage this becoming permanent.
But moving the Lunchtime News to a better slot has positives.
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