At the end of yesterday’s 6pm edition of UTV Live, it was announced that UTV on-air branding and associated local continuity announcements were being suspended, due to operationcal changes resulting from the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Just before 6am this morning a pre-recorded link from UTV continuity announcer Gillian Porter informed viewers that for the time being UTV would be handing over to ITV. She assured viewers that the local announcers would return “as soon as possible”.
RELATED ARTICLE: UTV on-air branding suspended.
The UTV DOG has been replaced by the ITV DOG.
The next continuity announcement came at lunchtime. In the link into the ITV Lunchtime News, ITV announcer Andrew Hayden-Smith started by saying that “things might look a bit different for our viewers in Northern Ireland, but we are keeping the show on the road…”. Unfortunately, the junction was spoiled by a playout error with the pre-recorded announcement. The 2pm junction experienced a similar voiceover error. Subsequent afternoon ident links were played out without error.
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PICTURED: UTV newsroom. SUPPLIED BY: The TV Room. COPYRIGHT: ITV plc.
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Any idea when the UTV branding will be coming back?
No idea Ed. There have been six full months of ITV branding/continuity now in UTV land. There had been speculation about a possible return of UTV continuity in early October.