UTV Live

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UTV Live

Genre	News
Creator(s)	UTV
Starring	Pamela Ballantine Lynda Bryans Tina Campbell Paul Clark Alison Fleming Frank Mitchell
Production
Running time	Main bulletin: 1 hour UTV News bulletins: Varies
Broadcast
Original channel	UTV
Original run	January 4, 1993 – present
Chronology
Related shows	UTV News

UTV Live is the name of the flagship news programme in the UTV region in Northern Ireland. The first edition of UTV Live was transmitted on 4 January 1993, replacing the main evening bulletin Six Tonight and shorter bulletins Ulster Newstime.

Until February 2007, all news bulletins broadcast on UTV were branded under the UTV Live umbrella. Since then, only the hour-long weekday evening bulletin is referred to as UTV Live, all other bulletins are now branded as UTV News.

Until 1999, the weekday evening bulletin was titled UTV Live at Six, while other bulletins were subtitled Morning News, Lunchtime News, The Afternoon News, Early Evening News (used for weekend evening bulletins) and Late News.

1 On Air
2 Programme format
3 UTV Live rebrand 2006-2007
4 Main UTV Live news presenters
5 Other bulletin presenters
6 UTV Life/features presenters
7 Weather presenters
8 Reporters
9 Sports presenters and reporters
10 Former presenters and reporters
11 Regular contributors
12 External links

[edit] On Air

UTV Live/UTV News airs seven days a week:

Weekdays

11.10-11.15 (During This Morning)
13.50-13.55 (During ITV Lunchtime News)
17.30-18.30 (Before ITV Evening News)
22.50-22.55 (During ITV News at 10.30)

Unlike the other ITV regions, UTV News bulletins are not transmitted during GMTV.

This is due to a dispute between UTV and GMTV in 1994 when UTV opted out of the national breakfast contractor to provide live coverage of the breaking news of the Combined Loyalist ceasefire. In January 1995, GMTV began providing their own regional news bulletins for viewers in Northern Ireland, initially courtesy of Reuters but presently contracted to Macmillan Media.

In response, UTV never purposely promote GMTV programming, although the start of networked trails for GMTV following ITV News bulletins were sometimes transmitted as the UTV transmission controls mistimed their cue out of the network, and some complete trails for GMTV have even been known to make it to air on UTV.

Weekends

UTV News also airs regular bulletins throughout the weekend; two on Saturday and two on Sunday. The broadcast time of each bulletin varies, but they are usually shown in the morning/early afternoon and early evening on both days.

[edit] Programme format

UTV Live airs at 17.30 from Monday to Friday, preceding the ITV Evening News at 18.30. Unlike the other ITV early-evening news programmes, UTV Live airs for one hour, a format the programme has retained since its launch.

Currently, the first half-hour of the main evening programme (17.30-18.00) features a brief summary of the day's news, then concentrates on light hearted and lifestyle reports. From March 1999 to April 2002, this part of the programme was branded as a separate programme called UTV Life, which then handed over to UTV Live at 18.00.

Until 5 March 1999, the programme ran for one hour at 18.00. Then, following the schedule changes which saw the introduction of the ITV Evening News on Monday 9 March 1999, UTV Live ran from 17.30-18.30.

New UTV Live set (introduced August 2006)

The weather forecast is broadcast at around 17.55, between the features section and the news bulletins, and includes the "Weather Watchers" birthday greetings, and, when Frank Mitchell is presenting the forecast, the "Weather Watching Camera" cryptic clue game.

For a brief period in February 2004, to accommodate the launch of the game show series 24 Hour Quiz, UTV split the hour-long UTV Live bulletin in two parts: the main bulletin remained at 18.00, and the features were moved to a new slot of 13.00. This setup however only lasted for one week, as public demand brought the features and news programmes back together at 17.30, and UTV opted out of network transmission of 24 Hour Quiz.

Since September 2006, the sports section of the main evening bulletin has been sponsored by airline fly.be.

Weekday editions of UTV News are presented by one of the UTV Live presenters, apart from the late bulletin which is presented by the on-duty continuity announcer.

Weekend editions of UTV News are hosted by the on-duty continuity announcer, with one of UTV's sports presenters appearing with a sports round-up on the Saturday evening bulletin.

A separate sports bulletin, Sport on Sunday, is broadcast following the Sunday evening edition of UTV News. This bulletin is separate from the Sunday evening bulletin as it is sponsored by the Daily Mirror.

[edit] UTV Live rebrand 2006-2007

Since August 2006, UTV Live has been undergoing a series of gradual changes, in line with a corporate decision to rebrand the company's news output across all platforms as UTV News. This is in contrast to previous rebrands of the programme, which have usually taken place as new comprehensive redesigns in previous years.

The rebranding of the programme began on 21 August 2006, when UTV Live moved into Studio 1 in Havelock House to a new set as part of the station's investment into improving its studio facilities. The set features a new backdrop, but the desk used on the previous set has been carried over to the new studio. A new sofa area, featuring a custom-made couch in mustard yellow and a designer coffee table, is used for the features and sports elements of the programme.

One week later, on 29 August 2006, UTV rebranded its late evening and weekend bulletins as UTV News, however the UTV Live name still applied to early weekday bulletins and the 17.30 programme. The same date also saw new on-screen Astons introduced across all bulletins.

New graphics for maps used to illustrate news stories were also introduced in August 2006, but captions using an older template were still used until a consistent caption layout was finally introduced on 19 January 2007.

On 30 October 2006, a new programme logo was seen on the plasma screens behind the presenters in the studio. This would eventually become the programme's official logo in February 2007.

Finally, on 5 February 2007, to coincide with the introduction of new opening titles and graphics across all bulletins, the weekday mid-morning summary and lunchtime bulletins were also rebranded as UTV News, with the main 17.30 programme now being the only bulletin to keep the UTV Live name. As well as a new title sequences, all Astons animated on screen, with occasional sound effects used in tandem with the Aston animation.

The year 2006 also saw the departure of two of UTV Live's original presenters. Mike Nesbitt left the programme in February after deciding not to renew his presenting contract with the company, while Kate Smith retired from her post in December after 23 years of presenting and reporting on Ulster Television. In February 2007, it was announced that Tina Campbell would replace Kate Smith as the second regular female presenter of UTV Live.

[edit] Main UTV Live news presenters

Pamela Ballantine (Presenter and Reporter, 1993-1999; Relief Presenter, 2006 to date)
Lynda Bryans (Presenter and Reporter, 1996 to date)
Tina Campbell (Relief Presenter, 2001-2006; Presenter, 2007 to date)
Paul Clark (Presenter and Reporter, 1993 to date)
Letitia Fitzpatrick (Relief Presenter, 2000)
Alison Fleming (Relief Presenter, 2002 to date)
Fearghal McKinney (Relief Presenter, 2000 to date)
Mike Nesbitt (Presenter and Reporter, 1993-2006)
Kate Smith (Presenter and Reporter, 1993-2006)

[edit] Other bulletin presenters

Aidan Browne (1993 to date, also a continuity announcer)
Niall Donnelly (1999-2001)
Tracey Magee (2000 to date)
Michelle Napier (2006)
Gillian Porter (1993 to date, also a continuity announcer)
Robin Taylor (1993 to date, also a continuity announcer)
Audra Thomas (1997 to date, also a continuity announcer)

[edit] UTV Life/features presenters

Pamela Ballantine (Presenter and Reporter, 1999 to date)
Tina Campbell (Presenter and Reporter, 1999 to date)
Alison Fleming (Presenter and Reporter, 1999 to date)
Tracey Magee (Relief Presenter, 2000-2002)
Claire McCollum (Relief Presenter, 2001-2005)
Siobhan McGarry (Presenter and Reporter, 2005 to date)
Frank Mitchell (Presenter and Reporter, 1999 to date)

[edit] Weather presenters

The following is a list of presenters who have presented UTV weather bulletins in-vision, it does not include presenters who have presented weather forecasts via a voiceover.

Tina Campbell (Presenter, 1994 to date)
Audra Cunningham (Relief Presenter, 1999-2001)
Alison Fleming (Presenter, 1999 to date)
Graham Little (Relief Presenter, 2006)
Claire McCollum (Relief Presenter, 2002-2005)
Siobhan McGarry (Relief Presenter, 2006)
Frank Mitchell (Senior Weather Presenter, 1993 to date)
Gillian Porter (Relief Presenter 1993-1999, Weekend Bulletin Presenter, 2005)
Julian Simmons (Weekend Bulletin Presenter, 2005 to date)
Robin Taylor (Weekend Bulletin Presenter, 2005 to date)

[edit] Reporters

Brian Black (Environment Correspondent, 1993 to date, has worked at UTV since the early 1980s)
Liam Creagh (Freelance Reporter, 2003 to date)
Jamie Delargy (Business Correspondent, 1999 to date)
Niall Donnelly (1994 to date)
Letitia Gwynne (1997 to date)
Vicki Hawthorne (2005 to date, also U105 reporter)
Jeanie Johnson (present Features Editor, 1993 to date, has worked at UTV since 1978)
Ivan Little (1993 to date, has worked at UTV since 1980)
Jane Loughrey (1993 to date, has worked at UTV since 1992)
Mark McFadden (North West Correspondent, 1994 to date)
Siobhan McGarry (2005 to date)
Fearghal McKinney (1994 to date)
Tracey Magee (1997 to date)
Susan Millar (1993 to date, has worked at UTV since 1990)
David Morgan (2001 to date)
Thomas Niblock (2006 to date)
Julie O'Connor (2003 to date)
Ken Reid (Political Editor, 1994 to date)
Jim Dougal (2006 to date)

[edit] Sports presenters and reporters

Neil Brittain (Presenter and Reporter, 2004 to date, joined UTV Live as a Reporter in 2003)
Nigel Carr (UTV Sport on Sunday presenter, 1999 to date)
Gary Gillespie (Presenter and Reporter, 1999 to date)
John Flack (Freelance Reporter, 1999 to date)
Ruth Gorman (Freelance Reporter, 2003 to date)
Adrian Logan (Sports Editor, Presenter and Reporter, 1993 to date)
Graham Little (Presenter and Reporter, 2002 to date)
Claire McCollum (Presenter and Reporter, 2000 to date)
Thomas Niblock (Reporter, 2006 to date)

[edit] Former presenters and reporters

Shane Glynn (1994-2001, now a producer at BBC Northern Ireland)
Sharon Hall (1996, now a BBC Newsline reporter)
John Irvine (1993-1994, now ITV News Washington correspondent)
Conor Macauley (1994-2001, now a BBC Newsline reporter)
Carol McAllister (2005-2006)
Michelle Napier (2004-2006)
Yvette Shapiro (1993, now BBC Newsline Business Correspondent)
Norman Stockton (Former Political Editor, 1993-1994)
Darwin Templeton (2001-2003, now editor of the The News Letter)
Stephen Watson (Sports Presenter and Reporter, 1994-1999, now at BBC Northern Ireland)