6th October 2022
(Updated 10th October 2023)
Dear Readers
If the News-feed from the ITV Granada Reports Website is anything to go by it is clear how little of ITV.Plc’s flagship North West Regional TV News- service covers areas north of the M62 Corridor. It would appear that Cumbria has not been covered since August. ITV1 Granada Reports occasionally covers North Lancashire, bit it is infrequent.
Should viewers who live in Heysham, Morecambe, Lancaster, Bolton-le-Sands and Carnforth happily accept that? Does a Regional News-service that rarely covers local events, but 80% covers happenings 50 to 100 miles southwards serve them? Meanwhile this Regional TV service never covers significant happenings just thirty miles further north. Viewers in Lancashire can, of course, switch over to watch BBC North West Tonight which covers places north of Preston a bit better. However, even BBC1 North West Tonight is not ideal, but that is not the point.
North Cumbrian Protests against Getting BBC1 North West Tonight
Years ago, viewers further north, near Carlisle did not like BBC North West Tonight when the BBC broadcast it to North Cumbria. They could have switched to Border Television (as it then was) to watch Lookaround (and many did). BBC North West Tonight had little coverage of Cumbria, but 80% coverage about places over 100 miles further south. Viewers hated this. It also irritated North Cumbrians that BBC Regional news did not cover areas like the Tyne Valley not far to the east. Hence there were many complaints, and a clamour for northern Cumbria to get BBC Look North (Newcastle). Viewers from Carlisle would not have taken kindly to the BBC telling them: “Cumbria is in the North West. So watch the North West news. You have to put up with the news from Manchester as that is the Capital of North West England. You can’t watch BBC Look North as that is North East news- it has nothing about Cumbria!”.
The truth is that when northern Cumbria was returned to what is now the BBC North East and Cumbria transmission region BBC Look North did cover Cumbria. BBC Look North (NE) covered Cumbria better than BBC North West Tonight did. Viewers in Carlisle then got news about other areas- such as the Tyne Valley and Newcastle-upon-Tyne. That was more local than news about Manchester and Liverpool. Of course, they lost coverage of North Lancashire and gained coverage of North Yorkshire and Teesside. Hence, viewers in North Cumbria lost in some other ways when their BBC Regional news was switched to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. However for viewers of Regional Television in Carlisle and north-east Cumbria the changes were to more local news-coverage overall. The BBC North East/ Cumbria transmission area has roughly half the population the BBC NW transmission area had when it included all Cumbria. This meant North Cumbria gained a higher proportion of coverage.
What Regional TV is most Geographic Appropriate for Northern NW England?
This brings us back to coverage that North Lancastrians receive from ITV Granada Reports about their communities- and nearby areas. If ITV.Plc transferred the area from Garstang and Thornton-Cleveleys northwards from the ITV Granada region to ITV Border places like Carnforth, Garstang, Lancaster and Heysham would benefit immeasurably: The entire area would be in an ITV Region with a population of under 1.5 million inhabitants (including northern Lancashire). This compares with a population of seven million in the ITV Granada transmission region. ITV Border Lookaround also covers Cumbria very well. And most of Cumbria is closer (and prettier) for North Lancastrians than often crowded parts of Greater Manchester and Merseyside!
Of course, programmers at ITV Granada Reports might try to discourage North Lancastrians from switching channels on the basis that ITV Border Lookaround has Scottish news-coverage! Actually, only about 45% of the coverage is of southern Scotland (just Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders) and parts of north-west Northumberland, ITV Granada Reports has just as much coverage of Cheshire, the Wirral, north-west Derbyshire and the Isle of Man,- to which it would take at least as long (or longer) to travel to from Lancaster as travelling from Lancaster or Morecambe to Dumfries, Annan, Lockerbie or Hawick. The latter are arguably nicer places to go to than The Wirral! The distance from Lancaster to Lockerbie is 92 miles and it takes just one hour and 15 minutes to get there by train. This compares with one hour and 27 minutes to travel the 62 miles from Lancaster to Birkenhead by car!
Why North Lancastrians would Benefit from getting ITV Border Lookaround
It’s clear that North Lancastrians and South Cumbrians who get ITV Granada Reports would be better-served by ITV Border: Its rare for ITV Border Lookaround to provide less than 50% coverage of Cumbria today. Often it’s nearer 70% coverage of Cumbria. Infact ITV Border Lookaround covers the Scottish Borders relatively poorly, although ITV Border (Scotland) carries programmes such as Representing Border and Border Life tailored to viewers in southern Scotland. Southern Scottish viewers also get BBC Reporting Scotland at the same time viewers south of the Border get BBC Look North (NE) and BBC North West Tonight.
If ITV.Plc transferred northern Lancashire to the ITV Border transmission area, it’s certain that Cumbria and northern Lancashire would get some 65% of news-coverage on Lookaround. It’s likely that programmers at ITV Border would resurrect the old Selkirk Opt-out to provide more southern Scottish coverage for viewers north of the Border. However, even if this did not happen viewers in South Cumbria and northern Lancashire would benefit greatly. ITV Border Lookaround– would be a truly geographic-appropriate Regional News-service. It would be a Regional TV News-service tailored very much for northern North West England. Lookaround would still have some coverage of southern Scotland and Northumberland- giving great all-round coverage for North Cumbrians.
Boycotting ITV Granada Reports and BBC North West Tonight
This Website Campaign aims to show viewers who live in northern NW England that ITV Border Lookaround would serve them better. That is better than staying with ITV Granada Reports. Don’t just take my word for it, try watching ITV Border Lookaround from the website. ITV Border Lookaround is on their website about two hours after it is aired live here: https://www.itv.com/news/border). One can discover how much it covers Cumbria: This means that North Lancastrians get more coverage of happenings within an hour’s travel time of their home from ITV Border Lookaround. That is, more than from ITV Granada Reports -even allowing for the odd news-items about Lancashire on ITV Granada Reports). It’s true that ITV Border Lookaround does not cover Lancashire -though it has come very close on occasion (covering Morecambe Bay NHS Trust for instance). However, you will get much better all-round coverage by following up watching ITV Border Lookaround with Lancs Live website. The Lancs Live website is full of news about Lancashire, with some news-clips here: https://www.lancs.live/.
Thus, you can boycott both ITV Granada Reports and BBC North West Tonight, putting real pressure on both the mainstream North West Regional Television News-services to up their game for viewers who live north of Preston! You can do that without sacrificing getting local news, in fact you will (likely) get more local news overall. Carlisle folk did not stand for getting BBC North West news mostly about Manchester and Liverpool, with just the odd bit about Cumbria over thirty years ago: So neither should you, if you live North of Preston, stand for a Regional TV News-service that barely gets North of the M62 Corridor whilst virtually ignoring the northern North West of England today! Write in, complain, and demand to be transferred to the ITV Border transmission region for better local and regional news-coverage! Get your local friends and family to do the same.