| The West Tonight | |
|---|---|
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| Also known as | Report West HTV News ITV West News The West Today The Westcountry Tonight |
| Genre | Regional News |
| Presented by | Various |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Producer | HTV/ITV West |
| Original release | |
| Network | HTV West/ITV West |
| Release | 1970 – 15 February 2009 |
The West Tonight is a regional news programme that served the West of England, produced by ITV West.
The launch of Harlech Television in May 1968 led to the launch of a full half-hour evening news programme, Report, broadcast to South Wales and the West of England. Previously, former ITV franchise holder for Wales and the West of England TWW had provided short evening bulletins known as TWW Reports, presented jointly from studios in Cardiff and Bristol, where the station ran a joint news operation covering the two areas.
The opening of a colour service from the Mendip transmitter in May 1970 led to the creation of a separate HTV West service and the launch of a full evening news programme for the region, Report West. Up until the early 1980s, the first half of the programme also aired on HTV's 'General Service', followed by a full edition of Report Wales. During 1982, Report West was relaunched as HTV News.
For 28 years, the main anchor of HTV West's news programmes was former TWW reporter Bruce Hockin, who went on to become one of the longest serving presenters of any ITV news programme. He retired from the station in May 1996, shortly after his 60th birthday. [1]
Shorter daytime, late night and weekend bulletins were gradually introduced - some of which were generally presented by HTV West's continuity announcers, and until 1987, were broadcast from HTV's Cardiff playout centre serving both Wales and the West.
The opening of a digital broadcast centre at HTV's Bristol studios in 1997 led to the relaunch of the main evening programme as The West Tonight. The branding was discontinued two years later and returned as HTV News, and then ITV West News in 2004 following the rebranding of all English and Welsh ITV franchises. The West Tonight was however reintroduced in 2005 when Lisa Aziz rejoined ITV West from Sky News.
On 4 December 2006, ITV Central disbanded its South Midlands sub-region and the parts of Gloucestershire served by Central News South joined the majority of the county already covered by ITV West and began receiving The West Tonight.
In February 2009, ITV West was merged with ITV Westcountry to form ITV West & Westcountry, a new dual-regional service with shorter opt-outs for both areas on weeknights. The Westcountry Tonight was launched on Monday 16 February 2009, although a full regional news service for the West was restored in September 2013.
Television Wales and the West (TWW) was the British Independent Television contractor for a franchise area that initially served South Wales and West of England until 1968.
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Lisa Soraya Aziz is a British news presenter. She is best known as the presenter of the Morning News on LBC. Before this she worked for ITV Westcountry as a co-presenter for the evening news programme The West Country Tonight. She later resigned from that post. She also presented the news on TV-am and Sky News, and was one of the first Asian presenters to be seen on television. In 2004, she was the recipient of an EMMA award for Best Television News Journalist. Aziz currently presents the breakfast show on the UK's first 24-hour rolling news radio station LBC News.
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ITV West Country is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the South West England franchise area on the ITV network. Previously, between 2009 and 2013, the area was a non-franchise region, branded with the same name, incorporating the former ITV Westcountry franchise area and the ITV West sub-region of the ITV Wales & West franchise. The two companies which make up the new region - ITV Wales & West Ltd and Westcountry Television Ltd - each still legally exist; the former holding company for ITV Wales and West was however dissolved on 7 February 2023.
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This is a timeline of the history of the British television network ITV.
This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Westcountry Television. Westcountry provided the ITV service for the South West of England from 1993 to 2009, after which the service name "ITV West Country" has been used across the West and South West of England.
This is a timeline of the history of ITV in Wales, including the current service ITV Cymru Wales. It does not include events that affect the whole UK network.
This is a timeline of the history of the British television service HTV West. "HTV West" and "ITV West" were the service names for the ITV service in the West of England from 1970 until 2009, after which the service name "ITV West Country" has been used across the West and South West of England. The "West" service was a sub-region of the franchise for Wales and the West.
This is a timeline of the history of television in Wales. It does not include events that affect the whole UK.
This is a timeline of the history of regional news on the British television network ITV.
ITV News (ITV nations & regions) | |
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