| Westcountry Live | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | Westcountry News |
| Genre | Regional News |
| Presented by | Richard Bath Alexis Bowater |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Producer | ITV Westcountry |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV Westcountry |
| Release | 4 January 1993 – 15 February 2009 |
Westcountry Live was the flagship regional news programme of ITV Westcountry, serving South West England.
The programme was first broadcast on Monday 4 January 1993 - four days after Westcountry Television took over the ITV regional franchise from Television South West.
From December 1993 until early 2009, Westcountry ran four sub-regional services, each providing short opt-out bulletins for their area during Westcountry Live and the late-night bulletins on weekdays. Westcountry was the first and only ITV company to produce four opt-outs for their region
The opt-outs were broadcast from Westcountry's district studios in Barnstaple (covering North Devon), Exeter (serving East Devon & parts of Somerset and west Dorset), Plymouth (South Devon and parts of East Cornwall), and Truro (Central and West Cornwall & the Isles of Scilly).
Reporter and camera crews were also based at district newsrooms in Penzance, Taunton, Torbay and Weymouth.
The programme ended on Friday 13 February 2009.
Following ITV Westcountry's merger with ITV West to form ITV West & Westcountry, the new pan-regional programme The West Country Tonight launched on Monday 16 February 2009. A 20-minute opt-out for the current Westcountry region is featured within the 6pm programme alongside fully separate short bulletins and localised weather forecasts seven days a week. The news service was renamed ITV News West Country on 14 January 2013.
Depending on the day's news, either the West or Westcountry bulletins are pre-recorded. The service is presented from Bristol with newsrooms in Plymouth, Truro and Exeter covering the Westcountry region.
Former Westcountry Live presenters Richard Bath, Alexis Bowater and Jemma Woodman were made redundant. [1] Bath and Woodman presented the final main edition of the programme on Friday 13 February 2009, which featured a special highlights compilation with contributions from presenters, reporters and production staff.
Westcountry's main Plymouth studios were closed along with the district newsrooms in Barnstaple, Penzance, Torbay and Weymouth. A new, smaller Plymouth newsroom opened at the offices of independent production company Twofour. [2]
|
|
|
Devon is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west. The city of Plymouth is the largest settlement, and the city of Exeter is the county town.
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of the nine official regions of England in the United Kingdom. It consists of the counties of Cornwall, Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and large towns in the region include Bath, Bristol, Bournemouth, Cheltenham, Exeter, Gloucester, Plymouth and Swindon. It is geographically the largest of the nine regions of England with a land area of 9,203 square miles (23,836 km2), but the third-least populous, with an estimated 5,764,881 residents in 2022.
ITV Westcountry, formerly known as Westcountry Television and Carlton Westcountry, was the ITV franchise holder for the South West of England, covering Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, southern and western Somerset and western Dorset. The company replaced its predecessor, TSW, from 1 January 1993. The station was owned and operated by ITV plc under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited.
The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Herefordshire. The West Country has a distinctive regional English dialect and accent, and is also home to the Cornish language.
BBC Radio Devon is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Devon.
Television South West (TSW) was the ITV franchise holder for the South West England region from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 1992, broadcasting from studios at Derry's Cross in Plymouth, Devon.
BBC Spotlight is the BBC's regional TV news programme for the South West of England, covering Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, southern and western Somerset, western Dorset and the Channel Islands.
The West Tonight is a regional news programme that served the West of England, produced by ITV West.
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.
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.
The South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) was one of the nine Regional Development Agencies set up by the United Kingdom government in 1999. Its purpose was to lead the development of a sustainable economy in South West England, investing to unlock the region's business potential. It was abolished along with all the other RDAs on 31 March 2012, with some of its functions being replaced by local enterprise partnerships.
BBC South West is the BBC English Region serving Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, West Somerset, West Dorset and Channel Islands.
Rob Curling is a British television presenter and journalist. He presents the sport for Sky News. He also fronts the tennis coverage for British Eurosport. Up to and including 2011, he anchored BBC Sport's interactive television coverage of: Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Wimbledon, Open Golf, Six Nations Rugby and World Athletics Championships. He was the host of the game show Turnabout, which aired on BBC One for eight series between 1990 and 1996. He presented the Halford Tour Series cycling for ITV4, and commentated on table tennis on the BBC at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
The media in Cornwall has a long and distinct history. The county has a wide range of different types and quality of media.
Scouting in South West England is about Scouting activities in the governmental region of South West England. The largest number of Scouts, volunteer leaders and groups are members of the Scout Association of the United Kingdom while there are some traditional Scouting groups such as the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association. The Scout Association administers the region through 7 Scout Counties, overseen by a regional commissioner, which follow the boundaries of the ceremonial counties they exist within. There are six active student associations at various universities in the region, each of which is affiliated to the Student Scout and Guide Organisation (SSAGO).
Alexis Bowater is a Devon-born British newsreader, journalist and women's campaigner. In response to her stalking experience whilst main anchor at ITV Westcountry, she became the Chief Executive of the Network for Surviving Stalking and then campaigned for the laws to be changed in the UK and Europe. After stepping down as CEO, she set up her own communications and consultancy agency Bowater Communications.
ITV News West Country is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV West Country. It is broadcast from studios in Brislington, Bristol, with district reporters and camera crews based in newsrooms at Plymouth, Exeter, Truro, Taunton, Swindon and Gloucester.
Heart South West was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Devon and Cornwall from studios in Exeter.
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.
Heart West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts in South West England, South East Wales, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. from studios in Bristol.
ITV News (ITV nations & regions) | |
|---|---|
| |
