News at Ten

As you may know, there has been a proposal that ITV should change its line-up of programmes in the evening. One part of this would be to move the main news from 10 p.m.

For the purpose of the first question only, the sample was split into two, each half being asked the initial question in one of two different forms:

Q1a If there were no evening news at ten o'clock, ITV could show a wider range of programmes between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., including drama, films, documentaries, current affairs, sport and comedy. In addition, two-hour feature films not suitable to be shown earlier in the evening could be shown without a break for the news. In general, how strongly would you support or oppose moving the news from ten o'clock to allow ITV to show other programmes?

Q1b In general, how strongly would you support or oppose moving the news from ten o'clock to allow ITV to show other programmes?

Q2a If there were no evening news at ten o'clock, which of these types of programmes would you like to see on ITV between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.?

Q2b And which of these would you not like to see on ITV at that time?

The proposal is that ITV's early evening news would become the main evening news programme, and instead of starting at 5.40 p.m. would run from 6.30 p.m. to 7 p.m.. There would be no news at Ten, but there would be a twenty-minute news late programme programme at 11 p.m.

If this change were to happen, how often do you think you would watch each of the following?

Q3a The ITV early evening news at 6.30 p.m. Q3b The ITV late evening news at 11 p.m. Q3c The evening news on some other channel? Q3d And how often do you think you would not watch any evening TV news at all?

160	Q3a 6:30 p.m ITV	Q3b 11 p.m ITV	Q3c Other Channel	Q3d No News
160	%	%	%	%
Most days	26	7	20	8
Fairly often	19	11	23	13
Occasionally	23	26	29	26
Rarely or never	32	55	26	51
Don't know	1	1	2	2

Q4a Regardless of whether you actually do watch it, are you normally free to watch television at 10 p.m., so that you would be able to watch News at Ten if you wanted to?

Q4b And are you normally free to watch television at 6.30 p.m., so that you would be able to watch a main ITV news programme if you wanted to?

Q4c And are you normally free to watch television at 11 p.m., so that you would be able to watch a late evening news programme on ITV if you wanted to?

160	Q4a 10 p.m	Q4b 6:30 p.m	Q4c 11 p.m
160	%	%	%
Yes, normally free to watch	82	61	51
No, not normally free to watch	11	29	38
It varies	6	10	10
Don't know	*	*	1

Q5a You say you are not free to normally free to watch the news at 6.30 p.m. Why are you not normally free to do so? Base: Not free to watch at 6.30 p.m. (530)

160	%
Out at work/returning from work	50
Out shopping	1
Out to eat/drink	2
Meal times	27
Looking after children	20
Gone to bed	3
Other	15
Don't know	1

Q5b How much, if at all, would it matter to you if the main ITV news were at 6.30 and you were not able to watch it? Base: Not free to watch at 6.30 p.m. (530)

160	%
A great deal	8
A fair amount	17
Not very much	42
Not at all	31
Don't know	1

Q6a You say you are not free to normally free to watch the news at 11 p.m. Why are you not normally free to do so? Base: Not free to watch at 11 p.m. (731)

160	%
Out at work/returning from work	8
Out shopping	-
Out to eat/drink	3
Meal times	*
Looking after children	*
Gone to bed	85
Other	5
Don't know	1

Q6b How much, if at all, would it matter to you if the ITV late evening news were at 11 p.m. and you were not able to watch it? Base: Not free to watch at 11 p.m. (731)

160	%
A great deal	10
A fair amount	11
Not very much	38
Not at all	39
Don't know	1

Q7 If there were no News at Ten, this would also mean that the ITV late evening regional news bulletin would no longer be at 10.30 p.m., but at 11.20 p.m. instead. How strongly would you support or oppose such a change?

160	%
Strongly support	5
Tend to support	11
Neither support nor oppose	45
Tend to oppose	18
Strongly oppose	20
Don't know	1

Q8 If there were no News at Ten, the only news programme between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. on the main channels (apart from cable and satellite channels) would be the Nine O'Clock News on BBC1. How important do you think it is that both BBC1 and ITV should carry a news programme between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.?

160	%
Very important	24
Fairly important	38
Not very important	26
Not at all important	9
Don't know	3

Q9 When would you say would be the ideal time for you watch the evening news?

Before 5.30 p.m.	5.30 p.m.	6 p.m.	6.30 p.m.	7 p.m.	7.30 p.m.	8 p.m.	8.30 p.m.	160
2%	2%	21%	12%	6%	1%	3%	1%	160
160
9 p.m.	9.30 p.m.	10 p.m.	10.30 p.m.	11 p.m.	11.30 p.m.	12 midnight	After midnight	Don't know
16%	3%	17%	2%	3%	*%	*%	*%	6%

Q10 On balance, are you personally in favour of ITV moving its main news from 10 o'clock to 6.30 p.m., or would you prefer News at Ten to remain where it is from Monday to Friday?

160	%
In favour of ITV moving the news	31
Prefer News at Ten to remain where it is	48
No opinion	21

Q11 Approximately what time do you normally go to bed during the week?

Earlier than 9 p.m.	9-9.30 p.m.	9.30-10 p.m.	10-10.30 p.m.	10.30-11 p.m.	11-11.30 p.m.	160
1%	1%	3%	10%	26%	21%	160
160
11.30 p.m- 12 midnight	12 midnight -12.30 a.m.	12.30 a.m. -1 a.m.	1-1.30 a.m.	Later than 1.30 a.m.	It varies	Don't know
15%	6%	4%	2%	3%	9%	*%

Q12 How often would you say you watch each of the following evening television news programmes?

160	Most days	Fairly often	Occasi- onally	Rarely /never	Don't know
160	%	%	%	%	%
The ITN early evening news, at 5.40 p.m.	17	12	22	49	*
BBC Six O'Clock News	16	16	27	41	*
ITV early evening regional news	16	17	26	41	*
BBC early evening regional news	11	14	29	46	*
Channel 4 News, at 7 p.m.	1	4	16	78	*
Channel 5 News, at 7 p.m.	1	1	8	88	2
BBC Nine O'Clock News	11	22	40	27	*
The evening BBC regional news	9	16	35	40	1
ITN News at Ten	21	22	31	25	*
The evening ITV regional news, at 10.30 p.m.	15	17	29	39	*
Sky News	4	4	10	79	2

Technical details

The MORI research consisted of twelve questions carried on the MORI Omnibus survey. It was conducted among a representative quota sample of 1,932 adults aged 16+, interviewed face-to-face in their homes between 3 and 13 October 1998.