For a channel known for its regional output, the absence of a full regional service on ITVX at launch was notable. ITVX recently upgraded its service with the first six of ITV’s regions.
- Viewers in parts of the country can now access a live stream containing their local version of ITV1.
- But the functionality is currently only available on some devices and some viewers will get the wrong news, even if their postcode is set correctly.
- Originally only ITV1 London was carried on ITVX.
ITV is enhancing its news provision on ITVX, as first announced in November. Last week, it launched its new news pop-up service, which goes live on ITVX every Wednesday during Prime Minister’s Questions and whenever there is a major breaking news story.
At the same time, ITV has beefed up its regional news provision. Previously, the ITV1 live stream didn’t contain regional news outside of London. This has now started to change.
How regionalisation works
ITVX has always asked users for a postcode during registration.
Previously, this determined whether a viewer was located in ITV or STV’s broadcast area. Viewers living in the STV broadcast area need to switch to the STV Player for their regional news service.
From now on, at least on some devices and in some areas only, the postcode will affect which version of ITV1 you’ll get in the Live TV section of ITVX.
Locations where the ITVX regional service is available
ITV now offers six regional news services, but depends on which device you’re using to access ITVX (see below):
- Central West
- Granada
- London
- Meridian East
- Wales
- Ulster (UTV)
If you live in these regions, ITVX offers an ITV1 live stream with your regional news and weather. In Wales, the live stream also includes a small number of additional regional programmes.
What’s the catch?
- The regional functionality currently only works on some devices (listed below).
- And for viewers not living in one of the above regions, you’ll get the wrong regional news.
So for example, anyone living in the West Country may end up getting ITV1 Central West as their live stream. And viewers in the North East (Tyne Tees) will get Granada. This is what the spaghetti lines on the above map depict.
The regional structure of ITVX at the moment is identical to the limited regionality that Freeview HD viewers are familiar with. If you have Freeview and have to watch your local ITV news in standard definition on channel 3, because the version in HD on 103 is wrong, the same will apply on ITVX.
Devices where the ITVX regional service is available
At present, ITVX regionalisation is only available on the following devices:
- Xbox One/S/X and Xbox Series X/S,
- Samsung Smart TVs (2017 and later),
- Amazon Fire TV,
- Roku Streaming Players,
- Freeview Play (devices that support ITVX live streams only)
- Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream puck,
- Virgin Media.
So for example, you won’t (yet) be able to access the live stream of ITV1 Wales or ITV1 Central West on the ITVX mobile app. Nor will you be able to watch live regional news streams on a laptop. But you can catch-up later in the news section of the ITV website.
ITV says the regional functionality is something it will keep improving.
▶ How to change your postcode on ITVX [ITVX help centre – external link]
ITV regional news on catch-up
ITV’s regional programmes have always been found in the news section of ITVX, the successor of the old ITV News website. Unlike the regionalised ITV1 live stream, regional news on catch-up is available across a wider range of devices.
But these are segregated from the rest of the ITVX programme library. In time, the goal is for all regional news programmes to be available in the same way as other ITV programmes on ITVX.
That’s important because ITV will soon be allowed to broadcast some regional content online-only. The new Media Bill going through Parliament will give public service broadcasters like ITV flexibility over where to carry some of their programmes. Currently, ITV has a quota stating how many hours of regional output has to be broadcast on ITV1 each week. In the future, the quota could be split between ITV1 and ITVX.
Marc Thornham