LOCALISED news coverage on ITV Meridian is in for a shake up after the network announced it wanted to slash its regional coverage to save costs.
Programmes such as Meridian Tonight are now under review with ITV in favour of larger regional news broadcasts.
ITV has announced it wants to reduce its regional bulletins from 17 to nine as part of five-year growth plans, and has also admitted redundancies will be inevitable.
The broadcasting union Bectu said it estimated spending on regional news by ITV will be reduced from roughly £90m to between £50m and £60m and that hundreds of jobs were now under threat.
It has now called on TV watchdog Ofcom to refuse ITV permission for the move, however ITV bosses say the changes are vital if the network is to maintain the quality of its newsgathering service.
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