ITV Nightscreen is a scheduled programme on the ITV television network, consisting of a sequence of animated pages of information about ITV's upcoming programmes, features and special events, with an easy listening music soundtrack. The programme is used to fill the station's overnight downtime, where a closedown would have once been used at the end of programmes. The programme is generally shown 7 days a week with the typical weekday show airing from 3:50am – 5:05am daily. On STV, UTV and in the Channel Islands the programme starts earlier, sometimes as early as midnight, breaking for a signed programme at 3am before resuming and occasionally in Scotland it has been known to broadcast continually from 1:00 am to 6:00 am without a break. However on ITV's digital channels, the amount of Teleshopping affects how much Nightscreen is broadcast and also on ITV during Summer & Christmas and on emergency recovery test more hours are being broadcast as live Jackpot 24/7 is not shown - thus sees the Nightscreeen broadcasting until 5:05am–6:00am non stop. Very occasionally it is not broadcast due to live events and other programming filling its hour. The programme also broadcasts on all of ITV's +1 channels. It was first broadcast on 14 January 1998, and consisted of teletext pages taken from the ITV regional teletext services, with interstitial teletext-based animations in a similar style to the former 4-Tel On View. Since 2003 the screens have been produced using Scala InfoChannel3. In early 2009, updated systems were installed with the latest version of Scala5, with a dual redundant system to counter any issues of service. In April 2012, the system was upgraded again to a newer version of Scala5. This, amongst other minor presentational changes, allowed compatibility of the service to be transmitted in 16:9 widescreen for the first time, as opposed to 4:3. Nightscreen has, in the past, been criticised for highlighting programmes which had already aired, and for some careless typing and spelling errors but now regularly avoids doing this. As well as providing focus on upcoming programmes, films and TV listings, it also offers some news from the world of entertainment. In the past it also offered sports news and even on some occasions cooking tips, recipes and also fact files of characters from famous ITV shows such as Emmerdale and Coronation Street. The Scala system was provided by Beaver Group, and the programme is currently produced by Gower Creative Communications. The Soundtracks are supplied by EMI Production Music. Albums in the Library of Juice On Demand. On STV, most of the soundtracks can be found in various Albums in the Library of Music House
Origins
screens had been employed by the BBC since 1980 and by Channel 4 since 1983 to fill airtime cheaply. In-vision teletext was only ever occasionally used on the ITV network. From April 1986 certain regions, firstly Central Independent Television, followed in January 1987 by Yorkshire Television, started showing overnight teletext sequences containing details of local job vacancies under the title Jobfinder. Initially the pages were broadcast for an hour after the end of regular programming but from April 1987 Central broadcast Jobfinder throughout their overnight downtime. When 24-hour television began in 1988, the majority of ITV regions broadcast a Jobfinder programme in the hour preceding the. Also, for a short while in 1987, an Oracle-provided service preceding TV-am broadcasts, known as Daybreak, was broadcast before the start of TV-am's programming. ITV Nightscreen's origins can also be found in a programme simply titled Freescreen, which was made and screened by Meridian Broadcasting in its early years. The Meridian version mixed the teletext pages with local news stories and short videos made and sent in by viewers.
Broadcasts
ITV Nightscreen is broadcast on ITV, STV and UTV starting from when the last programme finishes and ending at 05:05 most weekdays and at 06:00 at weekends and holidays. ITV2 often broadcasts the filler starting at around 05:00 and ending at 06:00. Its availability on ITV3, ITV4, and itv be is dependent on how much unused time is left, and can sometimes last for as little as five minutes on 3, 4, and Encore. On 1 August 2019, home shopping channelIdeal World began simulcasting during part of the overnight period on ITV, however, it is not able to be viewed on ITV Hub. Consequently, the two bursts of Nightscreen on UTV and Channel have now ceased as these regions now follow network scheduling due to there being no restrictions about them showing Ideal World, unlike the previous gaming programmes. STV still shows the service from not long after 1 am till 5 or 6 am depending upon schedule requirements. Sometimes Nightscreen is scheduled between blocks of teleshopping on ITV2, 3 and 4. On ITVBe, Nightscreen is shown for the small amount of time after the last programme before 5 or more hours of teleshopping is shown. Former ITV channel ITV Encore used the service to fill left time in nighttime programming. The CITV channel does not use the service as their channel finishes at 9pm.
A similar filler to ITV Nightscreen was also provided by RTÉ, who currently uses this to fill airtime cheaply on RTÉ Two. It is very similar in fashion to ITV Nightscreen as it provides rolling teletext pages while RTÉ Two is not broadcasting. It has been criticised by many FAI League of Ireland fans who have dubbed the service "Errortel" due to the constant inaccuracies, delays & incorrect information with live scoring and reporting of games.
Ceefax was the BBC's teletext information service transmitted via the analogue signal, started in 1974 and continued to run until the UKanalogue switch off in October 2012. In-vision Ceefax broadcasts started in 1980, initially as a daytime filler, but as programme hours expanded Ceefax was shown before the start of programming. From 1995 until October 2012 they were seen on BBC Two late at night, most commonly at the weekend but occasionally during the week. The final broadcast was in the early hours of Monday 22 October 2012, two days before Ceefax was switched off when digital switchover was completed. Broadcasts on BBC One had ceased in November 1997 when BBC News was launched as BBC One carries BBC News overnight although occasional Ceefax broadcasts were seen on BBC One Scotland.
4-Tel On View">FourText#4-Tel On View">4-Tel On View
Originally broadcast on weekdays, it alternated with showings of the IBAETP-1 testcard and Oracle On View. From 1983 until the start of Channel 4's breakfast television service in April 1989, the 4-Tel magazine ran for 15 minutes and was repeated several times each day with transmissions airing at increasingly earlier times of the day as Channel 4 expanded its broadcast hours. In April 1989 Channel 4 began broadcasting programming at breakfast and 4-Tel On View was reduced to a 40-minute slot between 05:20 and 06:00 although from 1993 4-Tel was broadcast throughout Channel 4's closedown period. It was last seen in January 1997 as this was when Channel 4 began broadcasting a 24-hour television service.
Oracle on View
Was aired from 1983 until 1989 on Channel 4. The fifteen-minute bursts were originally broadcast at :30 to :45 minutes past the hour but changed to :15 to :30 minutes past in October 1984. Initially the pages were used to showcase various aspects of the Oracle service, alternating subject matter every so often, but from September 1987 Oracle On View featured a newsreel and a weather forecast. Oracle On View ended when Channel 4 launched breakfast programming.
S4C Closedown Screen
A program which ran for 10 minutes after closedown and for 10 minutes before startup. It was phased out in the late 2000s.
