ITV Nightscreen - Broadcasts

Broadcasts

ITV Nightscreen is broadcast on the main ITV channel (ITV1 and UTV) starting from where the last program finishes and ending at 04:35 most weekdays and at 05:30 at weekends. ITV2 often broadcasts the filler starting at around 05:00 and ending at 06:00. Its availability on ITV3 and ITV4 is dependent on how much unused time is left, and can sometimes last for as little as five minutes on ITV3 and ITV4 (as teleshopping is shown on ITV3 and ITV4 between 03:00 and 06:00). Although not an ITV-branded channel, ITV's now-defunct Men & Motors channel would in its later years carry the filler from the close of programming until 06:00; between 06:00 and the start of programmes at 11:00, M&M would broadcast an animated caption card or teleshopping presentations.

In its early years, Nightscreen would take up most of the early morning schedule, often starting at 02:00 or 03:00 and finishing before the ITV News at 5:30.

In December 2005, three months before the now defunct ITV Play began transmitting, a quiz show entitled Quizmania began broadcasting in the early hours on ITV. Subsequent programmes that followed were The Mint, Make Your Play and Glitterball. This resulted in Nightscreen being pushed back to just a half hour service between 05:00 and 05:30.

In 2008, largely as a result of widespread scandal surrounding phone-ins, ITV Play was permanently axed, since when Nightscreen now regularly runs from around 04:00. Channel Television runs its own version of the service entitled Channel Nightscreen consisting of local news headlines and programming information.

In April 2010, STV launched its own Scottish night-time service, The Nightshift, broadcast in the STV Central region and consisting of programming highlights, news, competitions and viewers texts & emails read out by a live out-of-vision presenter. STV North continued to broadcast ITV Nightscreen until July 2010, when The Nightshift was extended to the North region. The programme includes regional news opt-outs for the four STV sub-regions: Aberdeen & the North, Dundee & Tayside, Edinburgh & the East and Glasgow & the West. STV now broadcasts Nightscreen from Thursday to Sunday, usually between around midnight and 5.30am.

In mid 2010, ITV started airing The Zone for 2 hours, a gaming and shopping programme block, usually airing from 00:30 to 02:30, leaving Nightscreen often cut back to as little as an hour and sometimes removed from ITV1's schedule altogether.