ITV
News
News Production: ITV Daytime
Three Live Shows. One System.
ITV is the UK's largest commercial broadcaster. And there are very few production environments as demanding as ITV's daytime lineup. They run tree live shows: Lorraine, This Morning, and Loose Women back-to-back, from the same studios, with the same technical team, different presenters, different editorial demands, and almost no time between them.
This creates extra technical challenges for the production team, so when the team began looking for a new newsroom control system, the bar was high.
The Challenge: Flexible Multi-Program Production
ITV Daytime had been running on an older newsroom computer system for years. It worked, but it wasn't working in the way the production required.
The team needed a system flexible enough to handle last-minute changes, accessible enough for every role, and simple enough that training wouldn't slow anyone down. They also wanted to move away from printing rundowns every day, a habit that felt increasingly outdated with how modern productions work.
A Unified System for All
What drew the team to Cuez was the fact that everyone, regardless of their technical background, could use the same tool.
"Suddenly, we could have an environment where any of our team could all use the same system. And that's really unique. Other systems don't offer this sort of full system," says Barry Thomas, the Executive Director at ITV Daytime
From producers building rundowns and directors managing the gallery to camera operators following the show on iPads, Cuez gave the entire team a shared view of what was happening, what was next, and how long everything would take.
Printing stopped: instead, everyone switched to iPads, and the camera department, previously reliant on paper, also adapted quickly.
"We needed a flexible tool that would allow our teams to log in anywhere, from wherever, whenever, and be able to work on their content and build their shows."
Complex Shows, Simple Production Process
Running three branded shows in one day is a logistical challenge that most systems aren't built for. Each show has its own style, its own graphics, its own presenters. In the old setup, every graphic had to be a separate element for every show.
Previously, two operators were needed to handle graphics and VT playout separately, one running Avid Maestro and the other running Avid Command. Cuez brought both functions into a single application.
"Using one application, we were able to play multiple graphics systems and VT playout systems together, very, very easily," says Adam Scott, the Gallery Playout Operator.
"With Cuez you can quite literally click, grab, drop and move the item to the next part. No need to go in and rewrite things. It is as simple as clicking a button. That has been a game-changer."
An Easy-to-Learn Tool
When a team's technical abilities vary, getting a new system embedded across an editorial team, where people are focused on content, not technology, is essential. With Cuez, the process was quick and straightforward.
"From the minute I started, it was much easier to use than other systems I've done in the past. It's really user-friendly. Once you've had just a little bit of a play around with it, I was completely across it," says Johny.
The result? Three shows. One system. A team that no longer thinks about the tool; instead, they just use it.
