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On Tuesday 3rd July 2007, UTV
officially launched their summer schedule with a feast of local
programming for viewers to enjoy. Along with this they also unveiled the
new company strapline: UTV - It's all about U, with Michael Wilson, Head
of Television at UTV commenting, "For
many years now ‘UTV is Your TV’ has served us well, but the time is now
right to re-brand, although the focus remains the same – you the viewer
– whether you watch our programmes on UTV or online on
www.u.tv hence our new group strapline ‘UTV – It’s all about U’."
Amongst the local programming lined up for the summer months was the
much anticipated Ultimate Ulster, hosted by Frank Mitchell and
promising 'the original guide to Northern Ireland as chosen by viewers'.
Ultimate Ulster brought about a
presentation change on UTV, as on Monday 9th July a special ident set
was introduced to promote the new series. The template from the previous
idents had been retained but the scenes had changed to overhead shots of
various locations across Northern Ireland, as filmed from a helicopter.
The scenes used in the idents were taken from the 10 episodes of
Ultimate Ulster, which included Ulster's top ten landmarks and top ten
places to visit. Ten idents were in use initially, from Monday 9th to
Wednesday 18th July. On Thursday 19th July, the date of the first airing
of Ultimate Ulster, another three idents were added to the set.
UTV were very pleased at how their
new idents turned out and decided to retain them even after the Ultimate
Ulster series had started. The line of text promoting Ultimate Ulster
was simply removed, and the idents were then used from this date
forward. Over the following weeks, more idents were added to the set,
bringing the total number to 25.
In October 2008, a further set of
additions were added, bringing the total number of idents to over 30.
The final outing for this set of
idents was Friday 12th December 2008, almost 18 months after their first
introduction. From Saturday 13th December, UTV began using Christmas
idents and other presentation which ran until the end of the year. New
Year idents were in use on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day until a
brand new set of idents began transmission on Friday 2nd January 2009.
These can be seen
here. |