Some North Northumbrians CAN get ITV (Border) Scotland if they Twiddle the Signal Reception on their Televisions and point their Aerials NORTH.

31st October 2020

Dear Readers

A major feature that I return to on this site is the fact that the two main Regional Television News- services that serve North East England, that is ITV Tyne Tees and BBC Look North (North East/ Cumbria) not only serve Northumberland very poorly, but also that neither Regional Television broadcaster will provide overlap coverage across the Scottish Border into the Scottish Borders. This means that, left with these two main choices of Regional Television, the Northernmost Northumbrian viewers get very little coverage that is really local, let alone it being good all- round news-coverage.

Given the strong links between towns like Berwick upon Tweed and Norham with the Scottish Borders and given that northernmost Northumberland is over sixty miles north of Tyneside and one hundred miles north of Teesside (areas which tend to dominate North East Regional Television News), it is quite unacceptable for viewers in the far north of Northumberland to have a so- called “local” news-service that is largely irrelevant whilst these same viewers do not ever get to hear about significant news events not far to the north of them- or even locally.

However, this Website offers advice and help at-hand. That is, by pointing out that you can get better coverage of northern Northumberland and the Scottish Borders if you have a computer with good Internet connection. Sign up to the ITV Hub and make ITV Border (Scottish version) your chosen ITV Region, then you can watch ITV Border (Scotland) which covers Berwick upon Tweed, northernmost Northumberland and the Scottish Borders very well. There is also the odd bit of news about Cumbria and also Dumfries and Galloway, but if you sign up to the Scottish version of ITV Border you will stand a much better chance of finding out about happenings on the Scottish side of the Border and locally in northernmost Northumberland.

When you go onto the ITV Hub, make sure you choose ITV Border (Scotland), not ITV Border (England). One might intuitively go for ITV Border (England) in northern Northumberland- after all you would be on the English side of the Scottish Border- but ITV Border (Scotland) will provide you with a much higher proportion of news that is local, or at least within an hour’s drive of where you live, than will ITV Border (England). ITV Border (England) mainly covers Cumbria and nowhere in Cumbria is local to you if you live in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Seahouses or Wooler! Even Carlisle, in the north of Cumbria, is 84 miles and over two hours’ drive from Berwick-upon-Tweed. So, if you live in northernmost Northumberland, ITV Border (Scotland) would be you go-to Regional Television service for news that is likely to have most relevance to you.

However, if you are a pensioner who is not computer-savvy and only have a television you can still get ITV Border (Scotland) from the Selkirk transmitter if you live near Berwick-upon-Tweed, near Norham and west towards Cornhill-upon-Tweed. You can also pick up ITV Border (Scotland) at Wooler with a good clear view to the north-west and an ability to put your TV aerial up high- and pointing north. You can also pick up ITV Border (Scotland) at Byrness, northwest of Otterburn, in north-west Northumberland with a clear view to the north-west. Make sure your TV-aerial points north-west and get an aerial specialist to do this for you if you don’t feel like climbing onto your roof yourself. Unfortunately, if you live nearer Wooler or at Byrness, you are likely to get a fairly fuzzy black- and- white picture of ITV Border (Scotland), it likely wont be colour and in bad weather you might not get reception at all.

For those viewers living in parts of northern Northumberland a bit further south who have no computer, are not tech- savvy and who do not have Sky or Freeview your situation is bleak: Those living in places like Alnwick, Rochester, Bamburgh, Otterburn, Alwinton and Alnmouth will not be able to pick up ITV Border on their television. If that’s you reading this, then see if you can juggle your finances a bit more to buy Sky Television or upgrade to Freeview. You can get additional ITV Regions added to your Sky TV Digibox or FreeSat Digibox, again if you are not tech-savvy I would advise calling on the services of a Sky TV Specialist. The one off cost will be well worth it if you can get ITV Border (Scotland) and get a news- service that is more localised- and so you can find out what is happening to the north of where you live and not always well to the south of you.

You can then watch ITV Border (Scotland) at 6.pm on weeknights to find out what is happening locally and to the north of you, then you can watch BBC Look North (North East/ Cumbria) at 6.30 pm to find out what is happening across the more urban North East of England to the south of you. That way, folk living in mid and northern Northumberland are likely to pick up news that is relevant to them and their community, as well as getting the more pan-regional news-coverage across North East England.

If enough Northern Northumbrian folk do this, and then write in to ITV Tyne Tees at ttvnews@itv.com and to BBC Look North (North East/ Cumbria) at look.north.comment@bbc.co.uk, pointing out that the TV Technician will be coming round to help one watch ITV Border (Scotland) because “Coverage north of Morpeth Hardly Exists” the main North East Regional Television News- providers may start to take more notice of their North Northumbrian viewers- and act to provide a more tailored news-service with some overlap into the Scottish Borders!