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The move is thought to be in response to the poor ratings of ITV's 6pm regional news, which is beaten around the country by the BBC Six O'Clock News.

By moving its main news from 6:30 to 6pm ITV will be revisiting the headline battle the two fought over the Ten O'clock News.

Having dumped its News at Ten programme ITN decided in September 2000 to bring it back for three days a week as the BBC decided to move its own Nine O'clock News programme to 10pm.

ITN, which makes ITV's news, is understood to have a programme ready to fill a slot from 6pm to 7pm. Like the BBC's programme it would be a mixture of national and regional news.

The two sparked a mini ratings war and drew fire from politicians who feared that the move would result in lower numbers of people tuning in. However, the numbers did not drop although the BBC was able to claim victory over ITN, consistently winning higher numbers.

ITV came under intense pressure to restore News at Ten from industry regulator ITC following a 14% drop in audience ratings for news programming. When it did restore the programme it was only for three nights a week.

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