The channel will be integrated into the ITV News brand, which ITN is contracted to supply news to until 2009.
The deal gives the digital channel -- the rest of which is owned by NTL -- access to the national and international news operations of ITV News Resources, as well as its correspondents and news-gathering operation.
ITN News Channel was set up in 2000 to compete against the longer established Sky News and BBC News 24. However, the ITN News Channel has failed to make an impact on the market.
On September 11, ITN only managed to pull in 169,000 viewers compared with 378,000 who watched BBC News 24. Sky News was the clear winner with almost 1m viewers.
It was reported late last year that the station was to be closed at the beginning of this year after racking up losses of nearly £30m. However, it looks as though the ITV deal has rescued it just in time.
ITN closed its rolling news website last year when it had to tighten its belt after slicing £13m off its bid to provide ITV with news last year. The move followed Sky News putting in a cheaper proposal.
Since then, it has had to rein in its costs to compensate for losing the extra revenue from the ITV deal.
ITV joint managing director Mick Desmond said: "The ITV News Channel strengthens ITV's offer with the obvious financial, resource and cross-promotional benefits of a fully integrated, ITV-branded service. This deal positions ITV as a leader in news in terrestrial and multichannel television."
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