The two shows were pitched head to head when the BBC replaced its 'Nine O'Clock News' show with the 'Ten O'Clock News'. Since then, the BBC show has racked up 7m viewers, more than ITV's 'News at Ten'.
ITV partners Carlton Communications and Granada are understood to have asked the Independent Television Commission for permission to move the show to an earlier slot, understood to be 9.30pm.
They are understood to want to put it an earlier time so that feature length dramas and films shown in prime time do not have to be interrupted by the news.
The latest bid by ITV to move the 'News at Ten' looks set to be a rerun of its previous efforts to move its flagship news show.
ITV's nightly news show has been in trouble since it moved to a later slot in April 1999. ITV was then forced by regulators to move the show back to 10pm on most weeknights, but by this time the BBC had already moved into the 10pm slot. ITV has never managed to pull back the ratings it enjoyed before the move.
ITV's news bulletin, produced by ITN, has lost its evening news reporter Dermot Murnahan, who is defecting to the BBC to host its breakfast show, while ITV's news editor Nigel Dacre is also leaving.
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