ITV is to move its 10pm news bulletin to 9pm in the event of war with Iraq, reports the Media Guardian today.

Whilst initally the network is proposing the move be made for the duration of the war only, it is expected the slot will become a permanent home for the bulletin on a long-term basis. News at Ten currently loses out with the BBC's Ten O'Clock News by a ratio of around 3:5 when they go head-to-head on three nights a week.

In 2001, ITV aired a number of bulletins in the 9pm slot, which gained audiences of around 10 million viewers. Under the new move, the bulletin would be extended from half an hour to an hour on heavy news days.

ITV will need to get approval from the ITC for the plan to go-ahead; an informal approach was made yesterday to test the waters and it is believed the regulator will give the the nod when a formal application is made.

"We don't know exactly how this situation is going to develop, but if the Iraq crisis escalates to war then we would move to a 9pm bulletin," an ITV source told the website. "There would be a massive appetite for news and information and we think that the public would be not be best served by having the main bulletins on ITV1 and BBC1 head to head.

"We found after September 11 that there was real demand for news at 9pm which ITV1 met with special bulletins, and we feel its right to provide the same service if there is a war."