We all love conflict, and the prospect of a battle royal between BBC1's Ten O'Clock News and the returning News at Ten next Monday, back in a permanent berth after a peripatitic nine years, is one to relish, writes Maggie Brown.
I'm not immune from wondering whether the BBC's Huw Edwards will get a bloody nose, or if the nation will suddenly start chuckling again over a cheery And Finally... item rounding off News at Ten.
So it is easy to overlook the obvious, in all of the excitement stoked up by ITN and ITV. Which is that what really will dictate success or failure for this bold move is not Sir Trevor McDonald's presence, the bongs of Big Ben, a glitzy reprise of the opening swoop along the Thames, or sharp footage of Gordon Brown visiting China next week.
No. What matters most is whether the new ITV1 peaktime schedule, of which News at Ten is only one part and which launched with far less of a fanfare this week, manages to convincingly rebuild ITV's standing in the coming year.
Specifically, the issue is whether the new tranche of hour long 9pm dramas, which replace the artificially stretched ninety minute monsters of the past few years, perform well enough to provide a comfy "hammock" for News at Ten.
What people tend to forget is that the ratings for news programmes goes up and down. Unless there is a big news story around, people do not tend to make a special point of switching on.
Audience inheritance is the real issue. The larger the audiences watching the preceding programme, the larger the number who will hang on for the news bulletin headlines. Also, the competing networks will vigorously trail their up and coming news in preceding programmes, giving people tasters of what they might be missing. The larger the audience around to watch the prompts, the better the news ratings will be.
So far- but these are very early days - ITV1's new 2008 schedule has got off to a good start, which augurs well for News at Ten.
The new 9 pm series, Honest, starring Amanda Redman, romped off with 6 million on Wednesday evening, delighting ITV's director of television, Simon Shaps. And last night Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach won the 9pm hour with 5 million viewers apiece, whatever the critics thought.
On Monday, News at Ten will launch after yet another new series, The Palace, about a fictional Royal Family. The Palace is up against Motorway Cops on BBC1.
In the years that News at Ten was off air, ITV1 never found a perfect solution to its 10pm problem, despite trying a wide range of often expensive, blokey entertainment and comedy half hours. In the past year ITV1 has averaged around 2.5 million in the 10pm-10.30 pm slot, often coming in behind Channel 4 and Channel Five. The BBC, which moved its news from 9pm to 10pm like a flash in 2000 when ITV switched its bulletin to a later slot, could never believe its luck, or its rival's original stupidity.
So I think it is fair to say that News at Ten will be earning its keep if it averages above three million, and if more of the right sort of people start to watch again: busy working men who buy cars, computers and financial products, and who advertisers always used to target in the bulletin's centre break.
None of this means that Sir Trevor, the glamorous Julie Etchingham, news scoops, and catchy graphics don't matter. They do, they come with the territory. But a news programme is really only as good as the channel it represents.
