ITV argued against the idea of a 30-minute evening bulletin, insisting a news programme of such length would eat into its primetime entertainment schedule and turn viewers away from the channel, but the ITA granted Cox's wish in 1967.

ITV stations reluctantly agreed to give the proposed bulletin – a Monday-to-Friday programme, fixed at 10pm – a 13-week trial run to test its success.

[8] However, a reversal of fortunes quickly took place after an "action story" from ITN reporter Alan Hart on the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders re-entering Crater, which ran for a then-unheard-of length of 5 minutes.

[9] A series of similar in-depth reports eventually helped to give News at Ten a regular viewership of seven million every night, forcing ITV to keep the programme.

[10] The arrival of the new 30-minute programme allowed ITN to give a more in-depth and detailed treatment of serious news for the first time on British television, as well as coverage of populist stories and issues that would attract the viewing audience.

The original newscasting team included Alastair Burnet, Andrew Gardner, Reginald Bosanquet, George Ffitch and Leonard Parkin.

[9] Foreign correspondent Sandy Gall, the first ITN journalist to cover the start of the Vietnam War in 1965, returned there on several occasions to produce reports for News at Ten until he was forcibly removed from the country following the Fall of Saigon in 1975.

Michael Nicholson reported in-depth on the 1976 Soweto uprising for News at Ten, and later went on to cover the Falklands War in 1982, after which he was awarded the South Atlantic Medal for his work.

"[10] In the absence of Alastair Burnet (who left ITN in 1972 to pursue a career in print journalism), News at Ten paired Andrew Gardner and Reginald Bosanquet to create one of the programme's most well-liked newscasting duos.

For more than a decade onwards, Burnet was the newscaster most associated with News at Ten, his "serious persona", "sepulchral tones" and "deferential interviewing style" becoming respected hallmarks of the programme.

The development of satellite technology[5] in the 1980s allowed News at Ten to broadcast live from several locations around the world, including the Great Wall of China during a visit from the Queen in 1986.

Alastair Burnet presented News at Ten from the United States during several presidential campaigns, as well as the 1984 conventions of the Republican and Democratic parties.

Alastair Stewart presented News at Ten live from Saudi Arabia, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the liberated Kuwait City during the 1991 Gulf War.

ITV justified the move as a measure to stem the decline in television viewing audiences and to allow the uninterrupted broadcast of movies, dramas and other entertainment programmes, but the plans were met with widespread criticism from viewers, several Members of Parliament, the then-Prime Minister John Major and the National Heritage Committee.

The revived News at Ten saw the reintroduction of the dual-newscaster team, pairing new presenter Julie Etchingham with Trevor McDonald, who had temporarily come out of retirement.

[19] McDonald finally retired from News at Ten in October 2008 after hosting the programme's special US election coverage from Washington[20] and was replaced by Mark Austin in November.

[21] News at Ten struggled to regain its high viewing figures following several years out of the 10pm timeslot, its 2008 return watched by 3.8 million viewers in comparison to 4.9m for the BBC.

[29] As an experiment to try and boost ITV's viewing figures at the 10pm slot, on Monday 27 February 2017, News at Ten moved to 10.30pm for eight consecutive weeks to make way for new entertainment programme The Nightly Show.

The planned rerun of this bulletin on ITV1+1 was pulled from broadcast [32][33][34] News at Ten is famed for its use of the Big Ben clockface, the headline "bongs" and the dramatic and familiar theme music, all retained and reworked into various guises across five decades.

Further refreshes of the opening sequence continued to use this basic concept for several years afterwards, even after the introduction of computer-generated titles in 1988, which incorporated a virtual flyover over nighttime London.