BROADCASTERS at Meridian Tonight have been inundated with complaints from viewers angry about the new larger news region.

In what has been billed as a “new era” for Meridian Tonight, ITV Thames Valley, ITV Meridian South and ITV Meridian South East have merged into a single programme.

The new region is the biggest outside of London, stretching from Weymouth to Dover and Banbury to Brighton.

The changes also saw the loss of four news presenters, including Debbie Thrower.

But the new look has proved controversial. A campaign to bring back regional ITV has been launched on Facebook and dozens of other viewers have complained on Meridian’s website.

Among those unhappy were Rachel Daly, who said: “How can you possibly cover in half an hour all the news items that happen in a day in such a large area? The news will not be covered adequately.”

Alan Medlycott said: “It’s a sad day for Meridian news by region. I am not interested in what happens in the Thames Valley or the South East.

“Fred and Debbie were brilliant, and it was because of them that we watched the programme. I hate to say it, but this could be the death of Meridian.”

And Val and Dennis Dowling said: “We are both very disappointed with the changes and miss Debbie – her and Fred were a great team.”

The negative comments prompted a response from Meridian’s online editor, Jonathan Marland, who said the changes had been made at a time of “massive upheaval” in British broadcasting.

But he appealed for the new look to be given a chance. “I do know the team here at Meridian are very good at what they do, and will identify stories of interest to our whole audience, and we still have enough reporter/correspondents to get across the whole patch,” he said.

“We are confident we are still best placed to inform and entertain the viewers of the South and the South East.”