The axing of regional continuity announcers planned by the ITV network will not affect Tyne Tees Television, as the Newcastle broadcaster lost its regional voice seven years ago.

Familiar faces such as Bill Steel and Kathy Secker vanished from North-East screens in the mid-1990s when Tyne Tees merged with Yorkshire Television.

They were replaced by voice-only announcers based in Leeds. Now those voices are being silenced too.

Five announcers will lose their jobs as ITV prepares to rebrand itself at the end of the month. From then, the same voices, part of a team based in London, will be heard across the entire network.

A Yorkshire Television spokesman said the idea was to give the channel "one voice and one character".

The rebranding follows the announcement of the planned merger of two of ITV's biggest companies, Granada TV - of which Tyne Tees and Yorkshire are part - and Carlton.

It brings nearer the idea of a single ITV, instead of about a dozen regional companies operating independently.