World in Action output. For the first 35 years of its existence, ITV had a near-monopoly of television advertising revenue. Roy Thomson, who ran Scottish Television famously described ITV as a "licence to print money". In return for this income, the broadcasting regulator insisted that the ITV companies broadcast a proportion of their programmes as public service TV. Out of this was born the network's reputation for serious current affairs, eagerly grabbed by programme makers under Granada's founder Lord Sidney Bernstein. Some of the most prominent figures in 20th-century British broadcasting helped to create "World in Action", in particular Tim Hewat, "the maverick
RTÉ News and Current Affairs the last time in 1964. It was replaced by Frank Hall's "Newsbeat", a news and current affairs programme that focused more on the light-hearted stories from around the country. In 1966 Maurice O'Doherty joined the newsroom as newsreader. Later that same year the station's new flagship news programme was broadcast for the first time. "Seven Days" had a production team with people such as Eoghan Harris, Brian Cleeve, Brian Farrell and John O'Donoghue. In 1967 the programme merged with another, "Division", and became "7 days". When Radio Éireann and Telefís Éireann merged, RTÉ News was expanded, providing coverage to new