OF COURSE, we should be celebrating the news that Sir Trevor McDonald is finally back where he belongs - fronting News At Ten on ITV.

And surely we will all flock to our sofas at 9.59 pm to see the dawn of another new age as Sir Trevor anchors the first proper' News At Ten since 1999.

Or will we?

Over on BBC, their Ten O'Clock News - introduced after ITV spent almost a decade shifting the iconic news show from pillar to post - will carry on regardless, probably assured that News At When' has lost its audience.

Meanwhile, in the frenetic world of broadcast media, everyone will be frothing with excitement over a head-to-head between the big guns.

But over at Sky News, they will probably be shrugging their shoulders and wondering what all the fuss is about.

Sir Trevor - who returns to news reading for the first time since 2005 - has been fronting ITV's Tonight programme in the meantime. He also dipped his toe in the comedy panel game pool with News Knight, a poor imitation of Have I Got News For You that was often about as funny as lumbago.

Sir Trevor has admitted: "Once upon a time, the bongs were a call to national attention. That's less so now."

Boy, is he right.

Even without the aid of a television licence, I can sit at this computer and in milliseconds be on the Daily Echo website (that's bournemouthecho.co.uk folks) and be instantly up to date with what's going on in Dorset, the UK and the world and I'm sure there are any number of other news organisations' websites.

If I didn't use my mobile telephone in a very strange and old-fashioned way - ie just for making and receiving telephone calls - I could have the latest news sent to me and access any number of relevant news dissemination outlets.

One young chap even allowed me to watch Sky Sports live on his mobile the other day.

Add to that the excellence of the rolling 24-hour national and international news service provided by Sky and the Beeb and this is an entirely different world over the one that Sir Trevor strode like a Colossus a couple of decades ago, attracting millions of news-hungry viewers.

My point is... what is the point of bringing back News At Ten?

I may be proved wrong and Sir Trevor may be the catalyst to draw in the show's old audience, as well as anyone of this new generation who likes the comforting, Horlicks-style sight of newsreaders actually sitting down behind desks.

Perhaps Mark Austin - a former Daily Echo reporter so he's got to be good - will finally get the audience he deserves once Sir Trevor steps down, doubtless in the near future.

My fear is that the news horse may well have already bolted.