[DTV]

Isn't your last paragraph pretty much what was in place with the World News branded programmes pre-merger?
But the decision was taken to axe all of the UK daytime WN branded programmes and start from scratch. It's questionable whether the replacements are any better.

Maybe a good few years ago, but most of the branded programmes had largely lost a strong regional/specific focus by even the time they were put on Covid hiatus. Largely a consequence of both the cuts and dropping the afternoon World News shift, which meant they became the sole news programmes for most of the 'daytime' and had to become more generalist.