Kirsty Young will continue to present Five's news bulletins

ITN has provided the programmes, fronted by Kirsty Young, since Five began in 1997, but the channel said Sky would provide "bigger, better news".

Young will still front Five's news, but production will move to a new studio complex in west London.

Senior programme controller Chris Shaw said: "It was difficult to move from ITN, which has done a fantastic job."

The five-year deal is thought to be worth about £35m and while Five said the Sky deal offered a very competitive price, it insisted money was not an issue.

"The main attraction is having access to all the international bureaux, alongside the dedicated service of a similar type to that currently provided by ITN," said a Five spokeswoman.

Sky has a 24-hour news operation

"We will now have access all over the world - it was an irresistible deal," she said.

Sky has eight regional and seven international bureaux including offices in Washington, Moscow, Jerusalem and Delhi.

ITN said it was disappointed to lose the deal but added "we did not believe we could provide the level of service quality needed at any price".

"We are tremendously proud of the news service ITN has produced for Five. Five News has consistently broken new ground in television production and achieved substantial ratings growth," the company said in a statement.

The Sky deal also provides Five with a purpose-built studio in west London which will be unveiled for the first Five news report on 1 January 2005.

Pleased

Sky reporters such as Adam Boulton will appear on the new service and will describe themselves as Five presenters for the duration of the report.

"We are delighted that Sky News has been awarded the Five News contract and thank the channel for the confidence it has in our service," said Nick Pollard, Head of Sky News.

"Our work for Five will draw on new and existing resources and reflect all the authority and dynamism displayed by Sky over the past 15 years."

The new Five News will be produced by a dedicated team of 60 reporters, producers and technicians.

Sky News was recently named news channel of the year at the Royal Television Society awards.

While Sky News has firmly established itself as a 24-hour news channel since it launched in 1989, it has struggled to get a foothold on mainstream television until now.