Sir Trevor McDonald may quit News at Ten

Talks are taking place between ITV News and Sir Trevor McDonald over him stepping down from presenting News at Ten at the end of the year. Sources familiar with the situation said Sir Trevor was looking to leave the relaunched ITV bulletin on a high after the US presidential election, which takes place on November 4.

After intense lobbying by ITV and its executive chairman, Michael Grade, the veteran broadcaster came out of retirement to front News at Ten with Julie Etchingham when it returned to ITV1 in January. ITV has refused to reveal how long his contract is but it is thought to finish at the end of the year. One source said: "Trevor feels like he's done what he set out to do."

Another insider added: "If Trevor went after the US elections that would take him to almost the end of the year and he could leave on a high. He's come back to relaunch News at Ten but does feel a bit that times have changed."

Behind-the-scenes discussions are understood to be taking place as to Sir Trevor's commitments over the next few months. He is due to take three weeks holiday off over the summer and is also understood to be covering the Democratic convention in August.

After a shaky few months, News at Ten's ratings have rallied somewhat, though ITV sources conceded that the figures are still below those hoped for by the broadcaster before it returned. The new-look News at Ten premiered on January 14 with a scoop interview with Princess Diana's former lover Hasnat Khan and an audience of 3.8 million viewers. But figures hit a low of 1.7million viewers in March and analysis showed that over the first three months, BBC1's 10pm bulletin has won more than double the audience of its ITV counterpart when the two shows were head to head. Recently News at Ten's ratings have rallied and it has been averaging more than 2.5million viewers.

Sir Trevor's natural successor is seen to be Mark Austin. When News at Ten returned Austin moved to a roving anchor role, presenting on location for big foreign stories. Since then he has reported from around the world, including from Zimbabwe, in addition to co-hosting ITV's higher-rated early-evening news bulletin.

When he returned to News at Ten Sir Trevor said "We're not in this to lose", but declined to say how long he would stick with the bulletin, adding only: "I want to be in for some time." It is expected that after he steps down he would retain a commitment with ITV for other programmes such as Tonight or factual shows such as his recent Britain's Favourite View.

An ITV spokesman said: "We don't discuss confidential contracts."