Channel 5 is to axe early evening entertainment news magazine show OK! TV, as part of the move to switch its news contract from Sky News back to ITN.

The Richard Desmond-owned broadcaster has confirmed MediaGuardian's story that ITN would be replacing Sky News as the 5 News provider from early next year.

Sky News-produced OK! TV, a spin-off from Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond's celebrity magazine, will be axed at the end of 2011 after less than nine months on air.

The show, which was launched in February as a replacement for the teatime magazine show Live from Studio 5, also produced by Sky News, aimed to deliver a ratings boost to the broadcaster's early evening schedule.

However, it was beset with problems from the beginning when Denise Van Outen, who was to have been one of the main presenters, walked out days before the first broadcast. The last episode will air on 16 December.

ITN is expected to take over the 5 News production contract in February.

BSkyB subsidiary Sky News's contract for 5 News and OK! TV was due to expire at the end of 2012.

Desmond and Sky have been holding on/off discussions over the past year to cancel the agreement – thought to be worth £9m a year .

ITN supplied Channel 5's news from 1997 until 2005, when Sky News won the contract.

John Ryley, the head of Sky News, said in an email to staff that ITN would take over the news contract in "mid to late February".

"Northern & Shell have also confirmed that OK! TV will not continue and therefore this part of the contract will end with the last show to be broadcast on 16 December 2011," he said.

ITN's deal with Channel 5 will run for an initial period of three years.

The operation will be based at Channel 5's headquarters with a new editor to be appointed, following the announcement of David Kermode last month that he is moving to ITV's Daybreak.

"We are delighted to be working with Channel 5 again and we see the evolution of its news service as a major pillar of our output," said John Hardie, chief executive of ITN.

A spokeswoman for Sky said there were 48 staff involved in the production of news and OK! TV. It is understood that ITN will take on almost all those news production staff. It is not clear how many staff worked on OK! TV or how they will be affected.

ITN also produces other programming through its ITV Productions arm, including observational documentary Fairground Attractions and a contract to produce entertainment news bulletins for digital station 5*, entertainment show 5* Access, and for Inside Hollywood for 5USA.