Britain's ITV is meant to be an *umbrella* organisation, under which, the 15 regional TV stations are meant to operate as independent entities. Their ownership should be *ENTIRELY WITHIN THEIR OWN REGION* with outside ownership *completely prohibited!* This should mean the door should be *SLAMMED SHUT* in the faces of *ALL* European TV station owners looking to take a chunk out of Britain's markets.
I'm watching this in 2020 and can't believe what an absolute balls up the 1991 Broadcasting Act was. Central going to buy a company and sold out to Carlton. Thames should never have been stripped of its franchise and 30 years on the European threat never happened and no one wants ITV.
Carlton should've lost the london weekday license to Thames and should've won the Channel 5 contract. At least then the category of 'downmarket shite' would be confined to that shitshow of a broadcaster and itv could have retained something resembling quality!
@@johnking5174pretty much. The broadcasting act 1990 would've gone ahead anyway but seeing as Thames lost on the exact same criteria where Granada won, I think that says it all
@@whatamalike The broadcasting act was in response to what Thames Television produced "Death on the Rock". Thatcher became very vindictive. However she did not bank on the fact the ITV franchise which had ass kissed her since 1984 TV-am would lose out. So an own goal there for her.
@@johnking5174 haha yes! When you live and die by the hardline capitalist sword, expect consequences. At least Thatcher lived by that to the letter, not like the current tories who fix everything in their favour
TV-am were victims of their own arrogance - given that ownership was in bed with the unions hating ex-PM Thatcher, which the Broadcasting Act of 1990 was passed under her reign, and the belief that the breakfast license would be theirs by default. But what did not know was that there was the chance the ITC to pick someone else. And by taking their license for granted, while ignoring the possibilty that the competition could raise the bet, TV-am lost. The argument that Thames got shafted, because they've exposed the government in Death at the rock docimentary, is there, but for some losing the franchise was a karma for their treatment of Benny Hill (before all the allegations) and their poaching of Dallas away from the BBC (and thus breaking a 'gentleman's agreement' with The Corporation and later the IBA forcing Thames to sell the rights back to BBC at a loss). And LWT may've played a hand in their demise (considering that Thames was lurking like a blood sniffing shark in case LWT went tits up in its early days). TVS on the other hand had their fingers in an asset they didn't need in MTM and put their ability to produce quality programming into question. The only real victim from the franchise round IMO was TSW.
Being born in 1987, my memories of Britain before 1993 are limited but as much as I love Disney and GMTV’s Disney offering was generous (no shit, they were part-owned by them!), I still think that Broadcast Act was a dick move and TVAM, TVS, TSW, Thames and Oracle did NOT deserve to lose their franchises! A good lot of what I know about ITV pre-2003 now is thanks to UA-cam series ITV In The Face! Oracle I first came across in 2007!
I have no professional insight in this in this and was at secondary school when it broadcast - just a passing interest, but the notable absence of independent outside production companies stuck out to me here. I seem to remember Hat Trick certainly existed by this point and maybe that side of the market was just assumed to be outsiders for C4 and BBC2 and would have no further reach than that. Also zero mention of Sky. Sky One's contemporary output of the time was awful but obviously Murdoch knew this so fought with footy, films and rolling news. But obviously even though his game plan was public knowledge back then, there was an assumption it would flounder. Underestimation of opponents or changing tastes bites everyone in the backside sooner or later. Very interesting... For those anorak wearers among us!
3:50 I wish Clive Leach stopped saying "Channel". Yorkshire TV is a *STATION,* not a channel. A *STATION* is studios, offices, staff, video editing suites, mixing desks for video and audio, cameras, videotape recorder/players etc. all contained in a large building located in the city or one of its suburbs, with a huge transmitting tower located on-site or not too far away on a high mountain with a microwave link to feed the signal to it. A "channel" has *NO PHYSICAL PRESENCE WHATSOEVER!* A channel is just a portion of the VHF or UHF frequency range, over which, the *STATION* transmits its signal.
Yorkshire Television studios now produce virtually nothing except for Emmerdale and Calendar News, and that is it in 2020. Their main television studios do nothing else for ITV.
@@johnking5174 it's a shame; as Yorkshire were a major force of ITV since it's formation in 1968 & produced many popular shows for both ITV and Channel 4.
Peter was involved with launching the original TV-am. However by March 17th 1983 he was kicked out in a boardroom coup, due to a disaster in the ratings and a financial collapse of the company.
And do you remember the disaster of the Channel 3 rebrand in Yorkshire and Tyne Tees in 1996? Utter shite. Thankfully when Granada purchased the company in 1997 they consigned that hideous ident to the dustbin.
I cant believe how arrogant every single one of them at the ITC and the ITV companies were. 1993 came, the programmes became utterly dire and everyone started buying satellite television abc happily switched off itv
@@johnking5174 Indeed! But surely they saw the threat of what cable TV had done in the States and thought they were all untouchable. And then lost the football to Sky and then everything else.
@@robertcomer2767 If you do look at it though, it was really only in 1998 with the launch of digital TV when things started to really squeeze BBC and ITV. For nearly all of the decade of the 1990s the regular four channels still had it all to themselves. People looked at satellite and cable as expensive toys. However once digital arrived, with digital TV receive available through satellite, cable and then your own aerial, this was when the real competition started.
@@johnking5174 But was ITV really commercial television compared to the USA and Australia with all the restrictions placed on such as adult learning, religion on a Sunday until 7.15. It should never have been the BBC with adverts
@@robertcomer2767 Hi again. You are right there, the original ITV system was actually a compromise. Many in parliament in 1954 when commercial television was being debated did not want it, including many in the conservative party who were in power at the time. Sir Winston Churchill the Prime Minister who was no supporter of the BBC felt the BBC was complacent and it should have a commercial rival. However his own backbenchers threatened to rebel if they did not get a watered down version of commercial TV, so he had to back down. Unlike American TV, programming could not be sponsored. Unlike American TV, there were severe limits on the number of minutes for commercials per hour, set at a stingy 7 minutes per hour of broadcasting. Then added to that all other broadcasting hours restrictions did cause problems. The reason why ITV was forced to obey the broadcasting hours limits was the stupid belief that if a fully independent TV service was let loose, it would trample all over the BBC and become a monopoly of commercial TV. "Every hour on air makes ITV cash, every hour BBC on air forces the BBC to spend cash" was the thinking.
I think that the appalling state of ITV wholly lies with the arrogance of those ITV chief execs of the late 80’s and 90’s. They just sat back and thought everybody will stay loyal to ITV and rewarded themselves handsomely especially at LWT. Surely they must have realised the game was up when Murdoch got the football rights in 1992. Everyone was sick of ITV by the end of the 90s and then arrived Sky Digital. And now the once great ITV is the equivalent of MTV. Nobody gives a damn about it anymore
The YTV and Tyne Tees bids were predicated on the two companies merging. Neither company was viable post-1993 on the bids they put in, on their own. This arrogance had been rejected by the IBA in 1980 as North East viewers inevitably got the shaft. Both companies should have been thrown out of ITV due to this.
Britain's ITV is meant to be an *umbrella* organisation, under which, the 15 regional TV stations are meant to operate as independent entities. Their ownership should be *ENTIRELY WITHIN THEIR OWN REGION* with outside ownership *completely prohibited!* This should mean the door should be *SLAMMED SHUT* in the faces of *ALL* European TV station owners looking to take a chunk out of Britain's markets.
Just European owners ? What about Australian and US owners ?
@@muk8804 Yes, even them(If you're referring to Rupert Murdoch, We in Australia disowned *it* long ago).
I'm watching this in 2020 and can't believe what an absolute balls up the 1991 Broadcasting Act was. Central going to buy a company and sold out to Carlton. Thames should never have been stripped of its franchise and 30 years on the European threat never happened and no one wants ITV.
Carlton should've lost the london weekday license to Thames and should've won the Channel 5 contract. At least then the category of 'downmarket shite' would be confined to that shitshow of a broadcaster and itv could have retained something resembling quality!
@@whatamalike We all know why Thames lost. They had caused problems with the Thatcher government over their documentary "Death On The Rock".
@@johnking5174pretty much. The broadcasting act 1990 would've gone ahead anyway but seeing as Thames lost on the exact same criteria where Granada won, I think that says it all
@@whatamalike The broadcasting act was in response to what Thames Television produced "Death on the Rock". Thatcher became very vindictive. However she did not bank on the fact the ITV franchise which had ass kissed her since 1984 TV-am would lose out. So an own goal there for her.
@@johnking5174 haha yes! When you live and die by the hardline capitalist sword, expect consequences. At least Thatcher lived by that to the letter, not like the current tories who fix everything in their favour
TVS, TSW, TV-am as well as Thames didn't deserve to lose...
We hate the ITC for picking Carlton instead of Thames.
Especially Thames.
TV-am were victims of their own arrogance - given that ownership was in bed with the unions hating ex-PM Thatcher, which the Broadcasting Act of 1990 was passed under her reign, and the belief that the breakfast license would be theirs by default. But what did not know was that there was the chance the ITC to pick someone else. And by taking their license for granted, while ignoring the possibilty that the competition could raise the bet, TV-am lost.
The argument that Thames got shafted, because they've exposed the government in Death at the rock docimentary, is there, but for some losing the franchise was a karma for their treatment of Benny Hill (before all the allegations) and their poaching of Dallas away from the BBC (and thus breaking a 'gentleman's agreement' with The Corporation and later the IBA forcing Thames to sell the rights back to BBC at a loss). And LWT may've played a hand in their demise (considering that Thames was lurking like a blood sniffing shark in case LWT went tits up in its early days). TVS on the other hand had their fingers in an asset they didn't need in MTM and put their ability to produce quality programming into question. The only real victim from the franchise round IMO was TSW.
Being born in 1987, my memories of Britain before 1993 are limited but as much as I love Disney and GMTV’s Disney offering was generous (no shit, they were part-owned by them!), I still think that Broadcast Act was a dick move and TVAM, TVS, TSW, Thames and Oracle did NOT deserve to lose their franchises! A good lot of what I know about ITV pre-2003 now is thanks to UA-cam series ITV In The Face! Oracle I first came across in 2007!
What?
The most early appearance of the Meridian logo
Also Carlton.
Just to clarfy, this report is actually from The Money Programme, not The Media Show (which was a Wall to Wall production for Channel 4) ...
Yes, agreed. I recognised that logo! Now, off to listen to some Jimmy Smith...
I have no professional insight in this in this and was at secondary school when it broadcast - just a passing interest, but the notable absence of independent outside production companies stuck out to me here. I seem to remember Hat Trick certainly existed by this point and maybe that side of the market was just assumed to be outsiders for C4 and BBC2 and would have no further reach than that. Also zero mention of Sky. Sky One's contemporary output of the time was awful but obviously Murdoch knew this so fought with footy, films and rolling news. But obviously even though his game plan was public knowledge back then, there was an assumption it would flounder. Underestimation of opponents or changing tastes bites everyone in the backside sooner or later. Very interesting... For those anorak wearers among us!
The death of regional itv and itvs heyday replaced by an bland corporate itv
3:50 I wish Clive Leach stopped saying "Channel". Yorkshire TV is a *STATION,* not a channel. A *STATION* is studios, offices, staff, video editing suites, mixing desks for video and audio, cameras, videotape recorder/players etc. all contained in a large building located in the city or one of its suburbs, with a huge transmitting tower located on-site or not too far away on a high mountain with a microwave link to feed the signal to it. A "channel" has *NO PHYSICAL PRESENCE WHATSOEVER!* A channel is just a portion of the VHF or UHF frequency range, over which, the *STATION* transmits its signal.
Shame Clive Leach didn't get a fax to tell him his future with Yorkshire wouldn't last past 1994.
Yorkshire Television studios now produce virtually nothing except for Emmerdale and Calendar News, and that is it in 2020. Their main television studios do nothing else for ITV.
@@johnking5174 it's a shame; as Yorkshire were a major force of ITV since it's formation in 1968 & produced many popular shows for both ITV and Channel 4.
Did they just not see sky coming even tho they bought the football rights by then?
This is proof that Meridian's logo existed in 1991.
The irony of Peter Jay doing the report as he was one of the main players in the 1980 round
Peter was involved with launching the original TV-am. However by March 17th 1983 he was kicked out in a boardroom coup, due to a disaster in the ratings and a financial collapse of the company.
@@johnking5174 Yes indeed hence my original comment
@@johnking5174 because of his failure along with david frost and anna ford, we ended up with Roland rat.
@@jimbo6059 Yes, some people might not understand whether that was a good thing or a bad thing
@@jimbo6059But Roland Rat was better entertainment than the so called famous five
In 1994, Yorkshire And Tyne Tees Merged Into Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television (YTT)
And do you remember the disaster of the Channel 3 rebrand in Yorkshire and Tyne Tees in 1996? Utter shite. Thankfully when Granada purchased the company in 1997 they consigned that hideous ident to the dustbin.
I cant believe how arrogant every single one of them at the ITC and the ITV companies were. 1993 came, the programmes became utterly dire and everyone started buying satellite television abc happily switched off itv
And everyone at the BBC sat back and enjoyed watching their biggest competitor destroy themselves.
@@johnking5174 Indeed! But surely they saw the threat of what cable TV had done in the States and thought they were all untouchable. And then lost the football to Sky and then everything else.
@@robertcomer2767 If you do look at it though, it was really only in 1998 with the launch of digital TV when things started to really squeeze BBC and ITV. For nearly all of the decade of the 1990s the regular four channels still had it all to themselves. People looked at satellite and cable as expensive toys. However once digital arrived, with digital TV receive available through satellite, cable and then your own aerial, this was when the real competition started.
@@johnking5174 But was ITV really commercial television compared to the USA and Australia with all the restrictions placed on such as adult learning, religion on a Sunday until 7.15. It should never have been the BBC with adverts
@@robertcomer2767 Hi again. You are right there, the original ITV system was actually a compromise. Many in parliament in 1954 when commercial television was being debated did not want it, including many in the conservative party who were in power at the time. Sir Winston Churchill the Prime Minister who was no supporter of the BBC felt the BBC was complacent and it should have a commercial rival. However his own backbenchers threatened to rebel if they did not get a watered down version of commercial TV, so he had to back down. Unlike American TV, programming could not be sponsored. Unlike American TV, there were severe limits on the number of minutes for commercials per hour, set at a stingy 7 minutes per hour of broadcasting. Then added to that all other broadcasting hours restrictions did cause problems. The reason why ITV was forced to obey the broadcasting hours limits was the stupid belief that if a fully independent TV service was let loose, it would trample all over the BBC and become a monopoly of commercial TV. "Every hour on air makes ITV cash, every hour BBC on air forces the BBC to spend cash" was the thinking.
And that's why Disney is a Monopoly now.
I think that the appalling state of ITV wholly lies with the arrogance of those ITV chief execs of the late 80’s and 90’s. They just sat back and thought everybody will stay loyal to ITV and rewarded themselves handsomely especially at LWT. Surely they must have realised the game was up when Murdoch got the football rights in 1992. Everyone was sick of ITV by the end of the 90s and then arrived Sky Digital. And now the once great ITV is the equivalent of MTV. Nobody gives a damn about it anymore
The YTV and Tyne Tees bids were predicated on the two companies merging. Neither company was viable post-1993 on the bids they put in, on their own. This arrogance had been rejected by the IBA in 1980 as North East viewers inevitably got the shaft. Both companies should have been thrown out of ITV due to this.
THATCHER RUINED BRITISH TV.