Westward actually sold the last few months of the franchise to TSW but TSW kept the name until midnight 31st December 1981. Mind you we all say what's on Westward tonight rather than ITV still 😊
I live in what was known as the Tyne Tees area and even when they went through that shameful Channel 3 North East period forced on them by Yorkshire and the current faceless "ITV plc" branding, ITV in the North East will always be Tyne Tees to me.
The Central name is still retained for the few local programmes which go out, which I'm sure is confusing to those too young to know the regional ITV. Anyone over 30 will always think of ITV as Central, especially because it has never entirely shaken the name off. Even when it was rebranded as Carlton for several years, Central News still persisted.
I really really miss the regional federation of broadcasters and I think that are ITV has really gone down the tubes and deteriorated since consolidating into ITV plc. As I like current affairs then for me my favourite were World in Action TVR this week weekend world and John Pilger documentaries were really hard hitting and edgy and there's nothing remotely approaching on ITV nowadays. Given that there's ITV2 3 and 4 I don't know whether in the digital age the regional federations would be relevant I'm just not sure but they could have experimented with a regional ITV2 regional ITV 3 and 4. But what I do know is there today digital attempt at local Broadcasting which have undergone various name changes and are just nowhere near a patch on the Granada and the Thames televisions of this world.
3:20 - This man was the kiss of death for London Weekend Television, launched in 1968 taking over from Lew Grade's ATV for London weekends, and Frost came in with pompous high brow crap which nearly killed LWT and resulted in an Australian, Rupert Murdoch coming to their rescue. Then his kiss of death returned in 1983, when he decided to launch TV AM as a pompous high brow breakfast show, hard news, stilted presenters, lack of warmth and charisma, and what happened? History repeated itself, as they brought in an Australian, Bruce Gyngell to make a success of TV AM. David Frost, he had some excellent qualities, Frost/Nixon interviews showed that, but running a television station, no, he was so out of his depth, TWICE!
John King Not to mention that Frost provided a nice Trojan horse for Gyngell to later take over Yorkshire Tyne Tees in 1994 when that company were on their knees, resulting in a paring back of local programming (especially at Tyne Tees) that laid the groundwork for the eventual destruction of regional broadcasting in the UK. Thanks David.
At least they never gave him a third chance when he pitched for three ITV franchises in 1991. Saying that the pompous IBA should have known better but he fed them the same crap as he did with LWT. The IBA was an utter joke.
And don't forget the time when he went to the US and launched Inside Edition and, surprise, surprise, his kiss of death almost got that show cancelled, too. Therefore, Bill O'Reilly took over and it became a current affairs powerhouse (especially with that off-air rant that he made).
Breakfast television taking over two years to come on air and even when they did in February 1983 it was an utter financial and viewing disaster for the "famous five".
The 1980 franchise round was far better for the ITV network than the crap shoot 1991 auction became. At least with the new franchise agreements from Jan 1982, we still had a heart and soul in ITV.
Technically, ATV never died. It did won the 1980 franchise round, but was asked by the IBA to rename their identity. They chose the name Central Independent Television. The former name for Central Independent Television Ltd. was ATV Network Limited.
Not quite. ATV Midlands Limited was the company used by ACC to apply for the 1982 franchise, and it was ATV Midlands that became Central. Had it succeeded as-was, ATV Network would probably have been absorbed by ATV Midlands and it'd have been (at least partially) business "as usual".
I wonder if anyone has the ITN Newsflash that was broadcast in a commercial break during "Drake's Venture", ironically a production by Westward Television, shown across the ITV network.
The BBC's first taste of national breakfast television came in 1982 during the Commonwealth Games - "Breakfast with Brisbane" was on at 7am during the Games & hosted by Des Lynam, combining live coverage with half hourly news updates.
The IBA That ITV New UK Fourth Channel Begins in November 1982, And TV-AM In 1983. The ATV Network Ltd. Name is Changing, That Called ATV Midlands Ltd. After Changed To Central Independent Television PLC. Westward Television Lost The Franchise Forever, New company called Television South West Limited Or TSW For Short. Southern Television Are Thrown Out Altogether after 23 years, new company called south and south east communications, after called TVS Television South.
1:38 - "Their big innovation is breakfast television .." Yes, such an innovation, which began 28 years before in the USA with the Today Show on NBC. Yes, an innovation for the British, but many countries were way ahead of the UK in terms of breakfast television.
@@leepshinThe lack of breakfast TV for so many years wasn’t a technophobic thing, more like an issue with new routines. We were the first to adopt electronic TV and invented teletext along with many other technologies. We’re hardly technophobic, just lazy.
Technically it was ATV but restructured to become Central Television. ATV and ITC both became subsidiaries of the Associated Communications Corporation (ACC), and ACC was the new company which won the Midlands franchise in the 1980 round, and so ATV was part of Central Television.
It was originally planned for David Frost to only work 26 weeks per year, doing the original weekday programme Good Morning Britain. However that only lasted from February 1983 until April 1983. By Easter 1983 David was dropped from Good Morning Britain, and launched his own Sunday morning programme. This programme would only air 26 Sundays per year. The remaining 26 Sundays was guest hosted. That was the way it remained until TV-am died on 31st December 1992. In early Jan 1993 David moved to the BBC with Breakfast with Frost on Sundays, once again using a 26 week contract basis.
Does anyone know if there were any other applicants for the Midlands ITV License in the 1980 franchise round? Like what happened with Central in the 1991 Franchise Round
Central Television was actually a restructured ATV - it was rewarded with a renewed contract under stipulation that it diluted the existing shareholdings, sale of Elstree Studios (eventually to the BBC), name change, management change. I don't think any other competitor was considered.
The last franchise round that was actually about quality, not how much revenue they could raise for the treasury at the expense of quality! (oh and killing off Thames cos they showed up the government in Death on The Rock)
The knives were out for Thames whatever they did. Both of Thames’ owners no longer wanted to be involved in TV broadcasting but couldn’t find a buyer for Thames. The IBA were somewhat disturbed by Thames’ poor industrial relations. Not because the IBA were ardent lefties or right-wing fruitloops, but because staff on strike at a company means the company isn’t obligating its contract with the IBA and not doing its duty as a public service. I believe the basis for this were the two Thames strikes in 1984. Yes management put out a service, but it was mainly populist stuff, there was very little of actual public service remit. Thatcher was angry at Thames for years before Death/Rock. She was really pissed off at what she perceived as Thames’ lack of spine when dealing with unions (an opinion formed out of the 1979 strike) and at a programme made by Thames in 1985 that examined whether the BBC re-edited footage of the Battle of Orgreave to make it look as though miners attacked the police first (instead of what is increasingly looking likely that the police attacked the miners first). Death on the Rock was not the catalyst for what happened to ITV in 1991, plans to deregulate commercial broadcasting were in the 1987 Tory election manifesto, about a year before Death on the Rock was made..
All consigned to history now. Unless something drastic happened with ITV plc there won't be another franchise round, regional licences are just a relic of the old system now and pretty meaningless.
BBC Twins - Richard Baker (1954-1981) 1:35 And Anna Ford - (1989-2006) 2:24 .... Why Not.... 1:35 - The Independent Broadcasting Authority..... (Richard Baker - R.I.P.)
From the days when the last story before the sports news was often along the lines of "A Kenyan Airlines 747 has crashed off the coast of Egypt killing all 247 passengers and crew, there were no Britains on board. And now the sports news with blah blah blah bl-blah!"
I know TVS did there own ideas but a question could TVS had taken Southern programme like Out of Town Houseparty etc with them would like to know please
Southern Television were so bitter about the loss of their franchise (even making TVS work from portakabins in the car park, rather than allowing them access to office space), and refusing to sell them their studio complex until the very last minute, that the thought of allowing them to continue to produce programmes like Out of Town and Houseparty would have been unthinkable. Southern took every opportunity to ridicule TVS and be as unhelpful as possible. I doubt TVS would want to be associated with programmes that originated from Southern, given that the IBA considered Southerns output as old fashioned and staid.
@@Rassilon72TVS had no interest in taking on Southern programmes (at least initially) as they believed a company was defined by its programmes. A new applicant for an ITV franchise wouldn’t apply for it to be the same as the predecessor, a new company wants to make their mark. They do that by being different to their predecessor.
Their only competitor actually in 1980. It was a national station, a news story affecting millions of viewers. ITN reported the news of strikes and BBC events too.
4:50 - Southern Television said they are "shattered by the decision" - their application to the IBA was as pompous and self aggrandising that it came across in attitude as if they were entitled to the franchise, one reason why they lost. They would spend the following 368 days left of their franchise in a sulk, the biggest and longest hissy fit an ITV station would do. Childish.
Their original application only ran a mere 14 pages, and besides planning to build a new studio in Maidstone, basically said they would change nothing whatsoever.
That was the worst decision Southern TV had ever made. If it were a person, I would have just slapped STV in the face and said, “Stop your crying! You got what you’ve deserved! You’re obviously so boring you don’t even smile! Now make me some tea!
Westward actually sold the last few months of the franchise to TSW but TSW kept the name until midnight 31st December 1981.
Mind you we all say what's on Westward tonight rather than ITV still 😊
I live in what was known as the Tyne Tees area and even when they went through that shameful Channel 3 North East period forced on them by Yorkshire and the current faceless "ITV plc" branding, ITV in the North East will always be Tyne Tees to me.
Phil Durrant 00
The Central name is still retained for the few local programmes which go out, which I'm sure is confusing to those too young to know the regional ITV. Anyone over 30 will always think of ITV as Central, especially because it has never entirely shaken the name off. Even when it was rebranded as Carlton for several years, Central News still persisted.
I really really miss the regional federation of broadcasters and I think that are ITV has really gone down the tubes and deteriorated since consolidating into ITV plc. As I like current affairs then for me my favourite were World in Action TVR this week weekend world and John Pilger documentaries were really hard hitting and edgy and there's nothing remotely approaching on ITV nowadays. Given that there's ITV2 3 and 4 I don't know whether in the digital age the regional federations would be relevant I'm just not sure but they could have experimented with a regional ITV2 regional ITV 3 and 4. But what I do know is there today digital attempt at local Broadcasting which have undergone various name changes and are just nowhere near a patch on the Granada and the Thames televisions of this world.
3:20 - This man was the kiss of death for London Weekend Television, launched in 1968 taking over from Lew Grade's ATV for London weekends, and Frost came in with pompous high brow crap which nearly killed LWT and resulted in an Australian, Rupert Murdoch coming to their rescue. Then his kiss of death returned in 1983, when he decided to launch TV AM as a pompous high brow breakfast show, hard news, stilted presenters, lack of warmth and charisma, and what happened? History repeated itself, as they brought in an Australian, Bruce Gyngell to make a success of TV AM. David Frost, he had some excellent qualities, Frost/Nixon interviews showed that, but running a television station, no, he was so out of his depth, TWICE!
John King Not to mention that Frost provided a nice Trojan horse for Gyngell to later take over Yorkshire Tyne Tees in 1994 when that company were on their knees, resulting in a paring back of local programming (especially at Tyne Tees) that laid the groundwork for the eventual destruction of regional broadcasting in the UK. Thanks David.
If you want to see what the Pythons and other comedy writers who worked with him thought of him, google "Timmy Williams Coffee Time".
John King Roland Rat saved Tvam. As the late Bruce Gyngell said: "the only recorded demonstration of a rat actually saving a sinking ship"
At least they never gave him a third chance when he pitched for three ITV franchises in 1991. Saying that the pompous IBA should have known better but he fed them the same crap as he did with LWT. The IBA was an utter joke.
And don't forget the time when he went to the US and launched Inside Edition and, surprise, surprise, his kiss of death almost got that show cancelled, too. Therefore, Bill O'Reilly took over and it became a current affairs powerhouse (especially with that off-air rant that he made).
Brian O'hanrahahanrahan
Breakfast television taking over two years to come on air and even when they did in February 1983 it was an utter financial and viewing disaster for the "famous five".
If that was the mess that we witnessed in 1983. God only knows what we'd have had if they'd be let start in 1982.
The 1980 franchise round was far better for the ITV network than the crap shoot 1991 auction became. At least with the new franchise agreements from Jan 1982, we still had a heart and soul in ITV.
You are so right there too albeit alas.
I miss ATV! Long live ATV!
Technically, ATV never died. It did won the 1980 franchise round, but was asked by the IBA to rename their identity. They chose the name Central Independent Television. The former name for Central Independent Television Ltd. was ATV Network Limited.
Not quite. ATV Midlands Limited was the company used by ACC to apply for the 1982 franchise, and it was ATV Midlands that became Central. Had it succeeded as-was, ATV Network would probably have been absorbed by ATV Midlands and it'd have been (at least partially) business "as usual".
@@sslaxx It was hardly any different, crap logo, and all the glossy ITC shows gone. Apart from that it was ATV.
@@robertcomer2767 The Central and ATV logos are both good.
Me too, I loved the ATV brand - it was synonymous with entertainment. 🙂👍
I wonder if anyone has the ITN Newsflash that was broadcast in a commercial break during "Drake's Venture", ironically a production by Westward Television, shown across the ITV network.
I’ve seen that.
Damned if I can remember where though!
Did you know on 31st December 1981? ATV, Southern and Westward ended their ITV franchises.
The BBC's first taste of national breakfast television came in 1982 during the Commonwealth Games - "Breakfast with Brisbane" was on at 7am during the Games & hosted by Des Lynam, combining live coverage with half hourly news updates.
The IBA That ITV New UK Fourth Channel Begins in November 1982, And TV-AM In 1983.
The ATV Network Ltd. Name is Changing, That Called ATV Midlands Ltd. After Changed To Central Independent Television PLC.
Westward Television Lost The Franchise Forever, New company called Television South West Limited Or TSW For Short.
Southern Television Are Thrown Out Altogether after 23 years, new company called south and south east communications, after called TVS Television South.
1:38 - "Their big innovation is breakfast television .." Yes, such an innovation, which began 28 years before in the USA with the Today Show on NBC. Yes, an innovation for the British, but many countries were way ahead of the UK in terms of breakfast television.
1:37 - Huh.... Boring 5 Here
It wasn't even an innovation in the UK in 1983... Tyne Tees and Yorkshire tried it in 1977.
The UK was a techophobic country for decades
@@leepshinThe lack of breakfast TV for so many years wasn’t a technophobic thing, more like an issue with new routines.
We were the first to adopt electronic TV and invented teletext along with many other technologies. We’re hardly technophobic, just lazy.
Iba Yorkshire television contract new manager in 1982 it's still the same why Yorkshire television didn't change in 1982
Except its front/endcaps and 'Ilkley Moor Baht'at'
Thank you-most interesting too-well done!!
Our pleasure!
5:50 "Toasty!"
ATV has lost the licence in 1980 them become a central television in 1982
Technically it was ATV but restructured to become Central Television. ATV and ITC both became subsidiaries of the Associated Communications Corporation (ACC), and ACC was the new company which won the Midlands franchise in the 1980 round, and so ATV was part of Central Television.
"Radiovision"?? The Beeb did get on air before TV AM but thankfully Radiovision was abandoned.
Great find!
Thanks, i was very pleased too find this on a Betamax tape.
That sign for Southern Television - It looks like the Sony brand mark
Souwrit Ray it looks nothing like it... Are you confusing it with Sanyo?
Could even mean the old Hitachi logo.
@@mbvideoselection He's talking about the sign at 4:48,
26 weeks? Was he on air for 26 days?
It was originally planned for David Frost to only work 26 weeks per year, doing the original weekday programme Good Morning Britain. However that only lasted from February 1983 until April 1983. By Easter 1983 David was dropped from Good Morning Britain, and launched his own Sunday morning programme. This programme would only air 26 Sundays per year. The remaining 26 Sundays was guest hosted. That was the way it remained until TV-am died on 31st December 1992. In early Jan 1993 David moved to the BBC with Breakfast with Frost on Sundays, once again using a 26 week contract basis.
Does anyone know if there were any other applicants for the Midlands ITV License in the 1980 franchise round? Like what happened with Central in the 1991 Franchise Round
Central Television was actually a restructured ATV - it was rewarded with a renewed contract under stipulation that it diluted the existing shareholdings, sale of Elstree Studios (eventually to the BBC), name change, management change. I don't think any other competitor was considered.
ATV had two challengers - Mercia TV and Midlands TV.
The last franchise round that was actually about quality, not how much revenue they could raise for the treasury at the expense of quality! (oh and killing off Thames cos they showed up the government in Death on The Rock)
The knives were out for Thames whatever they did. Both of Thames’ owners no longer wanted to be involved in TV broadcasting but couldn’t find a buyer for Thames.
The IBA were somewhat disturbed by Thames’ poor industrial relations. Not because the IBA were ardent lefties or right-wing fruitloops, but because staff on strike at a company means the company isn’t obligating its contract with the IBA and not doing its duty as a public service. I believe the basis for this were the two Thames strikes in 1984. Yes management put out a service, but it was mainly populist stuff, there was very little of actual public service remit.
Thatcher was angry at Thames for years before Death/Rock. She was really pissed off at what she perceived as Thames’ lack of spine when dealing with unions (an opinion formed out of the 1979 strike) and at a programme made by Thames in 1985 that examined whether the BBC re-edited footage of the Battle of Orgreave to make it look as though miners attacked the police first (instead of what is increasingly looking likely that the police attacked the miners first).
Death on the Rock was not the catalyst for what happened to ITV in 1991, plans to deregulate commercial broadcasting were in the 1987 Tory election manifesto, about a year before Death on the Rock was made..
What ever system you have for the ITV franchise there will never be a perfect system at all
All consigned to history now. Unless something drastic happened with ITV plc there won't be another franchise round, regional licences are just a relic of the old system now and pretty meaningless.
BBC Twins - Richard Baker (1954-1981) 1:35 And Anna Ford - (1989-2006) 2:24 .... Why Not....
1:35 - The Independent Broadcasting Authority..... (Richard Baker - R.I.P.)
From the days when the last story before the sports news was often along the lines of "A Kenyan Airlines 747 has crashed off the coast of Egypt killing all 247 passengers and crew, there were no Britains on board. And now the sports news with blah blah blah bl-blah!"
The Radiovision apparently didn't push through...
Farewell ATV!
I’m so exited to say “Welcome To Central”
Never mentioned who would be taking over from Southern (TVS)
sorry about southern
I'm surprised it wasn't Portakabin T.V. down there let alone TVS.
Mike Stirrup did an excellent 'fill-in upto the hour'. The news was not allowed to begin early. Late ok.
Your announcer is Michael Stirup
But all we really wanted was Roland Rat 🤣
I know TVS did there own ideas but a question could TVS had taken Southern programme like Out of Town Houseparty etc with them would like to know please
Southern Television were so bitter about the loss of their franchise (even making TVS work from portakabins in the car park, rather than allowing them access to office space), and refusing to sell them their studio complex until the very last minute, that the thought of allowing them to continue to produce programmes like Out of Town and Houseparty would have been unthinkable. Southern took every opportunity to ridicule TVS and be as unhelpful as possible. I doubt TVS would want to be associated with programmes that originated from Southern, given that the IBA considered Southerns output as old fashioned and staid.
@@Rassilon72TVS had no interest in taking on Southern programmes (at least initially) as they believed a company was defined by its programmes. A new applicant for an ITV franchise wouldn’t apply for it to be the same as the predecessor, a new company wants to make their mark. They do that by being different to their predecessor.
Radiovision?
Why Would The BBC Report about their main competitor
Their only competitor actually in 1980. It was a national station, a news story affecting millions of viewers. ITN reported the news of strikes and BBC events too.
4:50 - Southern Television said they are "shattered by the decision" - their application to the IBA was as pompous and self aggrandising that it came across in attitude as if they were entitled to the franchise, one reason why they lost. They would spend the following 368 days left of their franchise in a sulk, the biggest and longest hissy fit an ITV station would do. Childish.
Their original application only ran a mere 14 pages, and besides planning to build a new studio in Maidstone, basically said they would change nothing whatsoever.
Except there was TWW...
That was the worst decision Southern TV had ever made. If it were a person, I would have just slapped STV in the face and said, “Stop your crying! You got what you’ve deserved! You’re obviously so boring you don’t even smile! Now make me some tea!
“It ain’t about you. It’s about your contribution to the network and the people!”
The very least Southern could have done on their last night was wish TVS well.
Instead, Southern were so pompous they’d make Captain Mainwaring blush!
ANYMORE BBC NEWS REPORTS PLEASE.