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How did ITV regions cope during this Granada strike

(August 2016)

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BL
bluecortina
Si-Co posted:

I would assume the C4 feed would have been switched to bypass Quay Street so the only affect on viewers would be the lack of ads. Or maybe it was just left as normal with nobody at Quay Street inserting ads. Same end result either way.

Unless what the electrians turned off had channel 4 going through it.

What would electricians do on a day to day basis at an ITV company anyway? These days it's the sort of things that's just maintenance


The local 'ITV' C4 installations included a bypass box at the front end so that C4 could remotely bypass any ITV company on their own premises if necessary. Other than that, the C4 feeds could of course all be bypassed at their local ITV BT switching centre.
Last edited by bluecortina on 25 August 2016 5:06pm
FO
Footballer
What was the original schedule before the onnibus was added, I wonder?
JA
JAS84
Probably a repeat of some sort. An hour long timeslot is pretty easy to substitute. The other possibility is that the two programmes afterwards were simply an hour later than advertised.

I don't suppose anyone knows where to find newspapers, TV Times, or Look-In for that week (anything that might have archived Channel 4 TV listings basically)? I know about John's Look-Out, but the site vanished at some point in the last month when it's hosting service 150m.com disappeared.
Last edited by JAS84 on 25 August 2016 8:57pm
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Your local public library may provide access to a newspaper archive online
SW
Steve Williams
And of course the Glasgow Herald archive is on Google News...
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=GGgVawPscysC
FO
Footballer
So the programmes afterward were an hour later than advertised. Thanks.
SC
Si-Co
JAS84 posted:

I don't suppose anyone knows where to find newspapers, TV Times, or Look-In for that week (anything that might have archived Channel 4 TV listings basically)? I know about John's Look-Out, but the site vanished at some point in the last month when it's hosting service 150m.com disappeared.


Scanned CD copies of the TVTimes were on sale on eBay a few years ago. I bought the complete 70s and 80s collection on a couple of CDs - they are a mishmash of regional editions, but pretty much complete. And very reasonably priced from memory.
:-(
A former member
If your a member of libraries you may also get access to the times and other national newspapers online.
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Is there an echo here?
:-(
A former member
Is there an echo here?

Sometimes you need echo to drill the point home Wink
SW
Steve Williams
How would the other ITV regions have dealt with such a short notice disruption?


There were other examples of this happening, Thames did it on one night in 1984 - https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c8FAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6qUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1534%2C4131356 That would have been particularly tough for the other regions, because other than Corrie and the news, every other programme on ITV that night was produced by Thames, hence the non-appearance of This Is Your Life, Mike Yarwood and Minder, plus highlights of an England match.

That was the start of a long dispute at Thames which meant that for over a week Thames couldn't show programmes from other regions and other regions couldn't show Thames programmes. The only exception was an episode of This Week which the unions agreed to be networked because it was about the Ethiopian famine and was considered of vital public interest (much like the BBC strike in November 1979 when the only show the unions allowed to go ahead was Blue Peter because they were launching the appeal on it).

And of course, Thames were the first region to go down in the 1979 strike, doing so halfway through News at Ten. They were actually transmitting a film to the network either side of the news, so nobody saw the second half.
TC
TonyCurrie
Just to add a bit more to what's already been said here. ITV contractors all held stocks of programmes including standbys. When the entire ITV network was taken off by a 12 week strike in 1979, Channel Television was unaffected because the unions had a different agreement in the islands. Channel provided its own programme service during the strike, with lunchtime news, weather and what's on and then going on the air at 5pm with children's programmes, an hour-long local news magazine at 6 which included national headlines, and an evening made up from Mystery Movies, Columbo, New Avengers, Feature Films etc with a local news bulletin somewhere near 10pm. A huge effort on the part of the smallest ITV contractor, which worked extraordinarily well.

When the contractor went to black for more that thirty seconds, the transmitters did indeed take over with a caption. But there was a hot line telephone between the company's CTA (Central Technical Area) and the transmitter so they could co-ordinate a resumption of programme under whatever circumstances prevailed. I was on duty once when a power cut took STV off the air, and the transmitter switched the feed to Grampian until the power was restored.

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