The main difference with LWT though is that it was originally known as "London Weekend", so was a perfectly valid answer, whereas "South" wasn't.
I'm well aware, but the company name was Television South, and if you accept one answer without the TV or Television suffix/prefix, you have to accept them all.
Not really, because Anglia Television, Central Television, etc. were known as Anglia, Central, etc. and were branded as such.
Television South was never known/branded as "South", so the answer given should have been either TVS or Television South (or TVS Television).
Right you are. Far too ridiculous an argument to continue.
Considering some of the things Family Fortunes accepted as answers compared to what the actual answer was, I think being picky over having 'television' in the name the contestant said would be pushing it and may have prompted complaints for being unfair.
I remember one episode where a contestant said water as an answer and they accepted it for "foot spa" that was on the board (or vice versa) so the show was fine with something being in the ballpark for some answers. The names of ITV regions may have been one of those instances.
Considering some of the things Family Fortunes accepted as answers compared to what the actual answer was, I think being picky over having 'television' in the name the contestant said would be pushing it and may have prompted complaints for being unfair.
I remember one episode where a contestant said water as an answer and they accepted it for "foot spa" that was on the board (or vice versa) so the show was fine with something being in the ballpark for some answers. The names of ITV regions may have been one of those instances.
I'm sure there are no end of answers to questions on TV shows that seem to be, not dubious as such, but potentially in doubt as to their validity in hindsight.
There's obviously somebody somewhere watching the proceedings and deciding what the final broadcast record will be, Catchphrase in the Roy Walker years often threw to somebody off screen (named on at least one occasion as an adjudicator) for buzzing in too early, 'can we accept that?' and what not.
Of course having somebody independently watching procedures doesn't stop contestants making an arse of themselves, as the late Bob Johnson proved:
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Some US shows actually put the adjudicator's voice up when asking if an answer was OK (notably the Barry/Enright shows where there was a loud clunk as the voice clearly was pushed through the studio PA system "yeah that's fine Jack"), and I think the 1980s version of the UK Play Your Cards Right was similar.
The Family Fortunes question reminds me of a 1991 episode of The Krypton Factor where the quick fire round contained the question "Apart from Tyne Tees, which is the only ITV company to be named after a river". One of the oddest questions I've ever heard.
The Family Fortunes question reminds me of a 1991 episode of The Krypton Factor where the quick fire round contained the question "Apart from Tyne Tees, which is the only ITV company to be named after a river". One of the oddest questions I've ever heard.
Well, the question setter *did* have to link it with the answer to the previous question in some way...
(And I'd argue that this question from 1988 is even more odd: "In Paris, it's known as the Boulevard Périphérique; what is such a road known as in English?" It was nonetheless answered correctly.)
I wouldn't have said it matters at all if UTV is part of ITV as long as ITV are prepared to invest in local news and maintain output that represents the unique aspects of Northern Ireland. What idents and sets they use is neither here nor there, even if it's renamed as ITV Northern Ireland it doesn't make any difference to the output. UTV probably benefit from the economics of scale of being part of the wider ITV infrastructure and back office functions. STV is independent, but to what benefit, really?
UTV operates in a politically contentious area and independence from ITV (as an institution) has its advantages. The BBC has long been seen as a Unionist institution that collects TV licence money from residents of Northern Ireland who are Republicans or favour an independent Northern Ireland.
An independent UTV is in a better position to understand the unique, and often upsidedown, scenario that is Northern Ireland more so than senior figures in ITV who rarely venture outside of London.
I find Network South (Tom Margerison) intriguing. If Network South had won instead of TVS then could it have contested the 1991 franchise round as a publisher broadcaster with the five local companies as programme producers or would this have violated terms and conditions imposed by the ITC? There didn't seem to be any companies similar to Network South in 1991.
I have not got round to reading the NS application, so I'm working with limited information about the proposal.
The first question is whether the five local companies are autonomous divisions of NS, each in control of a transmitter, or independent companies that have a contract to produce programmes for NS who broadcasts them. The first model probably fitted into the IBA framework of 1980 but the second model probably didn't.
The autonomous divisions or independent companies could also be responsible for handling networked programmes from other ITV companies. This could result in a scenario where different networked programmes are broadcast from different transmitters within the NS territory or the same programme is broadcast at different times or different days from different transmitters.
The second model appears to fit better into the ITC framework of 1991 but it raises a question of whether a production company is allowed to create on screen idents and presentation for a particular transmitter it is assigned to. For example, could the ITV idents and presentation for the Rowridge transmitter be those for Wessex Television then in a smaller typeface below say "A Network South Affiliate"?
NS made a judicious choice in picking the South and South East region for its concept. It has a large population, several transmitters, and a reasonable amount of local community interests. The second best ITV region for the concept is probably the Midlands region.
It is a bit unfortunate that in 1991 there were no applications similar to NS anywhere. Meridian created a third local news subregion but that's only a small fraction of the NS concept.
I think the first model is more suitable, tight controls on preventing transmitter overlap would have to be established. I can't in all honesty see each sub region having its own fully independent schedule. I agree that Wessex TV would have its own local news maybe as part of a pan regional bulletin and sports opt outs,
