Channel Television during the 1979 ITV Strike

That's not a problem in real life of course.


But in the historic situation you suggested even if it did exist it definitely wouldn't have applied

Was the Channel Islands region up for contest in the 1980 franchise round?

Yes, retained unopposed.

Have Channel ever had any competition for their franchise / licence?

In the 1991 franchise round they had one competitor against them - "CI3 Group" who bid £102,000 and lost on the quality threshold. Channel Television bid just £1,000 for the franchise and thanks to them passing the quality threshold, they won by default.

C13 was backed by John Nettles.

Are definitely able to confirm that the Channel Islands was up for franchise in exactly the same way as other ITV regions, prior to 1991, even though it is legally outside of the UK? Did the governments of the Channel Islands have any additional authority or say over who provided the service?

I have wondered if CTV was a true programme contractor or a unique example of an outpost of the ITV network.

The act of parliament which established ITV was extended in 1960 to cover the Channel Islands so yes, the Channel Islands was just the same as the rest of the ITV network in terms of franchise bids.

Wasn't it an Order in Council (ie the Privy Council) that, at least in UK law, extended the ITA's powers to the Channel Islands. The basis must have been some resolution passed in the States of Guernsey and Jersey (the States , being the parliaments of both places.

Presumably, the Privy Council has authority over the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and Jersey because the sovereign authority of the Duke of Normandy (Her Maj) is also the authority behind the Privy Council?

I doubt that a UK Act of Parliament has any authority whatever over the Islands, which is why an Order in Council was used?

This info is also available at https://www.channelonline.tv/our-history/ although I thought that domain had long been given up by Channel TV.

In the US they have local affiliates of national TV networks. A similar system was never used in the UK because instead the IBA had programme contractors.

CTV was technically the closest programme contractor to an affiliate because of its small size, monodirectional video link, and that it produced next to nothing for the network. Second in line was Ulster which did have a bidirectional video link and networked a programme once in a blue moon.

Must contain some automatic translation that site, it reads quite entertainingly.

For example 1975 - "Girl Plowden was currently Chairman of the IBA."