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Channel Television during the 1979 ITV Strike

How did it continue broadcasting? (June 2019)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
IN
Interceptor

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.


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.

Ah it's one of those strange ones where some bot has grabbed the domain and a load of copy from web archive and resurrected it in some Frankenstein form to convey advertising.
DA
davidhorman
Must contain some automatic translation that site, it reads quite entertainingly.

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


It also refers (in 1991) to "Elderly cameraman Kevin Banner". He's one of the current directors (in the business sense, not the telly sense), and that's presumably a mistranslation of "senior."
NL
Ne1L C
Riaz posted:
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.


CTV seems to be the closest thing that the UK to had/have community access television. It was as if it's main role was unifying the islands during great stress.
Last edited by Ne1L C on 9 July 2019 6:41pm
RI
Riaz
CTV seems to be the closest thing that the UK to had/have community access television. It was as if it's main role was unifying the islands during great stress.


CTV always was a bit more autonomous than other programme contractors and provided an interconnection between the islands which are legally separate nations.

I long time ago I had thought about the concept of a satellite link for the ITV network feed and local affiliates worldwide which are independent companies that pick off whatever programmes they want to broadcast locally.
WW
WW Update
In his 1972 book About Television, Martin Mayer discusses local television in the U.S., but he also devotes seven pages to Channel Television as a European case study, calling it "the most thoroughly local station this tourist found" in Europe. Here's that section if anyone's interested:

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WW
WW Update
I just noticed that the second page is missing. I'll try to upload it later today.
JA
james-2001
I'm wondering, did Channel ever make anything for the network? I'm presuming if they did, it would have to have been sent to another company and played out from there, due to the aformentioned lack of a bidirectional link to the network.
NL
Ne1L C
Riaz posted:
CTV seems to be the closest thing that the UK to had/have community access television. It was as if it's main role was unifying the islands during great stress.


CTV always was a bit more autonomous than other programme contractors and provided an interconnection between the islands which are legally separate nations.

I long time ago I had thought about the concept of a satellite link for the ITV network feed and local affiliates worldwide which are independent companies that pick off whatever programmes they want to broadcast locally.


Such as ITV Falkands. ITV Australia?
NL
Ne1L C
I'm wondering, did Channel ever make anything for the network? I'm presuming if they did, it would have to have been sent to another company and played out from there, due to the aformentioned lack of a bidirectional link to the network.


This is from Wikipedia (Pinch of salt required)

Contributions to network and multi-region series
Although Channel made little for the ITV network it did contribute to a number of roadshow and anthology series which were collaboratively produced in a number of the smaller TV regions, such as Highway.

Other programmes
The Lonely Man (1963)
The Bitter Years (1970; about the occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War)
Jambo: The Gentle Giant (one-off documentary, 1986)
Gallery (1986–92)
The Dodo Club (1987-9)
Cyril Fletcher's TV Garden (1990-2)
Bertie the Bat (1990)
Island (1996-7)
The Story of the Battle of Flowers (two-part Documentary, 2002)
Simply the Best (2004)
NL
Ne1L C
Self bump:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvfEiTUwl-s
JK
JKDerry
I have always admired Channel Television for keeping some service on air during those 11 weeks 40 years a go. We are a month away from the anniversary of the worst strike to hit commercial television in the UK ever. 11 weeks without programming at all on nearly all regions, I am still astonished at that feat.
NL
Ne1L C
From looking at the schedules earlier it amazes me that they provided a balanced-ish selection of programmes.

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