In each region, the channel 3 licence holder gets half of Mux 2. (Or 48.5% technically, leaving 3% for Teletext.) This includes Scotland, NI, etc. where in Scotland stv sell some of this capacity to ITV plc to broadcast ITV3, ITV4 etc. (AIUI).
ITV plc also own mux A through their SDN subsidiary, so this would continue no matter what they do with their PSB commitments.
But, if ITV were no longer a PSB, they would surely lose their right to half of mux 2? One thought it that ITV are happy with this and will use mux A instead, but given its non-universal coverage this is perhaps unlikely?
Edit: D'oh, beaten by the post on the previous page.
A quite informed source tells me that ITV expect Ofcom to force them to offer a full service in the franchise regions, but allow sub regions to be merged and colocation.
Recording of offpeak output to allow one team to create multiple shows is also a proposal.
Ofcom may just cave, of course.
The suggestion is the saving will be made up by moving ITV West & Westcountry to Whitley, ITV Anglia to Leeds, Border to Tyne tees.
Which would use the (then) vacent studios at sites that already do co-location.
Each legal licence would be served and it removes most of the political fallout.
The only odd thing in that plan would be that fact ITV West was refitted, and works in a newish 'unit'within an old centre - that may not be worth that much now for property development.
Re: Freeview. An article a few days ago that basically said OFCOM were making "Digital 3&4" and SDN renew their licences. Just a formality really, but in theory ITV could be stripped of their Freeview space if OFCOM really wanted too.
A quite informed source tells me that ITV expect Ofcom to force them to offer a full service in the franchise regions, but allow sub regions to be merged and colocation.
Recording of offpeak output to allow one team to create multiple shows is also a proposal.
Ofcom may just cave, of course.
The suggestion is the saving will be made up by moving ITV West & Westcountry to Whitley, ITV Anglia to Leeds, Border to Tyne tees.
Which would use the (then) vacent studios at sites that already do co-location.
Each legal licence would be served and it removes most of the political fallout.
The only odd thing in that plan would be that fact ITV West was refitted, and works in a newish 'unit'within an old centre - that may not be worth that much now for property development.
So - if you take Leeds as an example - you'd have two studio operations. One for the Anglia region, one for the YTV region. Any sub-regional elements in either region (say Anglia East or West) would be pre-recorded earlier in the day in the single Anglia studio?
So co-location saves money by using all the studios that already exist on main sites (rather than having studios sitting empty) and closes redundant sites as a result. This also allows them to pre-record the sub-regional splits rather than doing them live, reducing the studio costs in the co-located sites yet further, and potentially reducing the staffing costs as well.
Does, probably, mean the end of any meaningful studio interviews for the out-of-region services... I can't see guests from Colchester travelling to Leeds...
ITV have several options that depend on Ofcom, but the opts are certainly going pre-rec - the studios cannot output 3 concurrent lives.
I note that a topic both nogging and i have talked about - the lack of VJ's in ITV compared to the BBC has been an issue noticed at last by ING - Reporters will be self shooting for all but the main packages.
A quite informed source tells me that ITV expect Ofcom to force them to offer a full service in the franchise regions, but allow sub regions to be merged and colocation.
Recording of offpeak output to allow one team to create multiple shows is also a proposal.
Ofcom may just cave, of course.
The suggestion is the saving will be made up by moving ITV West & Westcountry to Whitley, ITV Anglia to Leeds, Border to Tyne tees.
Which would use the (then) vacent studios at sites that already do co-location.
Each legal licence would be served and it removes most of the political fallout.
The only odd thing in that plan would be that fact ITV West was refitted, and works in a newish 'unit'within an old centre - that may not be worth that much now for property development.
What would that mean for Border Scotland and, in particular, for the non-news Scotland only output currently screened in the region?
Anglia coming from Leeds?? Wow. That's a scary thought!
At least now we know the real reason ITV made all the studios the same -- you could move North East Tonight to Latvia and few would notice the on-air change.
I can understand pre-recording the sub-opts (this is, after all, the way a number of ITV companies did things in the past anyway -- they certainly did at Tyne Tees in the 70s and 80s), but Anglia to Leeds might just be a step too far.
How many spare studios do the main hubs have these days? (Leeds, Manchester, London I guess). If Leeds in particular have a number of spare small studios (or one large one that can be split) then I can see Gateshead being sold off and Border and TTTV being moved over to YTV along with Anglia -- perhaps Granada as well.
From a logistical perspective, wouldn't it therefore be the best idea to move playout for the Anglia area to Leeds as well?
:-(
A former member
There would still need a office up there to get the news??
If co-location happens (which it will!) the likely scenario is this...
Gateshead - closed
Carlisle - closed
Bristol - closed
Norwich - closed
Manchester - Granada only
Leeds - Calendar and TyneTees/Border
Birmingham - Central and West
Cardiff - Wales
London - London Tonight
Whiteley - Meridian, Westcountry, Anglia
This would mean they could save an absolute fortune by shifting off the Gateshead, Carlisle, Bristol and Norwich buildings. Leeds has capacity for 2 shows. Whiteley can facilitate 3, Birmingham can take 2. London's already being done out of house. Wales is too politically charged to move and the studios make lots of money with other productions, as is the case with Manchester. To try and shut the critics up they'll open up 'state of the art multi-million pound news centres' in Newcastle, Norwich, Bristol and Carlisle which, in actual fact, will be one room with 3 or 4 reporters and a permanent sat link for newsroom lives, etc. Millions saved, programmes appearing much the same. Viewer deception yet again! Welcome to itv!
PS - Just as a back anno to that. It's worth noting that all of this happened in Australia a few years ago with, for example, Channel Ten News for the Western Australian city of Perth being recorded HUNDREDS of miles away in Sydney! Interestingly enough the law has now been seriously tightened up and the broadcasters have basically been forced to reverse everything - so you never know what the future holds!
:-(
A former member
so if something bad happens Lakes then it take ages to get to the stories unless there will be a ITV Copter. there would also have to move into the STV Edinburgh office to cover Scottish borders.
People seem to be merging the location of the presentation studios with the location of the newsrooms and live trucks.
AIUI if ITV do move some regional news studios "out of region" - say moving the Anglia News presentation to Leeds - they won't be moving the reporters, live trucks, remaining camera crews etc. as well - just the presenters, and some production journalists. Just because your presenter is sat in a studio in Leeds doesn't mean that your live trucks are based in Leeds, or your reporters.