TVS - Did they have opt-outs from Reading and Brighton?

Was reading the wikipedia article on TVS and mention was made that there were opt-outs for the Thames Valley from Reading, out of the Southampton Coast-to-Coast, and also opt-outs from Brighton.

I remember reading that there were proposals for Brighton - but the Reading opt is entirely news to me.

Can anyone remember whether there were sub-opts in Coast-to-Coast? (I grew up watching the South East version from Maidstone...)

There was definitely a sub-opt within Coast to Coast for the Hannington area, however it was presented from the in-vision continuity studio in Southampton.
Launched in December 1988 (co-incidentally the same day, as the Clapham Train Crash) and lasted until the end of TVS in Dec 92.

The only presence TVS had in Reading was an edit suite/ENG inject in the Civic Centre (next door to the Hexagon). There was never any live presentation from there.

It wasn't until Jan 1 1993 when Meridian launched totally separate news coverage for Hannington from a purpose built studio in Newbury.

I think TVS also operated a sub-opt from Heathfield, within their Maidstone Coast to Coast. Again, I think this was presented from their IVC studio at Maidstone.

TVS, if they had retained the franchise, were planning a sub opt for Brighton. Curiously they had no plans to expand the Hannington opt into a full service, that was to remain a sub-opt within CtoC.

Yes, it came from 'Pres B', the 'more normal' of the presentation studios.

'Pres A' still contained the 'space ship' set for Late Night Late.

What's the history of the two pres studios at Northam, did TVS instate the second one, or is it a legacy from Southern TV who might have provided split pres for Rowridge and Dover ?

I don't think Southern ever did split transmission for their huge transmission patch, but I might be wrong. Maybe there were split advertising regions?

I believe splitting the South-East and South regions (as TVS referred to them) was one of the reasons TVC got the franchise over the rather staid and complacent Southern who imagined they'd got it all sewn up.

No, Southern did do split transmission. There was a opt out from Dover and Heathfield, presented from a studio in Dover. Wednesday evenings during the final half hour of Day By Day, and Friday evening totally replacing Day By Day.
The programme was called 'Scene South East’.

TVS used the Dover studio to provide their expanded full service for Kent/E Sussex for the first few months of 1982, until Vinters Park was ready.

I never recall seeing any local ads on Southern for Kent/E Sussex, so that does rather indicate they operated split ads too ?

http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/itvsouth/tvs_images/news/coasttocoastmarch1990_3el.jpg

A few clips of the opt will be on TV Ark when I finally am able to upload them soon. TVS had an arts series that was split into three versions in the 90s.

Found this:-

http://members.lycos.co.uk/Southern_TV/southern-byears.html

Shows the Dover studio building. Also the text reminds me that the eastern half of the region was advertised by the ITA separately. I think Anglia TV also applied for it ? If they'd got the franchise they'd have had a huge area, especially when you consider Belmont was also allocated to them until 1974 !

Well, I stand corrected! Totally! I didn't know Southern did a Dover opt of Day By Day. Presumably they did operate a separate advertising region too. Can anyone confirm this?

So in a roundabout kind of a way, TVS was in some ways MORE local than Meridian! 2 main shows each with a sub-opt, so effectively 4 separate news sub-regions. (though Meridian created three full-length shows when they took over with the Newbury studio, New Hythe studio and Northam studio shows) Never really twigged that...

Makes sense that the new sub-opts camera from IVC studios at Northam and Maidstone. (Just as BBC Oxford started - and BBC Cambridge nearly did... )

There was some logic with TVS keeping Hannington as a sub, rather than full opt.
Rowridge and Hannington have a large overlap, Hannington has viewers as far south as the IOW, Rowridge as far north as the downs between Newbury and Andover. I don't think Meridian appreciated this, and it was a bit of a shock to them when they did launch the Newbury service how many complaints came flooding in. To this end they were forced to build three relay stations at Winchester, Hedge End, and Hythe Marina to restore the 'correct' region. There was also one planned for Cowes, but that never made it.

My aunt had a Sony portable TV with a set top aerial that would auto tune to half Midhurt and half Hannington channels skipping the poor Rowridge reception. Signal was just about good enough for teletext too so you wouldn't know anything was wrong until the opt. Not what you would expect in Portsmouth which is firmly in Rowridge service area.