The 1980 ITV franchise auction

You have to remember there wanted it become the BIG 6 and get in on the action which the IBA also liked. TVS did nearly reach that level of output, with all its local programmes etc even in 1982 there had 45mins of local news plus a 15min local filler at 5.30.



STV managed to have at least 18 hours plus of local programming a week so why cant Granada? Scotland Today that = 3 hours, Local kids programmes = 2 hours, Local religion programme + another hour, then there was scottish woman, scottish books, platform,the home show, Scottish passport the gameshows there had, Local Arts programme N.B, that went like a rocket, of course those late night shows like Funny farm and Late Edition. Of course there was Scotsport and Extra time, there even had 3 times a week local Chat show with Kirsty ( YES that one from the news) and Take the high road., lets not forget Scottish action, that was all back during the 90s.

WE have't even got on to the Scots Gaelic programmes which was other 4 hours a week and the network output like dramas, the wheel of fortunes or even Disney club. That truly was STV golden age.

You're splitting hairs I think, so it was the viewers leading the charge (but I'm sure Anglia helped, why wouldn't they have done ?) and the IBA eventually sorted it for the next franchise renewal.

There might have been legislative issues. Sticking relays for Anglia, within in the official (even if it was inappropriate) service area of YTV ?

Come on, not even Thames were producing four hours a day in total of original programming. Bear in mind this would be four hours, on average, every day of every week not including repeats. It would mean that their studios would be working flat-out, all day every day on productions. It was a ludicrous promise, and TVS never reached anywhere near this figure.

And I lived in Edinburgh for a period in the 1990s. STV were indeed a prolific producer of local programming but there was no way they were regularly producing 18 hours plus of original output per week. 14-15 maybe.

Don't get me wrong -- Granada's nine hours was a bit on the low side, as my local station Tyne Tees was on 11.5 hours/week I believe (reduced by an hour in 1993). But it was hardly a reason to attack their record.

I think they were wrong to call out TVS for that figure - the upcoming launch of Channel 4 was to create greater opportunity for commissions, and the increase in news and general programming for both sub-regions would help add to the tally also.

At its peak TVS ended up producing around 1100 hours a year - perhaps underestimating how difficult it would be breaking their way into the Big 5. Still, over-ambition is perhaps better than none at all. Considering the transformation of the south in the 80s, you have to wonder how Southern would have fit in.

STV easily would have gotten 4 hours of local programmes per day, there had all those local produce shows, plus Gaelic and network stuff, remember STV moved all the 7pm shows to 17.10 to broadcast local content.

STV during the 90s had lunchtime Scotland today so that was 1hour straight of the bat, there had local programme, that was another 1-2 hours, STV opt out of plenty of ITV peak time slots. at the weekends with its local sport, kids, Gaelic and Religions shows it would get you 6 hours per day.

Do you have some STV schedules for this period?

No, remember that they aren't really companies that bid for ITV franchises/licenses but consortia put together especially for the bid. So it's almost certainly just a co-incidental name (there's only a limited number of geographic names to go round I suppose)


The Westcountry that won in 1991 was part owned by South West Water, which didn't get privatised until the late 80's

How long did South West Water stay involved with Westcountry for?

Although that BBC South programme posted earlier references a previous contender taking part in 1980.

Southern were seen as a bit too comfortable. With Southern covering the large and relatively affluent area, I think it was felt they didn't quite punch there weight. It was always a bit "damned if you do, damned if you don't" as TVS certainly had ambition and an intention to not only be a big player but to shake up the whole system. Despite some success, it was largely frustrated and the thing that ultimately undone them a decade later.

On a different note: I feel that article is a bit harsh dismissing Mersey Vision as "no serious competition". They were as serious as many of the other bidders around the country and did have Granada worried to some extent. Seems like the writer had a cob on voer them not being available for comment.

Also, Cambridge the regional capital of East Anglia?

There was some concern raised by local politicians, but not by the ITC, in the involvement of South west water in Westcountry. In the late 1980s there was a water poisoning outbreak at Camelford, and SWW were criticised in a report following an inquiry, and also local news reports were showing SWW in a bad light. Some folk were concerned that SWW's involvement could have led to reporting of SWW being in a more favourable light.

Going back to the 1980 franchise round, one key difference between that and the 1991 battle, was that back in 1980, all staff had to be kept on, as was the trade union rules at the time. So, in a sense, it was simply a change of management for the staff. The 1991 franchise round was different, in that trade union rules in the 1980 round no longer applied. An example was the south and south east franchise; TVS employed circa 800 people. The winner, Meridian, planned to employ circa 370 people, so there were going to be some job losses.

It must be mentioned that Meridian was going to be a "publisher broadcaster", in that it was getting all its programmes that it commissioned made by external production companies. Ironically, one of these was Topical Television, who, I believe, were founded by some TVS staff. Quite what the extent of the actual job losses was, is unclear as a result of TVS losing to Meridian.

Indeed, and didn't the company end up producing Brookside, and then Hollyoaks for C4 ?