Tvam was right about its bid. Gmtv never made money, was told off by the itc many times and in the end the Actully bid paid each year was lower than what tvam said during the mid 90s
Tvam was right about its bid. Gmtv never made money, was told off by the itc many times and in the end the Actully bid paid each year was lower than what tvam said during the mid 90s
This has been discussed before...
With hindsight the ITC was wrong and TV-AM was right but died in vain. However, was it genuinely the size of the GMTV bid or the failings of GMTV as a broadcaster that resulted in lowering the amount that GMTV paid every year? The ITC nabbed (at least) two companies for overbidding, and Tyne-Tees nearly got nabbed as well with their bid, so with the information they had whilst making their decision it's likely that the GMTV bid was accepted based on an assumption of achieving comparable profits to TV-AM.
Would it have been realistically possible that TV-AM would have taken over / merged with Thames? Even so Carlton would almost certainly have wormed their way in and taken over both regardless of whether they were combined or separate companies.
A Thames/TVAM merger would IMHO would have been highly unlikely. TVAM had poor relations with the rest of the network. Thames post 93 may well have been counting its blessings regards "Death On The Rock" and thought "no more s**t"
It’s arguable that the Yorkshire-Tyne Tees merger is what shaped the rest of the network through the 90s.
A TVS LWT merger would have been a much more interesting development. Even the takeover of LWT by Granada was a more significant and influential event than the Yorkshire Tyne Tees merger.
Either that or LWT/TVS would have been a useful counterbalance to Granada.
I have written before about a TVS LWT Anglia merger as a potential southern powerhouse, also broadcasting under a single identity at weekends in all three regions.
LS
Lou Scannon
Does ITV London regional weather still have different sponsors for Carlton/LWT airtime?