26th Anniversary of the biggest shake up in ITV

Quite. The chances that news from e.g. Ecclefechan or Jedburgh would make the running-order of a programme that counts Edinburgh and Glasgow as part of its patch would be small, to say the least.

If the Border region were ever disbanded, there would have to be Ofcom requirements in place to ensure that any combined “Central Belt & South” programme acknowledged the D&G and Borders area. That could possibly take the form of a South sub-opt (even if it was actually pre-recorded in Glasgow/Edinburgh with a faux window backdrop depicting e.g. Dumfries)?

A single pan-regional ITV programme from Gateshead (mirroring the BBC Look North (Newcastle) region exactly) might then have the catchy title “ITV News Tyne Tees & Cumbria” – a title which would be one syllable longer than the programme’s 2011-2013 pan-regional branding (ITV News Tyne Tees & Border)!

I don't wish to be abrupt, but the ITC was made up of exceptionally distinguished people who had access to extensive information and had great knowledge of the workings of television and of business, having been appointed for that reason. They were also having to balance the interests of the industry and the government and, as Independent Television in Britain points out, they did not appear to get much advice from the government and were left to use their own skill and judgement to decide on what "exceptional circumstances" meant, for example.

I would recommend reading Under The Hammer and Independent Television in Britain which go into extensive detail on the whole franchise process, the latter including a very long and in-depth interview with George Russell who goes into great detail about the various deliberations that they made. You can take issue with the results of some of those, but clearly they were making their decisions honestly and in good faith based on all the information they received.

I think it's a bit much to come on here, with 25 years' hindsight and having read a few things on the internet, and say "Clearly the itc had no idea how to do business". Why didn't you tell them this at the time?

A Lot of people did!

Who wrote that please?

It's this - https://www.amazon.com/Independent-Television-Britain-1981-92-Relationship/dp/0333647734

Theoretical question. If after losing the franchise in 1993 Thames as an independent producer decided to make The Bill, Minder Etc for Sky or the BBC, how much of a blow would that have been for the new ITV?

Minder by 1993 was nearing its end, it started in 1979, and never really recovered from being thrashed in the 1985 Christmas Day ratings with Only Fools and Horses on BBC One. The Bill moving to BBC One was not really considered, as it started in 1984, so after nearly a decade it was nearly always going to remain on ITV.


As with other shows, what ones did they keep for ITV after 1993?

I've no idea tbh

Strike It Lucky, Take Your Pick, This Is Your Life.

This Is Your Life only ran one series though, then went to the BBC in 1994.

And Strike It Lucky ran for 2, then switched to LWT and became Strike It Rich.

Wish You Were Here, Des O’Connor Tonight and Mr Bean carried on after 1993. Although the latter became a Tiger Aspect Production for Central, but on video was still distributed by Thames for a number of years.

Wish You Were Here continued into 1993