…and finally

" The TV Forum"?!

And I thought my shameless plugs for another forum were pushing it.
Never thought to just go ahead and rip-off this place completely!

It seems they don't follow me. I also found out you've apparently blocked my (personal) account on Twitter. Therefore my unfounded conspiracy theory is that it's secretly your forum.

If I have, it's probably because you're on a pre added block list. It wouldn't be intentional!

"TV presentation enthusiasts to avoid"?

They didn’t deny running the forum either!

I'll be sad to see this forum go. It replaced the pub during all these lockdowns, always a place to visit after dinner with a nice glass of red, and perhaps say something deemed as controversial, or get wound up by some pesky youngling baiting me to engage. Oh dear.

Seeing some streaming links over on The BBC World Thread activated a trip down memory lane and recall a bunch of us secretly sharing links to watch BBC World (as it was then) outside of the UK. We were all scared that the more of us using it - the more likely it was to be closed down by The BBC. Trading files over messenger and so on. Meeting a few peeps I'd chat to on the phone and email or share files using MSN Messenger or AIM. Chatting to Lyse Doucet on AIM for over two years. At being super jealous of 'itsrobert' who IIRC had/has a satellite dish to pick up BBC World at home. I actually looked into getting it set up at my own home, but it never transpired.

Something else I'll never forget and which transpired as a result of the amount of time I spent on this forum was going to meet David Lowe at his home/studio. That was incredible. Being relatively young at that time and perhaps Naive, I stupidly uploaded the BBC World Countdown Master he'd sent me to TVF and he caught me out. Being the gentleman he is, quickly forgave me and we moved on.

Thanks for the memories TVF.

Great memories, Newsroom!

The generosity of the insiders on here cannot be overstated in my view. For me, being contacted out of the blue by Adrian Finighan, who had seen my posts on here, was a particular highlight. I got to spend an entire shift with him at BBC World one evening in 2003, seeing how he worked on the bulletins and watching them go out from N9's gallery (he also did the same for me after he moved to CNN in London, too).

Then the following year, the wonderful Media Boy of this parish treated me to a full daytime tour of TVC which was totally amazing as well. And through another friend I met via TV Forum, I've also toured ITN and had one last look around TVC the month before it closed in 2013. Although the latter was very poignant, it was probably my favourite visit of all as TVC was so deserted and we got to look in practically every nook and cranny! It was almost like having the whole of TVC to yourself - I think there were only a few departments left working there by that stage.

So, I have been very lucky and it's all thanks to the generosity of insiders on this forum. And my impression (as an outsider) to the industry they work in is one of incredible kindness and dedication. During all those visits, I have never once met anyone who hasn't shown interest in me and given me time in their busy day to explain their job with passion - and even let me have a go sometimes! A particular highlight was being allowed to actually trigger the closing music live on the ITV Lunchtime News!

Nothing makes you feel more like you're still a newbie than all the founding members reminiscing about the things that happened in the four years before you joined. With your J*rongates and your Katherines and your Lounges.

Anyone still here who remembers stuff that happened later on like the Tyne Tees website relaunch drama, and the Sky News live feed which stayed on during the ad breaks (which I think included the gaffer tape debate)?

There was this Sky News output that didn't cut to something else during the breaks :


I'm sure there was an older one, but I can't locate it.

And then there's this, (I'm not embedding because the YouTuber on this account changes the thumbnail to something "against" TV Forum every time a video of theirs is embedded here) - a live behind the scenes walk during an ad break back when Sky News had a set bigger than the QE2:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGmSmUYKlA0

I'm very sad to read this 🙁.

I'm having a very difficult time in my life right now; makes losing here only that much harder.

What truly sad news... I've been processing this grief over the last few days!

I've also been a long time lurker on here (to my shame, not contributing). I originally signed up in 2006 when I was just 14! Much like madmusician back on page 19 I had discovered the TV & Radio Bits website, which really ignited my interest in TV Presentation and then the Digital Spy Forums from where I found TV Forum. Unlike DS, which often seemed to consist of complaining about the TV Licence , TV Forum has been a truly amazing community of like-minded people interested in TV Presentation and the like.

There have been so many good memories of this place: this would always be the first place to go to anytime there was a rebrand or a new ident set launched. Also following along on election nights as I truly geeked out about the production going on behind the live coverage. Then more recently, the launch of NBH and, of course, confiding in each other about the frustrations with "Onemess".

Thanks for everything, Asa!

I remember signing up in 2005! Thanks Asa and the other founders for the forum, it'll be missed!