NG
The South and West Meridian services both currently come from studios in the main Meridian studio centre at Northam in Southampton. (This is similar to the way Anglia News East and West operate - they've both been based in studios at Norwich since the region split)
The Meridian West (sometimes called North?) service previously came from a studio operation in Newbury, which was built for Meridian when they took over the franchise from TVS. There is still a newsroom in Newbury - so there are journalists and camera crew(s) in the patch still. (TVS covered the South and West patches with one progarmme from Southampton, as did Southern)
The South East service comes from a studio in New Hythe, though this studio was not built in time for the launch of Meridian, so initially Meridian rented space on the TVS Vintners Park site in Maidstone, which had previously been home to the TVS South East edition of Coast-to-Coast. (The TVS Maidstone studios are still in operation, running as "Maidstone" studios, which is now run by a group of Kent businessmen)
The current plan is for Meridian to shut the New Hythe studio AND the Northam site in Southampton. They will then build a 3 studio complex for all of the three local news shows (Fareham is the suggested site) whilst retaining newsrooms, crews, and probably satellite/microwave links vehicles in the 3 patches. Some journalists (probably reporters not production journos) will be based in the sub-regions, but the reports, or un-edited material, will be fed back to Fareham for transmission from studios there. (It may be that digital desktop editing is introduced to the regional offices - to allow reporters (or picture editors) to cut and voice their own packages and feed edited reports to Fareham)
The history of the region is approximately this :
From launch until 1982 Southern TV ran the region. (Though the region was slightly smaller as the Bluebell Hill transmitter in the South East bit - N. Kentish - was carrying Thames/LWT)
The bulk of the local news for the entire patch (Day By Day) was produced in Southampton, though there was a small operation in Dover, that produced a weekly opt-out for the South East - I think on Fridays. (I don't think there was daily local news production for the South East)
TVS took over the region in 1982. They launched with a proposal for an entirely split local news service, splitting the region in two (South and South East) - and they made a commitment to full production centres in both sides. They hadn't built the Maidstone studios in time for launch, so used Southern's Dover studios initially for the South East Coast to Coast I believe, and also converted a theatre in the region into a studio(which was used for Fraggle Rock). In the South they bought Southern's centre in Southampton, at Northam.
Meridian launched at the beginning of 1993 with a proposal to split the region into three, but not to make many of their own non-news programmes, instead (like Carlton and Channel Four) they aimed to be publishers, commissioning from independents. They bought Northam from TVS, but had no requirement or commitment to non-news production in Newbury or Maidstone, so didn't buy the TVS centre in Maidstone. They rented space there for a while, until their small local news operation was built in New Hythe. A similar operation was built in Newbury - but I think this may have been ready for launch?
Thank you very much for all your information. Just out of interest how do you know all this??
By growing up in the region (well part of the time), being interested in TV (my family has a history in the industry), and being a bit of a sponge for useless trivia. There are also a number of Southern/TVS/Meridian websites around... I moved out of the region prior to Meridian launching - but was living there at the time the Southern/TVS transfer happened - and was quite a TVS fan. Coast-to-Coast from Maidstone was quite a good little local news programme - though I was torn between it and London Plus (because I also lived in the Thames / London Weekend patch some of the time!)
noggin
Founding member
South Today posted:
noggin posted:
South Today posted:
I hope someone could answer these questions about Meridian for me please.
-Are all 3 versions of Meridian based in Southampton??
-Where is Meridian based in Southampton??
-Are Meridian in Southampton planning to move??
-When was the Region split up into 3??
Thank you in advance
-Are all 3 versions of Meridian based in Southampton??
-Where is Meridian based in Southampton??
-Are Meridian in Southampton planning to move??
-When was the Region split up into 3??
Thank you in advance
The South and West Meridian services both currently come from studios in the main Meridian studio centre at Northam in Southampton. (This is similar to the way Anglia News East and West operate - they've both been based in studios at Norwich since the region split)
The Meridian West (sometimes called North?) service previously came from a studio operation in Newbury, which was built for Meridian when they took over the franchise from TVS. There is still a newsroom in Newbury - so there are journalists and camera crew(s) in the patch still. (TVS covered the South and West patches with one progarmme from Southampton, as did Southern)
The South East service comes from a studio in New Hythe, though this studio was not built in time for the launch of Meridian, so initially Meridian rented space on the TVS Vintners Park site in Maidstone, which had previously been home to the TVS South East edition of Coast-to-Coast. (The TVS Maidstone studios are still in operation, running as "Maidstone" studios, which is now run by a group of Kent businessmen)
The current plan is for Meridian to shut the New Hythe studio AND the Northam site in Southampton. They will then build a 3 studio complex for all of the three local news shows (Fareham is the suggested site) whilst retaining newsrooms, crews, and probably satellite/microwave links vehicles in the 3 patches. Some journalists (probably reporters not production journos) will be based in the sub-regions, but the reports, or un-edited material, will be fed back to Fareham for transmission from studios there. (It may be that digital desktop editing is introduced to the regional offices - to allow reporters (or picture editors) to cut and voice their own packages and feed edited reports to Fareham)
The history of the region is approximately this :
From launch until 1982 Southern TV ran the region. (Though the region was slightly smaller as the Bluebell Hill transmitter in the South East bit - N. Kentish - was carrying Thames/LWT)
The bulk of the local news for the entire patch (Day By Day) was produced in Southampton, though there was a small operation in Dover, that produced a weekly opt-out for the South East - I think on Fridays. (I don't think there was daily local news production for the South East)
TVS took over the region in 1982. They launched with a proposal for an entirely split local news service, splitting the region in two (South and South East) - and they made a commitment to full production centres in both sides. They hadn't built the Maidstone studios in time for launch, so used Southern's Dover studios initially for the South East Coast to Coast I believe, and also converted a theatre in the region into a studio(which was used for Fraggle Rock). In the South they bought Southern's centre in Southampton, at Northam.
Meridian launched at the beginning of 1993 with a proposal to split the region into three, but not to make many of their own non-news programmes, instead (like Carlton and Channel Four) they aimed to be publishers, commissioning from independents. They bought Northam from TVS, but had no requirement or commitment to non-news production in Newbury or Maidstone, so didn't buy the TVS centre in Maidstone. They rented space there for a while, until their small local news operation was built in New Hythe. A similar operation was built in Newbury - but I think this may have been ready for launch?
Thank you very much for all your information. Just out of interest how do you know all this??
By growing up in the region (well part of the time), being interested in TV (my family has a history in the industry), and being a bit of a sponge for useless trivia. There are also a number of Southern/TVS/Meridian websites around... I moved out of the region prior to Meridian launching - but was living there at the time the Southern/TVS transfer happened - and was quite a TVS fan. Coast-to-Coast from Maidstone was quite a good little local news programme - though I was torn between it and London Plus (because I also lived in the Thames / London Weekend patch some of the time!)
