Bye Bye Border

I see it's been announced that the Berwick TV transmitter's being reallocated from Border to Tyne Tees TV. It might seem an odd move...Berwick Rangers play in the Scottish football league, and the rugby club in the Scottish league set up. And how much local coverage, not just in sport but in news, will they now get from a company based in Newcastle? The reason given is technical problems regarding DSO, presumably because Berwick currently recieves its ITV and Channel 4 feed from Selkirk and BBC1 and 2 from Chatton. The end result is that many citizens in Berwick will now have to wait four years longer for Freeview, given that Tyne Tees will be one of the last areas to lose analogue.

It's only a small relay isn't it?

Also what's DSO?

Digital switchover. It's a small relay but covers a significant population who have difficulty receiving either Selkirk or Chatton because they're in a dip at the mouth of the Tweed. (A few on the seafront can actually get some sort of signal from Grampian at Durris)

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the geography 'up' in that area , does this mean that the border region will be entirely swallowed up by the tyne-tees region ,or only a bit of it (like when the '80s southern region's contracter TVS got a transmitter from the London contractors [I think with the introdcuction of dual-rgions {?}])?

Only a bit of it. In fact the Berwick TV transmitter was originally a Tyne Tees relay until the early 80s (1984 I think), when it was changed to Border, for what can only be described as a bizarre reason. Apparently a prominent local businessman, who owned the local newspaper, had shares in Border TV (as did the paper) and was unhappy at getting Tyne Tees - so he had it changed. With today's news, you could say that it's returning to its proper region after 22 years, no doubt to the delight of the local townsfolk who don't see Border as their local ITV1station.

As RJG said it covers quite a substantial area - parts of Berwick town centre plus Tweedmouth, Spittal, East Ord and Norham, all of which are screened from Chatton and Selkirk.

no, it's literally one town and a few bits around the coast that are affected. It's rather complex however.

Being a military town, Berwick is built over loads of hills and artificial rampards. Some people get their reception from Chatton (Tyne Tees) and others from Selkirk (Border Scottish).

Now there is an additional relay in Berwick covering the dips, which currently rebroadcasts Border (for some odd reason), however they're planning to switch this back over to Tyne Tees at digital. Border and Tyne Tees are however at the start and the very end of DSO which is a problem.

Now, I admit I'm not flawless on this subject either. The Selkirk relays round here generally broadcast analogue, except the one for Gala which doesn't do C5 either for some reason.

Does Berwick *only* do ITV? If not, does it carry Newcastle or Scotland for BBC?

Berwick has always transmitted Border since it opened in October 1977. It receives Border and C4 from Selkirk and is fed BBC1 North East and BBC2 from Chatton. Some parts of Berwick can receive Chatton, some Selkirk, directly. Border Television's franchise area is described as Cumberland, Westmorland, North Northumberland, Southern Scotland and the Isle of Man (ITA handbook 1972!). Interestingly, some relay transmitters in the Lake District, including Kendal, Windermere, Sedbergh, Coniston, Hawkshead and Grasmere, were reallocated from the Granada TV region to Border in, I think, 1981.

And, I forgot, none of Selkirk's relays carry channel 5 analogue nor does Chatton.

They were - I think Border asked for the masts to be changed over in order to make it worthwhile to retain its franchise. They were switched over on 1/1/82, the same day the 1980 franchises rounds took effect.

I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with you re Berwick being a Border mast from the off - ask any of the townsfolk there and they'll tell you it was Tyne Tees originally. If you look in the Chatton listings there is no mast number 155.01 - this must have been the number originally allocated to Berwick (currently 161.09 in the Selkirk series). I wonder if it will be renumbered now that it's to be changed over.

Wouldn't it be great if you couold change your locality's region over, just like that (It is alrgith 4 sum !)?!

Thanku both for answering my questions


Personally, I, rather quite idiosyncratically, like older stuff, and I'll miss analogue. I'm glad my region is 2012, even if it does free up digital space for a Quizcall+1- okay the +1 channels are placeholders, but, yeah, shut up, it just a pun ..., but it isn't my region, so, it's not really for me to say, not that it really is for me to say, in my region either.

The decision to change Berwick over to Tyne Tees might have implications for the other relays in the Border region where the BBC feed comes from one main mast and ITV/C4 from another. As well as the South Lakes relays (BBC from Winter Hill, ITV/C4 from Caldbeck) there is the repeater at Haltwhistle which relays BBC from Pontop Pike and ITV/C4 from Caldbeck - originally the BBC feed came from Caldbeck as well). I believe there were plans to move Haltwhistle from Border to Tyne Tees. Would that then mean the south Lakes relays would then revert to Granada?

I hate to be pedantic but all IBA yearbooks, coverage maps from the late 70s onwards indicate that Berwick is a relay of Selkirk. And the BBC transmitter lists indicate that ITV and Channel 4 at Berwick (which relays BBC services from Chatton) are from a "different main station". Don't forget, the token "Border Scotland" service is a very recent phenomenon so there's nothing "foreign" about Border having the franchise for Berwick. Nor indeed that, until the very late 70s on BBC1 and the late 90s on BBC 2, a huge area of South West Scotland could not receive BBC Scotland television. Even the relays, across the region from Langholm to Stranraer, transmitted BBC North East, as received from Caldbeck. Only when BBC Scotland services were introduced from Sandale did the situation change. And, in Freeview terms, South West Scotland can not, largely, receive BBC Scotland, or indeed Border Scotland programmes.