Bye Bye Border

Does this mean the ITV Tyne Tees News programmes will be joined with Border viewers?

E.g - like when ITV Border were having transmissioning problems a few years back and Border viewers were watching Tyne Tees.

Any answers please?

Rather a melodramatic thread title

It made me think that the Border region was being dispanded (e.g. Tyne Tees becomes "ITV North East & Cumbria", Isle of Man goes to Granada, southern Scotland goes to STV)

A very small area in the far north-east of, er, the North East changing from Border to Tyne Tees hardly seems like that big a deal to me. Actually, considering that the Berwick area isn't within the "Cumbria/southern Scotland/Isle of Man"-described area, I find it odd that they recieve Border at the moment.

No. It's just the transfer of the Berwick mast from Border to Tyne Tees.

The "transmission problems" you mention were in fact caused by the flooding in Carlisle which put the studios out of comission and also took out the power supply to the city and to the mast at Caldbeck, so Tyne Tees covered Border's patch until it was able to get back on air.

So do most of of the residents...!
Its official patch is Cumbria, South Scotland, the Isle of Man and north and west Northumberland. I do wonder though if this is the beginning of the end for Border. If they can switch one relay mast from one region to another, how long will it be before stv moves into South Scotland and Granada swallow up Cumbria?

I know, in a sense, it might not seem a big deal but it's being done for technical reasons, not following any local consultation. There are many viewers in Southern Scotland who would much rather receive STV. Indeed the creation of "Border Scotland" (a local news sub-opt plus screening some Scottish football) could be seen as an attempt to stop the natives getting too restless. I know that there was concern in some quarters when the transmitters in South Lakeland were switched from Granada to Border. At that time the Manchester-based station ran late night programmes and movies while Border went to bed at between 11 and 11.30, because it was in financial trouble at that stage. And, of course, there was some dismay when Belmont was switched from Anglia to Yorkshire in 1974...to make Yorkshire (one of the big 5 network contactors as they were then known) more viable. The ITA/IBA/OFCOM don't give a rap for viewers' opinions, never have.

I remember the local paper in Berwick ran a story a few years ago, where a Berwick viewer served by the local transmitter asked whether it would be possible for the town to receive Tyne Tees instead of Border. The paper, the Berwick Advertiser, ran a poll and the result was quite conclusive, nearly 90 per cent in favour of Tyne Tees, and when they asked OFCOM they said it would just be a matter of flicking a switch to change the Berwick mast over. They did send the results to OFCOM as far as I know. So perhaps local opinion in Berwick did play a part in this...

Here's a link confirming the switch of the Berwick mast from Border to Tyne Tees:

http://www.berwicktoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=970&ArticleID=1654750

No date has yet been given, though.

I for one would be happy to change to STV (I live in Berwickshire). Although the creation of Border Scotland was a welcome move, time has moved on. I know that STV were hinting on taking over south Scotland from Border, but as yet nothing more has been heard about this.

Time may come when ITV and OFCOM are forced to move borders Scotland to STV,

Although then may actually get rid of borders, would anyone miss it?

why?

Well, I guess that having an England/Scotland-trancending region seems rather at odds with the increasingly "devolving" UK, so 623085 could be right.

Don't you mean 623058?

I know that OFCOM consulted on the amount of Scottish programming "Border Scotland" should be obliged to carry. What the outcome was, I don't know. The issue, as it has been since Border opened in 1961, is that, in ITA/IBA terms, the South of Scotland is regarded as being in England. The "Border Scotland" service, a very recent phenomenon, is a response to increasing complaints about the validity, or otherwise, of continuing an arrangement which does give local news but offers little coverage in a national Scottish sense. Border's response, in the first three decades and more, was always that "only one third of our audience are Scots". In other words, the good citizens of Carlisle, Cleator Moor and Workington would be very upset about seeing more than a token amount of Scottish programming. True...but why should people be treated like a minority in their own country? The other argument they trotted out, in the days before they screened Scotsport, was that there was "no local interest" in the programme. Even on the weekend when Grampian and STV audiences could see St Johnstone v Berwick in a Scottish cup tie...and Border screened highlights of Fulham v Southampton, or some such!