As you can see from the YouTube video, TV-AM were essentially running on empty from Thames TV and since London took the brunt of the force of that storm, most of the power was out and I wouldn't be surprised if the entire operation at TV-AM ran off generators to get something, anything, on air.. The BBC broadcast from the Broom Cupboard at TV Centre as the normal Breakfast show studio had no power.
Of course, back in those days, the ITV network was probably more resilient as they were taking the feed from TV-AM which if it fell off air they could take over locally, though what they'd take over with is another matter.
Realistically though the only thing that may take TV stations off the air today is often major power failures on a national scale followed by generator failures. If London was totally out I dare say Leeds (for ITV) could take over and Salford for the BBC could take over to get something on air, though again what with is an entirely different matter if all the playout servers in London don't have any power...
This idea of the "ITV Network" is a misnomer, BT reconfigured it several times a day depending on the particular requirements. The regional stations weren't able to go on air during TV-AM time, it was only once GMTV took over and introduced regional news that they were connected to the transmitters via the regional company.
ITV do have a lot of eggs in one basket with so much of the daytime schedule being live from the South Bank, I would imagine there is a plan B for Chiswick/Leeds to play out pre-recorded standby programmes.
A big difference today is that both the BBC and ITV pay other companies to deal with the issues of getting on air - including when their main sites are unavailable / unusable.
The PSB broadcasters all have redundant facilities for use should their London transmission centres be unable to broadcast for whatever reason.
ITV's Leeds playout centre, which usually provides the regional news and ads opts for the northern regions, is able to take over playout of the entire ITV network should it be required. A few years back, prior to ITV moving playout to Chiswick, Leeds took over from their South Bank playout centre a number of times following problems with the power supply in the building. Back then Leeds couldn't take over ITV's digital channels, meaning they fell off air, although it wouldn't surprise me if that has changed since then.
As for the BBC, it's been stated multiple time their playout provider Red Bee has a redundant facility at an undisclosed location that would be able to take over transmission of the BBC channels should it be required. As far as I know they haven't had to use this facility, although it wouldn't surprise me if the BBC has silently tested it on air (there's been many occasions in which a II marker appears on BBC One's overnight News Channel output, suggesting to me they're testing either that backup facility or some sort of backup circuit). The backup facility isn't in Salford as suggested before.
Channel 4 also use Red Bee for their playout, so I suspect they have the same if not similar arrangement to the BBC.
I know a few years back Channel 5 had an agreement with Red Bee to use their facilities for backup (their main playout wasn't with Red Bee then), I'm not sure what their current arrangement is.
In addition to all of that, Arqiva who owns the UK's TV transmitters, provide the transmission facilities for Freeview and provide satellite uplink for many channels (I know they provide ITV's) are able to route any broadcast centre to the broadcast output on any of channels they transmit. So if for example both the main and backup facilities were unavailable, they could put a placeholder or any of the regional studios on air nationwide. Arqiva have transmission centres all over the country, so if for example anything happened to Freeview's main transmission centre at Emley Moor in Yorkshire, I imagine one of their other facilities would be able to take over.
Following the Year 2000 and the infamous "y2k bug", plus 9/11 and 7/7, disaster recovery has become relatively big business. Before the y2k bug, disaster recovery was done on a best endeavours basis. Breakdowns were not commonplace, but occasional enough for the broadcasters to assume that people would bear with a channel while they sorted out problems. Now, with playout outsourced in the main to other companies, there are clauses in contracts which mean breakdowns have to be covered and resolved within a specified timescale. It's not that long ago when DR procedures involved packing tapes into carrier bags and getting into a cab to take them to a different regional site, to resume playout when possible. Nowadays, all broadcasters have arrangements to broadcast from somewhere else (or at least take someone else's output).
:-(
A former member
Does this mean Leeds have a backup copy of all programmes being transmitted for ITV?
ITV do have a lot of eggs in one basket with so much of the daytime schedule being live from the South Bank, I would imagine there is a plan B for Chiswick/Leeds to play out pre-recorded standby programmes.
The situations have kind of swapped around now. One consequence of the various moves and outsourcing at the BBC in the last 10 years is that the various areas that are required to get the services to air aren't now all in the same place.
Although there is a difference between being able to switch routing from one place to another and making sure that it has the content to sustain a service. In that respect its a bit easier now everything's digital and can be moved between systems at other end of the country. However suddenly running a live programme like the news that should be in London from Salford or Glasgow is still not that quick or easy a thing to do
As for the BBC, it's been stated multiple time their playout provider Red Bee has a redundant facility at an undisclosed location that would be able to take over transmission of the BBC channels should it be required. As far as I know they haven't had to use this facility, although it wouldn't surprise me if the BBC has silently tested it on air (there's been many occasions in which a II marker appears on BBC One's overnight News Channel output, suggesting to me they're testing either that backup facility or some sort of backup circuit). The backup facility isn't in Salford as suggested before.
Channel 4 also use Red Bee for their playout, so I suspect they have the same if not similar arrangement to the BBC.
The BBC one has apparently been used for real once, although not that obviously
Channel 4 did have a back up facility at another media company's building in London. It did go to air once, when there was that gas leak at their HQ. I would have thoihht its changed now though
How reliant is Salford on London for Breakfast? Does the BH equivalent of SCAR look after contributions into the programme for example or are they relatively self contained?