Yes it was to do away with the whole Thames News/LWT News split (or Thames Weekend News as LWT News was known as for a while)
Yes, in their 1991 franchise application LWT were keen on combining very expensive functions such as transmission and local news with their weekday colleagues.
Thus they formed LNN with Carlton (although they almost certainly would have done the same had it been Thames who won) to provide the local news/sport coverage ans playout their programmes
Up to and including 05/9/99 Westcountry productions were branded as such. Then it was all Carlton. However, there was one embarrassing slip-up that first week when the Westcountry W logo was shown on one programme's sponsorship bumpers.
The purchase by Carlton of Westcountry brought lots of money into the station that previously wasn't there. They certainly wouldn't have been able to cover the 1998 Rugby final at Twickenham had they not been a part of Carlton
Why does Carlton always get the flak when Meridian is just as bad. Meridian like Carlton was set up to buy programmes in rather than make them. Meridian like Carlton had a few shows that made it onto the network before becoming a non network entity in 1994/1995.
Meridian seems to escape all this due to Carlton taking of Thames end of where as Meridian's precedessor, TVS, made an impact on the ITV Network in both Drama and Children's which was never equalled by Meridian over the forthcoming years.
Why does Carlton always get the flak when Meridian is just as bad. Meridian like Carlton was set up to buy programmes in rather than make them. Meridian like Carlton had a few shows that made it onto the network before becoming a non network entity in 1994/1995 .
Although it (along with it's then sister company Anglia) became big producers for Channel 5 at launch. Under the 'UNM productions' name Meridian produced a large amount of sports and childrens programmes for the new station
No, he built his career on programmes like: The Young Ones, Three of a Kind, Girls on Top, Saturday/Friday Live and Red Dwarf. He's responsible for 2 of the best sitcoms ever made in this country and kick started a whole new generation of comic talent, (see Boom Boom, Out Go the lights )
Yes hands up to this one - I was thinking of Paul Watson.
Inspector Sands posted:
The purchase by Carlton of Westcountry brought lots of money into the station that previously wasn't there. They certainly wouldn't have been able to cover the 1998 Rugby final at Twickenham had they not been a part of Carlton
Carlton ultimately did more harm to Westcountry in terms of its regional service. Westcountry was just "part of the grand plan" for them - once as one ex-employee has told me, they simply didn't care about regional telly.
None of the new stations that came in in 93 bore comparison with their predecessors. I'd be surprised if anyone could think of a single compelling area where Meridian bettered TVS, or Westcountry to TSW etc. It wasn't just Carlton.
I dread to think how far the network would have sunk if HTV, Granada and YTV had also lost their licences, as very nearly happened if you read between the lines of the evidence available.
(I'm deliberately missing Tyne Tees out of that batch since I don't know how NE TV could have been worse than YTV's running of the NE station).
The problem boils down to the fact that none of the 1991 franchise applicants had to be producer-broadcasters, or were under any obligation to maintain the staffing levels of their predecessors.
At the time of the franchise changes I couldn't see why all the fuss - after all Westward had given way to TSW and surely that's what was happening again now - and I just couldn't understand all this talk of a single ITV. As the years have passed all has become clear just how different the 1991 franchise round was to those that went before - and it's turned ITV into this appalling, monolithic business it now is.
As the years have passed all has become clear just how different the 1991 franchise round was to those that went before - and it's turned ITV into this appalling, monolithic business it now is.
Indeed. And we have the Blessed Margaret to thank for that.
Previous franchise rounds were judged on quality - in 1991 it was about who had the biggest wallet.
Subsequent relaxing of the rules led to Granada ultimately swallowing up every other company either directly or indirectly - leading to the ITV we have today.
Also - and worth mentioning - the ITV network was set up not just to serve and reflect its regions but also as a regional employer. A big loss all round.
But those days are gone - and people watch tv differently now so the notion of your local friendly tv station seems like an anachronism these days. Pity.