Good Morning Britain

TV-am: Outgoing chat, egg-cups, visual splat (according to VHS recordings ) typically into a local ident and then some news or programme or whatever.

I would not be surprised if most viewers think that TV-am/GMTV/DayBreak/GMB were all just normal programmes on ITV.

Indeed, I'm sure that the concept of the breakfast service being a distinct "station" in its own right is/was utterly lost on most viewers.

The whole "see you tomorrow 6am-9.25am" sort of business, followed by the "Good morning and welcome" type business from your regional franchisee clearly attempted to emphasise the distinction to "Average Viewers". But I highly doubt that many/most/all of them actually stopped to think about what any if that "handover" business meant. Or even consciously registered it as having any significance. Or, even if any *did* wonder what all that malarkey at 9.25 was in aid of, I doubt that they would get to the correct answer.

Given how heavily "ITV"-branded the current incarnation of the breakfast service is, in most parts of the UK the franchise divide is the most invisible it has ever been.

Conversely, it might seem more jarring than ever in STV land at least (arguably not quite so much in UTV land anymore, as ITV & UTV look so similar now). When trailers/breakbumpers etc are most explicitly not "ITV" for most of the day, normal viewers (who don't know/care about the franchising structure) might possibly find it a tad odd - but nevertheless not actually care - that it is "allowed" to be "ITV" during breakfast time only.

That said, STV/UTV have long-since had a certain amount of ITV-creep through things like the national news, in-programme mentions etc. All of which will have sufficiently normalised the "it's sort-of called STV, but it's also sort-of called ITV" situation (even if they don't understand why). Arguably, that has long-since been normalised in all regions - via everything from the TV Times column headings to the 1989 generic logo (and beyond).

I remember in the days when both TVam and Tyne Tees read out viewers birthdays, someone wrote to Tyne Tees asking them to read out a particular greeting on TVam. Bill Steel simply said “you’ve missed the boat there” rather than explaining why this wasn’t possible.

Perhaps said viewer thought Anne Diamond and co were actually based at City Road? I know my grandma was under the impression all programmes on Tyne Tees were made at Newcastle - the implications of Yorkshire, Thames, Central captions before and after the shows evidently lost on her.

Legally, STV and UTV are still part of the “ITV Network” (although the network isn’t what it used to be, it still exists).

Were ITV trailers shown during GMTV?

Exactly. That said, being the last non-ITVplc Channel 3 franchise holder, STV is still very much "off air" (except for the contracted local news opts) and presumably not getting ad-break revenue from between 0600 and 0925. This might've changed over the years, but the ad revenue would've been hugely important to the standalone breakfast franchise holder back in the day.
Certainly in the early-2000s, a GMTV ad break would be positioned just before 9.25 (and the "see you tomorrow" sting) presumably to get in a last bit of dosh before handing over to the regional franchises.

Are you on about that video where the guy went in every single room (that he could anyway) in TVC? I tried to find that video last year and it had gone.

Certainly in the final break before handover, you'd often see one. In the following vid it's the end of a GMTV ad break, GMTV playing an ITV1 promo, then STV "start up".


I wonder if there was any payment made between ITV and GMTV for showing promos? I think a lot of GMTV's breaks typically had a GMTV promo for the following morning's show, guests coming on etc.

As an aside, I always thought it was a bit of a nod to the past that GMTV kept a generic sting (frontcap of sorts) at the TOTH before that particular segment's titles. That seemed to remain in place for a good long time.

Yeah, STV is the reason the breakfast franchise time hasn't changed. If ITV plc bought them out, then it could be changed.

Dunno whether this still happens, but I'm sure that STV has in the past run programme trailers during its own airtime promoting their breakfast time news bulletins in a way that almost makes it sound like an entire breakfast service rather than a just few short opts (and certainly not directly mentioning the UK-wide programme in which those bulletins sit).

I'd bet those promos do/did air during the very same 30-second promo slots that ITV plc regions would be showing an ad about e.g. "tomorrow morning's guests on Daybreak/GMB/whatever-it's-called-this-week"!

GMB promos on ITV usually air after the national news.

Yes they did - certainly in the later years - and not just during the final junction.

How are the ads split between regions during GMB these days? Is it still a LEMNUS-type structure? If so, surely this would allow for UTV and STV branded trailers to be “tacked on” to the ad-breaks for “Ulster” and Scotland (though I realise the Scottish ad-region probably extends further than the STV region, which could be an issue).

Someone was mentoning about the GMTV airtime being used for Formula one, and how GMTV would get ITV airtime back in return. They also questioned whether TV-am would've been so co-operative.

Well, I'm sure there was an occasion when the Scotland football team were playing a match, that was in the early morning for us. And as it was being played during TV-am airtime, apparently Channel 4 showed the match on STV's behalf. Now, I'm not saying it was a case of TV-am saying no, but I think that there would've been an IBA ruling that STV couldn't broadcast the match during TV-am airtime.

There is another thing to consider, and it's a technical thing. TV-am didn't have regional news opt outs, and there was always a technical glitch when handing over to the other franchises. They had their own studios, wheras GMTV came from The London Studios, which were LWT's, and I'm not aware of any glitches when handing over to the other franchises, because, in effect, GMTV was a networked programme coming from LWTs studios, even though it was a separate franchise.

In other words, it was technically easier to move GMTV for a sports event, than it was for TV-am. And, during the 2003 Rugby World Cup, I'm sure STV showed a Scotland game, which ate into GMTV airtime.