PC
I was thinking that too - it seems everyone's high hopes have now been dashed, initially expecting Grade to strengthen the "asset" that is regionality - when in fact he now appears to be looking at the opposite. I'd like to think he knows what he's doing, but doubts are creeping in with this announcement - I think he has contradicted himself somewhat.
Hatton Cross posted:
By the way chaps, just read this thread and I can't help wondering where all those that said Lord Grade was the saviour of UK independant television and was going to save ITV single handed, and was now going to increase the on screen regional/regionality presence on ITV, because his uncle was one of the founding fathers of the network, ect, ect have all gone to with this matter?
Seems to me the words 'Wolf' 'Sheep' and 'Clothing' spring increasingly to mind...
Seems to me the words 'Wolf' 'Sheep' and 'Clothing' spring increasingly to mind...
I was thinking that too - it seems everyone's high hopes have now been dashed, initially expecting Grade to strengthen the "asset" that is regionality - when in fact he now appears to be looking at the opposite. I'd like to think he knows what he's doing, but doubts are creeping in with this announcement - I think he has contradicted himself somewhat.
03
Ye, OFCOM are very............ Lets Just say they have their favourites. Notice They are ALWAYS on Channel 4´s Case. I think OFCOM is a waste of time, personally, Like Health And Safety.
OFCOM and the H&S (Health And Safety)´s New Slogan.
Making Everybodys Life Miserable.
jrothwell97 posted:
BOO! HISS!
Edit: what if all the ITV regional workers decided to go on strike and demand that the regions are either retained or sold off? (Sounds a bit Paul Akinbola, I know, but it might work...)
And don't bother telling OFCON - they're too busy getting rid of dangerous programmes about nudist colonies, Diana, and those lewd, rude, obscene, violent, dangerous, influential Channel 4 idents.
Edit: what if all the ITV regional workers decided to go on strike and demand that the regions are either retained or sold off? (Sounds a bit Paul Akinbola, I know, but it might work...)
And don't bother telling OFCON - they're too busy getting rid of dangerous programmes about nudist colonies, Diana, and those lewd, rude, obscene, violent, dangerous, influential Channel 4 idents.
Ye, OFCOM are very............ Lets Just say they have their favourites. Notice They are ALWAYS on Channel 4´s Case. I think OFCOM is a waste of time, personally, Like Health And Safety.
OFCOM and the H&S (Health And Safety)´s New Slogan.
Making Everybodys Life Miserable.
BS
I think the only significant change that will happen any time soon is that all "
sub
-regions" will probably be dropped in favour of 100% pan-regional-only Tyne Tees, Calendar, Central, Anglia, Meridian and Westcountry.
The only two regions that I think ITVplc would even remotely consider possibly merging would be Bristol + Plymouth. Anything like, say, Tyne Tees + Calendar, or London + Anglia sounds very unfeasible to me.
Having launced the two sub-regional 6pm Calendars in blaze of glory (all that "Biggest change in 40 years" stuff), any move backwards would be done with nothing (or virtually nothing) mentioned on air - just like when "Channel 3 North East" reverted back to "Tyne Tees". Viewers will probably just suddenly get a pan-regional service one day with no forewarning. Ditto for Tyne Tees, Central, Anglia, Meridian and Westcountry.
Having gone to all the trouble of creating the ITV Thames Valley region, I seriously doubt that ITVplc would want to split it back up again (i.e. Oxford transmitter going into pan-regional "ITV Midlands", and Hannington going into pan-regional "ITV South/SE").
Most likely it will either stay as an entirely stand-alone Thames Valley-only service, or the whole region (Oxford and Hannington) will be a fully integral part of pan-regional S/SE, as is already the case for GMTV bulletins. Athough some might say that Oxfordshire feels a bit too far inland to be in "the South (East)", bear in mind that it is in the "South East" EU/government/political region.
The only two regions that I think ITVplc would even remotely consider possibly merging would be Bristol + Plymouth. Anything like, say, Tyne Tees + Calendar, or London + Anglia sounds very unfeasible to me.
Having launced the two sub-regional 6pm Calendars in blaze of glory (all that "Biggest change in 40 years" stuff), any move backwards would be done with nothing (or virtually nothing) mentioned on air - just like when "Channel 3 North East" reverted back to "Tyne Tees". Viewers will probably just suddenly get a pan-regional service one day with no forewarning. Ditto for Tyne Tees, Central, Anglia, Meridian and Westcountry.
Having gone to all the trouble of creating the ITV Thames Valley region, I seriously doubt that ITVplc would want to split it back up again (i.e. Oxford transmitter going into pan-regional "ITV Midlands", and Hannington going into pan-regional "ITV South/SE").
Most likely it will either stay as an entirely stand-alone Thames Valley-only service, or the whole region (Oxford and Hannington) will be a fully integral part of pan-regional S/SE, as is already the case for GMTV bulletins. Athough some might say that Oxfordshire feels a bit too far inland to be in "the South (East)", bear in mind that it is in the "South East" EU/government/political region.
CW
How exactly is merging HTV West and Westcountry more feasible than any of the other mergers you mention?
As I've said, the existing Westcountry region allready serves a culturally gigantic area - I personally feel that it's too big as it is. Allready there are two major cities fighting for coverage which usually comes at the expense of everything else (when I was little I knew more about what was going on in Plymouth than I did in the town in which I lived - or even the county in which I lived - because TSW could be so Devon-centric). You *seriously* want to throw Bristol into the ring as well and make them fight against the comparitive minows of Plymouth and Exeter? Where on earth are the smaller towns (and where is Cornwall in general) going to fit in under this regime?
The 4-way sub-regional news is Westcountry's USP - it's the only thing that they have done better than their predecessor, and now that the station is all but dead it's fitting that it's the only thing which still survives so that people remember what they achieved in their short time. I like to think that if Westcountry managed to exist independently for a few more years that they would eventually have moved to at least two, and possibly three, full split programmes (anchored from Plymouth, Exeter, and Truro respectively).
Moving back to a pan-regional Westcountry region would be a huge retrograde step. Merging it in with another region, creating a new super-region in which viewers in Penzance get the same regional news as viewers in Minehead and Littlesea (not that anything happening in any of those towns would ever get reported, as Plymouth, Exeter and Bristol would all have to fight for coverage in the same bulletin) is unthinkable.
The country DOES NOT stop at Bristol - the pointy bit is no less deserving of a proper regional news service than is any of the other unfeasible mergers you mention.
cwathen
Founding member
Quote:
The only two regions that I think ITVplc would even remotely consider possibly merging would be Bristol + Plymouth. Anything like, say, Tyne Tees + Calendar, or London + Anglia sounds very unfeasible to me.
How exactly is merging HTV West and Westcountry more feasible than any of the other mergers you mention?
As I've said, the existing Westcountry region allready serves a culturally gigantic area - I personally feel that it's too big as it is. Allready there are two major cities fighting for coverage which usually comes at the expense of everything else (when I was little I knew more about what was going on in Plymouth than I did in the town in which I lived - or even the county in which I lived - because TSW could be so Devon-centric). You *seriously* want to throw Bristol into the ring as well and make them fight against the comparitive minows of Plymouth and Exeter? Where on earth are the smaller towns (and where is Cornwall in general) going to fit in under this regime?
The 4-way sub-regional news is Westcountry's USP - it's the only thing that they have done better than their predecessor, and now that the station is all but dead it's fitting that it's the only thing which still survives so that people remember what they achieved in their short time. I like to think that if Westcountry managed to exist independently for a few more years that they would eventually have moved to at least two, and possibly three, full split programmes (anchored from Plymouth, Exeter, and Truro respectively).
Moving back to a pan-regional Westcountry region would be a huge retrograde step. Merging it in with another region, creating a new super-region in which viewers in Penzance get the same regional news as viewers in Minehead and Littlesea (not that anything happening in any of those towns would ever get reported, as Plymouth, Exeter and Bristol would all have to fight for coverage in the same bulletin) is unthinkable.
The country DOES NOT stop at Bristol - the pointy bit is no less deserving of a proper regional news service than is any of the other unfeasible mergers you mention.
:-(
A former member
cwathen's post perfectly reflects the reason why getting rid of "smaller" regions is folly. People switch off local programming because it's less local, not more.
RS
Indeed. I would also like to point out, for those who do not know the area very well, that the it would take you more than FOUR HOURS to drive from the very top of Gloucester to Land's End - hardly a "local" region for the viewers.
jason posted:
cwathen's post perfectly reflects the reason why getting rid of "smaller" regions is folly. People switch off local programming because it's less local, not more.
Indeed. I would also like to point out, for those who do not know the area very well, that the it would take you more than FOUR HOURS to drive from the very top of Gloucester to Land's End - hardly a "local" region for the viewers.
:-(
A former member
Does this effect the NEWS? 20 odd local news programmes
TJ
Wasn't this a short lived management thingy of the time. BBC South & East was in the same bundle; it didn't effect regional TV or Local Radio though. Both expanded during the period. The only lasting programme legacy were the late night macro-regional shows, some of these took a while to ossify back into regions.
I suspect its that Grade's prepared to thing out of the box, wheras many in the BBC can't think let alone originally or fundementally.
amosc100 posted:
Wasn't Michael Grade at the helm of the BBC when they simplified their regions (i.e. North West and North East (Yorkshire/Humberside) becoming BBC North)?.....
Wasn't this a short lived management thingy of the time. BBC South & East was in the same bundle; it didn't effect regional TV or Local Radio though. Both expanded during the period. The only lasting programme legacy were the late night macro-regional shows, some of these took a while to ossify back into regions.
I suspect its that Grade's prepared to thing out of the box, wheras many in the BBC can't think let alone originally or fundementally.