It was only necessary in view that the UK wanted to move to a centralised model of nationalised stations, rather than the more devolved systems found in the likes of the US and Japan. Especially with the advent of digital and the strategy of as having as many UK-wide, non-PSB channels as possible, having a single regional network of independent stations was always going to be unviable in the long run.
Television is a business first and foremost. ITV is its current form is able to operate in a world where content is king and having all the resources under one roof is a no brainer. It's not just competing with the other terrestrials and Pay TV anymore, it's streamers.
But things like the two series I mentioned plus many, many other programmes
were
able to compete in the past and if they were still made, they would continue to do so. There's a lot less original content nowadays when they basically have two production centres (London and Manchester) compared to the 15 they had before. I don't think Netflix, Amazon Prime or Apple TV + have got all their resources under one roof - they get content from various different providers just like ITV used to.
ITV Studios is huge though and I would argue that the decision to buy all these different companies is what has helped them survived today. ITV in its original form would have been left behind in a world where the biggest providers of content such as Fremantle, All3Media and Banijay etc are global players
Television is a business first and foremost. ITV is its current form is able to operate in a world where content is king and having all the resources under one roof is a no brainer. It's not just competing with the other terrestrials and Pay TV anymore, it's streamers.
But things like the two series I mentioned plus many, many other programmes
were
able to compete in the past and if they were still made, they would continue to do so. There's a lot less original content nowadays when they basically have two production centres (London and Manchester) compared to the 15 they had before. I don't think Netflix, Amazon Prime or Apple TV + have got all their resources under one roof - they get content from various different providers just like ITV used to.
Netflix, Amazon, Google, Disney, Comcast etc are much, much bigger companies than ITV though. Besides ITV plc do own other Production companies...
However I think there is a case that ITV should have kept Leeds and Birmingham/Nottingham open...I’ve always said that ITV since they closed has been like a Table or Dog with only Two legs.
I believe we haven’t seen anything yet...With the impact of the global streamers (along with the Licence Fee debate), I think a merger between BBC and ITV Studio divisions makes sense to allow a British player to truly compete with the likes of Disney etc on a global scale.
Yes, they're very much a global name now when it comes to production.
I think the Global Recession was a big reason why they started acquiring more indies because they knew they had to grow in a different manner rather than solely rely on ad revenue and it paid off because in the current situation, they've been able to weather the storm.
I believe there was another production base in Aston, which ATV also disposed of, and local radio station BRMB lived there for a while.
Correct. Aston Road North. It's still there today. You can just about see it if you are on the Aston Expressway coming in/out of the city, and you go right past it, if on the Lichfield Road. After BRMB moved out in 1999, the building was refurbed (and boy, did it need it by then) and was turned into a stand alone multi company rented office space building, but still marketed as 'Radio House'.
It was the administration block named 'Alpha House' in it's TV use days, as both ATV and ABC - who used to share the weeks airwaves in the Midlands, before ATV had the 7 days all to itself - used the studios out the back. You can still work out the floorspace of the old studios was. The Staples store to the left of the main building, clearly was where the main production studios were, and the space out the back next to the electrical substation was where a smaller studio used to be.
I believe there was another production base in Aston, which ATV also disposed of, and local radio station BRMB lived there for a while.
Correct. Aston Road North. It's still there today. You can just about see it if you are on the Aston Expressway coming in/out of the city, and you go right past it, if on the Lichfield Road. After BRMB moved out in 1999, the building was refurbed (and boy, did it need it by then) and was turned into a stand alone multi company rented office space building, but still marketed as 'Radio House'.
It was the administration block named 'Alpha House' in it's TV use days, as both ATV and ABC - who used to share the weeks airwaves in the Midlands, before ATV had the 7 days all to itself - used the studios out the back. You can still work out the floorspace of the old studios was. The Staples store to the left of the main building, clearly was where the main production studios were, and the space out the back next to the electrical substation was where a smaller studio used to be.
I can recommend the book From Dawn till Dusk, which talks about ATV, ABC, and Alpha Studios in great detail
Alpha House / Radio House must have housed BRMB for far longer than ATV / ABC.
BRMB 1974 - 1999 used on air ( 25 years plus set up time)
ATV / ABC 1956 - 1969 used on air (13 years although Alpha House wasn't built until 1963?)