(ITV) Merit

Yes, I think that's right, TSW started broadcasting part way through 1981 albeit retaining the Westward branding until 31/12/81

Technically speaking you're right but as I understand the ITA felt that it would be unsuitable to use either the TWW or Harlech/HTV identity on screen as it wouldn't be suitable.

As regards Westward to TSW there is this from Wikipedia:
Franchise loss
On 28 December 1980, while the ITV network was showing Drake's Venture (Westward Television's two-hour filmed drama to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the globe, starring John Thaw), ITN broke into a commercial break to announce that ATV was to undergo major changes and Southern and Westward had not had their licences renewed by the IBA; the south-west franchise was awarded to TSW (Television South West).

Following the loss of its franchise, Westward's management decided to sell up quickly, and the company (including its staff, premises and programme library) was purchased by TSW, early in 1981, for £2.38 million. TSW continued using the Westward name and symbol on screen until 31 December 1981; thereafter, it was re-branded on screen as TSW.

A special programme, 20 Years of Westward, was broadcast on 21 December 1981[7] to look back on the company's achievements. It was presented by Roger Shaw, and recorded in front of a studio audience. Hastings Mann's Westward Ho![8] was used as the theme music. Studio guests included Angela Rippon, Kenneth MacLeod and Sheila Kennedy. There were filmed contributions from Alan Freeman, Jan Leeming and David Vine and many clips of Westward programmes were shown. The special programme ended with a message from Peter Cadbury, in which he wished TSW well.

Closure
Unlike the other ITV stations that lost their franchises in this round, Westward (having been run by successor TSW since August 1981) opted to hand over at midnight on 31 December 1981. On that evening they broadcast the first 25 minutes of Scottish Television's Hogmanay show live, and then cut away just before midnight when Roger Shaw appeared on-camera in a traditional dinner jacket seated at an antique wooden desk, surrounded by staff wearing formal suits and holding film reels and 2-inch videotapes. He closed Westward Television with this announcement:

Many thanks to our friends at Scottish Television, north of the border. Well, it's very nearly the end of 1981 and for Westward Television, it's the end of its franchise to provide an independent television service for the south-west. So as we wish you a happy new year from Westward, it's also goodbye and thank you for all your support and kindness over the past 20 years. But a New Year's Eve is also a time for looking ahead and as Dr. Samuel Johnson said, 'New things are made familiar and familiar things made new.' So as we say goodbye from Westward in 1981....

Launch of TSW
TSW then began with a short video clip of a champagne bottle being opened accompanied by the short audio version of the station ident "That's Soul, Write". Shaw then re-appeared wearing a modern suit, (no longer in a dinner jacket) and now in a modern chair, surrounded by staff wearing TSW T-shirts and holding different tools as if it were a renovation. This was clearly to remind viewers of a new modern era as well as a new look. Shaw made the first announcement on TSW:

...let's say welcome to 1982 from your new television station, Television South West, with the promise of a full-bodied blend of the new and the familiar. And from all of us here on duty in these first few seconds of 1982, a happy new year from and with TSW. And to get the new year off to a good-humoured start, we have a brand new comedy with Peter Cook and Mimi Kennedy in The Two of Us.

This was followed by the full version of TSW's ident. One or both of the in-vision announcements had been pre-recorded due to the rapid change of outfits.

The comedy programme was followed by further continuity, an epilogue, weather & shipping forecast and closedown - all with TSW branding. However, when the screen finally faded to black at approximately 12:40am on 1 January 1982, Shaw made a final out-of-vision courtesy announcement and managed to mention the now-defunct Westward one last time, saying 'from all the staff here at Westward - good night'.

No recordings of the end of Westward Television were known to exist until 2012 (the 30th anniversary of the end of Westward), then a full video recording of the evening, including the segment of STV's wiped Hogmanay show, was recovered by the classic television organisation Kaleidoscope. Parts of the recording were featured at a Kaleidoscope event[9] and at that year's Missing Believed Wiped at the British Film Institute.

I'm sure I've seen the Westward/TSW handover but I'll be damned if I can remember where. Its not on YT or TV Ark.

Y'all should see how long the "Cable Music Channel" lasted.

October 26th to November 30th. A five-week run.

Much shorter than Merit and "ITSWW".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_Music_Channel

"One cannot expect to stand up to the might of MTV and live"

Oddity Archive has this about CMA:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY1y6WCsYf0

(26.49 to 27.14)

.... and the Merit saga reaches its end, Sky have notified Ofcom that they no longer need the licence for the service.

Me too. As its a Kaleidoscope find they might not have left it online.

There is this though

It feels like the end of an extremely short era...

Does anyone remember a channel dedicated to old TV ads from the early days of Sky Digital which lasted for a few days?

I just can't remember the name of it but, as soon as I heard about it, I did worry that the investors into the channel had been over-optimistic about the public's lasting interest in this type of content.

It was called The Advert Channel. There is a discussion about it here: https://tvforum.uk/tvhome/advert-channel-13024

Thanks, steddemn.

I actually remember that thread now, particularly Baroness Trumpington's excellent initial contribution.

I actually watched Merit sometimes. I feel like if ITV still had ownership of the channel it could have had a potential. But of course, Sky bought the channel and they didn't give it a chance.

The channel only existed so that Sky could buy it.