:-(
A former member
Has it REALLY been 25 years?
IS
Sometime next year (I can't work it out but I'm sure someone else can) Thames will have been off the air for as long as it was on.
Of course the other stations that went off air on 31/12/1992 have been off air for over twice as long as they were on.
Time flies
Of course the other stations that went off air on 31/12/1992 have been off air for over twice as long as they were on.
Time flies
VM
A bit of quick Wolfram Alpha calculating suggests 2 June 2017 is when it will have been off air as long as it was on (24 years, 5 months, 1 day).
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=30+July+1968+to+31+December+1992
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+January+1993+to+2+June+2017
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=30+July+1968+to+31+December+1992
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+January+1993+to+2+June+2017
LS
Lou Scannon
What an utterly infuriating opening headlines sequence.
Shots of the two London-based losing bidders' buildings only, but nothing to visually illustrate TSW or TVS during that headline. Even a brief clip of their respective logos/idents would have sufficed, or a "four quarters" split-screen illustrating all 4 losing companies simultaneously in some manner or other. There's no life outside The Big Smoke, you know?
It puts me in mind of how the death of Ceefax was suddenly considered newsworthy once Analogue Switch Off reached the capital, totally overlooking the fact that most of the UK had already gradually been losing Ceefax (in its true interactive form at least, as opposed to overnight "Pages from...") between 2008 and 2012. And that NI would continue to have it for a wee while longer.
Also the remark about Granada and Corrie being safe is dumb-ass. Even if Granada had lost the franchise, it's massively unlikely that it would inherently mean the end of Corrie. Clearly, Granada was a big enough production house to continue as an indie after any franchise loss (just like Thames would go on to do), and therefore there was surely never really any risk of Corrie totally ceasing to exist in some form (even if it ended up on Channel 4 or something)?
SW
Perhaps we should have had this discussion 25 years ago, but for the vast majority of the audience, Thames and TVam losing was much, much bigger news than TVS and TSW. In Granadaland, where I grew up, that was the major story because Thames were the biggest company by some distance and made umpteen network programmes and of course we all saw TV-am (which was a national broadcaster, not a London one). We saw next to nothing from TSW.
Shots of the two
London-based
losing bidders' buildings only, but nothing to visually illustrate TSW or TVS during that headline. Even a brief clip of their respective logos/idents would have sufficed, or a "four quarters" split-screen illustrating all 4 losing companies simultaneously in some manner or other. There's no life outside The Big Smoke, you know?
Perhaps we should have had this discussion 25 years ago, but for the vast majority of the audience, Thames and TVam losing was much, much bigger news than TVS and TSW. In Granadaland, where I grew up, that was the major story because Thames were the biggest company by some distance and made umpteen network programmes and of course we all saw TV-am (which was a national broadcaster, not a London one). We saw next to nothing from TSW.
BR
What an utterly infuriating opening headlines sequence.
Shots of the two London-based losing bidders' buildings only, but nothing to visually illustrate TSW or TVS during that headline. Even a brief clip of their respective logos/idents would have sufficed, or a "four quarters" split-screen illustrating all 4 losing companies simultaneously in some manner or other. There's no life outside The Big Smoke, you know?
It's from an era when the headlines were just that - the headlines, not two minutes churning out practically the full story. Within seconds all 4 logos were on screen, and Thames and TVam losing the licence were a much bigger story.
What an utterly infuriating opening headlines sequence.
Shots of the two London-based losing bidders' buildings only, but nothing to visually illustrate TSW or TVS during that headline. Even a brief clip of their respective logos/idents would have sufficed, or a "four quarters" split-screen illustrating all 4 losing companies simultaneously in some manner or other. There's no life outside The Big Smoke, you know?
It's from an era when the headlines were just that - the headlines, not two minutes churning out practically the full story. Within seconds all 4 logos were on screen, and Thames and TVam losing the licence were a much bigger story.
LS
Lou Scannon
It's from an era when the headlines were just that - the headlines, not two minutes churning out practically the full story.
Amen to that.
I can't recall when the trend for "headlines" getting longer and longer first started, but it feels like a very long time since headlines on most UK news outlets were anywhere near as short-and-snappy as they should be. It's a major TV pet-hate of mine.
AN
Perhaps we should have had this discussion 25 years ago, but for the vast majority of the audience, Thames and TVam losing was much, much bigger news than TVS and TSW. In Granadaland, where I grew up, that was the major story because Thames were the biggest company by some distance and made umpteen network programmes and of course we all saw TV-am (which was a national broadcaster, not a London one). We saw next to nothing from TSW.
Of course at that point hadn't front-caps only been abolished a couple of years before, so viewers up and down the country would have seen the Thames logo regularly and were well aware of the company and what they made, TVS less so and TSW probably not at all.
Andrew
Founding member
Shots of the two
London-based
losing bidders' buildings only, but nothing to visually illustrate TSW or TVS during that headline. Even a brief clip of their respective logos/idents would have sufficed, or a "four quarters" split-screen illustrating all 4 losing companies simultaneously in some manner or other. There's no life outside The Big Smoke, you know?
Perhaps we should have had this discussion 25 years ago, but for the vast majority of the audience, Thames and TVam losing was much, much bigger news than TVS and TSW. In Granadaland, where I grew up, that was the major story because Thames were the biggest company by some distance and made umpteen network programmes and of course we all saw TV-am (which was a national broadcaster, not a London one). We saw next to nothing from TSW.
Of course at that point hadn't front-caps only been abolished a couple of years before, so viewers up and down the country would have seen the Thames logo regularly and were well aware of the company and what they made, TVS less so and TSW probably not at all.
JA
Just like how The Bill lasted for 18 years after Thames went off air (and may well have lasted longer if they hadn't messed with the format).
Also the remark about Granada
and Corrie
being safe is dumb-ass. Even if Granada had lost the franchise, it's massively unlikely that it would inherently mean the end of Corrie. Clearly, Granada was a big enough production house to continue as an indie after any franchise loss (just like Thames would go on to do), and therefore there was surely never really any risk of Corrie totally ceasing to exist in some form (even if it ended up on Channel 4 or something)?
Just like how The Bill lasted for 18 years after Thames went off air (and may well have lasted longer if they hadn't messed with the format).
WH
Don't forget that an ITV company had never survived losing its franchise previously. Thames barely survived in tact, with certain departments spun off as separate indies. The rumours were that it was much closer up north, between Granada and North West Television, so the future of Corrie was a complete unknown. They certainly made it clear that they would sell it to Sky if they paid the highest price.
Whataday
Founding member
Also the remark about Granada
and Corrie
being safe is dumb-ass. Even if Granada had lost the franchise, it's massively unlikely that it would inherently mean the end of Corrie. Clearly, Granada was a big enough production house to continue as an indie after any franchise loss (just like Thames would go on to do), and therefore there was surely never really any risk of Corrie totally ceasing to exist in some form (even if it ended up on Channel 4 or something)?
Don't forget that an ITV company had never survived losing its franchise previously. Thames barely survived in tact, with certain departments spun off as separate indies. The rumours were that it was much closer up north, between Granada and North West Television, so the future of Corrie was a complete unknown. They certainly made it clear that they would sell it to Sky if they paid the highest price.