As my train into work was delayed today (nice one South Central Trains) I had time to think. I wondered if Carlton hadn't won Thames franchise in 1993. How would ITV look today. Would Thames have been as aggressive in taking over other regions as Carlton?. Carlton's intention was always to snap up other regions, wasn't it? I remember reading they have being trying since the 80's to get a foot into ITV.
Granada would have snapped their current ones up, but until the DTI authorised the merger, there was only a certain amount of regions one company could have, as Granada had to sell HTV to Carlton, am I right?. So if Carlton hadn't got a franchise would today's ITV be all the Granada regions together and all the others i.e. Thames, Westcountry, HTV, Central e.t.c still independent? Or would Granada now own all of them?
Bearing in mind that all regions would have stayed the same after the 1993 bidding...
I reckon history would have looked a bit like this...
Carlton would have been annoyed at not winning the London weekday franchise. They in turn would have started looking for 'weak' owners of franchises to pick off and takeover. First would have been TVS (whose owners were in debt at the time) that would then give Carlton a foothold in a rather money-rich area of the country. Then they would have pounced on Central, given it's huge TSA and low yearly 'rent' to the HM Tresuary.
Granada seeing this new threat, would start doing the same in the north of the country heading straight for Yorkshire and even trying to take over LWT and Thames at the same time. Then during the endgame possibally going for a big stake in SMG.
I don't think Granada would have survived the franchise round if Thames had. "North West Television" had a very good bid, and at the time many said they were only unsuccessful because ITV couldn't have lost both Granada & Thames.
It was always on the cards that a big player would go in order to shake things up a bit. It just happened to be Thames that got it.
ITV would still have ended up the way it is now.
It isn't down to Carlton not being in ITV that stopped it before (although they were in a way - they had a stake in Central as far back as 1984), it was down to the rulebook disallowing it.
What may have been different though is that Carlton may not have been such a dominant force. Carlton got to the position it is in now largely through the huge revenue to be made from the kingpin London Weekday franchise. Owning it was pretty much essential for most of the takeovers they have mounted. And if they weren't awarded it, would they have been able to buy out Thames in the position they were before?
I've no doubt that Carlton would have got into ITV somehow, but rather than being the huge dominator merging with Granada, I think they would have been a UNM type outfit, owning 3 or 4 stations and then selling them on to one of the dominators later on. Whilst they could have built up their strength, not holding a London franchise and having no real history in ITV almost certainly meant that by the time Carlton were in a position to become a huge monolithic company merging with Granada, Granada would allready have merged with someone else.
Things could have turned out differently than they have anyway.
It wasn't always going to come down to a Granada vs Carlton split.
If Central was in better shape in 1993, it's quite conceivable that they could have been a big player themselves. If you imagine that ITV was only starting now, then if you couldn't get a London contract you'd probably head for the Midlands, which had the most potential for profit after London.
It was just bad luck that left them a sitting duck and saw them being snapped up by Carlton at the first opportunity. If things had been a bit different, Granada could have just been an annex of Central and it could be them merging with Carlton.
If not, is it conceavable that another company could be awarded one of the regions?
No, not at all. Now that the Granalton monster has been created, nobody will have the courage or the political will to upset it. So what will happen is automatic renewals of the franchises owned by Granalton.
If not, is it conceavable that another company could be awarded one of the regions?
No, not at all. Now that the Granalton monster has been created, nobody will have the courage or the political will to upset it. So what will happen is automatic renewals of the franchises owned by Granalton.
I agree. When the ITV regional licences come up for renewal, it'll simply be like the old elections in the Soviet Union and other communist countries.
There was only one party you could vote for..... the communists.
If not, is it conceavable that another company could be awarded one of the regions?
No, not at all. Now that the Granalton monster has been created, nobody will have the courage or the political will to upset it. So what will happen is automatic renewals of the franchises owned by Granalton.
Well as most know that the franchises currently last until 2008 after their extension in recent years. The way that the 1990 Broadcasting Act was set up meant that existing franchise holders could renew their franchise for a five year period providing it was done within 24 months of the end of their franchise agreement.
Funny how it's Granalton that owns the individual companies but on paper it's still the original franchise name.
This is what David Liddiment thinks: "We may still harbour romantic notions of a 1960s ITV with the production giants Thames, ATV and Granada at one end and the charming man-and-a-dog operations serving the outer reaches of the kingdom at the other, but this model was never built to survive the multi-channel revolution."
Can't say I ever thought much of the "one man and a dog operations". When I was growing up in Wales I used to think it was a little amateruish compared to the bigger regions (apologies to the HTV lovers). But certainly agree that the Thames to Carlton switch was a disaster because of the programme making talent that was lost, and which Carlton clearly couldn't replace from the independent sector - at least not quickly enough. It seems only in the last few years that independents have had much success in the ITV mass audience area.