January 1st, 2008: ITV Franchise Time Again!

Well, the next franchise round is fast approaching, but what do YOU think will happen? Well, I just think everyone's going to renew nice and steady, and no big twists that came out of nowhere are going to happen.

But, I wonder if, what if maybe there was an unexpected bid win by a new company in a ITV plc owned region? That's why I sorta hate what they did in 1992 to the system, judging who wins by how big your pockets are rather than your quality. That's why you've had to put up with the stupidity of Meridan, Westcountry, and the dreaded Carlton...

BRING LWT BACK, YOU WILL BE LOVED AGAIN!

this it not Right!

is this actully RIght, can some one cofirm?

also LWT still operates to this date as ITV London!

I'm not sure... will there actually be any more franchise rounds as everything's merged into the same company?

We live in hope though...

Westcountry wasn't as stupid as some might think though, as Simon will probably say shortly.

I thourgh the there contorl them for another 10 years after there first term was up:

There will NOT be any more franchise rounds. That's it. It's over. Everyone in the industry knows this, and has done for years. This is it.

So Private company now Controls ITV for ever!

There is no "next" franchise round, therefore the only thing that will happen on Jan 1st 2008 is Happy New Year, cue surge in new calendars.

There has been no franchise rounds since 1991. The 1990 Broadcasting Act, introduced by Margaret Thatcher, changed the franchise system to effectively secret bidding and also paved the way for the stations to buy each other up. In addition they could now buy in advance for a new ten year licence when the old one had about three years to run, therefore the need to "bid" against other companies is long gone.



It was 1991. Those three companies weren't "stupid", they won their licences. Carlton had tried to buy a stake in what was then Thames Television in the mid 1980s, but it was blocked. Some see Thames losing their licence as a purely political event based on the 'Death On The Rock' documentary made by the company, but this has never been proved.

What will happen? Sod all.

I agree that LWT should come back.


What?

I'll hazard a guess that this thread first appeared on Digital Spy.

In retrospect, all Maggie managed to achieve with the 1990 Broadcasting act was a quick snatch-and-grab tax on the ITV companies, and a resulting period of instability from which ITV has never fully recovered, just at the time they needed stability more than anything else. This allowed Murdoch to become stronger, which was probably Thatcher's aim all along.

It would have been far better just to have deregulated the system there and then, and let the incumbents continue as before -- within 5 years of the new licences the companies had mostly managed to renegotiate contracts in any case, so they weren't worth the money they were printed on, and in addition ALL of the outgoing incumbents provided a better service than the companies that replaced them (with the possible exception of TVS which was going down the tube financially in any case), so what was gained?

That way the takeovers would have followed a logical and progressive path, and the company as a whole would have come out a lot stronger as a result.

But then since when did government get anything right?

Cheeky beggar!