Networked ITV - 1990s and before...

Or "now" more commonly.

Local promos (made in Leeds) were common on Tyne Tees as well right up until 2002 -- although they always seemed to be rather half-arsed efforts compared to when Newcastle produced their own.

Leeds really did seem to be on a mission to make presentation as bland as possible towards the end. The rot really started to set in in September 1996 -- at this point station name-checking became rarer and the "coming next" routine was axed. It was downhill all the way from there and it was a welcome relief when pres moved to London in 2002.

The irony is that YTV used to take their continuity *very* seriously -- in the 1980s it was like a well-oiled machine when even the BBC was a bit slapdash at times. By the end they just seemed to be content to get something on-screen. Crossfades were poorly timed (and on TTTV at least they faded the sound at the same time as the vision rather than stepping it), the fading of the anno's mike was inconsistent and often jarring and they would frequently clip the end of trailers etc.

Tyne Tees on the other hand had just become pretty slick around 1991-2 (after being *very* clunky up to that point, which they got away with due to their friendly approach), only for all that to be thrown into flux in 1993 and never recovered.

The Carlton and Meridian stations always seemed much more professional in the late 90s/early 2000s. Meridian was totally unremarkable -- bland in the style of the early-90s YTV -- but LWT and Carlton weren't bad.

Thanks for that.

When was Anglia's continuity moved to Northam? Was this not long after MAI bought them in 1994? Something I will say is that I saw some Anglia in the late 90s & early 00's (not long before presentation was centralized) and you wouldn't guess that it wasn't standalone. Meridian was the same when I was in the region in summer 2002. Announcers almost always name-checked the station ("Now on Meridian...etc") and dedicated 'next captions'. Also, lots of local promos, even more than network ones on some days. I take it, they pre-recorded one station (or two once HTV West arrived) and did one live?

It was a world away from Granada, my home region, with bland cross-region continuity referring to 'this channel', often pre-recorded, few local promos and no next captions. Indeed, looking at much of the rest of the ITV Network presentation at the time (even Carlton's regions despite the dumping of the Central & Westcountry brands), it was pretty dire up here.

I still wonder why Central and Anglia never merged back in the 1990s as there were really close until 1994.

If anything Anglia seemed to have the closest relationship over the later years with Meridian, though I'm not sure they wanted it. Meridian and Anglia's presentation and promotions units were combined, with continuity coming from Northam in the end. Anglia's strength IMO was it's independence - it kept what it was doing regionally to a high standard and it's network contributions were of a decent quality too, in some cases exceptional quality: Survival and Tales of the Unexpected being examples.

Or "now" more commonly.

Local promos (made in Leeds) were common on Tyne Tees as well right up until 2002 -- although they always seemed to be rather half-arsed efforts compared to when Newcastle produced their own.

Leeds really did seem to be on a mission to make presentation as bland as possible towards the end. The rot really started to set in in September 1996 -- at this point station name-checking became rarer and the "coming next" routine was axed. It was downhill all the way from there and it was a welcome relief when pres moved to London in 2002.

The irony is that YTV used to take their continuity *very* seriously -- in the 1980s it was like a well-oiled machine when even the BBC was a bit slapdash at times. By the end they just seemed to be content to get something on-screen. Crossfades were poorly timed (and on TTTV at least they faded the sound at the same time as the vision rather than stepping it), the fading of the anno's mike was inconsistent and often jarring and they would frequently clip the end of trailers etc.

Tyne Tees on the other hand had just become pretty slick around 1991-2 (after being *very* clunky up to that point, which they got away with due to their friendly approach), only for all that to be thrown into flux in 1993 and never recovered.

The Carlton and Meridian stations always seemed much more professional in the late 90s/early 2000s. Meridian was totally unremarkable -- bland in the style of the early-90s YTV -- but LWT and Carlton weren't bad.

One can only speculate on what might have been if Border had been bought by YTV and subsequently rebranded.

I think East Anglia has never 'fitted in' at either the BBC or ITV.

In the BBC on-screen it was part of BBC "South and East" in the late 80s/early 90s (which was really Lime Grove/Elstree and Norwich) and then in off-screen terms it became part of BBC "Midlands and East" later in the 90s, but this was really for back-room admin more than anything.

I never really picked up on any Central / Anglia 'close-ness' - and I lived or worked there from 1990-1993 and from 1995-1997.