Does anyone know anything about the relationship between Granada and Border (whilst the latter was still an independent station)?
Border took quite a few of Granada's regional programmes, such as the Granada-branded Granada Soccer Night, and screened Young Doctors via the Granada feed. They also started showing Sons and Daughters via Granada in 1994, meaning Border viewers missed a chunk of the episodes. They also shared some programming with Tyne Tees and STV, and of course part-networking of purchased programmes was nothing unusual, but it did seem there was a significant correlation between Granada and Border schedules at times.
Also, after the takeover by GMG, I wonder why Border did not follow the other GMG North regions and incorporate their logo into the 1999-2002 idents? Border's logo vanished from screens well before YTV, TTT and Granada's did.
Does anyone know anything about the relationship between Granada and Border (whilst the latter was still an independent station)?
Border took quite a few of Granada's regional programmes, such as the Granada-branded Granada Soccer Night, and screened Young Doctors via the Granada feed. They also started showing Sons and Daughters via Granada in 1994, meaning Border viewers missed a chunk of the episodes. They also shared some programming with Tyne Tees and STV, and of course part-networking of purchased programmes was nothing unusual, but it did seem there was a significant correlation between Granada and Border schedules at times.
Also, after the takeover by GMG, I wonder why Border did not follow the other GMG North regions and incorporate their logo into the 1999-2002 idents? Border's logo vanished from screens well before YTV, TTT and Granada's did.
GMG never brought Border until 2001, I believe there did a partnership and playout from GTV from 1993. it looks like 60 Sons and daughters disappeared
That's right. From about 1993, Border was effectively a satellite of Granada. It followed Granada's schedule - except for local programmes - and Granada played out the ads although local continuity remained. Then in the late 90s transmission moved to Leeds and Border took the full ITV "Hearts" branding package.
In Border's case, the final takeover by GMG meant little, if anything, to the viewers as the big changes had happened anyway.
I do believe that at one point Border was owned by Capital Radio as Border had some Radio assets at the time, but Captial sold Border Television to Granada in 2000, if not 2001 latest. Granada did briefly ressurect the chopsticks in a bowl logo for the Granada-ized Border endcap introduced Granada-wide in 2002.
:-(
A former member
Was there not a disagreement over southern part of Cumbria/north Lancashire? Borders need to stay afloat thus got hold of this area in stead of Granada
JJ
jjne
A number of the smaller stations were getting quite close to Granada scheduling-wise in the early 1990s -- I remember a lot of commonality with Tyne Tees for example (plenty of films and imports shared with Manchester).
Granada did seem to be entering into agreements around this time, and with Border it was a logical conclusion where they effectively shared the complete schedule, presumably freeing up quite a lot of spare cash for Border to concentrate on local programming and beefing up their presentation. Border's schedule had been similar to Granada's for some time, since around 1990. I have to wonder if the whole of Northern England (bar YTV) would have had pretty much a common schedule from 1993 had Granada not bid for the NE franchise.
I do believe that at one point Border was owned by Capital Radio as Border had some Radio assets at the time, but Captial sold Border Television to Granada in 2000, if not 2001 latest. Granada did briefly ressurect the chopsticks in a bowl logo for the Granada-ized Border endcap introduced Granada-wide in 2002.
Yes Border started the Century Radio regional stations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_Network The launch of one of these (I think the North West one) was covered in a Channel 4 documentary with John Myers the managing director featuring heavily. Capital bought Border TV, kept the radio stations and sold on the TV side to Granada.
The stations stayed as Century for a while, the East Midlands one was sold and became Heart and then was sold again and is now called Gem. The other 2 went full circle and were sold to GMG and are now part of the Real Radio network.... which was launched by John Myers with a very similar format to the original Century
Interesting stuff. I have read that even after the NTC came into being, Border continued to provide their own continuity at certain times of the day, before it was fully handled by Leeds.
Prior to Leeds taking over, was the final link in the tx chain still with Border, as in the early YTV/TTT arrangement, with Border opting out of a feed from Granada to insert their IVC and local content? I'm wondering how clean this feed would have been.
I do believe that at one point Border was owned by Capital Radio as Border had some Radio assets at the time, but Captial sold Border Television to Granada in 2000, if not 2001 latest. Granada did briefly ressurect the chopsticks in a bowl logo for the Granada-ized Border endcap introduced Granada-wide in 2002.
I did love those endcaps, a real shame as it shows how nicely the various logos could work whilst still being identifiable as a group.
This talk of Border being an unoffiical satellite of Granada is facinating. I think there is a rose tinted view where all the stations were completely independent (except YTV/TTTV) and then Carlton / Granada decided to destroy all this.
On a related note, has that sign reappeared on top of Quay St yet?