So what have they done with the studios at Lenton Lane then if all that's based there is admin and IT? There were thoughts on here that they might use them for media production degree courses ...
I drove past the former Southern / TVS / Meridian studios at Northam in Southampton the other day. A very sad sight indeed - all boarded up and wire-femced off. The vandals are having a good go at making their mark on it. But the Meridian sun is still there! Sadly I don't have a pic.
I do have more images of similar instance (but taken this year in better light) being more close- up. If anyone wants them, please message me!
You can see clearly where the old TVS holes are!
James
Looks bigger than Maidstone to me.
I don't suppose anyone has a picture of The Great Hall - Tunbridge Wells (South East Today/BBC Radio Kent studios)?
Yep - I think the Southampton/Northam site had more studio capacity than the Maidstone/Vintners Park site. At least Maidstone still exists as The Maidstone Studios - and in fact AIUI it has expanded since the days of TVS.
From memory Vintners park wasn't completed by the time TVS took over from Southern, but as they co-operated on the handover (with TVS buying the Northam site from Southern and the local news archive as well I think) TVS were able to work out of the small Southern Dover studios initially, whilst they also converted a theatre (or was it a cinema) in Maidstone to make non-news shows in the South East before the opening of their own purpose built South East operation. (ISTR Fraggle Rock was made in the converted theatre/cinema - but that this has since been demolished?)
On most occasions franchise winners have co-operated with franchise losers, and bought existings facilities. Exceptions were Westcountry and TSW, Carlton and Thames, GMTV and TVam, though all for differing reasons.
A pic of the exterior of the BBC building in Tunbridge Wells can be found here: BBC Tunbridge Wells The BBC shop is on the right of the ground floor (formerly a Hatchards bookshop), the Radio Kent studios are behind the shop (and can be seen through windows in the arcade which runs through the centre). South East Today comes from the first floor (I think - there were public tours of the building a few weeks ago but I missed the chance!).
You are correct in that
Vinters
Park was not ready when TVS took over in 1982, although Southern had plans, it was TVS I believe that actually got the idea to fruition. The former theatre/cinema that TVS converted into their Television Theatre was in Duncan Road, Gillingham. It was closed in the late eighties (?) and was taken over by another production company briefly before becoming a Laser Gun adventure building and then being demolished a few years ago. A Lidl supermarket now stands on the site.
Southern's Dover studios were also demolished pretty quickly and is also now a car park.
The former Meridian East newscentre in New Hythe has now been completely gutted, with the remaining sun logos coming down this week (unfortunately I was not able to nick them). As the building was constructed to be a warehouse, I guess this is what it's being turned back into.
And now a personal opinion. I always felt that us in Kent and Sussex served by Southern/TVS/Meridian were always overlooked and forgotten in favour of Southampton and the south coast. For example, the recent ITV50 regional programme hardly mentioned Ron Lobeck, Mike Debens or any of the other faces of the South East, instead we got Fred Dineage et al. Very nice, but not really relevant. Although the BBC is a bit better, we still have to put up with Inside Out South East sharing stories from Inside Out South, and a Southampton insert for the Politics Show. I'm not really interested in what's going on in Southampton, Portsmouth or Reading, thanks TV companies!
For example, the recent ITV50 regional programme hardly mentioned Ron Lobeck, Mike Debens or any of the other faces of the South East, instead we got Fred Dineage et al. Very nice, but not really relevant. Although the BBC is a bit better, we still have to put up with Inside Out South East sharing stories from Inside Out South, and a Southampton insert for the Politics Show. I'm not really interested in what's going on in Southampton, Portsmouth or Reading, thanks TV companies!
Here Here!
The South-East doesn't get mentioned much.
We should have had our own ITV50 programme with Phil and Charlotte.
Meridian is on the top floor of this building:
http://www.calrec.com/images/press/meridianwhiteleystudios.jpg All three sub-regions have their news presented from a business park at Whiteley in Hampshire, with newsgathering centres at Newbury and Vinters Park in Maidstone (the same space formerly occupied by the TVS newsroom).
[Although the BBC is a bit better, we still have to put up with Inside Out South East sharing stories from Inside Out South, and a Southampton insert for the Politics Show.
Well that's changing - the South East is getting its own Politics Show opt.
Well, like most southern ITV regions, the channel is broadcast from the ITV Southern Playout Centre (formerly called LNN) based on the South Bank. Meridian no longer make any studio productions in-house, so there is no need to own a studio complex. The ITV News regional news operation for the three Meridian sub-regions comes from three broom-cupboard studios based in the same building at Whiteley. They are not quality studios - they are "just about good enough" in ITV terms (which means in reality they probably aren't really good enough at all).
Certainly you can't compare the new studios with the previous Newbury, New Hythe and Northam operations - which were all pretty decent studio and gallery operations for a local news operation.
