132-541: London Weekend Television ( LWT ) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 until 1982) to Monday mornings at 6:00. From 1968 until 1992, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Thames Television , there was an on-screen handover to LWT on Friday nights (there
264-457: A national weather forecast for the first time – previously each regional company had aired its own forecast which they had broadcast at the end of their local news programmes and at closedown. ITV introduced its first official corporate logo and national on-air identity on 1 September 1989; this was an attempt to unify the network under one image while still allowing for regional identity. However, six companies refused to use their versions of
396-473: A 'funding formula' continued, whereby the ITV companies would subsidise Channel 4 if it fell into the red. However, it never did, and the funding formula was withdrawn in 1998. During this 16-year period, Channel 4 and ITV would regularly cross-promote each other's programming, free of charge. Another expansion came on 14 September 1987, when ITV Schools programming was transferred to Channel 4 (and S4C ), freeing up
528-462: A Thames-to-LWT-style handover would appear). Like most ITV regional franchises, including Carlton's, the London weekend franchise is now operated by ITV plc . The "London Weekend" franchise was renewed by Ofcom in 2015 for ten years and is still separately licensed, but is no longer distinguished on air. LWT is now managed with Carlton Television as a single entity (ITV London), although the name for
660-542: A bidder could maintain the payments due and still retain money for programme making. Other changes were also made as part of the act: ITN , the news provider for ITV, was no longer to be exclusively owned by ITV companies. Additionally, Channel 4 , which had previously been an independent subsidiary of the IBA, was now to become a government-owned corporation , patterned after the BBC. It would also begin to sell its own advertising –
792-438: A blue caption featuring the new ITV1 logo with the words "a production for" above it. In 2013, it was replaced by a white ITV News caption with the words "© ITN year ", to align with ITN 's and ITV plc's other national and regional news bulletins. Today , the only distinction between the two original regions on-screen is that local weather forecasts broadcast from Friday night to Sunday is branded as London Weekend Weather , and
924-462: A few more years before colour was available: This was primarily due to the cost incurred in purchasing new broadcasting equipment and the subsequent studio upgrade that usually accompanied it. The colour strike was an industrial action by technicians at all ITV companies between 13 November 1970 and 8 February 1971 (although some shows made during this period in black and white were having their first transmission as late as December 1971) who, due to
1056-520: A funding gap for shows broadcast between the two periods, which did not help LWT as it only had a two-and-a-half-day franchise period. John Birt also started reviewing spending budgets for all departments to provide the best returns which resulted in The Stanley Baxter Show being cancelled. LWT also postponed and shelved a number of other productions during the early 1980s, due to cost and frustration with other ITV companies' ideas for
1188-412: A joint news service, London News Network , to provide regional news programming across the whole week. From 1993, LWT's low bid made it attractive to others wishing to take it over. Originally, Greg Dyke had planned to use LWT as a springboard to start acquiring companies to build a united ITV. On 6 December 1993, the north-west England franchise-holder Granada Television launched a hostile takeover for
1320-498: A large amount of Welsh-language programming. This meant that WWN lost a lot of money and, despite some help from other ITV companies, it declared itself bankrupt on 26 January 1964 – the only ITV company to have ever done so. Overall, the regional companies made a profit within the first few years of their existence; the largest regions especially so. Roy Thomson , the Canadian founding chairman of Scottish Television , described
1452-461: A large section of the daytime schedule for new shows. This expansion in programming, and in advertising time, helped give the stations a boost. 1987 also saw the companies beginning to move into night-time broadcasting. This began with individual efforts by individual companies, primarily the 'Big Five' ( Thames Television , LWT , Central Independent Television , Granada Television and Yorkshire Television ), before collaborative efforts resulted in
SECTION 10
#17327867894421584-427: A monopoly over commercial broadcasting. However, national news was not provided by the individual companies and was instead provided by Independent Television News (ITN). Each regional service had its own on-screen identity to distinguish it from other regions, since there was often a sizeable overlap in reception capability within each region. Upon the creation of the network, six franchises were awarded for London ,
1716-487: A network-wide rebrand, ITV1 London was formed on 28 October 2002, as a unified on-air service provided to viewers for both the Carlton and LWT franchises, running on weekdays and weekends respectively. It replaced the unique branding used by both franchisees with a unified service, offering the same service and news all week round. Legally, both franchises remained separate, but they are run by the same operating board and from
1848-418: A non-executive director, but it was clear that he was going further than this. Murdoch started restructuring LWT, but within weeks five other board members left. The ITA was unhappy at how Murdoch was able to buy his way into the company, because foreign nationals were legally blocked from owning the ITV contractors. It also demanded assurances that LWT's original programme policies and operations were sound. As
1980-582: A pay dispute with their management refused to make programmes in colour. Colour was available to nearly 100% of the United Kingdom from 1976, with the Channel Islands being the last region to be converted. This enabled the 405-line system to be phased out between 1982 and 1985. The British government imposed early close downs of all three television channels ( BBC1 , BBC2 and ITV) from 17 December 1973 in order to save electricity during
2112-447: A regional television service and would also generally provide programmes to the network as a whole. Each individual company broadcast on 405-line VHF and was responsible for providing a local service, including daily news bulletins and local documentaries, and for selling advertising space on their channel: this measure ensured that all the independent companies were in competition with each other and that no single broadcaster could gain
2244-444: A result, TV-am and the BBC rushed their own services to the air. TV-am would broadcast between the hours of 6.00am and 9.25am (originally 9.15am) every morning; the somewhat obscure 9.25 close time came about in order to allow time to switch transmitters from the breakfast broadcaster over to the regional ITV stations, but for the first few months on air, the close time was 9.15 as the switching process had not yet been converted fully for
2376-478: A result, the ITA, concerned about Murdoch owning both a television station and significant newspaper interests, forced Murdoch from the chairmanship of LWT, and, on 9 March 1971, John Freeman , best known for presenting Face to Face for the BBC, became chairman and chief executive of LWT. He said "I expect many people are thinking I need my head examining, but I decided to take it up all the same. The public should have
2508-560: A rival who bid £36 million but whose plans were deemed by the new Independent Television Commission to be unsatisfactory. LWT's weekday rival, Thames Television, lost its licence, outbid by Carlton . It was told it could not fall back on its long history of programme-making. After 24 years of existence, LWT survived the station that was its biggest rival. LWT would have a much better relationship with Carlton, and shared many operations including transmission facilities and studio space, and each owning 20% of GMTV , but most notably creating
2640-584: A series of tributes to LWT's past, beginning with an authentic startup routine leading into the ITN Morning News. All elements of the startup were recreated in Macromedia Flash and in the 16:9 aspect ratio, created by Dave Jeffery. Later that day, a recreation of LWT's famous River ident would lead into The South Bank Show , which would be the last programme broadcast under the LWT name. The show
2772-613: A seven-day contract in such an event – an offer quickly rebuffed by the ITA. In the general panic that followed, the General Electric Company withdrew financial backing and sold its 7.5% share to Rupert Murdoch 's News International in November 1970. By December 1970, Murdoch become a part-time executive and injected £500,000 of new capital, increasing his share to 30% as part of the deal, also insisting on terminating Frost and his Paradine Productions , an action that
SECTION 20
#17327867894422904-404: A single national service run by management. By September 1968, with both sides claiming victory, all workers had returned to work. However, memory of this strike would cause more industrial unrest in the decades that followed. This era also saw the introduction of colour television to the network and the introduction of the new 625-line system . During the 1960s, some commercial companies proposed
3036-481: A tax dodge. As a result, Lord Hill had made it clear in 1966 that "all bets were off" on the next franchise round and that the regions themselves might change. Therefore, in the period between the interviews of each applicant and the announcement of the changes, the newspapers speculated wildly about the likely changes: suggestions were made of Scottish Television exiting the system, Rediffusion London moving to replace Southern Television and various other wild ideas. In
3168-463: A tribute to Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel , and Georgia Brown Sings Kurt Weill . As a consequence, viewers deserted its primetime offerings in favour of the more mainstream Saturday night viewing on BBC1 . Other ITV stations refused to show LWT productions because of the poor ratings. ATV, now the seven-day Midlands franchise holder after losing their London contract to LWT, refused to transmit any of their programmes in peak time; elsewhere,
3300-606: A variety of highbrow arts and drama productions. It accordingly caught the attention of the regulator, the Independent Television Authority (ITA), and it seemed to address concerns and criticisms raised in the Pilkington Report . The authority had been worried by criticism of the network's output, which was seen as downmarket and the LTC plans were viewed by the ITA as being serious contenders to
3432-536: A walkout. When Thames' management consequently ordered the striking staff to "return or else", the broadcasting union, the ACTT, instructed members at thirteen other ITV stations to walk out in solidarity. The only company unaffected was Channel Television , as the unions recognised that industrial action there could lead to the station's closure, as its small audience made it vulnerable to any loss of advertising revenue. ITV viewers encountered blank television screens on
3564-401: A year for ITV. In the late 1980s, LWT moved into backing films including A Handful of Dust (1988) and The Tall Guy (1989). In 1990 LWT created the second ITV Sales company Laser Sales , to deal with its own and TVS's advertising operations. The Broadcasting Act 1990 brought changes to the way ITV contracts were awarded. No longer a 'beauty-contest', but rather a blind auction, where
3696-420: Is sponsored by a different company to the weekday forecasts. On 14 January 2013, the station's on-air identity was changed to ITV , along with all other ITV plc-owned franchises. On 15 November 2022, the on-air identity was reverted back to ITV1. ITV London itself doesn't make any programmes, as all productions were completed by external companies, Carlton, LWT or London News Network. The News and Sport for
3828-473: Is quoted as saying on this occasion: "I've succeeded in business by knowing exactly what I hate", he told them. "And I know I hate David Frost." Frost was present, but no one else spoke out against LWT's programming policy. Meanwhile, the £6.5 million it had initially put up for the franchise began to drain away more quickly than its audience figures. Michael Peacock, the architect in David Frost's vision for
3960-487: Is the sole alternative ITV region to Sky , Freesat and Virgin Media customers. This service, available on channels 973, 977 and 853 respectively, is so that audio description services, which are only carried on the London variant on these services, are readily available to all viewers. Other regional variants are available by manually searching, but London is the only region to be given an exclusive EPG slot. ITV London
4092-484: The Bilsdale UHF transmitter , based on the border between Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television and much disputed over, was assigned to Tyne Tees Television. To compensate for this, the IBA allowed Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television to consolidate slightly into a new venture: Trident Television . Trident originally managed advertising sales for Tyne Tees Television and Yorkshire Television but
London Weekend Television - Misplaced Pages Continue
4224-526: The Midlands and the North of England with separate franchises for weekdays and the weekends. The companies in these regions were known as 'The Big Four' and consisted of Associated-Rediffusion (London weekday), ATV (Midlands weekday and London weekend), Granada Television (North of England weekday) and ABC (North of England and Midlands weekend). These companies were generally the best known and provided
4356-661: The STV Group . The Independent Television network came about as a result of the Television Act 1954 , which paved the way for the establishment of a commercial television service in the United Kingdom and created the Independent Television Authority (ITA). The act itself was not without controversy, and much debate ensued both in the British Parliament and the British Press , and it was passed on
4488-552: The Three-Day Week , following overtime ban by the National Union of Mineworkers between strike action in the power supply industry and effects of the oil crisis . The early close downs forced ITV (including 14 regional companies) to end their broadcasting day at 10.30pm, thus costing the network much of its advertising revenue. The restrictions were lifted temporarily on 24 December 1973 ( Christmas Eve ) to allow
4620-507: The Chairman of Granada plc , was also surprised if LWT went ahead with a bid for YTV, especially since it had made £10 million losses that week and was already paying much of its revenue to the government. Reports also suggested if LWT bid for Yorkshire Television it would also form an alliance with Anglia who would takeover Tyne Tees Television . By New Year's Eve, Granada had increased its bid to £658 million. By 7 January 1994,
4752-476: The Chicago branch. In April 1987, Greg Dyke moved from TVS to LWT again to be Director of Programmes (replacing John Birt) – having originally worked at LWT in 1978, before moving to TV-am in 1983 and TVS in 1985. At the same time, LWT started re-sectioning the company in a bid to cut costs and overhaul the working practices within the company ahead of a new franchise period. As part of the cost-cutting review,
4884-462: The Conservatives win any general election held after 1970. The behaviour of some of the companies only reinforced the ITA's assumptions of 'arrogance' following the few changes in the last franchise round: Rediffusion London 's department managers also popped up in similar roles for rival applications and TWW reapplied for their contract under both their own name and that of WWN/Teledu Cymru as
5016-813: The Duchess of Kent who officially opened the complex. It was built on a plot of land named King's Reach. The studios' network ident was KRS, for King's Reach Studios. These facilities were considered at the time the best colour studios in Europe. In 1992 the complex was renamed London Television Centre , and became the centre of ITV plc 's studio operations and the chief production centre until closing in 2018. Ruth Anders, Sue Peacock, Trish Bertram , Keith Harrison, Robin Houston , Pam Royle, Alec Taylor, Glen Thompsett, Annie St John and Peter Lewis served as continuity announcers for LWT. LWT's initial on-screen look featured
5148-583: The ITA between 1956 and 1961. All the franchises had launched by September 1962: ITV was admitted as an active member of the European Broadcasting Union through the Independent Television Companies' Association Ltd together with the ITA on 1 January 1960. In 1963, the ITA chairman, Lord Hill of Luton , initiated a review of all the ITV companies following the release of the Pilkington Report , which saw
5280-422: The ITV companies, and the BBC, expand their services further into the day than previously. A large part of this was a result of the franchising of a breakfast service in 1980. TV-am was awarded this contract and given a provisional start date of May 1983. There had been other programmes previously, such as Yorkshire's Good Morning Calendar , which had shown that the public were interested in a breakfast service. As
5412-807: The ITV network slots. TVS retained its original philosophy for its regional and children's programmes. On 29 October 1986, London Weekend Television had acquired a majority stake in the new company, The Silverbach-Lazarus Group, which is a Los Angeles-based home video and television company, which fueled the expansion of SLG's syndication activities and the Regency Home Video branch of the Silverbach-Lazarus Group, distributing product including Entertainment Partners, Gaylord Production Company, Glen-Warren Productions, Newmark Productions, Phoenix Entertainment Group, Schaefer/Karpf Productions and Visual Productions, and decided to add offices for
London Weekend Television - Misplaced Pages Continue
5544-709: The ITV network's sport productions and presentation. In January 1982, John Birt became LWT's new Director of Programmes when Michael Grade left to accept the post of Company President at Tandem Productions in the US, while Barry Cox became Head of Current Affairs. Birt's time as Programme Director resulted in a change of direction. He started overhauling the schedules, to maximise audience numbers: his measures to achieve this included moving some niche shows back out of peak time, and putting Cilla Black under contract. He criticised how ITV companies were spending huge amounts of money on local programmes and post-watershed dramas, which left
5676-506: The ITV structure, with the creation of dual regions for the South and South East , and the East and West Midlands . These regions were created following the push for more regional news. The company operating these regions had to provide a regional news service for both regions and provide studio facilities in both areas. The franchise round concluded with the following changes: This period saw
5808-603: The Independent Television Publications company was formed to produce a national ITV programme schedule listings magazine. This magazine was called the TV Times , originally the title of the London listings magazine (and also briefly used by the Midlands magazine). It replaced all of the regional magazines, except the Channel Islands publication, which continued until 19 October 1991. Before
5940-400: The LTC were forced by the ITA to purchase Rediffusion's Wembley Studios and legally obliged to employ all members of staff, although the workforce was slightly larger than LWT had wanted. Having previously worked weekdays for Rediffusion, transmission staff now had to work at weekends, and, as a result, wanted extra pay for the unsocial hours. This led to threats of industrial action, and, with
6072-481: The London Television Centre. When GMTV handed over to the weekday franchise the following morning, the national ITV1 brand was on-air, with the new team of network continuity announcers announcing for the first time; former Meridian Broadcasting announcer Paul Seed was the first network voice. The operations of LWT and Carlton Television were merged to become ITV London , a 7-day service. Unlike
6204-779: The London Weekend licence on the Ofcom site is still "LWT". London Weekend Television Ltd is now (along with most other former regional companies owned by ITV plc) listed at Companies House as a " dormant company ". The London Television Consortium (LTC) was created and led by television presenter David Frost , who, at the time, was working for the London weekday ITV station Rediffusion . The consortium also included three ex-BBC members of staff: Michael Peacock (controller of BBC1 ), Frank Muir (assistant head of BBC comedy) and Doreen Stephens (head of children's output). Rediffusion's Controller of Programmes, Cyril Bennett, also joined
6336-511: The Network Programming Committee. Under the control of Greg Dyke as Director of Programmes, TVS started to move away from its original philosophy of niche arts and science programming, and began producing more entertainment programmes. The deal helped LWT to fill its schedules with appropriate, domestically-produced programming while not having to increase its budget, while TVS was able to get more of its programmes onto
6468-463: The background. The LWT logo was also laid out in a purple box clearly at the top, with the caption An LWT Production beneath and the Granada plc logo at the bottom. These endboards lasted until 2 February 2004, when ITV plc was formed and both regional captions were replaced by a generic ITV London logo and An ITV Production caption against a blue squared background. This was replaced in 2006 by
6600-508: The basis that the ITA would regulate the new service and ensure that the new service did not follow the same path taken by the American networks (which were perceived as 'vulgar' by some commentators). For example, it was made obligatory that commercials would have to be clearly distinguishable from programmes. At the time, programmes in the USA were normally sponsored by a single company, so it
6732-480: The biggest range of talent and varied scheduling for viewers, including Stanley Baxter , Danny La Rue , a number of new dramas and another current affairs show, which helped push up profits to nearly £4 million. In May 1976, LWT was reorganised to form a new company, LWT (Holdings) Limited which allowed the company to expand into a number of new ventures, including Hutchinson Publishing . The LWT Chairman & Chief Executive John Freeman said "an important factor
SECTION 50
#17327867894426864-497: The broadcast of breakfast television. Today this transition is seamless, though the 9.25 anomaly remained until 2020. TV-am launched as a serious news programme on 1 February 1983. However, it changed its format soon after to attempt to copy the success of the BBC's Breakfast Time . Channel 4 had launched on 2 November 1982. Originally it depended on the ITV network for its funding, with the regional companies selling advertising. This arrangement ended on 31 December 1992 after which
6996-407: The caption in the centre accompanied by a simple acoustic ident theme. The '"Television" part of the name was dropped on-screen, with LWT merely called "London Weekend". LWT's most recognisable identity – the 'River' – was introduced on Friday 18 September 1970, featuring a stripe made up of blue, white and red moving across the black background in the shape of an 'L' and 'W'; the 'Television' part of
7128-475: The case of the Teddington Studios . The unions asked for payments to be made in those cases; the companies responded by drawing the line, and wildcat strikes broke out in the weeks before and after the changes came into effect. By Friday, after the changes, a mixture of strike action and management lockouts had taken ITV off the air, and for most of August 1968, the regional network was replaced with
7260-468: The changes were implemented, however, the prime minister Harold Wilson appointed Lord Hill as chairman of the BBC Board of Governors and replaced him with Herbert Bowden , also known as Lord Aylestone. He reviewed the changes Hill had made but allowed them to stand. The implementation of the ITV changes led to industrial unrest in the companies. Although there were no job losses in the system – this
7392-543: The channel was only known verbally as "ITV1 London" prior to regional programmes only. ITV London ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ITV Broadcasting Limited for two broadcast franchises of ITV, Carlton Television (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) in the London ITV region. Its terrestrial digital signal is transmitted from Crystal Palace in South London. As part of
7524-645: The companies to recoup the cost and to return to normal service. Some slight changes were made to the Yorkshire Television franchise area however, as the Belmont transmitter in Lincolnshire switched from Anglia Television to Yorkshire Television, boosting the broadcast area. This period also saw the launch of the Oracle teletext service. It was officially launched in 1978, a few years after
7656-493: The company slogan 'Your Weekend ITV', with an additional ident appearing in 1984. On Friday 29 August 1986, a new set of CGI idents by The Computer Film Company aired for the first time: A separate cel-animated ident for children's programmes was also used, accompanied by a different version of the station's ident theme. On 1 September 1989, LWT adopted the first ITV generic look and retained it until 30 August 1992, with their three coloured stripes featuring in their segment of
7788-565: The company was in good health, and it easily beat off weak competition to secure a second contract – although it lost the Bluebell Hill transmitter near Maidstone to the new Television South , known as TVS, as part of a reorganisation prompted by the creation of the South and South East dual region. However, due to the recession, the company still had to tighten its belt. LWT had developed a reputation in many fields, including co-ordination of
7920-476: The company, worth £600 million. The takeover bid came about owing to the relaxation of the rules governing the ITV network. LWT tried to outstep the takeover bid with talks being held with Yorkshire Television and Scottish Television. A week later a conflict of words had broken out between LWT and Granada, with Granada claiming the YTV-LWT deal was "Something cobbled together by desperate men". Gerry Robinson ,
8052-641: The company. This resulted in Greg Dyke and Sir Christopher Bland leaving LWT. By 2001, Carlton and Granada controlled all of the franchises in England and Wales, and in 2002 decided to unify the playout and branding of all of the companies to become ITV1, with regional references used only in accordance with regional programming. LWT marked its final day on air with a series of tributes to LWT's past, with long-serving continuity announcers Glen Thompsett and Trish Bertram appearing in-vision in LWT's playout centre in
SECTION 60
#17327867894428184-428: The consortium, along with Clive Irving, theatre director Peter Hall and, for financial backing, Arnold Weinstock , managing director of GEC . Frost had originally considered applying for the new Yorkshire region franchise, but the expected high number of applicants led to a change of plans. The second choice was to take on Rediffusion for their contract but, although it held the largest and most profitable licence, it
8316-416: The corporate ITV logo. The 1986 'Solari' ident returned during 1991/1992 to introduce local programming. LWT replaced the 1989 ITV generic ident on 4 September 1992 with a large 3D logo forming from the left to a remixed version of the generic music, with two versions: 'Flying Blocks' and 'Flare'. On 30 August 1996, an updated ident and logo was introduced, splitting the river colours of red, white and blue on
8448-523: The course of the dispute. Its acquisition of specialist travel and tour operator Page & Moy and its Hutchinson publishing operations helped offset the losses made during the strike. Interim reports in April 1980 highlight LWT profits reducing by £2 million. By November it became clear that LWT profits had remained roughly the same as in the previous year, even with turnover increasing from £70.5 million to £80.5 million. The 1982 franchise round
8580-474: The crisis at LWT deepened, staff members held a protest outside the offices of the ITA, complaining about the changes happening at the station. An 800-strong petition was handed in to the ITA, to ask for an inquiry about the crisis at LWT. The ITA started to make emergency plans in the event of the company collapsing, and MPs asked questions in Parliament. At the same time, Thames started making enquiries about
8712-467: The dispute still unresolved, fifteen seconds into their opening night of 2 August 1968, technicians went on strike and the screens went blank. An emergency service was provided by management from the transmission centre of ATV at Foley Street, London. Upon resolving the dispute, LWT suffered poor rating figures, as the station's evening viewing schedule included a Stravinsky musical drama, an avant-garde drama from French film director Jean-Luc Godard ,
8844-460: The end, the changes made to the ITV regions were as follows: The ITV companies themselves changed considerably. Some merely had their contracts changed, while others were replaced altogether by new companies. The changes were as follows: These changes resulted in the "Big Four" of Rediffusion, ATV, ABC and Granada, who had produced most of the network output, being replaced by a new "Big Five" of Thames, LWT, ATV, Granada and Yorkshire. In addition,
8976-450: The episode, core character Grace Archer was fatally injured in a fire, and it was seen as a ploy to keep loyal viewers and listeners away from the new station. The first full day of transmissions was 23 September 1955 when Britain's first female newsreader Barbara Mandell appeared. The London weekend contractor ATV launched two days later. The other franchises launched within a year of the London launch, and other contracts were awarded by
9108-461: The exception of one junction after the launch of the 2003 network rebrand. Since launch, the region has seen the plain generic idents seen by the rest of the country, without any regional variance identifying it as London; the other regions at this time received a regional ident with the region name below the ITV1 logo. Any reference to the service being in London is made in the voiceover alone, or through
9240-508: The fifteen ITV regional franchises. The LWT logo continued to appear at the end of its programmes until 31 October 2004. However, from 1 November, it was replaced by the new Granada Productions endcap, with programmes either credited as "A Granada London Production", or "A Granada Production" instead. On 16 January 2006, all network productions produced by any ITV plc-owned company were branded as " ITV Productions ", which since 2009 has been rebranded as " ITV Studios ". LWT's first studio base
9372-424: The first time; former Meridian announcer Paul Seed was the first network voice. The operations of LWT and Carlton Television were merged to become ITV London, a seven-day service. Unlike the other English and Welsh franchises, ITV London did not receive regional idents featuring the London name until the 2003 refresh; only one of these idents was ever used at a single junction from launch. Apart from this rare occasion,
9504-451: The future of television, wanted to stick to the principles of their contract with the ITA. ATV dropped Frost's major Saturday night slot altogether and replaced him with comedian Dave Allen , while Yorkshire and Granada relegated the show to the late evening. In September 1969, Michael Peacock was sacked by the board while six executives resigned from LWT in support. The ITA made it clear that LWT's franchise proposals must be retained. As
9636-406: The generic ident ( Granada Television , TVS , TSW , Anglia Television , Channel Television and Ulster Television ), preferring to stick with their distinctive on-screen branding. The companies to use the generic ident for the longest time were Yorkshire Television , who kept it on until 24 October 1994, and Grampian Television , who continued to use it right up until ITV's second corporate logo
9768-415: The government, but admitted the threat of some of the largest contractors packing their bags might make government think again. The controversy led to the introduction of a 'quality threshold' which allowed that, in exceptional circumstances, a bid could be rejected if it were deemed excessive, or that an incumbent could be chosen against a higher-bidding applicant if it were felt that incumbent's programming
9900-402: The hope that the strike would end. Only one ITV company broadcast anything during this time, that being Channel Television, who broadcast a time-restricted service of local programming, films and imported television series (on film, as Channel had no videotape facilities at the time). An example of the emergency schedule offered by Channel Television during the strike can be seen here below, with
10032-561: The idea was floated that LWT could become a "commissioning" organisation – similar to Channel 4 – with its programme production operations being sold off to a new company, in a bid to "sharpen up its competitiveness". Consultancy company NERA was brought in to investigate the matter. The plan was halted in early 1988, as LWT chairman Christopher Bland , along with Greg Dyke, started to streamline operations; over four years, more than 690 people were made redundant, whole layers of management were scrapped and working practices were overhauled. But with
10164-437: The individual respective letters, L, W and T, with six different versions. On 12 November 1999, LWT adopted the second ITV generic look, based on the theme of hearts. LWT was the only company to drop this look on 24 March 2000, replacing it with the theme of a video wall. The first version of the ident had two problems: the colour scheme was in essence primarily red, and the soundtrack theme consisted of electronic beeps. This ident
10296-470: The introduction of colour on the 405-line system, but the General Post Office insisted that colour should wait until the higher-definition 625-line UHF system became standard. ITV eventually introduced PAL colour on this system from 1969, on the same day as BBC1 and two years after BBC2 . This did not, however, spread immediately across the United Kingdom, as some regions had to wait
10428-451: The kinds of programmes it wants, which means you must take into account minority interests as well as majority ones". Freeman made it quite clear that he expected to have full control within the company without any interference from Murdoch. By early May, Freeman reappointed Cyril Bennett as Controller of Programmes, along with many of the original personnel who helped start up the company in 1967. With these changes, LWT became influenced by
10560-415: The launch of BBC2 and heavily criticised ITV. This review would review a company's performance, and either grant them an extension to their service licence or replace the company with another in that region. This process was repeated frequently throughout the early life of ITV and lasted approximately ten years. Reviews like this also ensured that the companies maintained their high performance by maintaining
10692-503: The launch of the BBC's Ceefax service and offered news and information delivered through the remaining lines of information in the television transmission. The service began to see improved takings following a heavy promotional campaign using the slogan Page the Oracle and the inclusion of the software as standard in most new television sets at the beginning of the 1980s. ITV suffered an eleven-week industrial dispute in 1979, leading to
10824-424: The major companies were instructed to strengthen the regional emphasis of their on-screen identities. The only change to the network was the formation of a single Wales and West franchise, operated by TWW , following the collapse of WWN and its subsequent takeover by TWW. WWN ran into trouble when it had problems with the construction of its transmitter network, as well as strict provisions in its contract to produce
10956-403: The merger talks between Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television had collapsed because it had proved impossible to reach an agreement on a suitable structure for the new company. A few days earlier Anglia had withdrawn from the proposed alliance, making an LWT takeover of YTV impossible. By 7 February 1994, Granada had increase its takeover bid again to £774 million, but the LWT board once again rejected
11088-399: The morning of 10 August 1979, and were left without any programmes. Later on, this apology caption would broadcast in 14 of the 15 ITV regions: INDEPENDENT TELEVISION We are sorry that programmes have been interrupted. There is an industrial dispute. Transmissions will start again as soon as possible. Strangely, the caption achieved ratings of around one million, from TV sets left on in
11220-538: The most network output. The first ITA contractor to begin broadcasting was the London weekday contractor Associated-Rediffusion, on 22 September 1955 beginning at 7.15pm. On the first night of telecasts, the BBC, who had held the monopoly on broadcasting in Britain, aired a melodramatic episode of their popular radio soap opera The Archers on the BBC Home Service (later became BBC Radio 4 in 1967). In
11352-488: The name London Weekend Television in white zooming in on a black background accompanied by an electronic jingle; some shows, such as On the Buses , used only a still caption "From London Weekend Television", either in silence, or over the start of the show's theme music. This was replaced the following year by an ident featuring a rotating disc (a stylised laurel wreath ) on screen against a grey (later orange) background with
11484-472: The name remained absent. Designed by graphics designer Terry Griffiths, his modified version introduced on 1 September 1978 revived the full name; at the end, the river sections snapped down into the striped LWT logo. The ident jingle, composed by Harry Rabinowitz , was also remixed. LWT dropped in-vision announcers in January 1983, and on Friday 9 September that year, introduced a new local CGI ident, bearing
11616-508: The offer. Granada's Chief Executive, Gerry Robinson, said: "We are obviously disappointed that having evidently accepted the commercial argument in favour of scale, the board of LWT has not been able to recommend what is a generous offer." Sir Christopher Bland rejected this statement, claiming "the Granada offer is inadequate and still fails to reflect the true value of LWT". On 25 February 1994, LWT had succumbed to Granada's £770 million bid for
11748-407: The official history of ITV, Independent Television in Britain , observed "Under Brian Tesler's Managing Directorship LWT was to become the success for which its founders (almost all of whom had by that time left the company) had so earnestly striven." In November 1978, News International sold off 16% of its LWT holding, reducing its shares from 39.7% to 25%, as it believed this was going to be one of
11880-422: The other English and Welsh franchises, ITV London did not receive regional idents featuring the London name until the 2003 refresh; only one of these idents was ever used at a single junction from launch. Apart from this rare occasion, the channel was only known verbally as "ITV1 London" prior to regional programmes only. In February 2004 Granada and Carlton completed their merger to become ITV plc, owning eleven of
12012-551: The outcomes from the Annan Report on Broadcasting . LWT also warned shareholders that heavy spending on programmes would continue to reduce chances of increased profits. News International sold its remaining 25% stake on 13 March 1980, bringing an end to LWT's connection with the Australian tycoon. After the 1979 ITV strike, LWT was hit hard. During November 1979 LWT believed it had managed to only lose around £200,000 over
12144-412: The ownership of an ITV franchise as "a licence to print money". Another franchise review was called by the ITA on 12 June 1967, for contracts running from the end of July 1968, that was to drastically change the structure of ITV itself. The review aimed to ensure that the ITV system was ready for the impending arrival of colour broadcasting, and also to again allow for the potential start of ITV2 , should
12276-464: The plan still a possibility, Dyke was able to offer lavish redundancy payments, ultimately getting the changes through. Greg Dyke explained: "To completely restructure your business for less than a year's profits is a good deal. I have no problem with that." Another change was to make production operations a profit centre, with studios to rent – and with various uses from Jonathan Ross shows to sales conferences. These operations continue to earn millions
12408-484: The possibility of the loss of their licence. The new licences also included clauses which took into account the promise of an " ITV2 " UHF channel to be launched if the Conservative Party won the 1964 general election . Despite the review, no company lost its position as the local ITV contractor for their region and all licences were extended for another three years (starting July 1964), although several of
12540-543: The powerful sales department at Thames Television , who provided London with a Monday to Friday service, took advantage of LWT's ratings crisis by adopting a "beggar thy neighbour" strategy, encouraging advertisers to use Thames during the week by heavily discounting their airtime. The situation came to a head during a meeting of the Network Programme Committee on 9 September 1968. The NPC was being chaired by Lew Grade , ATV's managing director, and he
12672-415: The programme titles, such as London Tonight . Some identity remained on the regional programming end boards however, as each company still produced programmes for the region: Carlton used a red and orange version of their star idents used prior to 2002 with the caption A Carlton Production , with For London added for regional programming, while LWT used a generic purple caption with their logo added into
12804-588: The public to enjoy festive programming. The restrictions recommenced on 7 January 1974, and ended on 8 February due to the upcoming general election . Following the passing of the Sound Broadcasting Act 1972, the ITA was reconstituted as the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) who took on the same role as the ITA but were also given responsibility of the then-new Independent Local Radio stations. In 1971,
12936-536: The quality educational programming of the BBC. So keen was the ITA that it was quoted at the time as saying the LTC had to have its chance, whatever the repercussions. The new company, renamed London Weekend Television, benefited from a slight extension in broadcasting hours, as they were allocated Fridays from 7 p.m., as well as Saturday and Sunday. The LTC had planned on buying the superior Teddington Studios of former contractor ABC Weekend TV , but following ABC's merger with Rediffusion to form Thames Television ,
13068-419: The region continued to be provided by LNN until 1 March 2004, when ITN took over production of London Tonight , resulting in the move of the programme from The London Studios to ITN's headquarters at Gray's Inn Road . Other regional programmes continued to be produced for the region by the two legal franchises, Carlton and LWT, and the companies were accredited at the end of the production until 2004, when it
13200-797: The same character Murdoch's newspapers had. In time the station became regarded as a populist, conservative counterpart to the more highbrow and liberal Thames; hardly the BBC2-like ideal that Frost and Peacock had envisioned. Audience share grew, and, in 1975, the company won seven BAFTA awards – more than the rest of ITV put together. Although the programming had changed from their original remit, LWT still produced shows which were considered more upmarket, in particular Upstairs, Downstairs . Unlike earlier offerings these attracted high audiences. LWT continued to show arts programming, mainly Aquarius and its successor The South Bank Show . LWT's fortunes improved, which helped increase profits, and more money
13332-421: The same facilities. Both licences are now held by ITV Broadcasting Ltd, but the original two companies still legally exist as Carlton Television Ltd and London Weekend Television Ltd. Each of these companies is, along with most other regional companies owned by ITV plc, listed on Companies House as a " Dormant company ". ITV London is also unique in that it supplies the network feed for the other franchises and
13464-618: The schedule for Thursday 6 September 1979: All other regions showed a specially-made apology caption generated by the IBA, which was for a time amended to include an appeal on behalf of the West Yorkshire Police in their hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper . The only other content broadcast outside of the Channel Television region was the IBA's Engineering Announcements . The strike ended with victory for
13596-508: The strike was filled by programmes already "in the can" before the strike commenced. Both Crossroads and Coronation Street aired special introductions to their first episodes back, to inform viewers of the events in both soaps, where they left off back in July 1979. The first night schedule was networked from Thames Television in London to all ITV regional companies across the United Kingdom as part of their national emergency schedule, and
13728-498: The subsequent shutdown of almost all ITV broadcasts and productions. It began at London's Thames Television when electricians, who were EETPU members, refused to accept what they considered to be a derisory pay increase. The management attempted to operate a normal service, but other transmission staff, who were ACTT members, refused to co-operate, pointing out that equipment and wiring turned on by non-EETPU members could be potentially dangerous. Thames management interpreted this as
13860-507: The unions involved in the dispute, estimated to have cost the companies £100 million in lost revenue. Channel alone lost £10,000 per week due to the strike. Technicians saw a 45% increase in their salary, from £8,000 to £11,620. Programming resumed at 5.38pm on Wednesday 24 October 1979. Returning viewers were greeted with a new jingle, "Welcome home to ITV", sung by the Mike Sammes Singers . The first night's schedule back after
13992-437: The weekend schedules. In 1983, Birt published a document with proposals for an additional £50 million to be spent every year on peak time programmes: shows concerning religion, the arts and current affairs would be pruned to free up cash. His argument for doing this was that ITV made 75% of its money in peak time, but the peak time was riddled with a number of weak slots which reduced the maximum amount of revenue; again, LWT
14124-681: The whole network operating 24 hours a day by the autumn of 1988. Notable efforts included Granada Television's Night Time (which also went out to Tyne Tees Television , TSW , Border Television , Grampian Television and Ulster Television ), LWT's Night Network (which also went out to Anglia Television ), TVS ' Late Night Late (which also went out to Channel Television ) and HTV 's Night Club ; later efforts included ITV Night Time from Thames Television and LWT (which also went out to TVS, HTV, Anglia Television and Channel Television) and Night Shift from Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television. From 1 January 1988, each programme on ITV
14256-412: The winner was to be the applicant who bid the most. LWT threatened not to bid for its franchise again, as opposition to the new franchise bidding process gathered momentum. LWT chairman Christopher Bland stated: "We have the programme power into satellite" – it cost both LWT and Thames £43 million for the licence, yet on satellite television would only cost £2 million. LWT denied it was trying to blackmail
14388-413: Was 'exceptional'. As described by LWT's managing director Greg Dyke, the franchise round, "became a crapshoot. You had to work out [in the franchise round] who was bidding against you. Of those, would they pass the quality threshold and would they pass the financial test". Scottish Television and Central Television both discovered that nobody was bidding against them—and both bid only a token amount. It
14520-631: Was abolished, and replaced by two new 'light-touch' regulators: the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Radio Authority . The small Cable Authority was also abolished, its powers transferred to the ITC. The act also changed the system of licence allocation for the franchises now legally known as Channel 3 : the previous system where applicants needed to show good programming ideas and fine financial controls
14652-408: Was allowed a reverse takeover of both companies; Tyne Tees Television and Yorkshire Television did however retain their own studio bases, management, boards and on-screen identity. The next franchise round in 1974 produced no changes in contractors, as the huge cost in switching to colour television would have made the companies unable to compete against rivals in a franchise battle. It also allowed
14784-526: Was altered from July 2000, reducing the red colour scheme and featuring a significantly remixed soundtrack, and another revision on 11 August 2001 included the new ITV1 logo and, from November that year, the itv.com website as well. By 2001, Carlton and Granada controlled all of the franchises in England and Wales, and in 2002 decided to unify the playout and branding of all of the companies to become ITV1, with regional references used only in accordance with regional programming. LWT marked its final day on air with
14916-537: Was an ITA stipulation – people were forced to move from Manchester and Birmingham to Leeds , from London to Cardiff and, perhaps less troublesome, from one part of London to another. Many staff stayed in the same jobs in the same locations, but now had a different employer. Since this meant that staff were being made redundant (albeit with a guaranteed job to go to), the unions required redundancy payments. However, these payments led to problems in staff not receiving them, who were changing company but not location, as in
15048-440: Was as follows: When the strike ended, ITV had the task of luring back viewers from the BBC. This proved difficult as production of original programming had stopped and would not be available for several months; ITV therefore suffered in the ratings at the hands of the BBC. Two and a half months after ITV began broadcasting again, it was finally ready to air additional original programming and viewers began switching back. This strike
15180-424: Was at a disadvantage compared with the other ITV franchise holders. Birt believed that LWT and others should transfer more of its public service broadcasting commitments to the new Channel 4 . LWT finally found a solution in 1985, when an agreement was reached with TVS, which wished to expand its own output for the ITV network. However, as TVS was not one of the " Big Five " ITV companies, it had no real influence on
15312-645: Was based at The London Studios , on the south bank of the River Thames , the former home of London Weekend franchisee London Weekend Television . The centre was chosen due to both companies presence in the centre; Carlton having leased space within the facility, alongside GMTV , since 1993. The contracted news service London News Network was also based, produced and broadcast from the centre. The London Studios closed in 2018. The services' on-screen identity has been generic throughout its existence, and has used no on-screen branding to identify it as ITV London, with
15444-465: Was carried out at once. He continued to increase his stake further and, by the end of 1971, he possessed 39.7%. Rupert Murdoch became managing director in February 1971. When Dr Tom Margerison left the company, he stated "there is no question of personal animosity between Rupert and myself. It's just one of those things: you cannot have two people running a ship." He had believed Murdoch was to become
15576-426: Was felt that the company was too powerful to challenge; equally, as an employee of the station, he felt it would be seen as an act of betrayal. Changes elsewhere in the system (notably the decision to make the Midlands licence a seven-day operation) led Frost to believe that the existing Midlands weekday broadcaster ATV had a significant risk of losing its London weekend contract. The consortium's application promised
15708-419: Was followed by a final signoff featuring continuity announcers Glen Thompsett and Trish Bertram appearing 'in-vision' to toast the departing station, and a montage of LWT presentation across the years, assembled by senior ITV presentation producer Gareth Randall. When GMTV handed over to the weekday franchise the following morning, the national ITV1 brand was on-air, with the new team of announcers announcing for
15840-582: Was introduced on 5 October 1998. Margaret Thatcher 's Conservative government spent much of the 1980s privatising and deregulating British industry, and commercial broadcasting was no exception. The Broadcasting Act 1990 paved the way for the deregulation of the British commercial broadcasting industry, which was to have many consequences for the ITV system. As a result of this Act, the Independent Broadcasting Authority
15972-465: Was made available for new programming. In 1972, Weekend World was launched; a weekly current affairs programme broadcast on Sundays at noon, presented by journalist Peter Jay . In 1974, the Director of Programmes at Thames, Brian Tesler , left to become Deputy Chief Executive to John Freeman. In the autumn of 1974, LWT challenged the BBC by spending £3.75 million on what it believed represented
16104-498: Was no handover back to Thames on Mondays, as from 1968 to 1982 there was no programming in the very early morning, and from 1983, when a national breakfast franchise was created, LWT would hand over to TV-am at 6:00am, which would then hand over to Thames at 9:25am). From 1993 to 2002, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Carlton Television , the transfer usually occurred invisibly during a commercial break, for Carlton and LWT shared studio and transmission facilities (although occasionally
16236-503: Was no longer preceded by the identifier of the regional company that had produced the show. Another new venture was the ITV Telethon . This biennial routine event held in 1988, 1990 and 1992 saw the regional companies and the national network come together to raise money for charity. The 27-hour telethons ended following the change of culture at ITV following the franchise changes in 1993. On 13 February 1989, ITV started broadcasting
16368-464: Was not uncommon for a game show host to step away from their podium after a round to sell cars or The Flintstones to segue into an ad for cigarettes with no perceived change from show to advertising. The new "Independent Television" network, named due to its independence from the BBC which until then had a monopoly on broadcasting within the United Kingdom, was made up of numerous companies providing
16500-571: Was replaced by an ITV London caption for both companies following the ITV plc merger. History of ITV#1968 strike The history of ITV , the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies " Independent Television " commercial network, goes back to 1955. Independent Television began as a network of independently-owned regional companies that were both broadcasters and programme makers, beginning with four companies operating six stations in three large regions in 1955–1956, and gradually expanding to 17 stations in 14 regions by 1962. Each regional station
16632-422: Was replaced by highest-bidder auctions to determine the winner of each ITV regional franchise. This element of the ITV franchising process was very controversial; the press and the existing ITV companies lobbied to have it changed and the ITC agreed to introduce a 'quality threshold' to prevent high bidders with poor programme plans from joining the system. Another safeguard was the 'business plan' which determined if
16764-697: Was responsible for its own branding, scheduling and advertising, with many peak-time programmes shared simultaneously across the whole network. By 29 February 2016, 12 regions in England and Wales , the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man shared national ITV branding and scheduling, and, together with a 13th region UTV in Northern Ireland , were owned by a single company, ITV plc . A further two regions in Scotland carry STV branding and are owned by
16896-426: Was the 'quality threshold' that saved LWT. Despite streamlining, and a successful conflict with trade unions, LWT knew that if it were to keep on making quality programmes, it could not over-bid. It had to rely on the quality of its programmes and submit the best offer it could, knowing it could be far less than a rival bid; the strategy worked, and LWT won a third contract with an annual bid of £7.5 million, against
17028-528: Was the deal would provide revenue from a wholly different source thus in part insulating LWT from the effects of any future adverse fluctuations in advertising revenue". In the same month he stood down as Chief Executive, and the Board appointed Brian Tesler as the company's managing director. Cyril Bennett died later that year, and Tesler doubled as the company's Director of Programmes until he appointed Michael Grade to that role in February 1977. Three decades later
17160-406: Was the first time LWT had to re-apply for its licence. The original 1968 contract was supposed to have ended in 1974. Instead, the new Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) had elected to extend all franchise contracts to 1981, owing to the enormous costs of introducing colour television. While it is debatable whether the licence would have been renewed if LWT had had to re-apply in 1973, by 1982,
17292-525: Was the former home of Associated-Rediffusion , the previous London Weekday franchise holder in Wembley (see Fountain Studios ). The Wembley studios were problematic, as their costly conversions to colour was imminent. LWT only had to use Wembley until its new purpose-built studios were opened in 1972. The new studios, called South Bank Television Centre , included a large tower block named Kent House after
17424-458: Was to be the last ever major strike for ITV as the power of the broadcasting unions began to wane, even though minor disputes plagued the television industry in the 1980s, and the dispute was the longest in the history of British television. On 28 December 1980, the IBA announced via Lady Plowden , the then chair of the IBA, that it had reviewed the ITV broadcasting licences again, for contracts beginning on 1 January 1982. A few changes were made to
#441558