Granada Sky Broadcasting

[James2001]

When I went there for the Corrie tour, the Breeze studio was being used as a cafe for people waiting. Still has the soundproofing and the likes up.

[nwtv2003]

When I went there for the Corrie tour, the Breeze studio was being used as a cafe for people waiting. Still has the soundproofing and the likes up.

Ahh yes you’re right, I remember it there too, but I didn’t go in. Checking on Google Maps the Breeze Studio faces Stage One, which was the entrance to the Corrie Tour.

I’m sure Talk TV used a studio within the Bonded Warehouse at the Granada Studios Tour didn’t it? But my main memory of that if they also used The London Studios for some of their output too.

[JetixFann450]

Speaking of which, what's happening with the "Men & Motors" brand? I heard they brought it back under Kapang or some obscure TV service and for the life of me, their site does NOT appear to lead into what it actually is.

[Inspector Sands]

I’m sure Talk TV used a studio within the Bonded Warehouse at the Granada Studios Tour didn’t it? But my main memory of that if they also used The London Studios for some of their output too.

Yes they used studio 10 at TLS, this was the 10th floor studio originally used for Weekend Live and then for the likes of 6 o Clock Live and LWT News. The one where if you look up at the tower block it's got different type of window frame

[London Lite]

I remember most if not all of Talk TV's live output came from The London Studios.

[nwtv2003]

I remember most if not all of Talk TV's live output came from The London Studios.

That’s what I recall. TV Ark documents that the in vision continuity came from Manchester

https://www.tvark.org/?page=1269#/

By the time I had access to the channel in August 1997 they had all but given up and were showing repeats.

[Humphrey Hacker]

I never had On Digital so can't comment on Granada Health. Granada Education could have been an interesting station. I can see it being about practical education eg how to paint etc.

Citizen TV could simply be another name for Talk TV.

I should have said the Granada/Boots venture was called Wellbeing. It was one of those ventures between TV and retail that never took off, such as Taste CFN (Carlton/Sainsburys) and Shop! (Granada/Littlewoods).

I don't remember Wellbeing I've had to look it up:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellbeing_(TV_channel)

There was also Breeze which closed in 2002 and Talk TV which according to Matthew Harris AKA Applemask in his Satellite and Digital episode of "ITV In The Face" closed on the 31st of August 1997. Its final day was full of a Sky News simulcast following the death of Diana, Princess Of Wales.

[London Lite]

I remember most if not all of Talk TV's live output came from The London Studios.

That’s what I recall. TV Ark documents that the in vision continuity came from Manchester

https://www.tvark.org/?page=1269#/

By the time I had access to the channel in August 1997 they had all but given up and were showing repeats.

I don't remember the Talk TV CA booth at all! The only programme I remember with any great deal is F2F (Face to Face) which was the springboard for Sacha Baron Cohen which Natasha Kaplinsky was a sidekick on that.

Here's the final show from August 1997.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFUSBtAfGfw

[AllWillBeWell]

I had on-digital but don't recall any of these channels.

Speaking of which, what's happening with the "Men & Motors" brand? I heard they brought it back under Kapang or some obscure TV service and for the life of me, their site does NOT appear to lead into what it actually is.

It's such a shame the channel was scrapped in the first place, that along with Bravo. Most of the content never really came back apart from brief runs.

[nwtv2003]

I never had On Digital so can't comment on Granada Health. Granada Education could have been an interesting station. I can see it being about practical education eg how to paint etc.

Citizen TV could simply be another name for Talk TV.

I should have said the Granada/Boots venture was called Wellbeing. It was one of those ventures between TV and retail that never took off, such as Taste CFN (Carlton/Sainsburys) and Shop! (Granada/Littlewoods).

I don't remember Wellbeing I've had to look it up:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellbeing_(TV_channel)

There was also Breeze which closed in 2002 and Talk TV which according to Matthew Harris AKA Applemask in his Satellite and Digital episode of "ITV In The Face" closed on the 31st of August 1997. Its final day was full of a Sky News simulcast following the death of Diana, Princess Of Wales.

Indeed Talk TV ended with Sky News for the entire day, which was 6am to 6pm. (Sky News was also simulcast on Granada Plus for a couple of hours if memory serves.) Whilst I didn’t tape the ending for Talk TV, but it was simply a case of the plug being pulled at 6pm exactly.

Thinking about it, the decision to axe Talk TV must have been made quickly. Granada Sky started in October 1996, the channel had gone by August 1997. They must have decided to remove it at least a couple of months before it’s axing. Ratings must have been very low.

The sad thing was the channel was replaced by nothing on satellite, until Sky Box Office 3 arrived at the end of the year. At least when Sky2 ended on the same day, the National Geographic Channel replaced it on the following day.

Without going off tangent but Talk TV timeshared with Sky Scottish, which also I don’t believe was given enough time to develop. Makes you wonder why Sky and STV bothered for the sake of 2 hours per day.

[RegularCapital]

Granada Plus was originally going to be called "Granada Gold Plus" which is a bit of a mouthful and I can see why they've shortened it. https://mediatel.co.uk/news/1995/12/13/g...with-bskyb
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/n...ture/24024

A year before launch in 1995, the GSkyB line-up was going to be:

Granada Gold Plus
Granada Health and Beauty
Granada Home and Garden
Granada Food and Wine
Granada Good Life
Granada Men and Motoring
Granada Talk TV
Granada TV Shopping Guide

Good Life was going to be a separate channel of its own identity, rather than a brand encompassing mini-channels. Men and Motoring obviously became Men and Motors and Granada TV Shopping Guide became Granada TV High Street.

There was also the lesser known Sky Entertainment channel that was available in Scandinavia, which was a combined service of Granada Plus, Granada Good Life, Men and Motors and CMT Europe. https://groups.google.com/g/rec.radio.in...XDRg?pli=1 https://www.telecompaper.com/news/granad...nd--106398

Here's a schedule from 1997: https://www.hs.fi/radiotelevisio/art-2000003666684.html

Some promotional material from Sky which includes info about the new Granada channels at the time (from Transdiffusion): https://www.transdiffusion.org/content/u...96-A02.jpg

Here's an excerpt mentioning Granada Education and Citizen TV from The Dream That Died: The Rise and Fall of ITV: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-BWB...el&f=false

[James2001]

I remember most if not all of Talk TV's live output came from The London Studios.

That’s what I recall. TV Ark documents that the in vision continuity came from Manchester

https://www.tvark.org/?page=1269#/

By the time I had access to the channel in August 1997 they had all but given up and were showing repeats.

I don't remember the Talk TV CA booth at all! The only programme I remember with any great deal is F2F (Face to Face) which was the springboard for Sacha Baron Cohen which Natasha Kaplinsky was a sidekick on that.

Here's the final show from August 1997.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFUSBtAfGfw

Is that a trendy faux-widescreen effect, or was the show actually being made in 16:9, even though it was only ever going to be seen letterboxed? The fact the credits and the endcap are still letterboxed makes me wonder if it's the former, though it seems unusual for something to be made in 16:9 this early, especially as it would only be broadcast letterboxed and the phone number & channel dogs would be cut off even if you were watching on a widescreen TV and zoomed in, it's not like it's the sort of show that was made that way to be future-proofed for potential repeats like many dramas and other shows were at the time.

[Humphrey Hacker]

Granada Plus was originally going to be called "Granada Gold Plus" which is a bit of a mouthful and I can see why they've shortened it. https://mediatel.co.uk/news/1995/12/13/g...with-bskyb
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/n...ture/24024

A year before launch in 1995, the GSkyB line-up was going to be:

Granada Gold Plus
Granada Health and Beauty
Granada Home and Garden
Granada Food and Wine
Granada Good Life
Granada Men and Motoring
Granada Talk TV
Granada TV Shopping Guide

Good Life was going to be a separate channel of its own identity, rather than a brand encompassing mini-channels. Men and Motoring obviously became Men and Motors and Granada TV Shopping Guide became Granada TV High Street.

There was also the lesser known Sky Entertainment channel that was available in Scandinavia, which was a combined service of Granada Plus, Granada Good Life, Men and Motors and CMT Europe. https://groups.google.com/g/rec.radio.in...XDRg?pli=1 https://www.telecompaper.com/news/granad...nd--106398

Here's a schedule from 1997: https://www.hs.fi/radiotelevisio/art-2000003666684.html

Some promotional material from Sky which includes info about the new Granada channels at the time (from Transdiffusion): https://www.transdiffusion.org/content/u...96-A02.jpg

Here's an excerpt mentioning Granada Education and Citizen TV from The Dream That Died: The Rise and Fall of ITV: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-BWB...el&f=false

That has to be one of the strangest schedules I've ever seen. Can't imagine what Norway, Sweden and Denmark must have thought of Corrie!

[James2001]

I'm sure Corrie was being shown in Scandinavia well before the 90s.

[Humphrey Hacker]

I'm sure Corrie was being shown in Scandinavia well before the 90s.

I never would have imagined Corrie being shown in Scandinavia.