ITV regions debate

[Neil Jones]

Yea, I think the 1990 broadcasting act was when it all started to come tumbling down.

Two words: Peacock Committee.
Seeds were sown in the mid 1980s of what became that act.

[harshy]

The one thing that surprises me as now occasional itv1 viewer is the regional news, still has the original names even though most people watching now wouldnt even know why their local regional programme is called Calendar, just get rid of those and call it something more relevant to today.

[Steve Williams]

The one thing that surprises me as now occasional itv1 viewer is the regional news, still has the original names even though most people watching now wouldnt even know why their local regional programme is called Calendar, just get rid of those and call it something more relevant to today.

"ITV News Yorkshire, Lincolnshire And North West Norfolk" is a bit unwieldy. Probably best to stick with Calendar.

[Steve in Pudsey]

But "the Calendar region" is a very handy piece of shorthand for not alienating the people of Lincolnshire and North Derbyshire in a way that ITV Yorkshire News would.

[TimGoodwin1991]

Sadly No.

With Disney and Paramount, you can't see the regions working in the 2020s.

I would love to watch Granada or Yorkshire and see others watch Central but in practice I cannot see a way in which they function in this day and age.

[Humphrey Hacker]

There was also Trident Television in the 1970’s and 80s’ which while not a consolidated company as we would understand it was an example of one firm having a form of control over Yorkshire and Tyne Tees:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_Television

[Brekkie]

Whilst there is no doubt we'd have ended up where we are one way or the other and there were clearly decisions made in the late 80s/early 90s which lay the ground work for what ultimately happened in the early noughties, I do think there are two factors in the late 90s which pretty much killed off the idea of regional TV companies.

Firstly Channel 5 being set up as a national company.  Early plans were for it to be a network of city based stations, which had they eventuated may have seen the focus more on competition at a local level and indeed the possibility of some franchises switching between the Channel 3 and Channel 5 networks at each renewal.

The second is digital channel.  There was this myth, which had absolutely no substance but I've no doubt was created by ITV, that once we went digital viewers wouldn't care about regional TV.    Of course in reality nearly a quarter of a century on the regional news is often the most watched show of the day.    Had there been more provision at the time for the DTT network at least to include at least one regional (or "local") channel things may have take a different path.    Indeed arguably not doing so ensured regional content remained on ITV rather than was shifted to a dedicated digital channel.

Worth noting there was a plan following the collapse of ITV Digital that should the ITV/C4 led "Freeview" plan succeed (the BBC won the bid, but took the name) that the ITV News Channel would have been regionalised, which I think other than the early incarnations of ITV2 in Scotland and Ireland were the only plans ITV had for regional content outside it's main channel.


Obviously we are where we are but back in 2002 when the franchises were first just renewed was there any real opposition to that happening from potential bidders.   I can't recall any but I'm sure it would have been an obvious tactic of any competition to offer to keep a stronger regional identity and stronger backbone of regional programming, though perhaps having been burnt in the 90s by companies making promises that ultimately the regulator had to allow them to backtrack on they thought the status quo was better.

[JAS84]

The one thing that surprises me as now occasional itv1 viewer is the regional news, still has the original names even though most people watching now wouldnt even know why their local regional programme is called Calendar, just get rid of those and call it something more relevant to today.

As others have pointed out, there are reasons why Calendar's name makes sense to keep. Yorkshire Television's name no longer made sense once they gained the Belmont transmitter from Anglia, so the regional news not having Yorkshire in the name is a good thing - Look North has kept it's name for the same reason. There are two regions whose regional news names definitely no longer make sense though - Granada and Meridian. Arguably UTV too now that they're using the standard ITV presentation.

[harshy]

The one thing that surprises me as now occasional itv1 viewer is the regional news, still has the original names even though most people watching now wouldnt even know why their local regional programme is called Calendar, just get rid of those and call it something more relevant to today.

i wouldnt call it that or anything region specific, just something other then Calendar which to todays audience makes no sense to call it that.

[c4bb]

No.  ITV plc would have happened regardless of whether the regions were called Granada, Carlton, Loompaland or Gasforth.

Next question?

Okay, you're missing my point slightly. The unification happened before Carlton and Granada merged to form ITV plc. The question I'm trying to ask is would the regions work today in this age of digital media and streaming?

Also, you don't have to be rude about it.

He was unnecessarily rude, I agree.

[TJTSW]

I don’t think Regional Branding would work now sadly as being from Devon our local news comes from Bristol which they don’t really give too hoots about us down here, they try but I switched off, and anytime I do turn on itv West Country News it’s always pre recorded version so either I’m unlucky or we get the most prerecorded news ever ?

However they could make the regional news look and feel more regional break away from the itv news which ever region your from, and bring in different styles even pan regional regions could have their own identity it they used green screens which I’m sure they could do, would make itv stand out always I don’t no why itv New make out it’s itv news when actually it’s ITN which they fail to credit now ?!

[Neil Jones]

Obviously we are where we are but back in 2002 when the franchises were first just renewed was there any real opposition to that happening from potential bidders.   I can't recall any but I'm sure it would have been an obvious tactic of any competition to offer to keep a stronger regional identity and stronger backbone of regional programming, though perhaps having been burnt in the 90s by companies making promises that ultimately the regulator had to allow them to backtrack on they thought the status quo was better.

IIRC there was a provision in either the licences or the legislation for auto renewal.
So if anybody wanted to come in, somebody else would want out first. So if there was any interest it was moot anyway,.

[London Lite]

I don’t think Regional Branding would work now sadly as being from Devon our local news comes from Bristol which they don’t really give too hoots about us down here, they try but I switched off, and anytime I do turn on itv West Country News it’s always pre recorded version so either I’m unlucky or we get the most prerecorded news ever ?

Only the presenters are based in Bristol, they have a editor who decides the running order in Plymouth and there are correspondents in Cornwall and across Devon.

[Humphrey Hacker]

A few thoughts which may seem offbeat

In my opinion a unified ITV was inevitable from the early 1980’s. TV-AM proved it was possible to have a pan-national network.

If TV-AM was the “grandfather” than Peacock was the “father”. By opening the airwaves to the likes of Murdoch the path to full time national networks ie Sky (and briefly BSB) was open.

Like many I miss the old “regional” ITV but it’s more of a nostalgic feeling rather than any affection for the programmes. All of YTV’s regional programming seemed to be a Calendar spin-off eg “Calendar People” and “Calendar Tuesday”.

[benzj]

American viewers don't seem to have a problem with their system of networks and local affiliates.

Not that our system these days is all that different to the fate of ITV, I think it could be said; between generic "affiliation plus numeral" brand names, stations nationwide largely picking up the same syndicated programming arranged in different orders to fill non-networked hours, and the fact that large groups own the vast majority of local affiliates (only limited by a regulatory ownership cap), many stations have very little distinctive flavor outside of local news, and most of them are in no position to spend the money it would require to break out of that to any notable degree.