What was your ITV region?

[George 1978]

Central (and also Yorkshire with a correctly positioned portable aerial and signal booster).

Atmospheric conditions on a couple of occasions sometimes got us Anglia, London and the Meridian/TVS region.

[albatros]

For us on the Isle of Man it was BBC only available and that from a transmitter on the mainland until a repeater was brought into service. Later when ITV came on some of the island (West) received Granada from Winter Hill while the East received from Ulster from the Black Mountain site and many parts received no ITV programs at all. Even for those of us that did the reception was at best poor with a poor signal to noise ratio, co-channeling and times even tide effects! Later a repeater was installed on the island for Border Television which did NOT go down well because the general opinion was that Granada had better programming. Then I left the island to go to university. I was just turned nineteen and my life of sin and debauchery started from then!

[Victoria O'Keefe]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8VHha9UIJ8

[Arran]

Has anybody noticed that ITV regions didn't line up well with geographic regions of the UK?

The least divided geographic region was Greater London. Almost 100% of viewers watched Thames / Carlton and LWT. You had to try quite hard to receive another ITV region.

The second least divided geographic region was West Midlands. 100% covered by Central although it was possible to receive Granada or HTV close to the northern and western edges.

Wales was 100% covered by HTV but many viewers in north east Wales watched Granada instead. Some viewers in mid Wales watched Central.

Northern Ireland was 100% covered by Ulster but it was possible on the east coast to receive Border from the transmitter on the Isle of Man, and in north Antrim to receive STV.

East Midlands was the only geographic region that didn't have its own ITV region. It was divided 4 ways between Central, Yorkshire, Anglia, and part of the Peak District in Granada.

South West was divided 4 ways between TSW / Westcountry, HTV, TVS / Meridian, and Central.

[beccabear67]

I've heard of some real 'sweet spots' where one could pick up fairly strongly three ITV regions, say YTV-Granada-Tyne Tees, or YTV-Central-Anglia. Sparsely populated overlaps within line of sight of three transmitters so you just swung the aerial to catch which you wanted.

[Arran]

There are several of these 'sweet spots' including areas that aren't sparsely populated. There must have been some towns where it was more common for people to watch the wrong ITV region for the town. A few areas - such as south Essex - received the strongest signal from a transmitter for the wrong ITV region.

[Victoria O'Keefe]

Tyne Tees has been going since 1959, only Scottish Television/STV Central and Granada are older and are still in the ITV Network, but has spent most of the post-1990 Broadcast Act period as ITV's chew toy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_519h95XFs

[Arran]

YTV and Tyne Tees were both owned by Trident Television during the 1970s and early 1980s. Trident Television was originally established in order to allocate advertising for the Bilsdale transmitter that serves Teesside and a large part of North Yorkshire.

In 1982 both YTV and Tyne Tees became separate companies, but Trident Television held a minority of shares in both. Ten years later in 1992 Tyne Tees was taken over by YTV.

[George 1978]

I believe that Trident was also in the TV rental business in the 1970s as well, just like Rediffusion and Granada - saw some Daily Mirror adverts next to the TV pages when I was researching the BNA.

I always think of repeats of Rising Damp when I think of the name "Trident Television", as in: (c) Trident Television Ltd. 1975.

[Arran]

Trident Television was a conglomerate which also owned Windsor Safari Park (now Legoland) and a number of casinos amongst other things.

[Victoria O'Keefe]

Do you think that in today's ITV climate, Border Television's Scottish transmitters should be transferred to STV? Wales has a single ITV region, after all.

[Arran]

It would be interesting to know the percentage of people in the Border Television region in Scotland who watch ITV vs STV.

STV is available on satellite and the internet in the Border Television region.

[George 1978]

Do you think that in today's ITV climate, Border Television's Scottish transmitters should be transferred to STV? Wales has a single ITV region, after all.

And Cumbria could officially be part of the Tyne Tees region? I don't think that the Isle of Man would have Channel TV-alike status... North and West Northumberland should have been Tyne Tees anyway.

It's interesting how the ITV regions map would have looked if the regions were the same as the UK government region map - for example, the old TSW region and the HTV West area would have been all served by one company (and no doubt that £16 million probably wouldn't have been an overbid in the 1991 franchise auction, and TSW would have won as a result) - there would have still be split for regional news, advertising and some other programmes. HTV Wales would have bid too high for Wales on its own with £20 million no doubt. And on the other hand, the West Midlands and the East Midlands would have been split into two separate franchise areas - ATV and Central together methinks?

And now "Emmerdale Farm" from "Yorkshire and the Humber Television"...

[Victoria O'Keefe]

[Arran]

If I selected the ITV companies for the 1991 franchise round.

North of Scotland: Grampian
Central & South of Scotland: STV (Unopposed)
Borders: Abolish this region!
North East & Cumbria: Tyne Tees and Border in merger
North West & Isle of Man: Granada (Reluctantly!)
Yorkshire: YTV
Wales: Merlin
Midlands: Central (Unopposed)
East of England: Anglia
London Weekday: Thames
London Weekend: LWT
South & South East England: TVS in partnership with Meridian (TVS was in a bad financial position)
South West & West of England: TSW
Channel Islands: Channel TV
Northern Ireland: TV NI
Breakfast Time: TV AM
National & International News: ITN
Teletext: Oracle

New players: Meridian, Merlin, TV NI
Losers: HTV, Ulster