When the new franchises were advertised at the end of 1966 the general assessment was that the new company, Yorkshire, was being introduced to dilute the power and profitability of the four major companies, and perhaps to make life more difficult for them; thereafter, change for the sake of change would bring in two or perhaps three new regional contractors.

The real problem facing us at ABC Television was how to find a new area to replace our ‘lost week-end’ as Peter Black of the Daily Mail called it. The company’s reputation stood high with the Authority, but it would now be homeless. London was our objective. Like the other companies, we thought that the Authority would be content with simply weakening Rediffusion by lopping off the Friday evening. We at ABC therefore decided to apply for the London two-and-a-half day week-end contract, and, as second choice, the seven-day Midlands contract. The boards of directors of all the companies had studied their potential revenue and costs figures before reaching decisions. There was little difficulty in convincing our own Board that although the extra evening’s programme in London would be costly, the resulting revenue for the week-end would provide a profit at least equalling ABC’s current £3,000,000 [£55,000,000 today, allowing for inflation] and perhaps more if we worked hard enough at it.

The Authority had been doing its own arithmetic. It was on the assessments of their canny Director of Finance, Tony Curbishley, that the Authority had divided the five contracts as evenly and as fairly as they could. Curbishley, who had access to all the details of every company’s finances, had worked out the potential revenue of each area, deducted the running costs, and he calculated that the net profit on each of the four major companies would be £3,000,000, with smaller Yorkshire below this level. It was Curbishley who had been responsible for re-dividing London’s revenue and he calculated that the total income would be evenly split if the London week-end contract began at 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. on Fridays. According to his figures both of the London companies should show a profit of £3,000,000. This confirmed the figures we had worked out and presented to our own Board. The fact that London Weekend failed to achieve such profits in the early years reflected their early difficulties and miscalculations.

And perhaps now was the opportunity for new blood to be infused? It soon began to leak out that certain BBC executives were being nominated by would-be new contractors and were, in fact, appearing at the Authority’s Brompton Road hearings alongside the new applicants. Then, ominously, Michael Peacock resigned from his job as Controller of BBC1 to join Aidan Crawley’s London Weekend Television consortium. Whilst other BBC executives were known to have allowed their names to go forward, to be revealed only to the Authority, we decided that some sort of assurance must have been given to Peacock before he would venture from security into the unknown. It was discovered that he had been nominated as Managing Director of the proposed company, and other BBC names began to emerge: Humphrey Burton (music and opera), Doreen Stephens (head of BBC children’s programmes), Frank Muir (supervisor of comedy shows) and also John Freeman and David Frost. Such expertise and renown would be almost irresistible to Lord Hill.

By this time there was confusion and suspicion in the ITV boardrooms and on the third floor at the BBC. For everyone concerned, the final pronouncement by Lord Hill could not come too soon. The Authority reached its final decisions on the new contractors at their meeting towards the end of May and it was decided that the Chairman would make the announcement two days later, on a Sunday, to avoid Stock Exchange reactions.

On the fateful Sunday morning the Chairmen of the three London contenders returned with their cohorts to Brompton Road for their final interviews with Lord Hill and Sir Robert Fraser. Thus it was that London Weekend was awarded the programme contract it had sought, while John Spencer Wills, Chairman of Rediffusion Television, was told by Lord Hill of the Authority’s decision – which was to merge Rediffusion with ABC Television and to award the London weekday contract to the new joint company. There would be an equal sharing of profits but fifty-one per cent of the voting shares and the control of the new company would go to ABC, who would provide the managing director and the controller of programmes. Lord Hill described John Spencer Wills’ reaction as ‘deeply shocked, if not flabbergasted, but courteous throughout’.

Next it was ABC Television’s turn and I went with my Chairman, Sir Philip Warter and the deputy-chairman Robert Clark. We were given the same formula, with the addition that Lord Hill and Sir Robert Fraser congratulated me on my appointment as Managing Director of the new London company. It was only on the day after the meeting with Lord Hill and Bob Fraser that I began to realise fully the enormity of the task upon which I had been so suddenly embarked. My first thought was for the staff; nearly three thousand men and women employed by both companies were now reading in their newspapers that something had happened to their jobs. To operate the new company (and what should we call it?) for four-and-a-half days in London would need fewer staff than Rediffusion employed and more than had worked for ABC. There would be jobs for little more than half of the total payroll of the merged companies. Lord Hill had already tried to quell rising apprehension among the ITV workers by a promise that there would be a job for everyone – somewhere.

It was important too to retain the most valuable programme executives and I had to make rapid decisions as to who should be in control of the six programme departments, bearing in mind the equal division between the two original companies and the knowledge that some people had committed themselves already to new contractors.

The post Shotgun marriage appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Lord Normanton had died in office and the Chairmanship of the BBC had become vacant. In one of those occasional swings of the pendulum when power passes from Chairman to Director-General, or vice versa, Sir Hugh Greene had developed into a Director-General with character and personality strong enough to assume control of the Corporation’s policies and activities. His liberal attitudes towards programmes and programme-makers were less popular outside the BBC. It might be all very well to brush aside protesting do-gooders like the reforming Mary Whitehouse but it could be hazardous to antagonise a Prime Minister.

When the day came to decide on who should occupy the Chairman’s seat on the BBC Board of Governors the final choice rested with one man, the Prime Minister. There are two versions of what happened. One account is that during a Cabinet meeting the Prime Minister passed a scribbled note to his Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs, the Rt Hon Herbert Bowden, and asked him whether he had any preference for being appointed Chairman of the BBC or of Independent Television. ‘Bert’ Bowden was nearing the summit of an impressive career but, for domestic reasons, the travels essential to his Commonwealth duties had become irksome and he had notified the Prime Minister that he would welcome a transfer to another post in Britain.

When he read the message it did not take him long to make up his mind. He knew Sir Robert Fraser and liked him; Sir Hugh Greene was an unknown quantity and from hearsay the prospect was not attractive. Although the Minister had been an opponent of Independent Television in the beginning, his respect had grown for its accomplishments, and he decided that this was where his future might lie. He accepted the job, and the peerage that went with it. Lord Aylestone became Chairman of the Independent Television Authority.

The more familiar version is that the Prime Minister, dissatisfied with the BBC and its domination by the Director-General, came to the conclusion that the only remedy was to appoint a combative Chairman. Impressed with the performance of Lord Hill at ITV and his domination of its Director-General and members of the Authority, Mr Wilson decided to use the shock tactic of installing as Chairman of the BBC the ‘general’ in command of the opposition.

Perhaps when he contemplated such a switch Mr Wilson had been finally impressed by the firm way in which Lord Hill had dealt with the programme companies and his effective handling of the press at the Sunday afternoon conference to announce the changes. It was only six weeks after the press conference that Lord Hill was telephoned at his home in Harpenden and summoned to Downing Street to meet the Prime Minister on the following afternoon. Mr Wilson was accompanied by the Postmaster-General, then Mr Edward Short. The Prime Minister first complimented Lord Hill on his good work at the ITA and then offered him the Chairmanship of the BBC. Lord Hill’s own reflection on this was:

The Prime Minister had not given me a choice between an extension of my job at the ITA or the acceptance of the BBC Chairmanship. If he had, I suspect that I might well have accepted an extension of the ITA Chairmanship.

The one factor about which there was no doubt was the Prime Minister’s intention to put politicians in control of BBC and ITA.

Lord Hill moved into Broadcasting House and began a stormy regime at the BBC where the news of his appointment had been received with anger and bewilderment. A cold reception awaited him from the Board of Governors.

Lord Aylestone told me that his reception at Brompton Road, too, was chilly. The way he assessed it, everyone was speculating as to why he had been sent there, but before long his friendliness and his candour thawed out the freeze and he became the most popular Chairman with the staff of the Authority.

His first action had been to study the transcripts of all the interviews for the new franchises. His conclusions were that Television West-and-Wales had been treated fairly but he was not entirely happy with the handling of Rediffusion.

Born in Cardiff, where his parents ran a small but unsuccessful bakery, Bert Bowden became Labour member for Leicester South in 1945, gaining a safe seat. His five years at the Authority were extended to seven and a half years and he left with the goodwill of the staff and all the companies. A modest and simple man, his tastes in many ways reflected the programme preferences of the public, and above all he was totally honest and direct in his approach to problems. He was accessible to all and overcame most difficulties by applying ordinary commonsense.

Lord Hill’s legacy of new companies became Lord Aylestone’s baby, with all the pangs of youthfulness. There was also the task of finding a successor for Sir Robert Fraser, who was due to retire. I know that Lord Aylestone’s first preference for a new Director-General would have been John Freeman and an approach was made. At the time John Freeman was not attracted but ultimately, when the chaotic situation at London Weekend was heading for disaster, the company was salvaged by the appointment of John Freeman in the combined role of Chairman and Chief Executive, with Aidan Crawley becoming president.

Thames Television had succeeded in mastering most of the problems of a merger and was creating no difficulties for the new Authority Chairman. After a successful launching at the Mansion House Thames had reached the end of its first half year and in spite of the industry’s troubled re-start the Company looked well set for a good run.

Then came rumblings of another change. EMI had made a bid to take over ABC, half owners of Thames Television.

The post Over the Hill appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

The majority shareholder, who also provided the majority of the staff and management, was the former ABC Weekend Television, owned by the Associated British Picture Corporation.

ABC Weekend had begun in 1956, serving the Midlands and the North on Saturdays and Sundays from Aston in Birmingham and Didsbury in Manchester.

Being the smallest of the “Big 4” companies of the time and covering the largest area for the smallest time, it wasn’t long before ABC Weekend decided (with a push from the ITA) to concentrate resources on their presentation in order to make a mark.

Along with this concentration, they took over the former Warner Bros studios in Teddington and began to produce some of ITV’s best-known programming of “the golden age” – The Avengers, ABC Armchair Theatre, Redcap and many others.

When the ITV contracts came up for renewal in 1967, ABC applied for the London weekends (Friday evening to Sunday night) contract with a high confidence of success, having been something of the golden boy in the ITA’s eye.

The minority shareholder was Rediffusion London, owned by British Electric Traction and BET’s subsidiary Broadcast Relay Services, began life as a joint venture with Associated Newspapers, calling itself Associated-Rediffusion (A-R).

A-R was the first ITV station on air, launching in September 1955, and held the “plum” contract for London weekdays – at that time including Friday evenings.

Associated Newspapers sold the majority of their shareholding during the very lean times at the start of the service, when all the ITV companies were unprofitable and haemorrhaging money.

The name Associated-Rediffusion, however, lasted on air until 1964, when, with competition from the new BBC-2 and the pirate radio stations combining with a major change of fashion and style in the UK, the company relaunched itself on air as Rediffusion, London.

As the most powerful ITV company, and as incumbent, Rediffusion were very confident of retaining their licence when the ITA announced the contract reviews. They were so confident, in fact, that much of the interview was spent lecturing the regulator on how television was done and how little the regulator knew how to do it. Also thrown in for good measure was a complaint about the loss of Friday evenings when the next contracts began.

This arrogance, for want of a better word, annoyed the abrasive chairman of the ITA, Lord Hill of Luton. The insult was made worse when the management leading the bid left, only for some of them to return as leading lights in other consortia.

Lord Hill already had a tough decision to make as to where ABC, its existing regions abolished, would fit into the new system. Rediffusion’s arrogance and the treachery of its senior management weakened their position in his eyes.

With an absolutely startling bid from the great and the good of broadcasting for the London weekends contract, Lord Hill and his Authority would need to make some very tough choices.

The post The players appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

The press in the week before had taken delight in authoritatively speculating that certain companies were doomed. STV in Glasgow was going. One of the regionals would be restructured. A merger between Southern and someone was on hand.

The reality was very different but just as shocking. TWW, the dual broadcaster to Wales and western England, was out, replaced by a dazzling array of names headed by Richard Burton.

London weekends went to the London Television Consortium, made up of some of the senior management of the BBC plus other big names. ATV was therefore stripped of its London foothold.

The new Yorkshire region went to the Telefusion rentals and pipe-TV company, on condition that they took up the talent and management of the rival Yorkshire Independent Television consortium.

With all that and the headlines for Monday’s newspapers practically writing themselves (Richard Burton top, David Frost second, Telefusion on the inside pages), the announcement about the London weekdays contract must have seemed dry and technical.

It certainly didn’t seem to be a revolution. After all, neither the incumbent, Rediffusion, nor the displaced ABC had lost out.

Instead there would be a technical change as the two combined to provide programmes from Monday morning till Friday afternoon.

That ABC was given a slim majority of the company was barely noticed. That the ITA had specified the Howard Thomas of ABC was to be the MD and that he was to have a free hand in choosing the staff and management also slipped past.

Most journalists saw nothing to write up about – just a boardroom manoeuvre here and name change (possibly) there. Richard Burton and David Frost seemed much more important.

The journalists probably missed a trick. Far from being a simple merger between two companies to run an existing service, this was a revolution.

Rediffusion were completely humiliated. From being the premier ITV company, they switched to having a large investment in someone else’s premier ITV company.

ABC, that minnow in the Midlands and North, frequently confused with ATV and always fighting its London weekend rival for access to the peak London audience, suddenly came into possession of the commanding heights of ITV.

What no-one asked, because no-one realised exactly what this meant, was if ABC was up to the job. And would Rediffusion go quietly?

The journalists went back to their desks and wrote about Richard Burton’s private life and David Frost’s public life and produced profiles on little Telefusion.

Meanwhile, Howard Thomas sat down and started to consider the really important issues.

The post The shotgun marriage appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

When ITV first began in 1955, Associated-Rediffusion and ATV London had good relations. Partially this was of necessity: the two shared A-R’s London facilities, and when bankruptcy beckoned in early 1956, AR had effectively bankrolled ATV to keep it on air. The last thing A-R needed was to expand its loss-making 5 day operation into a loss-making 7 day operation, after all.

Once ATV opened in Birmingham, AR was looking forward to another company pulling its weight and taking some of the burden of the weekday production requirements.

Alas, ATV chose to save its best output for London weekends; anything of value that could be recorded in Birmingham to show in London found its way on to ATV London.

ABC and ATV fought like cat and dog from the start – on launch day, ABC was to be found in the High Court arguing that the new London weekend contractor was passing off the initials ‘ABC’ by calling itself Associated Broadcasting Company. ATV had changed its name and on-air identity by its third week.

ABC and ATV went into partnership on studios in Birmingham out of necessity in the early, loss-making days. Howard Thomas describes in his autobiography how this was a necessary short-term solution that caused him unending problems as ATV in turn denied him access to London and challenged the costings of the few programmes they did allow through.

ABC and Granada had a better relationship, if only because the two of them resolutely ignored each other as much as they could. Granada was eventually told by the ITA that their closedowns on a Friday night, which implied that there was no television at all until Monday, would have to not only mention that ITV continued when Granada was off, but also name-check the weekend service.

Nevertheless, Granada in all its publicity continued to suggest that the north of England was served by Granada and Granada alone.

These petty differences were swept away when the new pattern of broadcasting was announced in 1967. From now on, the previously regional model of 7-day companies would apply everywhere.

Except London.

The London weekday company was already the dominant company in ITV – although this was partially because ATV was distracted by its split region and Granada had an almost-illegally close relationship with AR and continued to be pals with Rediffusion London.

However, the fact remained that a 7-day London company would very quickly overwhelm the entire network. It would be richer, have better access to stars and would start to draw money and talent from out of the regions – an anathema to the ITA in pre-devolution days, but not something that worries regulators now.

So the split was retained. But the ITA wanted the new “Big 5” to have roughly equal shares of the revenue of ITV (roughly because YTV was a minnow compared to the other 4, whilst ATV had rich diversifications like ITC that somewhat muddied the waters) and also planned to end the practice of one company having two contract areas (ABC and ATV).

The split therefore needed to move to create a more useful equity between weekdays and weekends in London. The most useful split would have been a straight Monday-Thursday/Friday-Sunday division.

However, the ITV system had commitments during the day on Fridays. Schools programming couldn’t just stop or change style or control on a Friday – although control of output could go elsewhere (it went to ATV in Birmingham).

Sports programming like racing and cricket was a staple of daytime ITV, being exempt from the broadcasting hours restrictions that kept television to a largely evenings-only experience until the early 1970s.

But a major London event, like test cricket or Wimbledon couldn’t efficiently be split between two providers without a lot of waste, duplication and confusion.

Worse, most major news stories in those days occurred on weekdays during the day – politicians and terrorists alike hadn’t learnt to time events to catch the BBC news at 8.55 or the ITN News at Ten.

With the ITA planning a specifically different service on weekdays to that seen on weekends, it didn’t want the weekend provider suddenly having to cover a major story of the style of Churchill’s funeral. Likewise, it didn’t want the entire responsibility to fall on to the shoulders of ITN, who would have had to run to the ITA to ask them to make ITV pay for the increased responsibility.

Therefore the split would need to be after these things were unlikely to happen, but before the meat of the evening was underway – sometime on Friday evening.

The time of the split appears not to have been fixed by the time of the contract interviews. Certainly the new London Television Consortium (later London Weekend and later still LWT) was already lobbying for all of Friday for its weekend service well before it went on air.

Thames also wanted as much of peak time as could be garnered.

The time to split was set at 7pm by the ITA, though they agreed to keep this under consideration as both contractors wanted to push it an hour or more either way.

Therefore Thames and LWT were thrust into closer contact than any two companies had ever been before. The split between the two was noticeable not only for its picture roll at 7pm but also for the failure of either announcer to acknowledge the other’s existence – although Thames would provide the epilogue on LWT at first, and in the 1980s would even provide LWT with a service called “Thames Weekend News”.

Needless to say, the two companies started to bicker almost immediately.

LWT’s management was largely ex-BBC. They had no idea how ITV worked, but knew that it didn’t and were happy to tell their opposite numbers of that fact to their faces. Thames management was ABC, and they took pleasure in telling the LWT shower that they would crash and burn.

After the launch-week strikes and subsequent shut down, Thames’s ex-ABC sales force went out on the rampage to rebuild the lost business.

LWT’s ex-Rediffusion sales force arranged to have lunch with a contact here and a friend there.

Thames organised discounts, special offers and freebies.

LWT took people to dinner and gave them free tickets to studio audience shows.

Thames sales staff knocked on doors, rang around, called in favours, got friends and families to recruit small advertisers.

LWT sales staff sat and waited for the phone to ring like gentlemen should do.

Thames, worried over the potential financial ruin from the botched launch period, poured money it didn’t have into popular programmes and local interest features.

LWT produced the highbrow arts features, reviews and David Frost talk shows they had promised the ITA. And put them out in peak time. And wondered why the other regions didn’t take them.

Thames aggressively sold its programmes to the network and abroad.

LWT offered its programmes to the network and expressed wry amusement when there were no takers. How foolish these old-fashioned ITV people were! The programmes wouldn’t sell abroad, either – after all, they wouldn’t sell in the UK.

The end result of this was obvious to everyone except those at LWT.

LWT crashed and burned.

The ex-BBC executives were amazed when it was pointed out to them that their programmes had to attract viewers to attract advertisers to attract money. If that circle never started, the company would simply go bust.

The executives had all been crying out for serious arts and documentary programmes on a weekend that neither BBC-1 nor ATV London were supplying. They thought that providing expensive arts programmes to the masses in place of Sunday Night at the London Palladium would be providing the masses with just what they needed.

It’s likely true that the masses needed that. But foisting it upon them wouldn’t work on the BBC (which is why they left) so it was even less likely to work on ITV on the weekends. If nothing else, the masses still had popular programming on BBC-1 at weekends – that didn’t end when the executives left (quite the reverse – Sir Hugh Carleton Greene’s reforms of the BBC were bearing fruit even as he was leaving; the BBC had never been so popular since the monopoly ended).

The ITA, powerless to stop LWT making a fool of itself but required by law to be ready to pick up the pieces, drew up two plans of action.

1. In the first instance, the day LWT went bankrupt, Thames would go 7 days. Howard Thomas reports that he was asked to draw up an emergency schedule for Thames weekends, undoubtedly to last the period until a new contract could be let – generally regarded to be about a year.
2. Second, that contract would be offered first and foremost to Rediffusion Television. They would be invited to takeover the remains of LWT (the studios, staff and programming at a peppercorn certainly; the actual bankrupt company itself if they were wiling to yet again throw money at ITV, despite their treatment last time).

When the second event came to pass, Rediffusion would give up its share of Thames at market rate. EMI would be a willing buyer; if not, there were others.

Rediffusion would be compensated by having the ITA’s favour, so far as that went. Most probably that meant rebates on rental and a favourable eye cast upon any programme plans.

Rediffusion Television, under John Spencer Wills, wasn’t fooled by this; nevertheless it was a tempting offer and one that BET was unlikely to refuse.

But BET was already noticing that its 49% of Thames was earning almost as much money as 100% of Rediffusion London. Given time to settle in and an end to the recession that had inevitably followed in on the heals of the new Tory government in 1970, 49% of Thames was likely to be worth far more than 100% of Rediffusion Weekend Television.

Rediffusion-BET were therefore cautious in their replies to the ITA’s back-channel private soundings.

In the end it didn’t matter – LWT recovered after a series of painful boardroom coups, relaunches and attempts to grasp the nature of Independent Television.

But a suspicion between LWT and Thames was now set in cement. Many LWT staff had been displaced from good jobs at Rediffusion by the coming of Thames. The sales force of Thames had helped doom the early ideals of LWT. The new management at LWT knew that Thames was always waiting to catch their contract should they fall.

There would be co-operation and contact between the two companies over the years, but never trust.

When contract renewals came up in 1973/4, 1980/2 and 1991/3, the two would back the bids of others either loudly or behind the scenes.

Eventually one of them would win by default. But that’s another story.

The post Weekend world appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Thames Television House, 306 Euston Road, London NW1 3BB
Tel: 01-387 9494
Teddington Studios, Teddington Lock, Teddington, Middlesex
Tel: 01-977 3232
Sales Office: Norfolk House, Smallbrook Ringway, Birmingham 5
Tel: 021-643 9131

Thames Television Limited is the company which, under agreement with the Independent Television Authority, provides the television programmes in London on weekdays from Monday to 7 pm Friday.

Directors

Lord Shawcross, PC, QC (Chairman); Howard Thomas, CBE (Managing Director); George A Cooper (Director of Sales); John T Davey, FCA; D R W Dicks; HSL Dundas, DSO, DFC; Bernard R Greenhead, OBE (Director of Studios and Engineering); Clive G D May, FCA (Director of Finance); Brian Tesler, MA (Director of Programmes); T H Tilling; Colin S Wills, MA, ACA (Director of Administration).

Executives

Ben E Marr, CA (Company Secretary); Jack Andrews (Controller, Programme Department); Ken E Fletcher (Controller, Overseas Sales); Jeremy Isaacs (Controller of Feature Programmes); Philip Jones (Controller of Light Entertainment); Guthrie Moir, MA (Controller of Education and Religious Programmes); Terry W Pace (Controller, London Studios); Eric E Parry (Controller, Administration); Lewis Rudd (Controller of Children’s Programmes); J Stuart Sansom, AMIERE (Technical Controller); James F Shaw (Sales Controller); Lloyd Shirley (Controller of Drama); Grahame Turner (Controller of Outside Broadcasts); David Graham (Labour Relations Adviser); Max Lawson, FCA (Chief Accountant); Donald Cullimore, MA (Chief Press Officer); J A Muir Sutherland, MA (Prograrrme Co-ordinator); John Hambley (Publicity Manager); Douglas Thornes (Research Manager).

Programmes

From its central London Studios, from Monday to Friday Thames provides itv programmes for 14 million people living in and around the capital. For them, for ITV viewers throughout Britain, and for television stations world wide, Thames produces well over a thousand programmes a year. The company’s aim is to educate, inform and entertain in depth and on the widest possible scale.

Most of the drama, light entertainment and children’s productions within this wide-ranging output are made in the riverside studios at Teddington, in Middlesex, ten miles from Thames Television House. There are three studios at Teddington, the largest being 7500 sq.ft, and they are among the world’s most advanced TV studios, being the first to incorporate many of the features now being introduced into new ITV studios. All studios are fully operational in colour, and have complete support facilities, including scene building and rehearsal rooms.

Current affairs and documentary programmes are produced mainly at TTH, with its presentation and audience studios and its extensive telecine, vtr and editing facilities. Today, London’s daily live magazine programme, is also produced at and transmitted from TTH.

Thames’ outside broadcast units are based at Hanworth, near Teddington. The equipment includes one four-colour camera unit, two two-colour camera plus VTR units and a single colour camera unit, three microwave link units and other auxiliaries, such as hydraulic towers.

The programme output of these three centres has made Thames a leading contributor to the national Top Twenty programme ‘league table’; and the company has consistently won the major share of London viewing each week. Overseas sales of programmes are increasing, and with these the Thames symbol on a TV programme is becoming famous internationally. Here is a list of some of the programmes Thames produces:

DRAMA: Armchair Theatre; Callan; The Mind of Mr J G Reeder; Public Eye; Special Branch; Man at the Top; Shadows of Fear; The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes; Six Days of Justice.

CHILDREN’S: Magpie; Ace of Wands; The Sooty Show; Pinky and Perky; Smith; Zing along; Once Upon a Time; Anita in Jumbleland; Sexton Blake; Elephant’s Eggs in a Rhubarb Tree; Full House; Tottering Towers.

LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT: This Is Your Life; For the Love of Ada; Father, Dear Father; Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width; Bless This House; And Mother Makes Three; Do Me a Favour; Mike and Bernie (series); Opportunity Knocks!; David Nixon’s Magic Box; Benny Hill Specials; Max (special); Frankie Howerd Specials; Mike and Bernie’s Show (special).

FEATURES: This Week; Report; The Day Before Yesterday; Tea Break; The Second World War (in production).

OUTSIDE BROADCASTS: Wrestling; Racing; Football; Tennis; Ice Skating; Athletics; Drive-In (motoring magazine); Specials (fashion shows, beauty contests. Royal Command Performance, etc.)

SCHOOLS: Seeing and Doing; Finding Out; The World Around Us; Drama; Song and Story; Le Mystere de Valbec (French); Fusion; Evidence.

ADULT EDUCATION: Treasures of the British Museum; Living Architects; Living Writers; Looking At… (Antiques); The Garden Indoors; Children to Children; Yoga for Health; National Trust.

RELIGION: Last Programme (throughout the week); Specials for Christmas and Easter.

Visits to Studios

A limited number of tickets is available for audiences at certain shows. Applications, enclosing stamped addressed envelopes, should be made to the Ticket Office at Thames Television House, 306 Euston Road, London NW1 3BB. The minimum age is 16, except for some programmes specially for children.

Enquiries

Enquiries about artists and programmes should be addressed to Viewers’ Correspondence, Thames Television House, 306 Euston Road, London NW1 3BB.

Submission of Scripts

While Thames will always welcome the submission of proposals for plays and series, drama plans are subject to change over the year. Writers are advised in the first place to contact the Story Supervisor at Teddington Studios.

Sales and Marketing

Thames operates a full marketing and merchandising service and offers special rates for local advertisers, new products, holiday and travel advertisers etc. Research services include Television consumer audit, Thames area retail audit, product and campaign testing and attitude research. An auxiliary sales force of men or girls is available for selling-in, promotions and similar merchandising work, and Thames will also co-operate fully on promotional mailings, sales conferences and all other support activities. Thames Ansafone, the first and still the largest direct-response-by-phone system, is available at special rates to mail order, recruitment and all other direct response advertisers. Details are available in ‘The Uncommon Market’ or from the Sales Controller.

New Technology

Thames has undertaken development of process control techniques in the field of on-line signal switching and machine control. As an extension of this, it is seeking to apply the same control hardware to production resource allocation.

A further aspect of digital control technology being used is that of synchronisation between helical scan video recorders and audio recorders. This is being used for sound dubbing operations, with particular reference to the production of dialogue tracks separate from music and effects, the purpose being to provide foreign language dialogue versions of major productions.

The post ITV 1972 appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

London (Weekdays)

Thames Television House, 306 Euston Road, London NW1 3BB Tel: 01-387 9494
Teddington Studios, Teddington Lock, Teddington, Middlesex Tel: 01-977 3252
Sales Office: Norfolk House, Smallbrook Ringway, Birmingham 5 Tel: 021-643 9151

Thames Television Limited is the company which, under agreement with the Independent Television Authority, provides the television programmes in London on weekdays from Monday to 7 pm Friday.

Directors

Lord Shawcross, PC, QC (Chairman); Howard Thomas, CBE (Managing Director); George A Cooper (Director of Sales); John T Davey, FCA; D R W Dicks; H S L Dundas, DSO, DFC; Bernard R Greenhead, OBE (Director of Studios and Engineering); Clive G D May, FCA (Director of Finance); Brian Tesler, MA (Director of Programmes); T H Tilling; Colin S Wills, MA, ACA (Director of Administration).

Executives

Ben E Marr, CA (Company Secretary); Jack Andrews (Controller, Programme Department); Ken E Fletcher (Controller, Overseas Sales); David Graham (Labour Relations Adviser); John Hambley (Publicity Manager); Jeremy Isaacs (Controller of Feature Programmes); Philip Jones (Controller of Light Entertainment); Alan Kaupe (Controller of Publicity); Max Lawson, FCA (Chief Accountant); Guthrie Moir, MA (Controller of Education & Religious Programmes); Terry W Pace (Controller, London Studios); Eric E Parry (Controller, Administration); Lewis Rudd (Controller of Children’s Programmes); J Stuart Sansom, AMIERE (Technical Controller); James F Shaw (Sales Controller); Lloyd Shirley (Controller of Drama); J A Muir Sutherland, MA (Programme Co-ordinator); Douglas Thornes (Research Manager); Grahame Turner (Controller of Outside Broadcasts); Edwin Whiteley (Head of Schools Broadcasting).

Staff

Total members of staff 1,350.

Visits to Studios

A limited number of tickets is available for audiences at certain shows. Applications, enclosing stamped addressed envelopes, should be made to the Ticket Office at Thames Television House, 306 Euston Road, London NW1 3BB. The minimum age is sixteen, except for some programmes specially for children.

Enquiries

Enquiries about artists and programmes should be addressed to Viewers’ Correspondence, Thames Television House, 306 Euston Road, London NW1 3BB.

Submission of Scripts

While Thames will always welcome the submission of proposals for plays and series, drama plans are subject to change over the year. Writers are advised in the first place to contact the Story Supervisor at Teddington Studios.

Sales and Marketing

Thames offers advertisers a complete marketing and merchandising service within the London television area. Facilities include research, the Thames Manpower auxiliary sales force, a 24-hour Ansafone service for direct response to commercials, and the twice-yearly Holiday Time feature for tour and travel advertisers. Full information is available from the Sales Controller.

Studios

LONDON: At Thames Television House, Thames’ central London headquarters, there are presentation and audience studios with VTR and telecine facilities, including the Today studio from which London’s daily live magazine programme is transmitted. The building also houses the company’s extensive Film Department and transmission control.

TEDDINGTON: Thames’ main studio production centre is on the Thames riverside at Teddington in Middlesex, ten miles from Thames Television House. There are three studios, of which the largest is 7,500 sq ft, equipped with full facilities, including scene building and rehearsal rooms. Technically they are among the world’s most advanced studios, and were the first to incorporate many of the features now being introduced into new ITV studios. All studios are fully operational in colour, and the entire output of the centre is produced on 625 lines. mobile division : The company’s outside broadcast units, mobile recording units, microwave link and other mobile units are based at Han worth, near Teddington. The equipment includes two four-colour camera units, a self-contained two-colour camera-plus-VTR unit, a mobile VTR unit and such auxiliaries as hydraulic tower vehicles.

Colour Television

Much of the original colour television development in Independent Television was carried out at Teddington, and all Thames’ facilities are converted to colour. With several years’ experience and the most up-to-date equipment, Thames produces a high standard of colour programmes.

Programmes

DRAMA: Armchair Theatre; Callan; Rumour; The Mind of Mr J G Reeder; Public Eye; Special Branch; Man at the Top; Shadows of Fear; The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes; CHILDREN’S: Magpie; Two D’s and a Dog; Wreckers at Dead Eye; Ace of Wands; The Sooty Show; Pinky and Perky; Smith; Zingalong; Once Upon a Time; Anita in Jumbleland; Sexton Blake; LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT: This is Your Life; Max; For the Love of Ada; Father, Dear Father; Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width; Opportunity Knocks!; Mike and Bernie’s Scene; David Nixon’s Magic Box; Benny Hill Specials; Max Specials; Inside the Mind of Dave Allen (Special); Mike and Bernie Winters Special; FEATURES: This Week; Report; Today; The Day Before Yesterday. OUTSIDE BROADCASTS: Wrestling; Racing; Football; Specials, etc. SCHOOLS : Seeing and Doing; Finding Out; The World Around Us; Writer’s Workshop; Drama; Patterns of Expression; Living Now; Advent of Steam; French; ADULT EDUCATION: Living Writers; People to People; The Garden Indoors; Cooking Price-Wise. RELIGION: Last Programmes.

The post ITV 1971 appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Answering John Tasker (Head of Sound, Teddington), when he suggested that “it shouldn’t take a crisis to get management and staff together”, Mr Thomas repeated what he and the Chairman had said at the two earlier presentations at Euston. “In an industry which is at the very centre of communications, we seem to find difficulty in communicating effectively with each other. There has got to be an improvement: and I hope you will see these talks by the Executive Directors as a positive step forward.”

All three presentations were well attended and the general opinion was that useful information about the company had been put across. The question sessions at the end were particularly valuable.

Extracts

The Managing Director introduced the presentation by reiterating Thames’ position as ITV’s leading company. “Let me remind you, then, that Thames now makes more of Britain’s most popular programmes than any other ITV company. That in its own area, London, Thames is consistently more popular than the BBC or London Weekend Television. And that in sales of commercial time, despite a period of comparative recession in the advertising industry, the company has outstripped its competitors.”

Technical operations

Having described the divisional structure of the company, he paid tribute to the engineers. “The technical operations of Thames are second to none in ITV. The studios at Teddington, and those here at Euston and also our outside broadcast division at Han worth, keep us on the air and they also keep us one step ahead of the game in this fast-moving business. It was Bernard Greenhead and his team who did such a great deal to pioneer colour television for ITV.”

Sales

He then introduced George Cooper, Director in charge of Sales, Research and Publicity. Mr Cooper reminded the audience of ITV’s growth from a medium reaching only half a million homes across the country in 1956 to one now capable of being seen in 16.6 million homes. 94% of the total population was now covered by ITV, and advertisers spent £98.5 millions in 1969 to reach that audience.

He went on to talk about the Thames area. First its size: “If you take the whole of the population of Australia plus the population of New Zealand, and put them into an area half the size of Tasmania, you have the Thames market in size and population. It is the largest and most influential of all television areas. It contains four-and-a-quarter million Independent Television homes and fourteen million people”.

Its buying power: “Although our single area contains 25% of all the television homes in the country, it accounts for over 30% of total national sales. Many companies can, and do, operate successfully and profitably in the Thames area alone. With its high concentration of retail outlets and stores, its higher than average incomes and the sophistication of its population, it offers considerable economies in sales and marketing costs and gives opportunities for exceptional rewards to companies who are geared to take advantage of these conditions.”

ITA forecast beaten

Mr Cooper then turned to Thames’ actual performance in selling time.

“The Independent Television Authority calculated that from 1968 the five main companies would earn revenue in the following order:

1. ATV with seven days in the Midlands.
2. Granada with seven days in Lancashire.
3. Thames with four-and-a-half days in London
4. LWT with two-and-a-half days in London.
5. Yorkshire with seven days in Yorkshire.

And they divided the London contract on an almost equal basis, with 50.4% of the revenue to Thames and 49.6% to London Weekend.”

In practice, he continued, the ITA’s forecasts have not materialised. Thames soon became, and has remained, No. 1 revenue earner and not third as the Authority predicted. And what about the roughly 50/50 split of London revenue between ourselves and LWT?

“In fact, we are considerably above the 50% line and LWT are well below it. We have been steadily improving our share of the London revenue going up from 55% to 60% and in June 1970 as high as 65%. This in spite of intensive efforts by LWT to improve their position with attractive rate offers to advertisers. These achievements made Thames No. 1 in London and No. 1 across the Network, a position we intend to maintain.”

Future

Finally he looked to the future: “Advertising budgets are being cut, money is being spent on promotional activities other than television and press, and our customers want more help and services from us. We have pioneered support activities like the Ansafone Service, reply coupons in the TVTimes, inclusive production facilities and many other services which are time consuming and sometimes costly. But these facilities are necessary if we are to attract new sources of revenue to make up for losses and to encourage our customers that television is right for them. Colour, videotape, studio facilities for the smaller advertiser – these and many other services will be necessary to develop our advertising income and maintain the excitement and effectiveness of the medium.”

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Thames Television

Thames Television House, 306 Euston Road, London NW1 Telephone 01 -387 9494
Television House, Kingsway, London WC2 Telephone 01 -405 7888
Teddington Studios, Teddington Lock, Teddington,  Middlesex Telephone 01 -977 3252
Sales Office:
Norfolk House, Smallbrook, Ringway, Birmingham 5 Telephone 021-643 9151

Thames Television Limited is the company which, under agreement with the Independent Television Authority, provides the television programmes in London on weekdays from Monday to 7pm Friday for the six-year contract period from the end of July 1968

Directors

Lord Shawcross, PC, QC (Chairman); Howard Thomas, CBE (Managing Director); George A Cooper (Director of Sales); J T Davey, FCA; DRW Dicks; H S L Dundas, DSO, DFC ; Bernard R Greenhead, OBE (Director of Studios and Engineering); Clive May, FCA; Brian Tesler, MA (Director of Programmes); Humphrey Tilling; Colin S Wills, MA, FCA.

Executives

B E Marr, CA (Company Secretary); Jack Andrews (Controller, Programme Department); D J Conway (Regional Advertisement Manager); D Graham (Labour Relations Adviser); John Hambley (Publicity Manager); Jeremy Isaacs (Controller of Features and Children’s Programmes); Philip Jones (Controller of Light Entertainment); Alan Kaupe (Controller of Publicity); M Lawson, FCA (Chief Accountant); Guthrie Moir, MA (Controller of Educational and Religious Programmes); Terry Pace (Controller, London Studios); E E Parry (Controller, Teddington Studios); Lewis Rudd (Executive Producer, Children’s Programmes); J S Sansom, AMIERE (Chief Engineer); J F Shaw (Sales Controller); Lloyd Shirley (Controller of Drama); George Spackman (Chief Press Officer); Muir Sutherland, MA (Programme Co-ordinator); D Thornes (Research Manager); Grahame Turner (Controller of Outside Broadcasts); Edwin Whiteley (Head of Schools Broadcasting).

Staff

Total members of staff 1,465.

Visits to Studios

A limited number of tickets is available for audiences at certain shows. Applications, enclosing stamped addressed envelopes, should be made to the Ticket Office at Thames Television, Television House, Kingsway, London WC2. The minimum age is sixteen, except for some programmes specially for children.

Enquiries

Enquiries about artists and programmes should be addressed to Viewers’ Correspondence, Thames Television, Television House, Kingsway, London WC2.

Submission of Scripts

Present requirements are for 60 and 90 minute plays and series. But programmes change, and authors should contact story editors in the appropriate department to learn future trends before submitting outlines or scripts.

Studios

At Thames Television House, 306 Euston Road, London NW1, which is Thames’ Central London headquarters, there are presentation and audience studios including the Today studio from which London’s daily live programme is transmitted. Thames Film Department will also be at Thames Television House together with transmission control, VTR and telecine facilities.

Teddington: The main studio production centre is on the Thames riverside at Teddington in Middlesex, ten miles from Television House. There are three studios, of which the largest is 7,500 sq ft. together with full facilities, including scene building and rehearsal rooms. Technically they are among the world’s most advanced studios, and were the first to incorporate many of the features now being introduced into new ITV studios. Two studios are already fully operational in colour, and the entire output of the centre is produced on 625 lines.

Mobile Division: The Mobile Division based at Hanworth, near Teddington, consists of two £250,000 mobile colour control rooms, one large monochrome unit plus smaller camera and recording units, microwave links and auxiliary vehicles.

Colour Television

Important colour development for Independent Television was undertaken at Teddington studios, including extensive research into the three major television systems, design and testing of new colour equipment and investigation of colour conversion problems. The ITA’s official colour demonstrations in 1966, which helped pave the way to a national colour television service, came from Teddington. Thames is producing all programmes in colour and its staff are widely experienced in all facets of colour production.

Programmes

Drama: Mystery & Imagination; Armchair Theatre; Public Eye; The Mind of Mr J G Reeder; Special Branch; Playhouse. Children: Magpie; The Sooty Show; Pinky & Perky; Sexton Blake; Once Upon a Time; The Tingaree Affair; Professor Branestawm; The Paperbag Players; Do Not Adjust Your Set; Hattytown. Light Entertainment: Max; Opportunity Knocks!; Two In Clover; Benny Hill ‘Specials’; Cribbins; This Is Your Life; A Present for Dickie. Features: This Week; Report; Today. Outside Broadcasts: Wrestling; Racing; Football, etc. Schools: Finding Out ; Seeing and Doing; World Around Us; Song and Story. Adult Education: How About You?; Raj; Ballet For All. Religion: Last Programmes.

The post ITV 1970 appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

LONDON (WEEKDAYS)
Thames Television Limited is the company which, under agreement with the Independent Television Authority, provides the television programmes in London on weekdays from Monday to 7 p.m. Friday for the six-year contract period from the end of July 1968.

Directors: Sir Philip Warter (Chairman); Robert Clark, M.A., LL.B. (Deputy Chairman); Howard Thomas, C.B.E. (Managing Director); George A. Cooper (Director of Sales); J. T. Davey, F.C.A.; D. R. W. Dicks; H. S. L. Dundas, D.S.O., D.F.C.; Bernard R. Greenhead (Director of Studios and Engineering); A. W. Groocock, O.B.E., F.C.I.S.; Brian Tesler, M A. (Director of Programmes).

Executives: B. E. Marr, C.A. (Company Secretary); J. Andrews (Controller Programme Department); D. Conway (Regional Advertisement Manager); H. Gibson (Manager, Administration Services); D. Graham (Labour Relations Adviser); Jeremy Isaacs (Controller of Features and Children’s Programmes); Philip Jones (Controller of Light Entertainment); Alan Kaupe (Publicity Manager); M. Lawson, F.C.A. (Chief Accountant); Guthrie Moir, M.A. (Controller of Education and Religious Programmes); T. Pace (Controller London Studios); E. E. Parry (Controller Teddington Studios); Lewis Rudd (Executive Producer Children’s Programmes); J. S. Sansom, A.M.I.E.R.E. (Chief Engineer); J. Shaw (Sales Controller); Lloyd Shirley (Controller of Drama); George Spackman (Chief Press Officer); Muir Sutherland (Programme Co-ordinator); D. Thornes (Research Manager); Grahame Turner (Controller of Outside Broadcasts); Edwin Whiteley (Head of Schools Broadcasts).

Staff: Total members of staff 1,600.

Television House, Kingsway, London WC2
01-405 7888
Teddington Studios, Teddington Lock, Teddington, Middlesex
01-977 3252
Sales Offices: Norfolk House, Smallbrook Ringway, Birmingham 5
021-643 9151
Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester M1 5AG
061-236 9867

Visits to Studios: A limited number of tickets are available for audiences at certain shows. Applications, enclosing stamped addressed envelopes, should he made to the Ticket Office at Thames Television, Television House, Kingsway, London WC2. The minimum age is sixteen, except for some programmes specially for children.

Enquiries: Enquiries about artists and programmes should be addressed to Viewers’ Correspondence, Thames Television, Television House, Kingsway, London WC2.

Submission of Scripts: Present requirements are for 60 and 90 minute plays and series. But programmes change, and authors should contact story editors in the appropriate department to learn future trends before submitting outlines or scripts.

Studios: CENTRAL LONDON: At Television House, Thames’ Central London headquarters, there are presentation and audience studios including the Today studio from which London’s daily live programme is transmitted. Thames’ film department is also at Television House together with transmission control, VTR and telecine facilities. A new headquarters and colour television studio complex is being built a few hundred yards from the GPO Tower at Euston, and is expected to begin operations in 1969.

TEDDINGTON: The main studio production centre is on the Thames riverside at Teddington in Middlesex, ten miles from Television House. There are three studios, of which the largest is 7,500 square feet, together with full facilities, including scene building and rehearsal rooms. Technically they are among the world’s most advanced studios, and were the first to incorporate many of the features now being introduced into new ITV studios. They can change from 405 to 625-line operation at the flick of a switch.

Mobile Division: The Mobile Division based at Hanworth, near Teddington, consists of three £100,000 [£1.7 million today allowing for inflation] mobile control rooms plus smaller camera and recording units, micro-wave links and auxiliary vehicles. One small roving unit and one of the main control rooms are equipped for colour, and the other two main units are also being converted.

Colour Television: Important colour development for Independent Television was undertaken at Teddington studios, including extensive research into the three major television systems, design and testing of new colour equipment and investigation of colour conversion problems. The ITA’s official colour demonstrations in 1966, which helped pave the way to a national colour television service, came from Teddington. Thames is already producing colour programmes which are currently seen in black and white by British viewers, and its staff are widely experienced in all facets of colour production.

Programmes: DRAMA: Frontier; 90-minute plays; Premiere; The Sex Game; Mystery & Imagination; Alarm; Armchair Theatre; Callan; Public Eye.
CHILDREN: The Tyrant King; The Queen Street Gang; Magpie; The Sooty Show; Pinky & Perky; Sexton Blake; Hullabaloo; The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe; Once Upon A Time; Just Jimmy.
LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT: Father, Dear Father; Best of Enemies; Horne A’Plenty; Opportunity Knocks; Max; The Goon Show; The Frankie Howerd Show; Bachelors Night Out; Cooper King Size; Never Mind the Quality, Feel The Width.
FEATURES: This Week; Report; Today with Eamonn Andrews; The Life and Times of Lord Mountbatten; Applause! Applause!
ADULT EDUCATION: The Tools of Cookery; World of Crime; The ABC of Do It Yourself; First Steps in Physics; Rich World, Poor World; Best Sellers.
RELIGION: Carry On Curate; and other ‘Last Programmes’.

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