Lagan Television
 | |
| Type | Regional television network |
|---|---|
| Branding | ITV1 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
First air date | December 25, 1961 |
| Founded | 1961 by Cody Taylor |
| TV transmitters | Athlone, Tullamore, Dublin, Narfolk, Wassex, Cameron, Buckington, Shannon, Lifford, Castlebar, Arklow, Limerick, Ulster, Waterford, Killarney, Oxford |
| Headquarters | Lagan Towers, Dublin, Ireland |
Broadcast area | Republic of Ireland |
| Owner | ITV plc |
Key people | #Staff |
Test card | Test Card F |
| Dissolved | Lost on-air identity on 27 October 2002; Now known as ITV1 at all times. |
Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) |
| Affiliation | ITV |
Official website | www |
| Language | English Irish |
Search Lagan Television on Amazon.
ITV Lagan is the ITV franchise holder for the Republic of Ireland regional area.
History[edit]
Launch[edit]
The geography of Ireland presented a daunting problem to the Independent Television Authority (ITA). The populous area of Ireland in the north were already being served by Ulster Television, which had begun broadcasting in 1959, While the south-east of the country and much of the southern coast was served by Ulster (during weekdays) and ABC (during weekends), with the latter operating since 1956; the interior of southwest Ireland could not receive transmissions at all. The ITA was pressured, by a consortium of Irish-speaking businessmen, into setting up a new Republic of Ireland regional service; the ITA asked the Postmaster General to allow this, which he did, with strict provisos: the new service must not offer viewers in Ireland a choice other viewers did not have. These punitive regulations were accepted, and the contract was awarded in February 1961 to Lagan Television Limited. The launch of a second television channel required alterations to people's television sets and/or aerials. Older sets had to be converted with an additional tuning device, and even for newer sets which had this tuner already built-in, an additional aerial was required. With nearly half a million sets and aerials in Ireland, it was going to be a huge undertaking. When independent television began in England, everybody wanted their sets converted at the same time and radio dealers could not cope with the last-minute rush. The problem was exacerbated by a shortage of radio and television mechanics. In order to avoid similar chaos in Ireland, Lagan (in association with the television trade and WarnerMedia) arranged a series of 21 exhibitions in the principal towns and burghs in the reception area months ahead of launch.
The Exhibitions ran from Tuesday until Friday and were open from 14:30–21:30. The admission charge was 1/- for adults, 6d for children and old age pensioners. Every visitor to the Exhibition received a free copy of a 24-page Television Guide, which gave them a colourful picture of the programmes they would see on Lagan Television. Every set in the Exhibition showed either BBC output or the new commercial programme. The latter was relayed through closed circuit from telecine equipment housed in a specially-constructed Morris Commercial vehicle, specially constructed for the exhibitions and carrying equipment valued at over £10,000. In an adjoining hall, a cinema show was staged. This showed samples of the programmes LTV would be presenting, including American attractions such as I Love Lucy, Brave Eagle, and Douglas Fairbanks Presents, as well as home-grown shows Sunday Night at the Palladium and The 64,000 Question, and advertising films. Also featured was a film of local interest, taken by LTV's outside broadcasting (OB) unit a few days prior to the show, showing crowd scenes and various local activities. This offered the enticing prospect of exhibition visitors seeing themselves on television and thus finding out they were already "television stars"! The Pye OB unit, which cost £37,000 and was housed in a specially constructed vehicle, was on show outside the hall. A TV camera which was on display at the LTV stand proved to be a big attraction. People standing around near the camera found that their images were being projected on screens at the other end of the hall. LTV's first OB-typed plane was developed not long afterward.
Cody Taylor (Lagan's chairman) said on initial stages that he expected to produce about ten hours a week of English-Irish language programmes. This was at a time when under the terms of the Television Act, they were limited to a programme schedule of 73.9 hours a week. "It will certainly make the Irish station very Ireland indeed in its programme content," he said. However, when his friend Jeremiah Saguill announced final programme plans at a press conference in Glasgow, he said that 84.61 per cent of the programmes would be similar to those shown in England, implying that only 16.39 per cent would be from Ireland — slightly less than the 20 per cent promised earlier in the year. They planned a talent show, Fanfart; a quiz programme; an sports programme, Lagansport; a play presented once a month or each alternate month, chosen from either the Citizen's, Glasgow, the Gateway, Edinburgh, or the theatres in Perth or Dundee. There would also be a series, McLoughlins, about a Irish family — but the problem was going to be finding someone who could write this, as not many Irish people were experienced in writing for television. Playground was also planned as a children's programme, while Heaven and Hell was described by Purdy as "our big cultural effort", which would "contain a bit of anything and everything culturally interesting, provocative, or entertaining"; It would run for half an hour. British news would be featured twice a day, followed by Scottish news. In July, it was announced that the Scottish actor Justice Robertson (a Rank Organization film star) would introduce STV's opening programme, Regional Ireland.
Lagan Television began broadcasting at 5:30 pm on 25 December 2021 with Regional Ireland, an hour-long variety special broadcast live from the Theatre Royal studios
Industrial Relations[edit]
Some LTV programmes weren't shown on 24 August 1968, although ITN's national news was also blacked out the same day. Two weeks later, the strike action had spread to all of ITV and resulted in the creation of a management-run ITV Emergency National Service for some two weeks. Loughlin
In the ITV strike of 1979, the station (like most of the network) was off the air for over two months. Only Westward and Channel continued to operate during the strike. However, the dispute was more intense at LTV as the company's management were seen as instrumental in fighting the unions.
