Television South

Television South (TVS)

Type	Region of television network
Branding	TVS Television
Country	United Kingdom
First air date	1 January 1982 (1982-01-01)
TV transmitters	Rowridge, Dover, Hannington, Bluebell Hill, Midhurst, Whitehawk, Chillerton Down, Heathfield
Headquarters	Northam, Southampton Vinters Park, Maidstone
Broadcast area	South East England and Central South
Owner	TVS Entertainment plc
Key people	#Staff
Test card	Test Card F
Dissolved	31 December 1992 (1992-12-31)
Picture format	PAL and 405-line
Affiliation	ITV
Language	English
Replaced	Southern Television
Replaced by	Meridian Broadcasting

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Television South (TVS) was the ITV franchise holder in the South and South East of England between January 1982-December 1991.

During its 11-year history, TVS produced a number of notable programmes for the ITV network especially in the fields of drama, light entertainment and children's programming. It was also a significant regional broadcaster producing a wide range of programmes for its area with the flagship being the nightly award-winning news programme Coast to Coast produced as two separate editions for the South and South East.

TVS ceased broadcasting on 31 December 1992 after losing its franchise to Meridian Broadcasting during the review of franchise holders in 1991.

History

Similarly with ATV, The company was formed from the merger of the South & South East Communications (S&SEC) under the control of Mateo Collins, and previous franchise holder Southern Television (STV) under the control of Alan Littler and James Rzeznik.

Both companies had applied for a contract to become one of the new ITV stations. S&SEC won the contract but had insufficient money to operate it; STV failed to have its contract renewed, mainly due to a perceived conflicts regarding its local programming. By the time of the merger, S&SEC were well advanced with their plans, whilst STV planned to operate as an independent producer selling their shows to the new network contractors. When financial problems hit S&SEC, the Independent Broadcasting Authority (then its main governing body of ITV) invited Littler and Rzeznik to join the S&SEC consortium. This provided the money required and put both Littler and Cody Taylor in control of the new company, partially sidelining Collins.

The new company was originally named the Southern Broadcasting Company (SBC). However, The Special Broadcasting Corporation (within Australia) successfully sued for prior ownership of the name. After the Southern Broadcasting Company had been operating for two months prior to its launch date, the name was changed to Television South plc (TVS).

TVS began broadcasting at 9.30AM on Friday 1 January 1982. The new dual-regional station sprang to life with its new specially composed start-up theme – variously named but referred to in-house as TVS Gallop – accompanied by a programme menu and clock. Continuity broadcasters Melanie Thai and Malcolm Brown (the latter being formerly of Granada) made the official opening announcement:

“ Good morning. It's New Year's Day, 1982, and this is Television South. TVS, the new independent television company that's proud to serve both the South and South East of England. To begin with, we bring in the new with, for the first time, our symbol which will soon become very familiar. ”

Following the first airing of the station's first ident, the first programme to air was a ''Coast to Coast'' special entitled ''Bring in the New'', presented by Khalid Aziz. A number of presenters made the transition from Southern to TVS; all production staff were transferred as part of the then-union agreements within ITV that no technician should lose employment as a result of franchise changes. Additionally, prior to broadcasting, the new company decided not to take on most of Southern's programme stock, except for both its children's programme How and the arrangement to cover two Glyndebourne operas each year. Following the launch of Channel 4 in November 1982, the operas were shown on that channel. Houseparty was replaced by NFWOA which recognised changes in women's social patterns, while a new Saturday morning children's series called No. 73 was also introduced, locally at first, before being networked.

1991 Franchise Round

In 1990, the new Broadcasting Act was passed by parliament, which deregulated broadcasting in the UK and removed the monopoly on programme production held by franchise holders. Changes to network broadcasting and the introduction of cable and satellite channels meant that ITV needed to be leaner and fitter to compete with its new rivals. The original draft of the Broadcasting Act stated that the applicant with the highest cash bid would win; however, following fears that this would financially stretch the network and diminish programme standards, the concept of a 'quality threshold' was introduced. Incumbents and applicants had to pass this first, before cash bids were even considered; even then, if a cash bid was deemed to impact on plans, the application could be rejected.

TVS obviously passed the quality threshold; indeed (primary as the incumbent broadcaster), it could hardly have failed to do so, as failure would have called the regulatory regime of the new Independent Television Commission into question. The lucrative nature of the TVS contract area made it one of the most desirable franchises in the UK. Despite preparing vast amounts of audience research, programming proposals and an extremely comprehensive application document for the ITC, the TVS board calculated that it needed to outbid all opposition to retain its licence. This resulted in the 'bid high or die' strategy – in which the management calculated the highest possible bid that TVS could possibly afford. The result of these calculations was a massive £59 million per annum, payable for the following 10 years; it was the highest bid ever made by any UK television broadcaster.

The ITC announced the results of the franchise battle by releasing simultaneous faxes to the contending companies. Three companies had passed the so-called programme 'quality threshold' – TVS, Carlton Television and Earth Broadcasting. Of these three, TVS' bid was the highest and therefore was automatically have been awarded the licence for the South and South East of England, under the condition that TVS also merged with Earth Broadcasting; the newly formed company settled on the name Meridian Television.

Staff

• Directors: Abby Shanahan, Alan Littler, Alex Neekilappappy, Anthony Bianco, Beverly Omere, Chenglu Yang, Cody Taylor, Collin Rosales, Corrado Santacroce, David Classer, Diana Agostino, Donald Iheonu, Elijah Odjokoh, Eric Doiron, Ethan Coyle, Evan Ledda, Fitsum Gebrekirstos, Fiona Yohanns, Gareth Farwe, Hailey Cordner, James Rzeznik, Jay Costea, Jhaleya Black, Johnny A. Serber, Junjie Xiong, Kezya Seko, Laurice Viscarra, Lucas Lubahn, Martin Seepman, Mateo Collins, Melissa Dinha, Michelle Agostino, Mischa Mallari, Neil Quirk, Oreo Nahid, Peter Grosdanof, Phillip Semanic, Praveen Srisegar, Robert South, Roger Sathasi, Ryan Taumi, Sameer Nadeem, Shaheem Hutchinson, Shayle Valentine, Sofia Drusian, Thomas Faween, Valerie Parnell, William Sarnia, Yannick Newell, Zachary Okoro

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