Independent Television in Britain: Volume 2 Expansion and Change, 1958–68

440 Pages·1983·43.382 MB·English

by  Bernard Sendall (auth.)

INDEPENDENT
TELEVISION
IN BRITAIN
Volume 2
Expansion and Change, 1958~
Other volumes in the same work by the same author
Volume 1 ORIGIN AND FOUNDATION, 1946---62 (published)
Volume 3 RECOGNITION AND RESPONSIBILITY, 1968-80
(forthcoming)
INDEPENDENT
TELEVISION
IN BRITAIN
Volume 2
Expansion and Change, 1958-68
BERNARD SENDALL
© Independent Broadcasting Authority and
Independent Television Companies Association 1983
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1St edition 1983
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without permission
First published Ig/J3 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
ISBN 978-1-349-05901-0 ISBN 978-1-349-05899-0 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-05899-0
To Joseph Weltman
Guide, Philosopher and Friend
CONTENTS
Preface and Acknowledgements
Xl
Abbreviations xvi
PART I THE COMPLETION OF THE
NETWORK: 1958--62
I Tyne Tees 3
2 Anglia I I
3 Ulster 22
4 Westward 33
5 Channel 43
6 Border 52
7 Grampian 59
8 WWN 70
PART II GRAND REMONSTRANCE: 1962
9 'Disquiet' and 'Dissatisfaction' 85
10 Programme Balance 90
I I Television Violence and the Young 95
12 The I mpact of Television on Society 98
13 Advertising 103
14 More Channels and Longer Hours? 110
15 'Organic Change' 120
16 Newspaper Interests 124
I 7 Miscellaneous Pilkingtoniana 128
(i) Advisory Committees 128
(ii) Duration of the Act 130
(iii) Powers of Government 130
(iv) Ministerial and Party Broadcasts 131
(v) The Option Agreement 131
18 A Suitable Case for Treatment? 133
VII
Vlll CONTENTS
PART III A NEW BEGINNING: 1962-3
19 First Reactions 137
20 More Mature Reflections 141
2 I Lords and Commons Have Their Say 148
22 Tension at St. Martin's-le-Grand 153
23 The White Paper and Bill: December 1962 163
24 Passage of the Second Television Bill: 1963 174
25 The Levy 190
26 Enter Lord Hill 202
PART IV YEARS OF ADAPTATION: 1963-8
27 New Institutions: New Contracts 209
28 Collective Programme Policies 225
(i) The '8 o'clock line' 225
(ii) The Pattern of Programmes 227
(iii) Independent Television Sport 238
(iv) The Networking of Regional Programmes 244
(v) Television Interviews 246
29 Programmes and Public Attitudes 256
30 Political Television 268
3 I Special Classes in the Sixties 274
(i) Adult Education 274
(ii) School Broadcasting 284
(iii) Religion 288
32 Due Impartiality 294
33 The Networking Tangle 308
34 The Advertising Scene 319
35 Technical Background 324
PART V END OF AN ERA
36 The 'Franchise Trail', 1967 333
(i ) Yorkshire 337
(ii) London 340
(iii) Central Scotland 347
(iv) The Midlands 349
(v) North West England 350
(vi) South West England 352
(vii) Southern England 352
CONTENTS IX
(viii) Wales and the West
(ix) General
(x) An Appraisal
37 Outlook Unsettled
Notes and References 374
Index
392
PREFACE AND
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The previous volume described the establishment of the central mosaic of
four companies serving the three main areas dividing the week on a five-day
two-day basis. It then went on to relate how the next three areas of greatest
population density, Central Scotland, Wales and the West of England and
the Central South acquired powerful and prosperous seven-day contractors,
working as affiliates to one or other of the original four.
Of the seven companies concerned, ABC Television, Associated
Rediffusion, ATV, Granada, Scottish Television, Southern Television and
Television Wales and the West, only two, Granada and STV, survive under
the same name today, although strong elements of ABC, A-R and ATV are
present in two existing major companies, Thames Television and Central
Independent Television. TWW were removed from the scene in 1968 and the
Southern Television contract came to an end on 31 December 1981.
We start this second volume with a description of the establishment of
eight further regional contractors, one of which, Wales (West and North),
collapsed in little more than a year and another, Westward, survived
for twenty years, until it failed in the 1980 franchise competition to se
cure a renewal after 1981. The remaining six are still in operation in
their respective areas, the boundaries of which have in some cases been
adjusted.
The Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting, which was appointed in
1960, reported in June 1962, and this volume continues with an account and
assessment of this report, which was in the main highly critical of
Independent Television.l The story proceeds with the passing of the new
Television Act of 1963 which, whilst rejecting Pilkington's recommendation
for 'organic change', modified the system established in 1954, substantially
increasing the powers of the controlling authority. The following years saw
the contract decisions of 1964, which made no change in the appointment of
companies, the period of adaptation to the new Act under the chairmanship
of Lord Hill, and the contract decisions of 1967 in which the original mosaic
of 1954/5 was abolished and the distribution of power at the centre of the
Xl