Westcountry Television

Infobox ITV franchisee
name = Westcountry Television


based = Plymouth
area = Devon
Cornwall
South and West Somerset
West Dorset
owner = ITV plc
airdate = 1 January 1993
old
"Westcountry TV logo 1993"
captionb =
closeddate = lost on-air identity on 27 October 2002 (verbally known as ITV1 Westcountry before regional programming only)
replaced = TSW
replacedby =
website = [http://www.itvlocal.com/westcountry itvlocal.com/westcountry]

Westcountry Television, is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW (Television South West), on 1 January 1993. Covering Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and areas of Somerset and Dorset, "Westcountry" has close ties with its neighbour, ITV West, sharing Jane McCloskey as managing director and director of programmes with the West of England region.

Overview

Although Westcountry is intended for the South West of England, the station is received in areas of South Wales, via a strong signal at the Huntshaw Cross transmitter.

ITV Westcountry's main studios are based at the Langage Science Park, to the east of Plympton, near Plymouth. Plans for a purpose-built studio complex on the Plymouth waterfront had to be abandoned because of TSW's legal challenge to the franchise award. The station also has a network of seven local newsrooms and studios in Torbay, Penzance, Truro, Exeter, Barnstaple, Weymouth and Taunton. Four of the studios produce two dedicated sub-regional news bulletins within the 11:10am bulletin of "Westcountry News" and the main "Westcountry Live" programme at 6pm on weekdays, covering the West (Truro), East (Exeter), North (Barnstaple) and South (Plymouth) of the region. It was the first ITV company to produce four separate news opt-outs.

In 2007 Westcountry launched it's website, ITV Local Westcountry and completed the national network rollout for ITV Local across England and Wales. The website featues a 7-day catch up service for the regional news programmes, "Westcountry Live" and "Westcountry News", as well as weather forecasts, sport & travel news and a selection of regional programmes. Featured programmes include "Richard O'Brien's Dead Strange", "Customs UK", "Westcountry Property Hunters" and "Country Ways".

In 2009, Westcountry, along with HTV Wales and Granada will cease its analogue broadcasts as part of the switch to digital TV.

Pre-history

Westcountry Television was one of two rival consortia bidding against the incumbent TSW when the ITV franchises were put to tender early in 1991. Westcountry's original shareholders were Brittany Ferries and, controversially, South West Water. On 16 October 1991, Westcountry was announced as the winner, bidding £7 million a year against TSW's 16 million. Several local MPs were concerned that South West Water's involvement would lead to partiality in news items concerning the local water firm.

To begin with, the firm was housed at Brittany Ferries' offices in Millbay Docks, Plymouth with a view to building a purpose-built studio centre on the Plymouth waterfront. TSW launched a legal challenge to the franchise award, and after initially being refused permission to do so in the High Court, a legal action began which would last almost three months and went all the way to the House of Lords. In February 1992, the legal process found in favour of Westcountry, and while they could now finally sign the franchise agreement, their original programme plans were hit by the delay. Following discussions with the Independent Television Commission, Westcountry announced on 1 April 1992 it had abandoned the plans to build new studios on the Plymouth waterfront, opting instead to convert an industrial unit at Langage Science Park, Plymouth. They also reduced their planned staffing levels - already far fewer than those of TSW - leading to an expression of disappointment by TSW's managing director Harry Turner.

Although Westcountry would be based in Plymouth, transmission for the channel was to be handled by HTV Wales staff at HTV's presentation centre in Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff with continuity announcers based at the Plymouth studios. This arrangement lasted from the first day of broadcasting until shortly after regional continuity was abandoned in October 2002.

History

Westcountry, originally an independent company, replaced Television South West at 00:00 GMT on 1 January 1993. The first programme aired on the channel was a short promo voiced by Bruce Hammal and Trish Bertram (two of Westcountry's first trail voiceovers) welcoming viewers to Westcountry and promising higher levels of regional output, followed by the Eddie Murphy and Dudley Moore film "Best Defense".

In 1996, Westcountry was purchased by Carlton Communications (now ITV plc), who by that time owned the London weekday (Carlton Television) and Midlands (Central) franchises. Subsequently, Westcountry was re-branded as "Carlton Westcountry" in September 1999, although only referred on screen as "Carlton". On 27 October 2002, Carlton Westcountry lost its regional identity, and became known as "ITV1 Carlton" prior to regional programmes only, while being known as ITV1 at all other times. The franchise briefly became "ITV1 for the Westcountry" in 2003, before being renamed as "ITV1 Westcountry" upon the ITV plc merger of 2004. "ITV1 Westcountry" was used for a time after this, although now the regional name is only verbally mentioned before any locally-produced programming.

Following a speech by Michael Grade about regional broadcasting post switchover at the 2007 Nations and Regions conference in Cardiff, there has been speculation that ITV Westcountry and ITV West could merge operations [ [http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=606540 ITV Regional Restructure - Broadcasting - Digital Spy Forums ] ] , as part of further streamlining of regional operations (other regions affected could include ITV Border and ITV Anglia). Rumours suggest that, while a newsroom (and separate regional identity) would be retained in the south west, the main "Westcountry Live" programme would move to a studio alongside "The West Tonight" at ITV West in Bristol (akin to the Meridian and Thames Valley news services at Whiteley). On 12 September 2007, ITV issued a statement to the City of London, saying that it wished to reduce the number of news studios from 17 to just 9. This includes merging ITV West with ITV Westcountry from Spring 2009. Therefore, news for Devon and Cornwall will originate, and be broadcast from Bristol. Ofcom have now approved these plans and the Plymouth studio is due to close in Spring 2009.

Programmes

Westcountry has not made any notable contribution to the ITV network, but produces mainly regional programmes such as the main regional news programme "Westcountry Live", current affairs ("Special Report" for example) and several regional factual series.

"Westcountry Live"'s main presenters are Richard Bath and Alexis Bowater with Mark Tyler, Seth Conway, Jemma Woodman, Claire Manning, Kate Hignett and Shelley Roberts standing in.

Other regional programmes have included:
*"Westcountry Update" - Weekly news review for the deaf and hard of hearing (1993-2004)
*"Westcountry Focus" - Westcountry's first regular current affairs series
*"Westcountry Life" - Short 30-second films reflecting aspects of life in the region (1993-96)
*"West Wise" - Short-lived inter-town quiz, one of Westcountry's first local programmes (1993)
*"Brief Encounters" - Feature series about unusual past times (1993-94)
*"On the Road to the Islands" - Jack Pizzey's tour of islands in the South West, later aired by Channel 4 (1993)
*"Little River Journeys" - A look at the Westcountry region's waterways, later aired by Channel 4 (1995)
*"Richard Digance: For One Night Only" - Local entertainment series (1997-8)
*"Bendell at Bedtime" - Topical debate (2004)
*"Birthday People" - Children's birthdays (1993-2005)
*"Westcountry Soccer Night" - Local football magazine show (2004-8)

Future

In June 2007, ITV plc executive chairman Michael Grade hinted at a possible re-structure of the ITV regional layout, stating the existence of smaller regional services including Westcountry "no longer makes sense" relative to the regional audience they serve. [ [http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a63355/grade-hints-at-itv-region-restructure.html Grade hints at ITV Region re-structure - Digital Spy] ] The move is expected to give ITV plc "greater value for money", however will be subject to Ofcom approval. [ [http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a70617/itv-close-to-new-regional-plan.html ITV Close to New Regional Plan - Digital Spy] ]

The plan was confirmed in September 2007, and would reduce the number of regional news programmes from 17 to just 9, saving around £35 to £40 million each year, and will inevitably see ITV Westcountry's "Westcountry Live" merge with ITV West's "The West Tonight" programme. Pre-recorded sub-regional news is expected to be added to each programme; a practice which has been used by Westcountry since launch in 1993. Future job losses are currently unknown. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6991206.stm BBC News - ITV to merge regional newsrooms] ]

In December 2007, ITV is due to begin broadcasting all its national and regional programmes in 16:9 widescreen. Westcountry, however, will not make the upgrade, with a rumour citing the merger with ITV West being a factor in deciding this. Also, to this day, Westcountry has not fully upgraded its on-screen graphics and astons in line with the other regions, as not all of them animate or appear in the same style as other programmes across the country. It is worth noting however that, uniquely amongst the ING (ITV Newsgroup) companies, Westcountry retains the capability of full scale audio post production using its Pro Tools equipped dubbing suite.Fact|date=August 2008

However a leaked document from Ofcom in July 2008 suggested the media regulator would disallow the merger of Westcountry with HTV West [ [http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a116473/ofcom-to-allow-itv-regional-news-cuts.html Digital Spy - Ofcom 'to allow' ITV regional news cuts] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.itvlocal.com/westcountry ITV Westcountry] at itvlocal.com
* [http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/itvsouthwest/westcountrymain.html Westcountry Television at TV Ark]
* [http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/itvsouthwest/carltonmain.html Carlton Westcountry at TV Ark]