Alpha Television was a British
limited company
In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the lia ...
which operated
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
studios
A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery ( ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...
in
Aston,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
from 1956 to 1970.
History
The company was formed in 1956 as a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...
between two newly created
Independent Television (ITV) companies,
ATV and
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
. The former operated the contract to broadcast programming to the
Midlands during the week, the latter at weekends.
The respective companies would later establish production centres near London and Manchester (ATV at
Elstree
Elstree is a large village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is about northwest of central London on the former A5 road, that follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of t ...
, ABC at
Teddington
Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long me ...
and
Didsbury), but despite conflicts over contract applications and rivalry over the corporate acronym, the costs of creating separate facilities in the Midlands led to a decision to cooperate. A separate holding company to operate the centre, Alpha Television Services (Birmingham) Limited, was formed.
The new company purchased the former Astoria Cinema in Aston Road North which had closed a few months earlier. Initial alterations created one studio with production facilities supplied by an
outside broadcast
Outside broadcasting (OB) is the electronic field production (EFP) of television or radio programmes (typically to cover television news and sports television events) from a mobile remote broadcast television studio. Professional video camera a ...
vehicle,
telecine
Telecine ( or ) is the process of transferring film into video and is performed in a color suite. The term is also used to refer to the equipment used in the post-production process.
Telecine enables a motion picture, captured originally on fi ...
facilities and separate presentation suites for ATV and ABC.
In 1963, ATV and ABC took the decision to upgrade facilities at Aston and a substantial investment saw the creation of an office block, canteen and second studio adjacent to the existing site (), while the facade of the original cinema was re-constructed to match. New facilities included an enlarged telecine facility,
master control
Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as sw ...
and presentation suites.
Closure
In 1967, the regulatory body for ITV, the
Independent Television Authority
The Independent Television Authority (ITA) was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" ( ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. The ITA existed from 1954 un ...
, announced significant changes to the regional contracts to broadcast ITV. ABC Weekend Television lost its Midlands weekend contract as the authority decided to create a seven-day licence for the area, which they awarded to ATV. ABC were offered the London weekday contract upon condition of a merger with the existing holder
Rediffusion
Rediffusion was a business that distributed radio and TV signals through wired relay networks. The business gave rise to a number of other companies, including Associated-Rediffusion, later known as Rediffusion London, the first ITV ( commer ...
, in the process becoming
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992.
Thames Television broa ...
.
[ITV 1968, Independent Television Authority, London, 1967]
As a result, ABC decided to sell their stake in Alpha Television to ATV as their interest in the Midlands had ended. However the Alpha studios were designed for
monochrome
A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, monochrom ...
broadcasting and as the ITV network was planning to launch colour transmissions in late 1969, ATV took the decision to construct new purpose-built colour studios in central Birmingham.
In October 1968, work started on the Paradise Centre (later known as ''ATV Centre''), a £15 million (equivalent to £ million today) complex known as
Alpha Tower
Alpha Tower is a Grade II listed office skyscraper in Birmingham, England. It was designed by the Birmingham-born architect George Marsh of Richard Seifert & Partners as the headquarters of the commercial television company ATV (Associated T ...
off
Broad Street. By early 1970 the Alpha Studios were closed with all employees being transferred to ATV (renamed as ATV Network), and Alpha Television Services (Birmingham) Limited went into
voluntary liquidation
Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company (law), company is brought to an end in Canada, United Kingdom, United States, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, and many other countries. The assets and p ...
and ceased trading.
Later use
The site had a variety of uses until purchased by the
Independent Local Radio
Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...
station
BRMB
Free Radio Birmingham is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Midlands.
As of September 2022, the station has ...
in 1974. The station vacated the site in 1996 to new facilities at
Brindleyplace
Brindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It was named after Brindley Place, the name of the street (in turn named after the 18th century canal engineer James Brindley) around whi ...
, a few hundred yards from the former ATV studios on Broad Street. The office block remains although the converted cinema was demolished.
References
{{Authority control
Broadcasting in Birmingham, West Midlands
History of Birmingham, West Midlands
ITV offices, studios and buildings
1956 establishments in England
Television studios in England