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ITV Westcountry, formerly known as Westcountry Television and Carlton Westcountry, was the
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
franchise holder for the south west of England, covering
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
,
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
,
Isles of Scilly The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...
, southern and western
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and western
Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
. The company replaced its predecessor, TSW (Television South West), from 1 January 1993. The station was owned and operated by
ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc is listed on the ...
under the licensee of ''ITV Broadcasting Limited'' (formerly ''Westcountry Television Limited'').
ITV West Country ITV West Country is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the South West England franchise area on the ITV network. Previously, between 2009 and 2013, the area was a non-franchise region, branded with the sa ...
incorporating the former ITV Westcountry ("West") and
ITV West ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV franchise area in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to a broadcaster by the regulator Ofcom. There is no channel, past or present, named "ITV Wale ...
("East") regions was (until 31 December 2013) a non-franchise
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
regional station covering
south west England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities and ...
. With the formal split of the Wales and West Channel 3 licence in January 2014, a separate licence was created for Wales with the West licence merged with that of West Country. ITV West Country thus became a franchise region. Both companies which make up the new regional licence still legally exist. ITV Wales & West Ltd, ITV Wales & West Group Ltd and Westcountry Television Ltd are each, along with most other regional companies owned by ITV plc, listed on www.companieshouse.gov.uk as a "
Dormant company A dormant company is a company that carries out no business activities in the given period of time. Dormant companies do not engage in buying/selling for profit, not carrying on business or profession, providing services, earning interest, managi ...
". This article however, covers the Westcountry Television part of the franchise.


History


Franchise award

Westcountry Television was one of two rival consortia bidding against the incumbent TSW when the ITV franchises were put to tender early in 1991. Two of Westcountry's original shareholders were
Brittany Ferries Brittany Ferries is the trading name of the French shipping company, BAI Bretagne Angleterre Irlande S.A. founded in 1973 by Alexis Gourvennec, that operates a fleet of ferries and cruiseferries between France and the United Kingdom, Ireland, ...
and
South West Water South West Water provides drinking water and waste water services throughout Devon and Cornwall and in small areas of Dorset and Somerset. South West Water was created in 1989 with the privatisation of the water industry. It was preceded by the ...
; the latter investor attracted criticism as only three years earlier it had been responsible for one of the worst water pollution incidents in the United Kingdom and which had occurred within the franchise area at
Camelford Camelford ( kw, Reskammel) is a town and civil parish in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, situated in the River Camel valley northwest of Bodmin Moor. The town is approximately ten miles (16 km) north of Bodmin and is governed by ...
. On 16 October 1991, Westcountry was announced as the winner, bidding £7 million a year against TSW's bid of £16 million a year. Several local MPs were concerned that South West Water's involvement would lead to partiality in news items concerning the local water firm. 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
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. In February 1992 the legal process found in favour of Westcountry and while it could now finally sign the franchise agreement, its original programme plans were hit by the delay. Following discussions with the
Independent Television Commission The Independent Television Commission (ITC) licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom (except S4C in Wales) between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003. History The creation of ITC, by the Broadcasting Act ...
, 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. It also reduced its planned staffing levels – already far fewer than those of TSW – leading to an expression of disappointment by TSW's managing director Harry Turner. Of the 297 TSW employees, only 16 found work at Westcountry at the start of the franchise. Around 112 staff were employed by Westcountry at the time of the station's launch.


Franchise operation

Westcountry replaced TSW at 00:00
GMT Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is the mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, counted from midnight. At different times in the past, it has been calculated in different ways, including being calculated from noon; as a cons ...
on 1 January 1993. The channel's launch sequence was a two-minute promo voiced by Bruce Hammal and Trish Bertram (two of Westcountry's first trail voiceovers) welcoming viewers to Westcountry and trailing its forthcoming regional programmes. The promo was followed by the
Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and singer. He rose to fame on the sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', for which he was a regular cast member from 1980 to 1984. Murphy has als ...
and
Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore CBE (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. Moore first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writ ...
film ''
Best Defense ''Best Defense'' is a 1984 American comedy film starring Dudley Moore and Eddie Murphy. The original music score was composed by Patrick Williams. It was released by Paramount Pictures. Plot The movie takes place as two parallel plots separat ...
''. The new station promised an increase to 11 hours a week of regional programming of mixed genres. Six months after the launch, the company joined up with
Meridian Broadcasting ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...
, HTV,
Channel Television ITV Channel Television, previously Channel Television, is a British television station which has served as the ITV contractor for the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey and broadcasts regional programme for insertion into the ...
and S4C to create a joint advertising sales operation. During the summer of 1996, Westcountry prepared to float the company on the stock market, which resulted in HTV, United News & Media,
Carlton Communications Carlton was a British media company. It was led by Michael P. Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it was bought by Granada plc in a corporate takeover to form ITV plc. Carlton shareholders gained ap ...
and
Canwest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...
bidding to buy out Westcountry. In October 1996 GWR, the radio group, made a bid of £70m for Westcountry TV, outbidding both HTV and Carlton, but within a few weeks United News & Media increased its offer and was expected to acquire the company, But Westcountry owners had become increasingly frustrated at the slow progress of talks and criticised United boss
Lord Hollick Clive Richard Hollick, Baron Hollick (born 20 May 1945) is a British businessman with media interests, and a supporter of the Labour Party. Early life and career Hollick was born in Southampton, the son of Olive Mary (''née'' Scruton) and ...
's "nickel and dime" tactics over negotiations, opting instead to sell to
Carlton Communications Carlton was a British media company. It was led by Michael P. Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it was bought by Granada plc in a corporate takeover to form ITV plc. Carlton shareholders gained ap ...
for £10m higher than United's offer of around £75m, around 25 November 1996. Hollick was described as "disappointed but far from livid" at the outcome. 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 onscreen as ''ITV1 Westcountry'' upon the
ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc is listed on the ...
merger of 2004, and officially taking this name two years later. ''ITV1 Westcountry'' was used for a time after this, although from 13 November 2006, the regional name was only verbally mentioned before any locally produced programming.


ITV West Country

Following a speech by
Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 ( ...
about regional broadcasting post-switchover at the 2007 Nations and Regions conference in
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, there was speculation that
ITV West ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV franchise area in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to a broadcaster by the regulator Ofcom. There is no channel, past or present, named "ITV Wale ...
and ITV Westcountry could merge news operations, as part of further streamlining of regional operations. Rumours suggested 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 Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
(akin to the
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and
Thames Valley The Thames Valley is an informally-defined sub-region of South East England, centred on the River Thames west of London, with Oxford as a major centre. Its boundaries vary with context. The area is a major tourist destination and economic hub, ...
news services at Whiteley). On 12 September 2007, ITV issued a statement to the
City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
, saying that it wished to reduce the number of news studios from 17 to just nine. This included merging ITV West with ITV Westcountry to form a non-franchise region, ITV West and Westcountry, from February 2009. Shortly after the broadcasting regulator
OFCOM The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
gave final approval to the changes, the regional news service was phased out with the final broadcast from Plymouth aired on Sunday 15 February 2009. A new programme entitled ''
The West Country Tonight ''ITV News West Country'' is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV West Country. Overview ''ITV News West Country'' is broadcast from studios in Brislington, Bristol, with district reporters and camera crews based in ...
'' replaced the ''
Westcountry Live ''Westcountry Live'' was the flagship regional news programme of ITV Westcountry, serving South West England. History The programme was first broadcast on Monday 4 January 1993 - four days after Westcountry Television took over the ITV regional ...
'' on Monday 16 February 2009 but included separate opt-out news bulletins (some of which were pre-recorded depending on the day's news) and weather forecasts for the Westcountry region during the main 6pm programme and in the weekday late bulletin after ''News at Ten''. Separate daytime bulletins for the region were reintroduced in September 2011. On 14 January 2013, the region became known as
ITV West Country ITV West Country is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the South West England franchise area on the ITV network. Previously, between 2009 and 2013, the area was a non-franchise region, branded with the sa ...
. In September 2013, the south west opt-out within the main 6pm news programme ''
ITV News West Country ''ITV News West Country'' is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV West Country. Overview ''ITV News West Country'' is broadcast from studios in Brislington, Bristol, with district reporters and camera crews based i ...
'' was extended to at least 20 minutes. Separate weekend bulletins were also reintroduced, effectively restoring a full regional news service for the former Westcountry region.


Studios

Westcountry was originally based at Brittany Ferries' offices in Millbay Docks, Plymouth with a view to constructing a purpose-built studio centre on the Plymouth waterfront. However, following the delay caused by TSW's legal proceedings, these plans were scrapped. The company opted instead to convert an industrial unit at Langage Science Park in Plympton, which was backed up by a network of seven local newsrooms and studios in
Torbay Torbay is a borough and unitary authority in Devon, south west England. It is governed by Torbay Council and consists of of land, including the resort towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, located on east-facing Tor Bay, part of Lyme ...
,
Penzance Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...
,
Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...
,
Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
,
Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...
, Weymouth and
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...
. Although Westcountry's headquarters were in Plymouth, transmission for the channel was outsourced and run by
HTV Wales ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV franchise area in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to a broadcaster by the regulator Ofcom. There is no channel, past or present, named "ITV Wales ...
staff at HTV's presentation centre in
Culverhouse Cross Culverhouse Cross ( cy, Croes Cwrlwys) is a district straddling the boundary between Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, in the community of Wenvoe. The district is centred on a major traffic roundabout that links West Cardiff to the M4 mo ...
,
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
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. Following the merger to form
ITV West Country ITV West Country is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the South West England franchise area on the ITV network. Previously, between 2009 and 2013, the area was a non-franchise region, branded with the sa ...
, most of Westcountry's operations were transferred to HTV's West headquarters in
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
, where production of the regional news service is now based. The only operation left in Plymouth is a newsroom and sales office, alongside two newsrooms in
Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...
and
Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...
.


Sub-regions

Up until early 2009, Westcountry ran four sub-regional services, each providing short opt-out bulletins for their area during the flagship news programme ''
Westcountry Live ''Westcountry Live'' was the flagship regional news programme of ITV Westcountry, serving South West England. History The programme was first broadcast on Monday 4 January 1993 - four days after Westcountry Television took over the ITV regional ...
'' and the late bulletin after ''News at Ten''. The opt-outs were broadcast from Westcountry's studios in Barnstaple (covering north Devon), Exeter (serving east Devon and parts of Somerset), Plymouth (south Devon & parts of east Cornwall) and Truro (Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly). Westcountry was the first and only ITV company to produce four opt-outs for its region.


Identity

Between 1 January 1993 and 5 September 1999, Westcountry's presentation featured that of a large 'W' shape on a frosted screen over a background video of a nature scene. The idents were made so that the scene could only be seen clearly through the 'W' shape. Accompanying the video was a five-note jingle featuring string and flute instruments. This presentational package lasted throughout the whole period, with the only change on 8 September 1997 that of a form-up added made out of diagonal lines. From 6 September 1999 however, the look changed drastically, as the
Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...
'Star' ident package was launched on the network. The look, featuring a start up film involving hearts would flash out to reveal the Carlton name over a spinning star background. The Westcountry name was only used on the news programme ''Westcountry Live''. This package lasted until 28 October 2002, when regional continuity was lost. In its place, a national ITV1 branding package, with local idents featuring the ITV1 logo on the left hand side of the screen with Carlton logo below. This remained until late 2003, when the Carlton name was removed from regional idents, which instead featured four colour cubes randomly located in a scene from the region. The ITV1 logo was located in the bottom right corner with the caption ''ITV1 for the Westcountry'' located beneath. Following the 2004 ITV rebranding, the new local ident featured the national ident of three cubes containing the letters 'ITV' above a large cube '1', with the addition of the region name below. A few blunders occurred however. To begin with, Westcountry's local ident had the word ''West'' beneath which was later replaced as ''West Country''. The ident was finally amended to show the right name at approximately the same time that regional idents were abandoned. In 2006 and 2009, the Westcountry brand completely disappeared from continuity and the news service respectively. The station would now be known on-air as just ITV1 at all times. On 14 January 2013, the station's on-air identity was changed to
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
, along with all other ITV plc-owned franchises.


Programmes

Westcountry's programme offerings were primarily aimed at a regional market as opposed to gaining network slots. Westcountry's flagship programme was the regional news magazine ''
Westcountry Live ''Westcountry Live'' was the flagship regional news programme of ITV Westcountry, serving South West England. History The programme was first broadcast on Monday 4 January 1993 - four days after Westcountry Television took over the ITV regional ...
'', which ran between Westcountry's launch in 1993 until the merger in 2009. Other regional programmes included: *''Bendell at Bedtime'' – Topical debate (2004) *'' Birthday People'' – Birthday slot for children (1993–2005) *''Blooming Marvelous'' – (1994–96) *''Brief Encounters'' – Feature series about unusual pastimes (1993–94) *''Energize!'' – A Saturday Children's magazine programme (1996–2000) *''Little River Journeys'' – A look at the Westcountry region's waterways, later aired by Channel 4 (1995) *''On the Road to the Islands'' – Jack Pizzey's tour of islands in the south west, later aired by
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
(1993) *''Richard Digance: For One Night Only'' – Local entertainment series (1997–98) *''Special Report'' – current affairs programme *''The L.A.D.S.'' – A rare partly network commission, A magazine programme for men. (1996) *''Ruth Meets The Entertainers'' – (1995) *''The West At Work'' – (1993–96)BFI.org
/ref> *''Westcountry Focus'' – Westcountry's first regular current affairs series *''Westcountry Life'' – Short 30-second films reflecting aspects of life in the region (1993–96) *''Westcountry Soccer Night'' – Local football magazine show (2004–08) *''Westcountry Update'' – Weekly news review for the deaf and hard of hearing (1993–2004) *''West Wise'' – Short-lived inter-town quiz, one of Westcountry's first local programmes (1993) In its annual reports, the
Independent Television Commission The Independent Television Commission (ITC) licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom (except S4C in Wales) between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003. History The creation of ITC, by the Broadcasting Act ...
(ITC) commented on Westcountry's programming and performance; in 1995 it said that Westcountry had a "good news service and regional programming", despite a difficult first year. Two years later in 1997 the ITC again noted its "strong, high quality regional programming" and that it had "scored a major network success with ''Christmas with the Royal Navy'', a series of five live programmes". In 1999 the ITC again commented that Westcountry provided a "regional service of generally high quality" and that overall its range of regional programmes was "wide and included some strong factual material", also noting that one of its children's programmes had been supplied to the network.


See also

*
ITV Wales & West ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV franchise area in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to a broadcaster by the regulator Ofcom. There is no channel, past or present, named "ITV Wales ...
*
Television South West Television South West (TSW) was the ITV franchise holder for the South West England region from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 1992, broadcasting from studios at Derry's Cross in Plymouth, Devon. History Origins and Launch On 28 Decembe ...
*
ITV (TV network) ITV is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passi ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control Carlton Television
Westcountry The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Gloucesters ...
Television in England Mass media in Cornwall Mass media in Dorset Television channels and stations established in 1993 West Country Television channels and stations disestablished in 2013