This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Meridian Broadcasting (now known as
ITV Meridian). It has provided 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 ...
service for the South and South East of England since 1993.
1990s
* 1991
** 16 October – The
ITC announces that
TVS TVS may refer to:
Mathematics
* Topological vector space
Television
* Television Sydney, TV channel in Sydney, Australia
* Television South, ITV franchise holder in the South of England between 1982 and 1992
* TVS Television Network, US dis ...
has lost its licence to
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 an ...
. Meridian had tabled a lower bid but the ITC awarded the licence because it felt that TVS’ bid of £59 million was too high.
* 1992
** No events.
* 1993
** 1 January – After the chimes of
Big Ben
Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The officia ...
, Meridian Broadcasting goes on air.
** 20 July – Meridian joins up with
HTV,
Westcountry Television
ITV Westcountry, formerly known as Westcountry Television and Carlton Westcountry, was the ITV franchise holder for the south west of England, covering Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, southern and western Somerset and western Dorset. The com ...
,
Channel Television and
S4C
S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...
to form a joint advertising company operated by Meridian Broadcasting and HTV.
* 1994
** 19 February – Meridian purchases
Anglia Television, the ITV franchise for the east of England.
* 1995
** No events.
* 1996
** MAI merges with United Newspapers (via an
agreed takeover by United) to form
United News & Media. The resulting company owned the ''
Daily Express
The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...
'' newspaper, Meridian Broadcasting, Anglia Television, and a large shareholding (through the ''
Yorkshire Post'') in
Yorkshire Tyne Tees Television
Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television was a British broadcasting company, which is now part of ITV plc.
History
The company was created in June 1992 from the merger of the Independent Television broadcasters Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television ...
, the owners of
Yorkshire Television and
Tyne Tees Television.
* 1997
** 28 June – United News & Media takes over HTV.
* 1998
** 15 November – The public launch of digital terrestrial TV in the UK takes place.
* 1999
** The television assets of Meridian's owner
United News & Media are sold to
Granada
Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
. However, due to regulations stating that the company could not control that large an audience share, the broadcasting arm of HTV is sold to
Carlton Television
Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...
in exchange for
Central Independent Television
ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...
's 20% stake in Meridian Broadcasting.
** 8 November – A
new, hearts-based on-air look is introduced.
2000s
* 2000
** No events.
* 2001
** No events.
* 2002
** 28 October – On-air regional identities are dropped apart from when introducing regional programmes and Meridian is renamed ITV1 Meridian.
* 2003
** No events.
* 2004
** January – The final two remaining English ITV companies, Carlton and Granada, merge to create a single
England and
Wales ITV company called
ITV plc.
**Meridian moves from
Northam studio complex to a new studio base in
Whiteley,
Hampshire.
*2005
** No events.
* 2006
** 4 December – The non-franchised region
ITV Thames Valley
ITV Thames Valley was a non-franchise ITV news region covering the Thames Valley area of the United Kingdom from 4 December 2006 until 8 February 2009. It served the south/south-eastern area of the legal Central franchise and the north/north-w ...
is launched. It incorporates the former Central South news service and the Meridian North service and both operate as their own sub-regions for non-news programming and for advertising.
* 2007
** No events.
* 2008
** December – All non-news local programming ends after
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 ...
gives ITV permission to drastically cut back its regional programming. From 2009 the only regional programme is the monthly political discussion show
* 2009
**16 February – As part of ITV's major cutbacks of its operation in England, Meridian's three news services are amalgamated into one. However part of the programme, and the late night bulletin, remain localised.
Seventeen regions into nine: How the updated ITV local news services will run
Caitlin Fitzsimmons, The Guardian, 17 February 2009
2010s
*2010
** No events.
*2011
** No events.
*2012
** 27 June – The Meridian region completes digital switchover.
*2013
** 16 September – The 2009 cut-backs are reversed and once again the Meridian region is served by three opt-out services.
See also
* History of ITV
* History of ITV television idents
* Timeline of ITV
* Timeline of TVS – Meridian's predecessor
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meridian Broadcasting
Television in the United Kingdom by year
ITV timelines