Timeline of Meridian Broadcasting

This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Meridian Broadcasting (now known as ITV Meridian). It has provided the ITV service for the South and South East of England since 1993.

1990s

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  • 1991
    • Meridian Broadcasting is formed to apply for the South of England region in the forthcoming ITV franchise round. Intended as a publisher broadcaster, the majority of programmes would be commissioned from independent producers rather than produced in-house.
    • 16 October – The ITC announces that Meridian had been awarded the licence. Meridian had tabled a lower bid that the incumbent broadcaster, TVS, but the ITC awarded the licence because it felt that TVS’ bid of £59 million was too high, meaning that TVS's business plan was deemed to be unsatisfactory.[1] Therefore, Meridian was awarded the licence as the next highest bidder (£36.5 million).[2]
  • 1992
    • No events.
  • 1994
  • 1995
    • No events.
  • 1997
    • 28 June – United News & Media takes over HTV.[6]
  • 1998
    • 15 November – The public launch of digital terrestrial TV in the UK takes place.

2000s

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  • 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.
  • 2005
    • No events.
  • 2006
    • 4 December – The non-franchised region ITV Thames Valley 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 gives ITV permission to drastically cut back its regional programming.[9] 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.[10]

2010s

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  • 2010
    • No events.
  • 2011
    • No events.
  • 2013
    • 16 September – The 2009 cut-backs are reversed and once again the Meridian region is served by three opt-out services.[11] However to maintain lower costs, the main half-hour programme at 6pm contains a minimum 20 minutes of regional news (10 minutes in the Thames Valley) and daily use of "shared content" from outside the region.[11]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ TVS's £54m bid 'threatens profits'. Melinda Wittstock, Media Correspondent. The Times, Tuesday, 6 August 1991.
  2. ^ Blyth, K. "Licence granted to Meridian Broadcasting Limited to provide a regional Channel 3 service under part 1 of the Broadcasting Act 1990" (PDF). Ofcom. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  3. ^ "TV companies link up". Times. London. 20 July 1993. p. 22. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  4. ^ John, Murray (19 February 1994). "Heseltine clears way for Anglia TV bid". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 2022-05-07. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  5. ^ "PRNewsWire" (Press release). PRNewsWire. Retrieved 2011-01-27.
  6. ^ Newman, Cathy (28 June 1997). "HTV succumbs to United News in pounds 370m takeover bid". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-07. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  7. ^ "United News sharpens focus". BBC News. 4 August 2000. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  8. ^ "History". ITV plc. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
  9. ^ "ITV 'can cut' regional programming". BBC News. 25 September 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  10. ^ Seventeen regions into nine: How the updated ITV local news services will run Caitlin Fitzsimmons, The Guardian, 17 February 2009
  11. ^ a b "Channel 3 and Channel 5: Statement of Programming Obligations - Amendments to obligations for Channel 3 and Channel 5 ahead of a new licensing period". Ofcom. Retrieved 13 April 2015.