For anglia and meridian not much will change, but HTV is being taken over by........................................................................................................................................................................................CARLTON.
And we all know what happened to poor old central and westcountry and should I add HTV!

Carlton will NOT be changing the name of HTV, if the rumours are true, and I have been in touch with a friend of a friend who says they are, it would defeat the object of re-branding HTV to Carlton Wales only to return them to HTV again.
Living all my life in the Granada area, I have to say granada's regional output in programmes is normally of a network quality.
However, and this is a big however, Granada tonight is DIRE it is due for a revamp VERY soon to co-inside with the new schedules but it is of very poor quality, some nights I even prefer to watch HTV 6 o'clock news - it gets that bad.
Granada will be showing programmes such a Coronation Street more in the Meridian and Anglia areas, i.e. an omnibus - which has been very welcome in the north and l.don and I think it should go down well with meridian and Anglia viewers.
i should hope that Granada will realise that its viewers are deserting it for the good old North West Tonight, but whether they will or not remains to be seen.
Granada should introduce a desk for Tonight, then at least it would give it a more newsy feel.
Dont expect to see too many major changes in the regions, Granada is really obssesed with letting each station do its own thing and especially concerning logos, and news programmes, for example TTTV has a much better - yet totally different style of news to either Granada or Yorkshire, Granada being the worst by far!
I should think that after Granada's recent disaster with continuity presenters they have learnt from this mistake (i.e not saying the regional comps. name - just saying this is ITV) and they will be introducing a much more personal news serivce which will feature the names of each company, or at least i hope so. I was looking back at some tapes the other day, and was so amazed at what Granada;s presentation was like, it was just superb, especially at christmas.
hope this is of some us

the regional progs i mean BTW are things like Mean Street which have been superb - i dont know the viewing figures but i would think they would be quite high.
Granada however isnot know for it high quality regional progs.
ALSO LETS GET THIS CLEAR
GRANADA TV- I.e. the NW franchise have NOT taken over Meridian Anglia OR ANY OTHER ITV FRANCHISE, Granada Media however have, so there is no use looking at the Granada listings.
Granada MEDIA AND Granada TELEVISON are two TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS!!!
Like BT and BT internet for example

YTV`s local programs aren`t too bad and their a Granada station.I think all Granadas stations will now get newly designed logos and hopefully do away with the hearts. I wonder what will happen with Anglia and Meridian`s continuity. Will it too come from Leeds or will they do their own thing. Doesn`t theirs come from Southampton at the moment? LWT still have their own continuity I think.

Well all I can say is that Tyne Tees' local output has improved since the Granada takeover, and long may it continue. They even seem to have got some independence back from YTV, like when they cancelled Friday Whitely which was co-produced with YTV leaving Leeds with a sticky problem (hee hee hee!!) Network commissions have all but dried up but they do get a number of high-profile programmes shown on Channel 4. I don't think we have anything to fear from Granada. But HTV will prob be bought by Granada, and that's a whole different kettle of fish...

I hate to put down Tyne Tees anymore that this county has done already(!!), but those Channel 4 programmes are really co-productions with a YTV executive producer and a lot of YTV staff working on them.

Sorry

Oh dear. What is starting to irritate me somewhat is that you are starting to sound like a typical YTV employee, Damian. The rather off-hand and false-apologetic way you let people know that Tyne Tees produce even less than people think makes me think that you are as unashamed as all the rest down there of the way your scummy pondlife company has treated the North East. And has done so in any way it can for the most part of 30 years.

Don't forget that if North East TV had won the NE franchise the incompetently run YTV would have most likely gone bust in 1994. Do you show Tyne Tees any remorse, regret or gratitude for this fact? Do you buggery, and that is why I find your pathetic excuse for a company quite objectionable. They have less right to broadcast than Carlton when all said and done.

Two other things : if YTV truly are the producers of the C4 programmes (which they are from what you describe, if they have a YTV exec producer they are YTV productions) then we can add lying and cheating to the growing list of YTV crimes. Where do YTV get off labelling their own programmes as TT ones in order to keep the regulators happy.

I don't know what you were taught at school but as far as I am concerned this is FRAUD, a potentially criminal act by YTV and Granada Media.

Oh, and maybe you can explain to me why YTV show Yorkshire-exclusive jobs, on a specific opt-out, on Tyne Tees? It is ridiculous that this should happen. It's actually costing them more to do this as well than just to leave TT on the general ITV output? So, Damian, why would YTV do this other than pure malice? I think we should be told.

Hear hear, i'm pissed off with YTV, every time a production is mad its by YORKSHIRE tyne tees productions ltd....when its made in Leeds its a YTV production? Why is this? The only reason YTV staff are drafted in for Tyne Tees productions is that YTV sacked most of the TTTV staff and all the management of production dept. is done from Leeds. Why isn't Emmerdale a Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Production?..no its just a YTV programme. Also why is it that Granada now realy so heavily on TTTV's regional output for their other franchise 'local' output?

I'm with you 100% NF. What I'd also like to know is what role does Graeme Thompson play in all this -- he's based in Newcastle, and likes to play down YTV's role, claiming that he has overall control of Tyne Tees' regional and network programming. Is he a YTV puppet as well?

It's no use hiding behind the Yorks-Tyne Tees curtain either, we all know that just means YTV. TTTV management had no involvement in all this mess, Ian Ritchie resigned when he realised that YTV were little more than ASSET STRIPPERS. Or have I got this all wrong?

Without wanting to say anything else to raise North Eastern blodd pressures, I can shed some light on the legal situation.

While Granada Media is ultimately responsible, Yorkshire-Tyne Tees and Yorkshire Television Ltd both continue to exist. I think (but I'm not sure) that Tyne Tees Ltd still exists as well.

I cannot say (because I don't know) who is running what aspect of each and every Tyne Tees production. I can say however, that staff based at the YTV building in Leeds were heavily involved with the various C4 series recently (one was executive producer). That said, I know that some work was done at Newcastle as well. Staff are all considered to be working for Granada Media wherever they are based.

I am sorry that the situation Tyne Tees finds itself in irritates you so much. I could argue that it makes economic sense to centralise things either to Leeds (in the case of YTTTV) or latterly to London (in the case of Granada Media). I dare say that argument wouldn't help much.

I will however repeat that the woes of Tyne Tees cannot constantly be put at the door of Yorkshire Television.

And two other points!!!!

Firstly, the Tyne Tees region is not so remote that north eastern people are not interested in jobs in Yorkshire, are they?

And secondly let me point out that it is blood pressure and not blodd pressure that I am worried about.

I don't know what I was taught at school, but it obviously wasn't spelling...

When YTV 'streamlined' Newcastle, they left it in the situation where Tyne Tees couldn't do very much without Leeds's help. It's a sad fact of life. After all what is the main programming to come out of Newcastle these days? Clips shows for C4...

Right, OK thanks for the clarification. With regards to the C4 productions, Tyne Tees submitted these as network commissions produced by themselves AND ONLY THEMSELVES to the ITC last year. Now you are telling us that this is NOT the case, and in fact they are YTV productions (due to the fact that the executive producer is a YTV employee). The ITC have been keeping a close eye on TT of late, because network commissions have slowed to a trickle. I say again (because I believe it to be true) that if programmes are being submitted as such for the benefit of the ITC when the truth is that TT did not produce them, then this is potentially fraudulent behaviour by YTV and Granada Media. I will be writing to the Director of Broadcasting at TT and YTV, along with the ITC, demanding an explanation for this dishonesty.

And yes all TT's woe's can be placed at the door of YTV. Pray tell us, where else can they be placed?

If the ITC were to consider where programming were actually made instead of believing Granada Media's version of events, there'd be merry hell on. Bottom line : The North East is this country's only region without a local station. And no-one seems to care. And that is a bloody disgrace, and a scandal. And yes it *is* YTV's fault.

And Bods, what is the matter with you? You write multi-page websites because you dislike a graphic, but the scandal behind the triviality you dismiss as one of those things. What's the matter with you all?

>And Bods, what is the matter with you? You write multi-page websites because you dislike a graphic, but the scandal behind the triviality you dismiss as one of those things. What's the matter with you all?

I'm not saying any of it is right, and it is a subject that the new site is likely to tackle - perhaps you'd like to write a piece for it yourself...

My site has always plenty on the news programmes of Tyne Tees, and has been moaning about the ever decreasing quality of them (no one can persuade me that NET is as good as it used it be - it's a mess).

Of course, because something is a fact of life, doesn't mean that we have to accept it. A TV company might say of DOGs, oh it's a fact of life now, get used to it. But I won't.

Whoa there Andrew -- you don't want YTV's heavies banging on your door again -- anyone'd think they have something to hide (lol)

Well, before you write to the ITC, let me reiterate - staff based at YTV worked on the Tyne Tees programmes BUT

They are all Granada Media staff

I think the factual department is run as Yorkshire Tyne Tees (certainly Broadcast recently had a story about a raft of new commissions for YTTTV factual). Exactly how the credit is attributed I'm not sure.

And finally, Granada Media is run by suits in London, not in Leeds.

Furthermore, let me apologise if my earlier point sounded unduly sarcastic. I'm not in a position to say which base deserves more credit for those Channel 4 series, and I certainly didn't mean to belittle the Newcastle contribution.

Nevertheless, Granada Media is playing fast and loose with the regional names it owns, and all I wanted to point out was that a Tyne Tees credit (or Yorkshire, or even Granada) no longer means what it used to.

>They are all Granada Media staff

True.

>Furthermore, let me apologise if my earlier point sounded unduly sarcastic. I'm not in a position to say which base deserves more credit for those Channel 4 series, and I certainly didn't mean to belittle the Newcastle contribution.

I think we can all agree that Tyne Tees's problems were caused before Granada Media came along.

>Nevertheless, Granada Media is playing fast and loose with the regional names it owns, and all I wanted to point out was that a Tyne Tees credit (or Yorkshire, or even Granada) no longer means what it used to.

Tyne Tees does have a problem in that Granada Media owns three UK production businesses: Granada Television Productions, LWTP and Yorkshire Tyne Tees Productions.

The trouble for Tyne Tees is that it doesn't have a seperate production arm, therefore how do you properly define a Tyne Tees programme?

I think it's high time Granada took LWTP, Granada Productions and YTTTV and merged them all together, then perhaps we would have some fairness in the proceedings.

Which is what's happening to the Children's departments. As I mentioned previously, new endcaps with a Granada Media logo as well as the logo of the company nominally responsible were prepared. However these would need to be redesigned now that GM have changed their logo, if they still intend on using them.

I agree that a merger of a Granada's production arms is what is needed. The situation at the moment is that Tyne Tees studios are sitting there under-used because all the network commissions have gone. I wouldn't be suprised if they close them down! as the Quayside location has a high property value. They'd probably build a new version of their small Bellasis news centre in the north of the region and that would be it for TV production in the north-east. (Bear in mind that the largest indi producer Zenith North has closed its Newcastle operations ). As said before Tyne Tees no longer have a 'network' production arm of their own, and i believe local stuff is made by Tyne Tees Television Limited and not YORKSHIRE Tyne Tees.

and on the ITC point, i noticed Tyne Tees included the Catherine Cooksons in their 8 hours of network contributions (ITC Annual Report)....Tyne Tees no longer have any direct role in them (according to a report on NET) and Festival Films work directly tith ITV Networks Ltd...with a YTV Executive Producer...so how do they include them in their submission?