Timeline of TVS

This is a timeline of the history of TVS.

1980s

• 1980
  • 28 December – The Independent Broadcasting Authority announces that TVS has been awarded the franchise to broadcast to South and South East England. It will replace Southern Television at the start of programmes on 1 January 1982.

• 1981
  • August – TVS purchases Southern’s studios but continues to use them until its franchise runs out at the end of the year, forcing TVS to operate out of Portakabins located in the car park.

• 1982
  • 1 January –
    • TVS launches at 9:30 am.
    • At 5:15 pm TVS broadcasts the first main edition of its new regional news magazine Coast to Coast and from day one, two separate editions for the south and south east are broadcast although for the first few months, a pan-regional segment is aired.
  • Autumn – TVS opens The Maidstone Studios.

• 1983
  • 1 February – ITV’s breakfast television service TV-am launches. Consequently, TVS’s broadcast day always begins at 9:25 am.
  • Following the opening of its new studios at Maidstone, TVS closes the studios in Dover which it had used as a news-gathering base for the south east area. These studios had previously been used by its predecessor Southern. The studios are demolished the following year.

• 1984
  • 12 April – Whitbread acquires a 20% stake in TVS from European ferries, as the latter wished to concentrate its financial and management resources on the shipping and property sectors.
  • 17 August – Greg Dyke is appointed as Director of Programmes. in a bid to rejuvenate the station. He started to move programming away from its original philosophy of niche arts and science programming, and began producing more entertainment shows.

• 1985
  • 3 January – The last day of transmission using the 405-lines system.
  • TVS comes to an agreement with LWT to help to fill its schedules with domestically-produced programming while not having to increase its budget. This helps TVS to get more of its programmes onto the ITV network.

• 1986
  • 12 January – The first edition of the long-running game show Catchphrase is aired, hosted by Roy Walker.
  • Channel Television switches its feed of the ITV network from TSW to TVS.
  • TVS is heavily criticised by the IBA over its programming. The criticism mainly concerns the Southampton editions of Coast to Coast while issues were raised over the quality of TVS's drama and light entertainment output. Its education shows were 'too didactic' while its religious output was branded as having 'barely discernible religious content'. Dyke accepted the IBA criticism, but highlighted that TVS had already begun remedying the issues and faults, with a new editor for its Southampton news operation, and a new head of religious output was brought in, along with a controller of drama, a first for TVS. Once again, TVS expressed their concern about its relationship with the Big Five ITV stations, and how they controlled the channel's output.
  • November – Whitbread sells its 20% stake in TVS.
  • TVS starts to branch out into other areas. It purchases Midem, an organisation that promoted trade fairs, and Gilson International a Los Angeles distribution company selling programmes outside the US. TVS also acquires a 3.5% stake in Australia Network Ten company Northern Star.

• 1987
  • 10 April – Greg Dyke leaves TVS and returns to LWT.
  • 7 September –
    • Following the transfer of ITV Schools to Channel 4, ITV provides a full morning programme schedule, with advertising, for the first time. The new service includes regular five-minute national and regional news bulletins.
    • To mark the occasion, TVS launches a new look to its presentation.
  • September – TVS begins broadcasting into the night and calls the service Late Night Late.

• 1988
  • 20 June – TVS begins 24-hour broadcasting. It simulcasts the service to Channel Television.
  • 1 July – TVS buys American media company MTM Enterprises.
  • 12 December – TVS launches a new sub-region, providing viewers served by the Hannington transmitting station with a more localised news service as an opt-out from regional news magazine programme Coast to Coast.
  • TVS sells its TVS Television Theatre in Gillingham, Kent. It had originally been purchased as a stopgap measure for its south east service prior to the completion of The Maidstone Studios.

• 1989
  • 1 September – On the day that ITV launches its major new look, TVS chooses to refresh its own presentation rather than using the TVS version of the new ITV ident.
  • Following a reorganisation, TVS formally changes its company name from Television South plc to TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK broadcasting activities undertaken by subsidiary TVS Television Ltd.

1990s

• 1990
  • No events.

• 1991
  • August – TVS closes its overnight service Late Night Late and starts simulcasting the overnight service provided by Thames and LWT.
  • 16 October – The Independent Television Commission (ITC) announces that TVS has lost its licence. It loses out to Meridian Broadcasting. Meridian had tabled a lower bid but the ITC awarded the licence because it felt that TVS’ bid of £59 million was too high. Meridian Broadcasting was the highest of the other three applicants and was awarded the licence with a bid of £36 million per year.

• 1992
  • 31 December – At 11:59 pm TVS stops broadcasting as after the chimes of Big Ben, the new licensee, Meridian Broadcasting takes over as franchise holder for South and South East England.

• 1993
  • 1 February – International Family Entertainment Inc. purchases TVS and uses the TVS archives to help launch The Family Channel on 1 September 1993 which would then relaunch as Challenge TV on 3 February 1997.

See also

• History of ITV
• History of ITV television idents
• Timeline of ITV