Southern Television

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Southern Television
Southern Independent Television

Based in	Southampton & Dover
Broadcast area	South of England
Launched	30 August 1958
Closed	31 December 1981
Replaced by	TVS
Owned by	Associated Newspapers, Rank Organisation, D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd

Southern Television was one of the original ITV companies, serving the south-central and south-east of England from August 30, 1958 until 12:45 AM on January 1, 1982. It also used the name Southern Independent Television, on-air, from 1964 until its demise.

1 1950's: Launch
2 Programming
3 Studios
4 1980 Franchise round
5 31st December 1981: The End
6 Start-up announcements
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] 1950's: Launch

When the Independent Television Authority advertised for applicants to run the south of England station in 1958, Southern Television beat eight other applicants for the contract. Its initial shareholders were Associated Newspapers, the Rank Organisation and the Amalgamated Press, each holding one third of the company. Associated Newspapers was allowed to remain a shareholder in Southern, only on the condition that it sold its remaining 10% stake in Associated-Rediffusion to avoid owning parts of two ITV companies (a very different situation from today). The Amalgamated Press dropped out of the consortium before the station went on air. This led to Associated Newspapers and Rank increasing their stakes to 37.5% each, and D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd taking the remaining 25%.

[edit] Programming

Notable programmes produced by Southern over the years included: Out Of Town, a countryside programme introduced by Jack Hargreaves [1], who would later join Southern's board of directors; How, a children's science programme also featuring Hargreaves along with Fred Dinenage, Bunty James (later replaced by Marian Davies) and Jon Miller; Freewheelers, a children's spy series; Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years; and Worzel Gummidge, starring Jon Pertwee as the eponymous walking scarecrow. Generally, the company produced more networked children's programmes than adult programmes, scoring a particularly strong seller internationally with an adaptation of Enid Blyton's The Famous Five. Also worth noting was the children's programme The Saturday Banana, hosted by Bill Oddie (then at the height of his fame as one of The Goodies) which saw the placing of a twenty foot high fibreglass banana outside the studios, supported by its peeled 'skin', they also produced the children's game show Runaround which was hosted by Mike Read.

[edit] Studios

Its original studios were a converted cinema in Northam, Southampton. With the advent of colour in 1969 the company moved to purpose-built new studios next door to the existing site, built on land reclaimed from the River Itchen. The company also had production offices and a studio in Dover, to serve the eastern part of its' region (This closed in 1983 and was demolished a year later. It is now a car park). Dover went live in 1960 and from the outset was producing split news bulletins and dedicated inserts into Day by Day. Southern was the first ITV company to do this.

Unique in ITV and reflecting the area's maritime history the company converted a speedboat into a floating outside broadcasting unit named The Southerner. The company had sales offices at Stag Place, London and Oxford Street, Manchester.

There were also regional offices in Maidstone, Dorchester, Brighton and Reading.

[edit] 1980 Franchise round

Southern's failure to win a renewal of its contract in the 1980 bidding session was met with anger and disbelief by its board of directors. Although the Independent Broadcasting Authority gave its standard reason for these decisions (the competitor offered a better mix of programmes and greater investment), it was believed the station's non-local ownership may have swayed the balance against it. In a famous encounter at an IBA function the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher asked the chairwoman of the IBA, Lady Plowden, as to why the station had actually lost out to which the latter replied "I could possibly never tell you that", such was the IBA's secrecy on these matters.

Another factor may have been the company's very conservative (and possibly dull) nature and that, with a new decade dawning, the south of England would be a radically different area (which it turned out to be). It was felt that Southern's application was, understandably, more of the same reliable formula, which in time would have not reflected the possibilities for the area. Another possible factor was the incumbents' complacency: It's original application was a mere 16-pages long. Tactfully the IBA invited them to re-submit, this time asking them to go into more depth with their plans.

The winning bidder was TVS, who spent months trying to persuade Southern to sell its studios; until it finally succeeded, TVS was forced to use portable offices in Southern's car park. Finally, Southern agreed to lease its studios for the production of TVS programmes and sell them to TVS outright at the end of 1981. The handover was tinged with acrimony on behalf of Southern, who appeared to take their anger at the decision out on TVS, rather than the IBA who had made the actual choice. In their final programme, And It's Goodbye From Us, a song was featured, deriding the incoming TVS as 'Portakabin TV' (composed and performed by Richard Stilgoe), and mocking them for choosing Maidstone as a production base in the newly-enlarged dual region (deliberately not mentioning that Southern themselves had already purchased the Vinters Park, Maidstone site for a planned studio complex if they had won the 1982 franchise, and had sold it on to the TVS consortium at a considerable profit).

[edit] 31st December 1981: The End

Southern's final programme, And It's Goodbye From Us, ended with many of the on-air talent and company executives standing (rather solemnly) as their names were displayed on-screen and instrumental music played. After the music reached a cresendo and the Southern Television Production slide was shown, the card dissolved into an animated version of their starbust logo spinning away into a starry sky, their acoustic guitar jingle playing (for what would be the final time) with a deep extended echo, and the screen slowly and silently fading to black. There were no closing announcements, no suggestions for viewers to switch off their television sets, nor even the customary playing of "God Save the Queen". The transmitters were simply, and abruptly, shut down. It was a bitter ending for a television company that had provided much to British audiences.

In 2005, the old Southern studios were closed and scheduled for demolition, after the relocation for their current owners Meridian Television to a facility at Whiteley. The site of the old studios is expected to become luxury flats.

Southern Television's programme archive was sold to Southern Star Group. The names "Southern Television Ltd", "Southern Independent Television" and "Southern Television", and the star device idents (1958-81) all transferred to Art Attack producer Nic Ayling in 2004, and Southern now trades as an independent production company.