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Border Television
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Border Television (later ITV Border) is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland, the majority of Cumbria, and the Isle of Man. Border Television was taken over by Granada Television in 2001, and the company was renamed ITV Border in 2006.
ITV Border merged with ITV Tyne Tees on Wednesday 25 February 2009 to form a non-franchise region known as ITV Tyne Tees & Border.
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Encyclopedia
Border Television (later ITV Border) is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland, the majority of Cumbria, and the Isle of Man. Border Television was taken over by Granada Television in 2001, and the company was renamed ITV Border in 2006.
ITV Border merged with ITV Tyne Tees on Wednesday 25 February 2009 to form a non-franchise region known as ITV Tyne Tees & Border. The two stations already share a regional director (Graeme Thompson) and head of news (Catherine Houlihan).
History
During the 1970s and well into the 1980s, the company's principal offering to the wider ITV network was the gameshow Mr and Mrs, hosted by Derek Batey. In 1985, they produced a music show for Channel 4 entitled Bliss, hosted by Muriel Gray and shot in Border's car park.
Based in Carlisle in northern England, Border began broadcasting on 1 September 1961. It has had the complex task of serving three very different regions, particularly given the political differences between England and Scotland, and the fact that the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom. However, this has been remedied somewhat by the introduction of separate news bulletins for England and Scotland. Despite its diminutive status within the ITV Network, plus several flirtations with collapse based on difficulty selling advertising airtime covering an intensely rural community, Border successfully concentrated on providing its regional service since 1961, and its regional news programme is one of the highest rating of any BBC or ITV regions in the country. in recent years, following the loss of local control after the station was taken over, there's been controversy on the Isle of Man regarding a lack of coverage, particularly in the Manx parliament Tynwald.
Lord Bragg, controller of arts and features at ITV Productions, is a former chairman of Border Television.
During the 1990s, Border held interests in a number of radio stations including Century Radio, Sun FM and CFM , and in 1997 formed a subsidiary, Border Radio Holdings, for its radio business. Border and its radio stations were bought by Capital Radio in 2000, and the television station was later sold to Granada Media Group. Rumours over its future persistently dogged Border, and it trod a difficult path to balance the interests of three different nations.
In July 2006, it was announced that the Berwick-upon-Tweed transmitter was to transfer to ITV Tyne Tees as part of the preparations for the digital switchover of the Border region in 2008 and to bring Berwick into line with the rest of the North East, which is scheduled to switch over to digital in 2012. The transfer took effect from 13 December 2006, although Border news programmes still carry stories about Berwick-upon-Tweed due to its proximity to the eastern Scottish Borders.
Merger
In 2008, the United Kingdom plans to begin its five-year programme to cease analogue television broadcasts as part of the switchover to Digital television starting with Border.
ITV plc executive chairman Michael Grade is restructuring the ITV regional layout, stating the existence of ITV Border "no longer makes sense" relative to the regional audience it serves. The move is expected to give ITV plc "greater value for money", but may be subject to Ofcom approval..
On 12 September 2007, Grade announced plans to close ITV Border and merge the region with ITV Tyne Tees. If Ofcom agrees with the proposal the changes could be in place by 2009. The Border region will be covered by a short programme opt out until digital switch over is complete in 2014 but after that there is no guarantee that regional news programmes will continue.
On 25 September 2008, Ofcom gave ITV the green light to merge ITV Border's news operation with that of ITV Tyne Tees at Gateshead from early-2009. Following a survey of Isle of Man viewers in autumn 2008, it is likely that coverage of the Isle of Man will transfer from ITV Border to ITV Granada in the near future. This has now been confirmed.
ITV Border's own regional news service ceased production on Tuesday 24th February 2009, replaced by a dual-regional service the next day. Their main studios at Harraby in Carlisle will be closed with main operations transferred to the ITV Tyne Tees studios in Gateshead. Six smaller offices have been opened for news gathering purposes in Carlisle, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Kendal, Selkirk and Whitehaven.
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