Border

ITV Border, previously Border Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the England/Scotland border region, covering Dumfries & Galloway, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria. The station formerly covered the Isle of Man between 26 March 1965 and 15 July 2009. The are is he second largest ITV franchise by area of mass.

Border Television was taken over by Granada plc in 2001, and the company was renamed ITV Border in 2004. ITV Border merged with ITV Tyne Tees on Wednesday, 25 February 2009, to form a non-franchise region known as ITV Tyne Tees & Border.

Launch
In May 1960 the Independent Television Authority (ITA) invited applicants to provide the ITV service for the Borders region, an area that covered the English counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, the south of Scotland and later the Isle of Man.

Prior to this, the ITA had moved away from the idea of satellite stations (companies owned by distant management as seen with Southern Television in the south of England) towards companies that had strong local ownership. The contract covered two new transmitters at Caldbeck, near Carlisle and Selkirk, near St Boswells in the Scottish Borders. Granada Television and ABC Weekend Television had laid a claim to providing service via Caldbeck whilst Scottish Television expressed a strong interest in Selkirk. The ITA rejected both these in favour of a new contract area and a new company to serve it - although they stipulated the area to be "marginal" in their plans and that applicants had to present a very strong business case for the area as well as the contract.

Two applications were received, one from Solway Television and another from Border Television. Border were chosen on the basis of their plans and management which was considered local but still featured names from large business (the then chairman of Reuters for example) and from the world of education.

Launch was scheduled for February 1961 but construction problems with both transmitters resulted in delays until May of that year. As this led into the summer holiday period, Border asked for a launch delay as the break would affect advertising revenue. Accordingly Border launched in September 1961.

During its first year of operation Border made a profit unlike other regional companies in their initial year, and by its second year, it had covered its launch costs, due mainly to a 60% audience penetration in an area that, at the time, was largely ignored by the BBC.

1970s and 1980s
Initially, Border produced little for the network and concentrated on local programming, most notably its flagship local news programme Lookaround. Later, when ITV and the BBC were given permission to extend broadcasting hours to daytime, Border carved a niche for providing the ITV network with afternoon quizzes and light entertainment. Derek Batey, Border TV's Assistant Controller of Programmes, became the frontman for one of ITV's most popular daytime quiz shows of the 1970s and early 1980s, Mr. and Mrs. (A separate version of Mr. and Mrs. was also produced by HTV at the same time.) Another Derek Batey show for Border TV was Look Who's Talking, a light-hearted chat show, and a fifteen-minute part-networked music show, The Sound of ..., featuring The Spinners, a British folk music band The Settlers and other similar artists.

During September 1975 it became clear Border had to introduce cuts to its staffing levels and programmes after its net profit fell to just £13,587, since nearly half of its expenditure was on salaries, and Border was unable to cover their cost. A year before the ITV strike in 1979, a dispute with ACTT (Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied Technicians) union saw Border shut down for three weeks in November 1978. Up to 40 members of staff were locked out by management however some enterprising workers staged a sit-in, until Tuesday 21 November when talks started again, The strike ended in stalemate and compromise. By 1980, the company was in severe financial trouble owing to a national economic downturn which affected advertising revenue on the whole ITV network, with the station losing £70,000 before tax by October 1981. The situation was deemed so serious that at one point the company considered not re-applying for its licence when it expired in December 1981, Management did re-apply and, as with other renewal bids in 1967 and 1991, it was returned unopposed.

From the start of the 1982 licences Border gained the viewers from the Kendal transmitters and its relays which served the viewers from the South Lakes area .Before 1982 the transmitter was originally allocated to Granada. Since the 1970s Border, began to lobby for southern Cumbria to be added to its coverage area, backed by the new Cumbria County Council. The company was keen to secure the viewers of the southern Lake District, most of whom received good pictures from Granada, either direct from the main Winter Hill transmitter, or via several local relay stations. At the same time, officials on the Isle of Man expressed a preference for Granada as they believed inclusion in local news reports on that station would benefit the tourism industry, with direct ferry links from Liverpool and Heysham. The IBA, after conducting a survey of 50'000 local people highlighted most locals were more connected to Borders area

In 1982 the station was closed down for over a month due to another dispute, which only ended after letters asking for an improvement in industrial relations were withdrawn, while several member of the management resinged. Jim Graham from the BBC become managing director, while Paul Corley as Programme director. Both started to tranform the Border into producing more programmes for the ITV network. Graham hired Melvyn Bragg, to present a number of new show. The launch of Channel 4 in 1982 also "transformed Border in an astonishing way" which help finance many of the new programming being produced there Carlisle studio, and commissioning to make a number of shows for them, most notably Land of the Lakes (presented by Melvyn Bragg), a music show entitled Bliss (hosted by Muriel Gray and The Groovy Fellers with Jools Holland.

Border also expanded its children's programming during the 1980s with The Joke Machine, Crush a Grape, Pick a number, Krankies Television and contributions to Saturday morning series Get Fresh and Ghost Train (produced in conjunction with Tyne Tees Television, and others). Melvyn Bragg soon become deputy chairman of Border Television in 1985, becoming chairman in 1990. In 1996 he left the post but remained on the board.

Acquisition and takeover
In 1993, Border began it's first venture into commercial radio when it was awarded the New Central Scotland Radio station licenices in partnership with Grampians television. By May 1995, Grampian Television bought out Border's stake in the company.

Border's second venture was Century Radio, conceived as the second regional station for North East England, on 4th October 1994, with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as programme director. During the rest of the 1990s, Border launched an additional Century radio station in Manchester while holding interests in a number of other stations including Sun FM and CFM Radio, and in 1997 formed a subsidiary, Border Radio Holdings, for its radio business.

In March 2000, a takeover battle started between Capital Radio and Scottish Radio Holdings for border radio operations, SRH believed, independence for border is no longer "a realistic option" since most of the media section is consolidating. By April, Capital Radio won its takeover battle and announced it was selling Border television station to Granada Media Group for £50.5M. Rumours over its future persistently dogged Border and it trod a difficult path to balance the interests of three different nations. As with many of the other ITV regional stations, the range and quantity of its output continued its decline.

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 began its five-year programme to cease analogue television broadcasts as part of the switchover to Digital television starting with Border.

Towards the end of his tenure as ITV plc executive chairman, Michael Grade began dismantling 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 switchover is complete in 2014.

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 in 2009. Following a survey of Isle of Man viewers in autumn 2008, coverage of the Isle of Man was transferred from ITV Border to ITV Granada on Thursday 16 July 2009.

ITV Border's own regional news service ceased production on Tuesday 24 February 2009, replaced by a dual-regional service the next day. The ITV Border office is in the Kingstown area of Carlisle with reporters living and working in Carlisle, Dumfries, Edinburgh, Kendal, Selkirk and Whitehaven.

ITV Border won the RTS awards for Best News Programme: Nations and Regions for Lookaround, whilst ITV Tyne Tees & Border was nominated in three categories in February 2011.

Studios
Unlike many new ITV stations at that time (with the exceptions of Granada and Westward) Border constructed a purpose-built studio centre, located in Durranhill, Carlisle. It was built in 1961 and contained two studios for use in productions: a small continuity studio and an interview studio. These were converted to colour with the station and were expanded and upgraded when demand increased following the launch of Channel 4.

In 2009, following Border's merger with Tyne Tees Television, all productions, including Lookaround, were transferred to Tyne Tees studios in Gateshead with all departments being merged with those of Tyne Tees. The Border studios remained empty and were demolished in 2010. Three reporters still operate in Carlisle as regional news correspondents but operate from a smaller bureau in the Kingstown area of the city which opened on Friday 10 July 2009.

Identity
Throughout its history, Border has used one single logo, an abstract 'B', known affectionately by locals as 'The Chopsticks'. It features a thick shape with a forker line crossing it and running either side of the shape. The overall shape represents a 'B' for Border, with the background shape representing the catchment area and the line representing the border itself. The line actually divides the area into three parts, although one is very small: representing Scotland above the line, England below it, and the Isle of Man in the small area to the left.

The launch identity was a black caption with the white logo and 'Border Television' beneath, over an announcement. The start-up routine was symbolic because of its distinctive and unchanging music and the announcement stating "This is Border Television serving Cumbria, South Scotland, the Isle of Man and North and West Northumberland, from the Caldbeck, Selkirk and associated transmitters of the Independent Broadcasting Authority." This was replaced when colour came to the region by the same contents, contained within a rectangle on a blue background with a Colour caption outside the box. The colour caption was removed in the 1980s and the announcement said "This is Border Television providing a full colour service to Cumbria, South Scotland, the Isle of Man and North and West Northumberland including Berwick-Upon-Tweed, from the Caldbeck, Selkirk and associated transmitters of the Independent Broadcasting Authority."

Border adopted the 1989 Generic look and used it until 1993. Their version was mildly well suited, as the contents of the 'B' were recognisable in the 'V' segment if the logo. This look was extensively used, even in the news department. In 1993, the ident was changed to the Border logo revolving out of thin air and featuring a background of pastel colours. The music was retained from the generic look. Border also began to use in-vision continuity more heavily.

In 1995, the logo was changed again to a 3D Border logo falling into place against a water effect blue backdrop, which was set to the same tune as used previously but played on instruments to match the water theme. This was again updated in 1998, with the same sequence against a backdrop of spinning discs and blue and purple colours. New music was also composed featuring deep basses. The whole effect was to make Border have an authoritative and broadcaster tone.

In 1999, Border adopted the second generic look along with the rest of the regions, but did not use their logo in this look. From then on, Border only used network designs for idents; as from October 2002, Border idents featuring a celebrity with the ITV1 logo with the word Border underneath were used for local programming only. All other programming used network idents and from 2004 no regional idents existed. Border has ceased as an entity, productions attributed to ITV Productions or later, ITV Studios..

In 1999, Border adopted the second generic look along with the rest of the regions, but did not use their logo in this look. From then on, Border only used network designs for idents; as from October 2002, Border idents featuring a celebrity with the ITV1 logo with the word Border underneath were used for local programming only. All other programming used network idents and from 2004 no regional idents existed. Border has ceased as an entity, productions attributed to ITV Productions or later, ITV Studios.

Programmes
A list of programmes made by Border Television.


 * The Andy Stewart Show
 * APB
 * Bliss (1985)
 * Cock of the Border (1960s)
 * Crush a Grape
 * Galloway Ceilidh (1979)
 * Krankies Television
 * Lookaround
 * Look Who's Talking
 * Mr. and Mrs.
 * Pick a Number (1984–1986)
 * Scene Shed (1980's)
 * Studio One (1976 - 1980's)
 * The Sound of .... (1970–1981)
 * Try For Ten (1968–1984)
 * ''Border Parliamentary Report.
 * ''Border Folk.