ITV Meridian is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England.
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16 Facts About ITV Meridian
3.
ITV Meridian Broadcasting intended to operate as a publisher broadcaster, meaning that the majority of programmes would be commissioned from independent producers rather than produced in house.
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4.
ITV Meridian Broadcasting launched at midnight on 1 January 1993 replacing Television South, with the programme ITV Meridian – The First 10 Minutes, a 10-minute outside broadcast from Winchester Cathedral presented by Debbie Thrower and previewing the station's forthcoming output.
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5.
Six months after the launch of ITV Meridian Broadcasting, the new company joined up with HTV, Westcountry Television, Channel Television and S4C to form a joint advertising company operated by ITV Meridian Broadcasting and HTV.
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6.
The resulting company owned the Daily Express newspaper, ITV Meridian Broadcasting, Anglia Television, and a large shareholding in Yorkshire Tyne Tees Television, the owners of Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television.
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7.
In 1999, plans emerged of a merger between UNM and rival Carlton Television; however, these talks failed when it appeared that ITV Meridian Broadcasting would have to be sold off as a condition of the deal.
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8.
The plans resulted in over half of ITV Meridian's existing staff being made redundant; all employees wishing to remain with the company were obliged to re-apply for jobs.
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9.
At present the only local programming that ITV Meridian provides for the region is the regional news programme.
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10.
When ITV Meridian originally won the franchise in 1991, its plans were to purchase buildings, not unlike its current arrangement today: with a small studio for continuity and local news.
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11.
ITV Meridian took the opportunity to buy the Southampton studios from TVS.
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12.
In 2004, ITV Meridian closed their Northam studios and moved to a unit in a business park in Whiteley.
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13.
Additionally, ITV Meridian originally opened and operated a new studio complex at Newbury for its ITV Meridian West operation.
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14.
When ITV Meridian launched, it divided its news operations into three separate sub regions.
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15.
ITV Meridian Broadcasting was originally intended to function as a publisher-broadcaster, commissioning most programmes from independent producers and with in-house production largely restricted to regional news, sport and current affairs.
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16.
However, over time and as its ownership changed, ITV Meridian began to make a number of regional and networked programmes itself.
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