ABC Weekend TV
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This page uses material from the Wikipedia page ABC Weekend TV, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors). |
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This page uses material from the Wikipedia page London Weekend Television, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors). |
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This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Thames Television, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors). |
ABC Weekend TV is the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England Independent Television (ITV) network, from 1956 to 1968, and to the London region since 1968. It is one of the "Big Five" companies that between them produce the majority of ITV networked programmes.
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| Type | Region of television network |
|---|---|
| Branding | ABC |
| Country | |
First air date | |
| Motto | "Your TV, for the Weekend, from the Capital" |
| TV transmitters |
Crystal Palace Former:
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| Headquarters | Euston Tower, London |
Broadcast area | London and parts of South East England |
| Owner | EMI Group plc |
| Parent | Associated British Corporation Ltd |
Key people | Amelia Brown |
Picture format | 1080i HDTV, downscaled to 16:9 576i for SDTV |
Channel 1 | ITV London 1 |
Channel 2 | ITV London 2 |
Channel 3 | ABC Prime |
Channel 4 | CITV London |
| Affiliation(s) | ITV |
| Language | English |
| Replaced | ATV (London) |
| Replaced by |
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| Subsidiary | Cosgrove Hall Animation |
Originally created as Associated British Cinemas (Television) Ltd, ABC was one of a number of commercial television companies established during the 1950s by cinema chain companies, in an attempt to safeguard their business by becoming involved with television, which was taking away their cinema audiences. In this case, the parent company was the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), which initially did not wish to become involved with the new broadcasting system, but was persuaded to do so by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) and the manager of its Pathé News subsidiary Howard Thomas, who became the new company's managing director.
ABC operated two franchises, one in the Midlands, which was the fourth ITA franchise to go on air, in 1956, and the other in the North of England, which was the sixth franchise to go on air, later the same year. In 1968, it switched to the London weekend franchise.
History
Formation
When Kemsley-Winnick, one of the consortia that had been awarded a franchise in the new Independent Television network in 1954, collapsed, the ITA approached ABPC to step into the breach. The Corporation agreed to assume the franchises to broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays to the Midlands and the North of England. The contract agreeing to do so was signed on 21 September 1955, the day before Independent Television (ITV) began in London.
This gave the new ABC five months to begin broadcasting in the Midlands, the service beginning on 18 February 1956. Soon afterwards, it was also up and running in the North; it began broadcasting there for the first time on 5 May 1956. It was aided in part by the failure of the original contractor; Kelmsley-Winnick had ordered over £1 million (equivalent to £26.8 million today) of production equipment from manufacturer Pye, which it sold to ABC at a much-discounted price.
Early relations with ITA, ITN and ATV
ATV
The London weekend contractor had launched under the name "Associated Broadcasting Company" (ABC), but ABPC wanted to use the ABC brand for its own service, to match its existing ABC Cinemas brand, so it took legal action against the Associated Broadcasting Company who subsequently agreed to rename as Associated Television (ATV) after broadcasting for three weeks as "ABC". This allowed ABPC to launch its own station as "ABC".
ITN
ABC's late entry into Independent Television meant that some of the details of how the new system would run were already agreed between the ITA regulator and the other three contractors. ABC felt that some of these details were unfair on itself as the smallest contractor, and the only contractor that broadcast only at weekends.
In particular, ABC objected to paying one-quarter of the costs for ITN, provider of national news broadcasts for the network, as there would be less news programmes at the weekend than on weekdays. ABC's managing director Howard Thomas, former head of Pathé News, felt that ABC could provide its own news for a fraction of ITN's price, but the ITA would not allow this: regional companies were responsible only for regional news, and national news should be independent of the regional companies. ABC lobbied both ITN and the ITA for change, which eventually resulted in a cutback to the amount of programming to be provided by ITN to the network and a substantial reduction in ITN's costs.
Presentation
Once the "Big Four" companies were in profit, the ITA reviewed the performance each of them. ABC escaped with little criticism, except for its presentation, which was considered to be dull and too closely aligned with its sister "ABC Cinemas" brand. ABC took this to heart and launched a new look in September 1959.
ATV again
Of the original four ITV contractors, ABC had difficulty getting its programmes shown in the London region, which was hampering its reputation. Two of the other contractors had London franchises, and Granada seemed to have a good working relationship with Associated-Rediffusion to show its programmes. ABC found itself in a head-to-head battle with ATV, as, in the early years, these were the only two companies whose franchises operated at the weekend.
ATV had close connections with the Moss Empires theatre chain (through ATV's Val Parnell) and the Grade Organisation theatrical talent agency (through ATV's Lew Grade and his brother Leslie) and felt they had the expertise to make expensive, high-status drama, variety and comedy shows, and leave the cheaper "provincial" off-peak weekend programming to ABC. This would have been to ABC's financial disadvantage, since ABC (with its two regions to ATV's one region at the weekends) would have to pay two-thirds of the expensive costs of ATV London's shows, while ATV would pay only one-third of the costs of ABC's cheaper shows.
ABC fought back, first of all, by selling some of its pre-recorded shows, including the popular The Avengers, to Associated-Rediffusion (instead of ATV) to broadcast to London on weekdays. Secondly, it refused to buy some of ATV's top-rated shows such as Sunday Night at the London Palladium and broadcast its own alternatives such as Blackpool Night Out. Eventually ATV gave way and agreed to buy more of ABC's shows.
The 1968 contract round
Structural changes in the regional contract areas meant that ABC no longer had a contract to reapply for. The Northern area (split into North West and Yorkshire) became a seven-day operation, as did the Midlands. Existing weekday contractors (Granada and ATV respectively) were correctly considered the favourites. ABC consequently submitted two applications: one for the service for London at the weekend, the other for the Midlands seven-day operation, although it favoured the first contract.
ABC would be awarded the weekend London licence, as was expected. Fifteen seconds into their opening night of 2 August 1968, technicians went on strike and the screens went blank. An emergency service was provided by management from the transmission centre of ATV at Foley Street, London. ABC's parent, the Associated British Picture Corporation was taken over by EMI in 1969, and in 1979 became part of Thorn EMI.
Life in London
After resolving the industrial action, ABC would begin broadcasting with it's old programming. These included the variety show Opportunity Knocks, Armchair Theatre, the last series of The Avengers and the detective thrillers Callan and Public Eye. Other programming included Father, Dear Father (1968–73), the Sid James vehicle Bless This House (1971–76), and Love Thy Neighbour (1972-76), with a controversial take on race relations. Another sitcom, Man About the House (1973–76), was successful enough for two spin-offs, George and Mildred (1976–80) and Robin's Nest (1977-81).
The company took over the This Is Your Life format in 1969, several years after the BBC had dropped the show in 1964. Another BBC favourite was comedian Benny Hill, the star of The Benny Hill Show (1969–89), who was placed under contract. Hill spent most of the rest of his career with ABC.
For children there was Prism, which started in 1972 and ran for 25 years. The programme used animation and graphics created by Cosgrove Hall, a ABC subsidiary founded in 1972, which made animated series for children. During the hours after Prism and before the children's slot, Good Afternoon was transmitted, a magazine programme. It began after the IBA allowed non-schools broadcasting in this period of the day, when the government relaxed the regulations around daytime television and featured interview editions undertaken by such broadcasters as Mavis Nicholson, and a weekly consumer programme, which eventually became a programme in its own right; Money-Go-Round.
Of much greater prestige was The Victorian Age (1973–74), a 26-part drama of Victorian England using actual locations and costumes, as well as actors who resembled the real life people. The series, narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier, was commissioned in 1969, took four years to produce, and cost a record £4m (approx £47m in 2018).
Meanwhile, competition with Rediffusion London, the London weekday franchisee, would come to define the two. THough getting along rather well, the two often competed for advertisers and shows, with many even "keeping a scoreboard", in the words of one former employee. From 1968 until 1992, there was an on-screen handover to ABC on Friday nights (there was no handover back to Rediffusion on Mondays, as from 1968 to 1982 there was no programming in the very early morning, and from 1983, when a national breakfast franchise was created, ABC would hand over to TV-am at 6:00am, which would then hand over to Rediffusion at 9:25am).
Like most of ITV, ABC was beset by conflicts with trade unions, notably the Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT). A two-week technicians strike in the summer of 1975 shut down the whole of ITV with the technicians being bought off with a 35% pay rise. Two years later in May 1977, another strike occurred when production assistants at ABC refused to operate new video equipment. ABC proceeded to sack all the technicians for breach of contract. The following month, both sides backed down over the issues, with all technicians returning to work.
80's
Other ABC shows included TV Eye, Rumpole of the Bailey, the game shows Strike It Lucky, Give Us a Clue and Name That Tune, and the drama Dodger, Bonzo and the Rest.
Thames sitcoms during the 1980s and early 1990s included Welcome to the Family, Never the Twain, and After Henry.
Programmes
Networked programmes from ABC included the drama series Police Surgeon, The Human Jungle, Undermind, Redcap, The Avengers, the Armchair Theatre series of single plays, the Habatales cartoons, the popular shows Thank Your Lucky Stars, Opportunity Knocks, Big Night Out and Oh Boy!, the children's science fiction serials Emerald Soup, Target Luna and its sequels Pathfinders in Space, Pathfinders to Mars and Pathfinders to Venus, and the gritty drama series Callan and Public Eye. ITV's first weekly series devoted to the arts, Tempo, was introduced by ABC, as was its first hidden camera show, Candid Camera, and its first attempt to challenge the BBC's dominance of television sport, with World of Sport. ABC also introduced British television's first late night chat show with Eamonn Andrews' Live from London! and, together with ATV, British television's first regular weekly series of adult education programmes.
Identity
When ABC first went on the air, it used the branding of its sister company ABC Cinemas. This featured a triangular shield with the letters ABC upon it, and a bar across it with the caption 'Television'. This lasted from the station's launch in 1956 until c.1958. The ITA had criticised ABC's original presentation style for being bland and too much attached to the existing ABC Cinemas chain.
As a result, ABC created a new brand ident featuring three arrows pointing to the bottom of the screen to reveal the letters ABC in turn and leaving a triangle behind and on top of the letters. At the end of this, the three triangles would snap together into the new ABC logo.
The logo uses the notion of threes, three triangles making another triangle, with the points of a triangle often being labelled 'A', 'B' and 'C' in geometry. The tune that was used for all of ABC's idents was a vibraphone playing 'la-te-doh' (or the notes 'A-B-C'). Out of this look, ABC Television developed a strong corporate identity, effectively becoming the first British TV station to recognise the importance of corporate branding.
Facilities
ABC has operated three production sites and two offices. The main production facilities are the former Warner Studios in Teddington, Middlesex. Although this was outside its original contract areas, ABC wanted a London base, as many performers could not venture outside of the capital to record programmes because they were often committed to runs of theatre plays in the West End. Upon gaining the London Weekend License, ABC would rent an office in Euston Road, before buying office space at Euston Tower.
In the Midlands, ABC formed a joint venture with Midlands weekday licensee ATV to oversee the running of a production and transmission facility to be used by both. Alpha Television purchased a former cinema in Aston, near Birmingham, and extended it by the construction of additional studios and office space; the site was known as the Alpha Studios.
ABC operated a northern studio centre in Manchester and a sales office based in Television House in the city centre. The production facility was converted from a former Capitol cinema in Didsbury. ABC vacated both premises during 1968. For its pre-filmed series, such as The Avengers (from 1965), ABC used its parent company's Associated British Elstree Studios.