London Weekend Television

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**London Weekend Television**

Based in	London
Broadcast area	London (ITV London)
Launched	2 August 1968
Former LWT logos
Closed	lost on-air identity October 27, 2002 (verbally known as ITV1 London before regional programming only - no visual local identity)
Replaced	ATV London on Saturdays and Sundays Rediffusion, London on Friday evenings
Replaced by	ITV London
Website	itvregions.com/london
Owned by	ITV plc

London Weekend Television (LWT) was (and for legal formalities still is) the ITV contractor for London and the South East, from Fridays at 5:15pm (prior to 1982 at 7:00pm) to Monday mornings at 5:59am.

1 1968: Exit ATV, Enter LWT
- 1.1 Turbulent Start
- 1.2 The Murdoch Years
2 The 1970s: The move from higher ground to Upper Ground
3 The 1980s: Airtime Expansion to De-regulation
4 The 1990s and 2000s: Bids, Buys and Goodbye
5 LWT People
6 2002: The Final Weekend - LWT signs off
7 See also
8 External links

[edit] 1968: Exit ATV, Enter LWT

The station took over from ATV on 2 August 1968 (although ATV continued broadcasting to the Midlands until 1981). ATV's weekend franchise had covered Saturdays and Sundays only; when LWT came on air, it was also extended to Friday nights from 7.00pm, which meant there was an on-screen handover from Thames Television shortly beforehand. In 1982, LWT's hours were extended to begin at 5:15pm. When Carlton Television took over from Thames in 1993, the times were retained, but since Carlton hired its broadcast facilities from LWT, the on-screen handover no longer involved switching between different studios.

[edit] Turbulent Start

London Weekend Television's birth was a troublesome one. In its original application, the London Television Consortium (LTC), who would adopt London Weekend Television as their name, promised a variety of high-brow arts and drama productions; this greatly impressed the governing body of ITV, the Independent Television Authority (ITA), who had been greatly worried by criticism of the network's programming, which was largely seen as downmarket.

The LTC plans were seen by the ITA as serious contenders to the quality educational-programming of the BBC; so keen were the ITA that they were quoted, at the time, as saying the LTC 'had to have its chance, whatever the repercussions'.

The changes within ITV in the 1968 franchise round meant a surplus of studio facilities in London; originally, the LTC had planned on buying the superior Teddington Studios of ABC, but with them having merged with Rediffusion to become Thames Television (a name originally chosen by the LTC, before being discarded), they had to settle for Rediffusion's site at Wembley.

This posed problems for London Weekend Television: firstly, Wembley employed a bigger workforce than Teddington, and legally LWT were obliged to take them all on; secondly, the studios required far more upgrading for colour production, as Teddington had been a test centre for ITV's colour research and was nearly fully converted. Combined with plans for a new £5m studio centre on the south bank of the River Thames, all this put considerable strain on budgets.

This was to be the least of LWT's problems. Having previously worked weekdays for Rediffusion, transmission staff now had to work weekends, and as such wanted extra pay for the inconvenience. This led to threats of industrial action, and fifteen seconds into their opening night, technicians pulled the plug on LWT; the screens went blank.

Upon resolving the dispute, LWT then suffered terrible rating figures, as viewers deserted their primetime offerings of opera and Hamlet in favour of the more-traditional Saturday night viewing on the BBC. Fellow ITV stations were also quick to have their say: ATV, still smarting at losing their prestigious London contract to LWT, refused to take any of their shows; elsewhere, the powerful sales department at rivals/neighbours Thames took advantage of LWT's ratings disaster, encouraging advertisers to use them during the week, and heavily discounting airtime. (This caused great animosity, even decades later, with both Thames and LWT refusing to promote each others' programmes).

The crisis at LWT deepended so much that the ITA started to make emergency plans, in the event of the station collapsing. At the same time, Thames started making enquiries about a seven-day contract in such an event, an offer quickly rebuffed by the ITA; however, LWT's saviour came in an unlikely form and in unlikely circumstances.

[edit] The Murdoch Years

Between 1969 amd 1970, Australian media owner Rupert Murdoch purchased a controlling interest in LWT. Immediately, he set about dismissing existing board members, and changing schedules and programme ideas. Although it made him unpopular within sections of LWT, audience share began to grow and, albeit slowly, so did income and profits.

However, Murdoch's presence rang alarm bells at the ITA, who expressed concern that a foreign national, and owner of significant British newspaper interests, could own a British television station. A discreet but effective ultimatum was given: Murdoch had to sell up, or LWT would have its licence revoked. The ITA won, and in 1971, Murdoch left.

[edit] The 1970s: The move from higher ground to Upper Ground

If LWT's original programming was considered high-brow, by 1972 it was far more populist with comedies such as Please Sir! and On The Buses being the mainstay of its productions. In the same year, the new South Bank Television Centre (also called Kent House) was opened on the south bank of the Thames, at Upper Ground. These facilities were, at the time, the best colour studios in Europe, and allowed LWT to produce shows with the 'gloss' that it became famous for. It was also the catalyst for success at the station, as the dark days of 1968-1971 were soon forgotten; audience share grew, and in 1975 the company won seven BAFTA awards, more than the rest of ITV put together.

Despite this, LWT was more vunerable to economic downturn than the rest of ITV. The other companies had between five and seven days to earn money, whereas LWT had two days and Friday evenings (even these were not particularly attractive to advertisers, as back then shops were closed on a Sunday and people returned to work on a Monday). And of course, it had to fight for advertising with another company (Thames), something which affected no other company outside of London.

The battles with Thames' sales force were legendary. LWT was the minnow of the network, while Thames was the powerhouse; it had massive and wealthy shareholders (unlike the independent LWT), a far longer pedigree, bigger facilities, and made the most programmes. It also had an international reputation.

LWT's response to this was to reinvent itself as possibly ITV's first 'brand': the on-screen identity changed from the cumbersome 'London Weekend Television' to 'LWT', the 'river ident' was modified to three letters, the strapline 'The weekend starts here' was introduced, and most crucially, great use of the distinct black-and-white-layered tower block that was its studios, was used in continuity. A well-known London landmark, this cemented LWT's role in the life of the people of London, and helped to distinguish it from its rival across the river.

[edit] The 1980s: Airtime Expansion to De-regulation

The 1982 franchise round was the first time LWT had to re-apply for its licence. The original 1968 contract ran only to 1974 (like the rest of ITV), but the ITA elected to extend all contracts to 1981 because of the enormous costs of introducing colour television. It is questionable, if LWT had had to have applied for its licence in 1973, as to whether it would have got it.

1982 saw the company in good health, and it easily beat off weak competition to secure a second contract. By now, LWT had a fine reputation in many fields, and co-ordinated the network's sport production and presentation. The station was credited with bringing reality television to the UK with the audience participation show Game For A Laugh. Elsewhere, shows such as Play Your Cards Right and Blind Date drew audiences of millions, and ran for many years.

However, the wind of change was beginning to hit ITV in this decade. Industrial action at breakfast station TV-am had seen it dismiss striking staff, and replace them with non-unionised labour. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher had commented on the excess over-manning within the network, and plans were afoot to deregulate ITV. LWT were receptive to this and began to streamline operations, and by the end of the decade, the number of employees had fallen from 1200 to around 700; this was fortuitous, because the 1993 franchise round was no longer a battle of the best, but was now an auction.

[edit] The 1990s and 2000s: Bids, Buys and Goodbye

The Broadcasting Act 1990 changed the way ITV contracts were awarded. No longer the 'beauty-contest', the whole thing was about hard cash. Incumbents and applicants had to bid a sum to the Treasury for what they thought the contract was worth each year, in a blind auction; the winner was to be the applicant who bid the most. This led to fears that applicants would bankrupt themselves, or offer cheaper programming so as to be able to pay the fees. Opposition led to the introduction of a 'quality threshold' which allowed that, in exceptional circumstances, a bid could be rejected if it was deemed excessive, or that an incumbent could be chosen against a higher- bidding applicant, if it was felt that incumbent's programming was 'exceptional'; it was this that saved LWT.

Despite the streamlining and the successful battle with trade unions, LWT knew that if it was to keep on making quality programmes, it could not over-bid. It had to rely on the quality of its programmes and submit the best offer it could, knowing it could be far less than a rival bid; the strategy worked, and LWT won a third contract with an annual bid of £7.5m, against a rival who bid £36m but whose plans were deemed not good enough.

The whole process seemed bizarre to contemporary commentators. TVS bid £59m and lost, Yorkshire Television bid £43m and won, and Central succeeded with a bid of £2,000, knowing it had no rival bidders. LWT even had a stake in Sunrise Television, who outbid TV-am.

Significantly, LWT's weekday rival, Thames, lost its licence - outbid by Carlton, it was told it could not fall back on its long history of programme-making. After 24 years living in its shadow, LWT now outlived the station that was its fiercest enemy.

From 1993, LWT's low bid made it attractive to others wishing to take it over. The Broadcasting Act allowed for some consolidation in the network, and in 1994, the owners of northern station Granada launched a hostile takeover for the company. Eventually, a deal was agreed, valuing LWT at over £650m. This was a forerunner of greater consolidation. LWT had a far better relationship with Thames' successor Carlton, and shared operations, creating a joint news service, London News Network. Carlton began buying other stations, firstly Central and Westcountry, while Granada bought YTV, Tyne Tees, Meridian and Anglia.

In 2004, the two giants of ITV, Granada and Carlton, agreed on a merger to become ITV plc; this was a logical conclusion, as in the preceding years, both companies had began to rebrand their various operations in a number of formats, before settling on 'ITV' followed by the regional name (for example, 'ITV Yorkshire'). In 2002, this had been extended to London, where the on-screen identities of Carlton and LWT were subsumed into ITV London; after 34 years, LWT ceased to exist as an on-screen identity, existing only as an off-screen company, the legal holder of the contract to provide ITV programming to London at the weekends.

The South Bank Television Centre was renamed the London Television Centre in 1992, and subsequently renamed The London Studios in 1995, after confusion with the BBC Television Centre. Although the name 'The London Studios' has been in use since th early 1990's as the trading name of LWT's studio operations. Today, it is the registered office and chief production centre for ITV plc.

Shot of the London Studio (ITV's London HQ, and known for being the home to LWT)

[edit] LWT People

The station's output was limited, producing an average of 50 hours of programming a week. However, LWT had a disproportionate effect on post-war British Television, as a number of high-flying media personalities including John Birt, Michael Grade and Greg Dyke were all 'LWT Boys'.

David Frost was an original director of LWT, and he presented a late-night chat show in the station's early years; another chat show host who made his debut on LWT was Russell Harty.

Other notable early shows included We Have Ways of Making You Laugh (a sketch show starring Frank Muir which was due to the first programme scheduled to be aired on LWT, but industrial action blacked it out early in the first show); the children's fantasy Catweazle; and several sitcoms, including On the Buses, Please Sir!, Me and My Girl and Mind Your Language. The channel also created the comedy-clips format with It'll Be Alright on the Night and the much-derided Game for a Laugh that spawned You've Been Framed!.

Because it was a weekend station, LWT's output tended to concentrate on more lightweight material than Thames and Carlton, but it did produce a number of successful drama shows. Within These Walls, a prison drama starring veteran actress Googie Withers, seems to have inspired the later Australian soap opera Prisoner Cell Block H. Lillie was based on the real-life story of Lillie Langtry, and saw Francesca Annis reprising the role from ATV's Edward the Seventh, but by far the station's most successful drama was Upstairs, Downstairs, a successful attempt to produce a costume drama comparable in scale to the BBC's The Forsyte Saga.

Major programmes on LWT included most of the ITV Weekend line-up, included Play Your Cards Right, Blind Date, Gladiators, long-running and successful drama series London's Burning, and their arts strand The South Bank Show. LWT also owned 50% of London News Network Limited, producers until February 2004 of the news programmes London Today and London Tonight; regional news for London is now produced by ITN. LWT was acquired by Granada Group plc (now ITV plc) in 1994.

[edit] 2002: The Final Weekend - LWT signs off

The drive to create a unified ITV meant that, on 27 October 2002, LWT's famous '70s blue-white-red river ident returned to herald a new LWT programme for the very last time, an edition of The South Bank Show; the ident had been freshly animated in the 16:9 aspect ratio by Dave Jeffery and Rory Clark. The programme was followed by continuity announcers Glen Thompsett and Trish Bertram appearing 'in-vision' to toast the departing station, and a celebratory montage of LWT presentation across the years, assembled by senior ITV presentation producer Gareth Randall. That morning, LWT had broadcast a 1970s-style start-up sequence between ITV Nightscreen and the ITN early morning news bulletin; the sequence even included a mid-'70s station clock, recreated in Macromedia Flash, and a programme menu, which was an original design by Dave Jeffery in a 1970s style.

When LWT handed over to Carlton Television, its weekday neighbour station the following morning (as it had done since 1993; prior to that time Thames Television held the weekday contract for ITV in London), the national ITV1 brand was on-air, with the new team of ITV1 Network Continuity Announcers announcing for the very first time; former Meridian Broadcasting announcer Paul Seed was the first network voice.

The following Friday, LWT became known as ITV1 (London Weekends), with only the ITV1 logo appearing before programmes; this meant there was no distinction between LWT and its London weekday neighbour Carlton Television (ITV1 London). The LWT logo continued to appear at the end of its programmes, however, until 31 October 2004; from 1 November, LWT's productions carried a Granada London logo instead. Since January 2006, productions that are made by Granada Productions, in London, carry the ITV Productions endcap.

Coincidentally, following LWTs departure, ITV1s Saturday Night line-up started to dumb down, now leaving viewers with the likes of traditonal variety and gameshows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (Celador Production) You've Been Framed (Granada Production) and Saturday Night Takeaway (Granada Production), also including programmes that, to viewers in the UK, unusual for a lineup like this. LWT productions for Saturday Nights included classics like Gladiators, Blind Date, The Brian Conley Show, Play Your Cards Right, Barrymore, Beadle's About, and Surprise, Surprise. Two shows have lived on after LWTs departure, being Denis Norden blooper shows like "Laughter File" and "It'll Be Alright On The Night", both of which will cease from 2007, and the long running series of An Audience with programmes, the latest being An Audience with... Lionel Ritchie.