UTV

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For other uses of the UTV acronym, see UTV (disambiguation)

UTV

Based in	Havelock House, Belfast
Broadcast area	Northern Ireland Also (unofficially) in the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere in Europe
Launched	31 October 1959
Above: a new addition to UTV's ident set (Nov. 2006)
Website	u.tv
Owned by	UTV plc

UTV (formerly Ulster Television) is the ITV franchise for Northern Ireland. The station is part of UTV plc, also known as the UTV Group.

The station broadcasts from its studio base at Havelock House, Belfast. It also operates offices and studios in Derry, Dublin and London.

At present, UTV is licensed by OFCOM to broadcast the ITV service for Northern Ireland until 31 December 2008. In 2012, UTV will cease its broadcasts via the analogue transmitter network. Along with Meridian Broadcasting, ITV London and Tyne Tees Television, UTV will be one of the last UK regions to have its analogue signals turned off. It is as yet uncertain on which exact date UTV's analogue broadcasts will cease.

UTV is listed on the LSE and the ISE. For more information on the company and details on the proposed merger with the Scottish Media Group, see here.

Contents 1 Reception 2 History 2.1 Leading up to the launch 2.2 1960s 2.3 1970s 2.4 1980s 2.5 1990s 2.6 2000s and beyond 3 Programmes 3.1 Networked programmes 3.2 Notable regional programmes 3.3 Regional news programmes 4 Idents 5 Continuity announcers 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] Reception

UTV is broadcast via the following methods:

• The analogue terrestrial transmitter network
• The digital terrestrial transmitter network (Freeview)
• Free-to-air DVB-S satellite TV broadcast from Astra 2D (previously only available on Sky Digital from 2001 till November 2005)
• Cable television networks in Northern Ireland
• Cable television networks in the Republic of Ireland
• MMDS (Wireless cable) networks in the Republic of Ireland

The three main transmitters which broadcast UTV's analogue and digital are located at Divis outside Belfast, Limavady in County Londonderry and Brougher Mountain in County Tyrone. These sites have their own series of relay stations.

UTV's terrestrial broadcasts can also be picked up in crossover areas in South West Scotland and North West England, and even further afield via a television signal booster.

UTV is also available in the Republic of Ireland via cable and MMDS systems, or directly (via overspill) in border areas. This put UTV in the position of having as many viewers, if not more, outside its franchise area, and indeed outside the United Kingdom. UTV was, for many years, the third most popular channel in the Republic of Ireland, prior to the introduction of TV3.

[edit] History

[edit] Leading up to the launch

Although the first ITV stations went on the air in September 1955, it took another four years before viewers in Ireland would be offered an alternative programme choice to the BBC. By the time Ulster Television was launched in October 1959, the new ITV network already served the main large areas of population around the UK, with those regions with lower audiences being introduced to the ITV network on a gradual basis.

The BBC began broadcasting in Northern Ireland at the time of the Coronation in 1953, and a few years after, plans to launch a TV service in the Republic of Ireland were under consideration. The Independent Television Authority announced the advertisement of a Northern Ireland licence in April 1958, the tenth ITV licence to be issued. A few years before, three groups had suggested plans to the ITA for a licence to broadcast in Northern Ireland, all of them backed the main Unionist press; The Belfast Telegraph (a more Unionist publication at the time), The News Letter, and the now defunct Northern Whig. The ITA rejected their suggestions because of the lack of Roman Catholic interest or involvement in the plans, a sensitive issue that the ITA insisted was tantamount in awarding the Northern Ireland licence.

Upon the official licence advertisement, four consortia submitted tenders for the licence and use of the forthcoming VHF transmitter, to be located on Black Mountain, overlooking Belfast. Two of the bidders were current ITA licencees, Granada Television (the broadcaster serving Northern England during the week since May 1956, and now the longest running ITV company), Associated Rediffusion (the broadcaster serving London during the week; also the first ITV company established in 1955 and merged with ABC to create Thames Television in 1968). Two local consortia were also in contention, backed by local newspaper companies. One of the groups was led by the Duke of Abercorn and supported by The Belfast Telegraph and The Northern Whig; George Lodge, the owner of Belfast's Grand Opera House; and Captain Orr, the then MP for South Down. The other was led by the Earl of Antrim and supported by actor Sir Laurence Olivier, local businessman William McQuitty, The News Letter and other local Ulster newspapers.

The ITA quickly ruled out both Granada and A-R, choosing to bestow the licence on one of the local consortia. After both groups were interviewed by the ITA, in November 1958 the ITA announced that the Earl of Antrim's consortium had won, announcing that the successful bid was "...more intent... more widely representative". The winning consortium chose the name Ulster Television, and William McQuitty was appointed the first Managing Director of Ulster Television. In an interview with The Belfast Telegraph, Mr McQuitty added: "Ulster TV is for Ulstermen. Our interests are rooted in Ulster, our programmes are for its people".

Late 1958 and 1959 saw a rush to create the new station in time for a preliminary launch date of late 1959/early 1960. The company, with the assistance of ABC, acquired a disused clothing warehouse on the Ormeau Road in Belfast, Havelock House, to use as its studio base. In UTV's formative years, ABC also sold advertising for UTV on a commission basis, and struck agreements on programme price deals. Construction work on the Black Mountain transmitter began, but plans for a second transmitter to be constructed in the Derry area in 1961 were scrapped for fears it was too close to the border and a potential site for a Teilifis Éireann transmitter in North Donegal.

Things fell into place quite quickly for Ulster Television, with work at Black Mountain and Havelock House nearing completion as the autumn of 1959 approached. The year also saw the launch of two other ITA licences, Tyne Tees Television in the North East of England (15 January 1959), and Anglia Television in Eastern England (launched four days before UTV on 27 October 1959); and the awarding of further licences for Northern Scotland Grampian Television, South West England Westward Television and the border areas of England and Scotland Border Television, all launching in 1961. The run up to the launch of UTV was subdued. A week before the launch of UTV, an article appeared in the Belfast Telegraph, proclaiming that the forthcoming station would be "...an important new significance", and hopes the channel would retain "...Ulster prestige, intelligence and culture". As the service was initially going to be available to viewers in the Greater Belfast area, Ulster Television decided upon a gradual development of its regional service, a plan accepted by the Independent Television Authority. Initial plans were for an weekday news magazine, Roundabout, and occasional local films shown in place of network programmes, gradually increasing its schedule to incorporate a more balanced mix of programmes and the optimum level of permitted local broadcasting within its first year, something the station comfortably achieved in less than six months.

All was in place for 31 October 1959 - and the day came for Northern Ireland to join the ITV network. At 16.30, Ulster Television went on the air to around 100,000 homes, with its distinctive oscilloscope logo and its station theme based on The Mountains Of Mourne. The first person to appear on the new station was shareholder Sir Laurence Olivier, who flew into Belfast especially for the launch of the station. In his 5 minute prologue launching the station, Olivier hoped the audience would find UTV "...smooth, efficient and entertaining". A special opening party, broadcast from Havelock House, featuring music and poetry from local artists, followed the introduction. Among those attending were two other Lords; shareholder Lord Antrim and Lord Wakehurst. In the first week, the only local output broadcast on UTV was the daily Roundabout programme (the first daily regional news programme of its kind in the UK), first broadcast on 2 November 1959, a film produced by one of the Governers, Rich and Rare (shot in colour but transmitted in monochrome), a co-production with ABC for the networked Armchair Theatre series, All Souls Night, and a few local advertisements.

[edit] 1960s

Having only been running for a few months, Ulster Television quickly found its feet, with Roundabout quickly achieving high ratings, and developments to UTV's regional schedule, including children's programming and a Friday evening sports programme. By the time of its first birthday, Ulster Television were broadcasting 6 hours of local programming per week, a high proportion for a station of its age and audience size, then estimated at around 200,000. Even in its first year of broadcasting, UTV made a profit of c.£50,000, and by 1962 this had increased to c.£250,000. Over the years, Ulster Television has maintained its profitability, and in monetary terms, UTV became the largest of the five "small" regional stations.

In the 1960s, more transmitters were opened to spread UTV's signal to around the province. Viewers in the west were able to improve their signals when the VHF Strabane transmitter was launched in the spring of 1963, and a relay transmitter was opened in Ballycastle in 1970 to give viewers living around the North Antrim and Causeway Coast areas better picture quality.

1962 saw an innovation in TV broadcasting. In their initial programme plan, William McQuitty advocated an accent on adult education, and his ideas were put into practice with the production of The Midnight Oil, co-produced with Queen's University, Belfast. The series featured QUB lecturers giving a lecture on a particular topic of academic interest. Pre-empting the Open University by seven years, the programme was well received by audiences and the ITA, so much to the extent that other ITV companies took similar initiatives in adult education series. At one point the ITA were considering using the fourth channel as a "University of the Air"!

1962 also saw the conversion of a new studio at Havelock House, and the end of Roundabout; a new half-hour programme, Newsview was its replacement. With its popular local programmes and impeccable relationship with the ITA, UTV retained its ITA licences in 1964 and 1967 with no competition.

The end of the 1960s saw colour television making its first fledgling impact; BBC2 became the first colour broadcaster in the UK in July 1967. By the end of 1969, the three main channels were gradually switching to colour and 625-line broadcasting. The year saw Ulster Television's first colour production, a documentary called No Surrender, broadcast that July over part of the ITV network. Its timing was ironic, following tension at Civil Rights demonstrations in Belfast and Derry and subsequent violence, the "Troubles" as they came to be known began. UTV had renamed its evening news programme UTV Reports at the start of 1969, and it certainly had its fair share of reporting to deal with.

[edit] 1970s

While the major ITV companies had switched to UHF colour in late 1969, it took time for the smaller regions to make the transition for 405-line to 625-line broadcasting. UTV hadn't long to wait to make the switch - the new UHF transmitter at Divis, serving the East of the province at a radius of approximately 70 miles, became operational on 14 September 1970. UHF coverage was slow to spread; the North and North West were served by a new transmitter at Limavady, commencing broadcasts on 1 December 1975, and Tyrone and Fermanagh finally got their colour TV as late as the summer of 1978 with the opening of the Brougher Mountain transmitter, one of the last main UHF transmitters to come into service in the UK transmitter network. The three main existing VHF 405-line black and white transmitters were soon wound down and finally shut in 1985, by which time both the BBC and ITV has ceased 405-line broadcasting.

Meanwhile in Dublin, some 90 miles to the south of Belfast, the first of the city-wide cable TV networks was established in 1966 in Ballymun. By 1974, the cable networks covered most of Dublin city and county, as well as the major satellite towns in counties Kildare and Meath. Ulster Television's audience was growing quickly, but the official attitude of UTV management was to ignore this audience, possibly for political reasons. It was not until Brum Henderson reliquinshed his role as Managing Director that UTV started to seek out the advertising revenue south of the border.

In terms of broadcasting, Ulster Television's resources facilitated television news crews from around the world reporting on "the Troubles". UTV won the respect of many industry sources for its in-depth, and more importantly, impartial coverage of the turbulent times. UTV's coverage included live coverage of the election for the short-lived 1973 Assembly, as well as coverage of the Assembly. On many occasions, UTV Reports and its additional programming featured heated confrontation for both sides of the political and sectarian divide. UTV Reports was replaced by Good Evening Ulster in January 1979, scheduled around ITN's News at 545 to provide an hour of news from 5:35 to 6:35 each weekday.

In 1978, Ulster Television announced plans for a five year expansion, which included the introduction of new video editing suites, the implementation of a new Outside Broadcast unit, the adoption of electronic news gathering for news production, and the opening of a second studio and office in the Province, located in Derry. The North West studio, located in the Diamond, closed down in 1998, but a new studio was opened late in 2000 in a different location in the City.

The most famous television event of 1979 was the three-month strike of the ITV companies, which saw all ITV stations (except Channel TV who sustained a successful service run on local programmes and archive material) blacked out over the autumn of 1979. The dispute, a result of disagreement between ITV management and associated broadcasting trade unions. UTV were one of the first stations to begin strike action on 9 August 1979, and after three months allowing the BBC a brief return to monopoly status competing against a blue caption, UTV was back on the air by the end of October 1979. Although this was the last time the ITV network was virtually blacked out by widescale strike actions, it wasn't the last time for UTV viewers.

[edit] 1980s

Soon after the end of the ITV strike and the 1980s had begun, it was new franchise time again. This time three licences changed hands; Southern Television lost to Television South (TVS), Westward Television lost to Television South West (TSW, who ended up picking up the last few months of Westward's franchise period), and, in more a change of name than contractor, IBA intervention led to the famous and established ATV Network selling 51% of it shares and renaming itself Central Independent Television. Ulster Television easily won the 1980 franchise applications, with only one other tender, led by local businessman Derek Bailey, offered and rejected by the IBA, and on 1 January 1982, UTV began a new eight-year broadcasting contract (this would later be extended to 1992).

Ulster Television also saw in the 1980s with a brand new ident - as critics called it, "the lollipop" - first seen on screen to commemorate UTV's 21st anniversary on 31 October 1980. It wasn't until late 1988 that the station finally discontinued using their stick ident. UTV celebrated their 21st and 25th anniversaries of broadcasting with a series of special programmes taking a retrospective look through the UTV archives.

Good Evening Ulster continued its run until 1987, although its timeslot was reduced to 35 minutes to allow for changes to the ITV schedule in 1982, and the programme was replaced by Six Tonight on 7 September 1987.

Earlier that year, Ulster Television were yet again affected by industrial actions by trade unions. For two weeks in April, members of the Association of Cinematographic, Television and Allied Technicians, called a strike, leaving UTV to maintain a management-run television service. Although a news service was maintained, most of UTV's evening schedule was replaced by showings of country and western films. After arbitration was sought, UTV began to change its employment structures and hierarchies, and the station has not seen any strike action since, and no doubt made UTV a stronger company for the imminent new decade.

During the decade, UTV, along with other ITV companies, purchased shares in Société Européenne des Satellites, the company responsible for the operation of the pan-European Astra analogue satellite system. By 1999, UTV were the only ITV station left with shares in SES, and sold them making a return of £13.4 million.

In September 1989, the first edition of new chat show Kelly was shown. The show became one of Northern Ireland's highest rating programmes. A month later saw Ulster Television's 30th anniversary, and a special series of programmes looking through the UTV archives, 30 Years On, was shown as part of the station's celebrations.

[edit] 1990s

In 1990, the new Broadcasting Act introduced by the Conservative Government included many controversial clauses that would change the shape of independent television forever. As well as allowing more scope for independent production on the main channels following the success of Channel 4, the "new" ITV regulatory body, the Independent Television Commission announced its normal ITV franchise application scheme, but this time franchises would be subject to decision by the criteria of their business planning and financial suitability.

The decision of the new franchises on 16 October 1991 saw the loss of franchises for the ITV companies TSW, TVS, breakfast contractor TV-am and Thames Television. While Westcountry Television, Meridian Television, GMTV and Carlton Television celebrated their success, in Northern Ireland, the franchise contest saw three applicants for the licence: Ulster Television, who offered £1.027million per annum; Lagan Television, a consortium including local bookmaker Barney Eastwood and musician Phil Coulter, who offered £3.1m per year; and TVNI, a consortium including local businessman Derek Bailey (who also contested against UTV in the 1980 franchise renewals), entertainer Frank Carson and a number of local businesses, who offered £2.712 per annum. The incumbent, UTV, won despite media scepticism over their low bid, but not without TVNI, who lost the round on its poor financial forecasting, seeking an unsuccessful appeal in the courts. The Lagan group lost the programme plan criterion. UTV, like other companies in the ITV network, regained their licence by bidding the least among the regional applicants.

With the new franchise awarded, Ulster Television headed into the new franchise period of 1993 with the start of a new extension to Havelock House, including a new studio and more offices. The extension was completed in early 1993, a period of great transition for Ulster Television. UTV had a new chairman, with John B. McGuckian replacing the long serving "Brum" Henderson, who retired in 1990. This included the launch in January 1993 of new hour-long news magazine programme, UTV Live At Six. UTV regained their ITC franchise on the promise of more news, and the new show quickly established itself as the UK's most popular regional news magazine programme. The programme's title itself was an indication of what was to come later in the year.

On the morning and afternoon of Friday 4 June 1993, Ulster Television's oscilloscope logo made its final appearances on screen. At 18.00 that evening, Ulster Television became UTV, with its brand new blue and yellow logo. The new image saw a facelift to the six-month-old UTV Live, and a new continuity set, all in the style of the new UTV logo. It seemed that the new UTV image was an attempt to make the UTV name a brand, a move that was already in place by both the BBC and ITV network in the early 1990s, and UTV's attempts quickly succeeded. The re-launch also saw the emergence of a new generation of continuity announcers. As many of the previous announcing team had moved to work for the new UTV Live service, an on screen recruitment campaign saw a new brace of continuity announcers arrive on screen at the start of 1993.

In 1998, UTV applied to the ITC for an 8-year extension to its franchise, which was due to run out at the end of 2000. The ITC agreed, and Ulster Television plc will remain the ITV broadcaster for Northern Ireland until 31 December 2008. UTV is now one of two remaining independent franchises left in the ITV network, the other being Channel Television.

Although in 1997, it looked possible that the Scottish Media Group were considering a takeover of UTV, having bought 18% of the company's shares, but after UTV's reluctance to be taken over, SMG backed out and their shares were bought up to a Canadian broadcaster, CanWest, (owners of 29.9% of UTV) for £24m. CanWest also owned a majority share in Irish commercial station, TV3, a station that UTV had initially held a majority share in but retracted their interests before TV3 went to air in 1998, until Granada Television bought 49% of the station in August 2000.

Early 1999 saw the launch of UTV's digital terrestrial second channel, TV You. Launching a few months after the launch of ITV2, TV You (later to become UTV2) was a rebranded variant of the station with additional repeats of UTV material. The channel was restricted to a relatively small audience across Northern Ireland who had purchased ONdigital (renamed ITV Digital) digital terrestrial television sets; little promotion on UTV not helping the station much. UTV had remained in stalemate with the troubled ITV Digital over the provision of channels to Northern Ireland customers, refusing to back down over rebranding UTV2 until late 2001, being locked in a battle with the SMG stations (Scottish and Grampian) and Channel TV over rights of the ITV name, and refusing to carry the ITV Sport Channel on their multiplex.

[edit] 2000s and beyond

The new millennium has so far seen an era of expansion within UTV, as the station grew into a multimedia organisation.

In December 2000, a new corporate UTV logo made its on-screen debut, tying in with UTV's increased interests in other media. In the early half of 2000, UTV bought out a Belfast-based Internet company, Direct Net Access, for £4.25 million, and upon their takeover, developed a new website and their own Internet Service Provider. The ISP, named UTV Internet, was launched on 1 June 2000, and with an extensive launch campaign in Northern Ireland and (more prominently) in the Republic of Ireland, UTV Internet was an immediate success - in the first month, over 30,000 users had subscribed to the Internet via UTV Internet. The launch of UTV Internet coincided with a new UTV website, replacing the previous basic website focusing on a live feed of UTV Live. Since the launch of UTV Internet, the ISP has won national awards for its ease of use and good value.

In November of the same year, UTV announced its plans to enter into the radio market, announcing the purchase of shares in three local radio stations in the Cork area, owned by County Media, to the value of £28.5m. With the announcement that total ownership of Irish-based media organisations was permissible by the Irish state in September 2001, UTV went on to buy outright the County Media group. The station also acquired a majority shareholding in Bocom International, a Dublin-based company operating information plasma screens across Ireland.

UTV finally launched on the Sky Digital platform in November 2001. This enabled viewers across the United Kingdom to receive UTV via manual tuning of their digital box. Initially, subscribers to Sky Digital in the Republic were also able to view UTV, though some months later, their viewing cards were blocked, owing to rights issues, as many ITV programmes are also shown on TV3, at the time partly owned by the Granada Media Group. As a result of the decision to drop encryption across the entire ITV network, TV3 inititated legal proceedings against ITV, on the grounds that it had already sold Republic of Ireland rights to its programmes to the channel and that it had broken its contractural commitments. [1]

A rumour in circulation in 2000 suggested that Carlton were considering a takeover bid for UTV. The rumours proved untrue, and so far, UTV have retained their independent status, and in a relaunch of the ITV network in October 2002 which saw see English regional stations essentially stripped off their individual identites, UTV, while briefly adapting the new network idents, retained its name and its own separate style of presentation.

At the company's Annual General Meeting in Belfast on 26 May 2006, the registered company name was changed from 'Ulster Television plc' to 'UTV plc'. The company believed that the existing name no longer reflected the full scope of the company's business [2].

[edit] Programmes

[edit] Networked programmes

• About Britain (documentary series, network contributor, 1970s-1980s)
• Emerald Shoes (Riverdance documentary, 2000)
• Get Fresh (Saturday morning children's magazine, network contributor, 1986-1988)
• Ghost Train (Saturday morning children's magazine, network contributor, 1989-1991)
• Highway (religious series, network contributor, 1983-1993)
• Morning Worship (network contributor, 1960s-1990s)
• Password (based on the US game show format, 1987)
• The Time, The Place (debate series, network contributor, 1987-1996)
• Ulster Landscapes (schools series, 1980s)

[edit] Notable regional programmes

• All Mixed Up (game show, 1999-2002)
• Counterpoint (current affairs series, 1978-1996)
• Gerry Meets... (chat show series, 2006 to date)
• Home Sweet Home (lifestyle series, 2004-2006)
• Jenny Bristow's cookery series (Highdays & Holidays/Jenny's Country Cooking/Cooked in a Flash/Cooks for the Seasons/A Taste of Sunshine/Light) (1989 to date)
• Kelly (chat show series, 1989-2005)
• L8 and Live (current affairs series, 2006 to date)
• Lesser Spotted Ulster (nature documentary, 1995 to date)
• McGilloway's Way (nature documentary, 1990-1994)
• RPM (motorsport magazine, 1993 to date)
• School Around the Corner (entertainment series, 1996-2005)
• Sunday Issue/The Issue (current affairs series, 2003-2004)
• SUS (youth magazine, 1993-1994)
• (UTV Live) Insight (current affairs series, 1997 to date)
• UTV School Choir of the Year (music competition, 1996-2005)

[edit] Regional news programmes

• Roundabout (1959-1964)
• Newsview (1964-1969)
• UTV Reports/Reports (1969-1978)
• Good Evening Ulster (1979-1987)
• Six Tonight/Ulster Newstime (1987-1992)
• UTV Live (1993 to date)/UTV News (2006 to date)

[edit] Idents

Since they began broadcasting in 1959, Ulster Television have used a series of different logos, or idents on-screen:

• 1959 The station launched on 21 October 1959 with its first on-screen logo, an oscilloscope or zig-zag pattern made up of seven dots joined together by six lines. It is believed that the logo represents the geographical location of six towns across the region, although Brum Henderson in his autobiography states there was no such significance; it was just an oscilloscope. The logo animated to a jingle based on the local folk tune The Mountains of Mourne.
• 1969/1970 With the imminent launch of UHF colour broadcasts from the Divis transmitter outside Belfast, Ulster Television redesigned its first logo - the oscilloscope pattern was retained, although the dots were removed, and the lines were encased in a television-screen shape. Monochrome and colour versions of this ident were produced, the colour using a yellow logo and text on a blue background, which were adopted as the station's colour scheme. UTV's ident was at this time did not animated and was not accompanied by a jingle, a format used by the company until at least 1987. It is most likely that this ident was produced on a card and shot using either a studio camera or a rostrum, depending on the programme. The logo type introduced on this ident was retained until 1993.

• 1980 To celebrate their 21st anniversary, UTV commissioned a new ident featuring a model the station logo embedded on four faces of a cube, coated in a shiny material with a pole skewering the top and bottom of the cube. This model was then filmed on video with a black cloth background as it revolved on a turntable. When it appeared on screen, it was accompanied by a synthesised jingle, and the words "Ulster Television" wiped on screen in yellow text. This much-maligned ident has been christened "the lollipop" or "the telly on a stick" by television enthusiasts, and made its on-screen debut on 31 October 1980, UTV's 21st anniversary. It was used until September 1988.
• 1987 In September 1987, to coincide with the launch of Ulster Television's new evening magazine programme, Six Tonight, a new ident was used to introduce the programme, featuring a computer animated silver station logo on a blue/green backdrop. After five seconds, the logo faded into the background as the titles of Six Tonight began. This ident, UTV's first attempt at a CGI ident, was later adapted as a temporary station ident in the last few months of 1988, with a video freeze used as the logo sank into the background.
• 1988/1989 The "lollipop" ident was eventually replaced by a new CGI ident, the last to feature the logo first seen in 1969/1970 and the "Ulster Television" name in either late December 1988 or January 1989. The ident began with a panning shot over a grey and white plate, with a light blue background at the back. The Ulster Television logo rises out from the plate, and the lines of the oscilloscope pattern are formed with a wipe. In this ident, the lines of the oscilloscope are yellow, with the rest of the logo (the television screen shape) in blue. When the lines are formed, the logo turns and reveals on screen, as a grey banner flies in underneath bearing the words "Ulster Television" and settles underneath the station logo. This ident was accompanied by a new jingle, and was used until 4 June 1993.
• 1993 At 18.00 on 4 June 1993, UTV officially unveiled a new logo. This consisted of an italicised Times Roman capital U forming on screen from different component parts, settling on a blue and yellow plate with "TV" written in italicised red Futura Condensed text. A new jingle was also introduced with a distinct Celtic sound. Since the start of 1993, continuity announcements and trailers referred increasingly to "UTV", and the station's news service was rebranded as UTV Live. With the new logo, the use of "Ulster Television" to identify the station was consigned to history. However, the logo was seen on-screen on a few occasions before its official launch; a trailer played out between 23.00 and 00.00 the previous night featuring the new logo was broadcast, and an ident showing both the old and new UTV logos was transmitted on a number of occasions shortly after the launch of the new logo. The logo was retained by the station officially until 2000, but it still sometimes appears on the channel on the jackets of its news reporting staff.
• 1996 UTV introduced a new series of idents in October 1996, which showcased scenic locations in Northern Ireland. These include the Giant's Causeway, a waterfall at Glenarriff, and Portaferry harbour. These are supplemented in 1998 with a set of idents featuring people playing the UTV jingle on various musical instruments. Some of the idents also featured selected UTV personalities.
• 2000 On July 1st 2000, the day when programme presentation and commercials shown on the four main UK television channels switched from the 4:3 aspect ratio to 14:9 on analogue broadcasts and 16:9 on digital broadcasts, UTV introduced a new set of idents using footage from the 1996 "landscape" idents, the break filler films used on its short-lived sister channel TV You, and a UTV corporate advertisement where a shoal of fish grouped together to form the UTV logo. This collection of idents were the first to be created and transmitted in 16:9 aspect ratio, on the OnDigital service and digital cable providers. This was the last set of idents which used the 1993 logo, and they were phased out shortly before Christmas 2000.
• 2000 The 1993 logo is replaced with a similar flatter and wider logo. The "U" is rendered in yellow on a blue oblong, with the "TV" in red on a yellow oblong contained inside the blue oblong. This remains the present station logo. Its first use was in UTV's Christmas ident in 2000, and in January 2001, a new series of idents shot at various locations across Northern Ireland, including the Silent Valley Reservoir in County Down, Great Victoria Street in Belfast and the Hands Across the Divide sculpture at the Craigavon Bridge, Derry. This was complemented by further idents in 2002 featuring people walking towards the camera and touching the screen with their fingers to make the UTV logo appear.
• 2002 In October 2002, most of the regional ITV companies adopted a common look with the ITV1 brand replacing the various station logos. This was marked with a series of idents showing actors, presenters and newsreaders associated with ITV appearing in ident films. At the same time, UTV decided to adopt these idents, but to replace the ITV logo with their own station logo. The soundtrack used on these idents was identical to those heard on the ITV network versions. This is the nearest that UTV have come to using identical idents to the rest of the ITV network. Around Christmas 2002, UTV broadcast a similar collection of idents showcasing their own presenting talent, shown in addition to the national idents. By early 2003, the network and local celebrity idents were phased out, and a generic ident showing the UTV logo on an animated blue background was used in all junctions.

• 2003 UTV decides to replace its network-inspired graphics with landscape films of Northern Ireland in their idents, in the form of a panorama shot as the camera revolved around a location. Among the scenes used in this series of UTV idents included the Mourne Mountains, Enniskillen and Lurgan Park. These idents primarily used one of the ident jingles until November 2005, when UTV reprised its 1993-2002 station jingle.
• 2006 To coincide with the introduction of a new identity across ITV plc stations, UTV replaced its 2003 idents with a brand new set, in the same style as their programme promotion graphics. This saw a new batch of films across Northern Ireland, again in the form of panoramas. However, the new panoramas were filmed in time-lapse, with the landscape changing from night to day. Among the featured locations are the Belfast city skyline, the River Lagan and Dundrum, County Down. In March, August and November 2006, more idents were added to the set, bringing the overall total to 25. As part of the 2006 look, UTV have also aired special idents for St. Patrick's Day (see image), the North West 200 and the 2006 Special Olympics Ireland Games.

[edit] Continuity announcers

Current

• Aidan Browne (1993 to date)
• Gillian Porter (1993 to date)
• Julian Simmons (1984 to date)
• Robin Taylor (1993 to date)
• Audra Thomas (1997 to date)

Previous

• Pamela Ballantine (1983-1992), now a UTV Live presenter
• Keith Burnside (1981-1996, now a newsreader on BBC Radio Ulster)
• Tina Campbell (1994-1997), now a UTV Live presenter
• Tracey Anne Griffiths (1991-1996), now a Channel 4 continuity announcer
• Peter Marshall (1967-1969, later with Thames Television and other ITV regions, now at SAGA FM)
• Frank Mitchell (1987-1993), now a UTV Live and U105 presenter
• Rose Neill (1980-1985), now a BBC Newsline presenter
• John O'Hara (1970s-1984), now a U105 presenter
• Barbara Palmer (1980-1992)
• Bill Smith (1970s-1987), now a U105 travel presenter
• Joanne Woods (1970s-1987), now a U105 travel presenter

UTV is the only company in the ITV network to still broadcast in-vision continuity announcements, where the announcer appears in front of the camera to introduce the evening's programmes. Julian Simmons is the main in-vision announcer at UTV, although Robin Taylor can also be seen announcing in-vision on occasions.

Apart from Julian Simmons, UTV's continuity team also present UTV News bulletins. These are usually the 2250 weekday bulletin and at weekends. These are also the only regular occasions when Aidan Browne, Gillian Porter and Audra Thomas can be seen in-vision.

Additionally, the UTV announcers may also voice the weather forecasts which immediately follow news bulletins. Julian Simmons and Robin Taylor can sometimes be seen presenting weather bulletins in-vision.

Until 2004, at times when UTV announcers were not on duty, it was possible to hear the voice of other announcers who worked for ITV plc in London on the station. This was particularly evident overnight, when ITV1 continuity was shown unaltered on UTV. It also happened inadvertently during the day.

Until c.1992, back announcements promoting merchandise or factsheets relating to the programme just broadcast were usually provided by the company who produced the relevant series - for example, novels based on the series Emmerdale were promoted by the on-duty announcer at Yorkshire Television, such as Redvers Kyle.

From the start of the station's period of 24 hour broadcasting in September 1988 to January 1995, UTV carried the Granada-based Night Time service, where the voiceover was provided by Granada duty announcers such as Jim Pope and Colin Weston. After the Granada and Carlton overnight services were merged in 1995, the on-duty announcer based in London would be heard after the UTV announcer finished their shift around midnight.

When ITV1's continuity announcers became networked, instead of broadcast from regional stations, in October 2002, the ITV1 on-duty announcer would often be heard at the end of programmes, while the UTV on-duty announcer would usually only be heard at the start of programmes. UTV endeavoured to overcome this situation by pre-recording their own menus and announcements, and cut them in when the credits ran on the network feed to avoid UTV's audience to hear the networked announcement over the end credits.

This plurality was resolved in November 2004, when UTV and the SMG continuity units, the two main presentation departments remaining outside of ITV plc, were provided with a "clean" feed of the ITV network, without the announcements and on-screen graphics added by presentation staff in London. This has resulted in voiceless ITV1 continuity.

[edit] See also

• Digital switchover in the United Kingdom
• UTV plc
• UTV2
• ITV

[edit] External links

• u.tv
• Animated Ulster Television logo, 1960s from 625.uk.com (Requires Macromedia Flash version 4 or later).
• UTV Today Tribute site showcasing UTV's range of on-screen presentation
• Ulster Television on TV Ark
• Ulster Television on TV Room