Television Wales and the West
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| Based in | Cardiff, Bristol, London |
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| Broadcast area |  South Wales West of England |
| Launched | 14 January 1958 |
| Closed | 3 March 1968 |
| Replaced | Wales West and North Television in west and north Wales in 1964 |
| Replaced by | Independent Television Service for Wales and the West HTV |
| Owned by | Self-owned |
Television Wales and the West[1][2] (TWW) was the British "Independent Television" (commercial television) contractor for the franchise area serving 'South Wales and West of England' 1956–68 (franchise awarded October 26, 1956, started transmissions on January 14, 1958).
Geography required that the 'South Wales and West of England' franchise would be operated differently from any other franchise, as VHF transmissions from one side of the Bristol Channel' could easily be received on the other side. This resulted in TWW setting up a 'dual franchise', with a service for South Wales being originated from Cardiff, and a service for the 'West of England' from Bristol, together with a common 'General Service'.
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[edit] Studios
TWW operated from two sites - a converted farm at Pontcanna, near Cardiff (now demolished and replaced by a housing estate) and similar facilities in Bristol. In January 1964, TWW was required to take over the franchise of its neighbour, Teledu Cymru — Wales (West and North) (WWN) when that company became the only ITV company to ever fail financially. The former WWN area was still run as a separate area under the banner TWW - Teledu Cymru. To accommodate this dual presentation and general increase in production the takeover created, £2m was spent on updating and extending the studios at Pontcanna, including a new studio and separate transmission control suites.
TWW was also a player in the development of 625-line colour transmission for the ITV network. Although the bulk of test transmissions and research were conducted for the Independent Television Authority (ITA) at the ABC studios at Teddington, TWW leased two prototype EMI colour cameras and associated equipment in 1966 and began running trials, with shows being transmitted on internal networks for viewing by employees [3].
[edit] Regional programming
TWW did not produce many programmes for the ITV network, but its news and local programmming was well-regarded (it won many plaudits for its sensitive coverage of the Aberfan Disaster).
Its Welsh magazine programme was called Amser Te (Tea Time). Amongst other items, it featured a regular cookery item hosted by Myfanwy Howell.
[edit] Non-renewal of contract
Partly because its regional progamming was so well regarded it came as a great shock when TWW lost its franchise in the 1967 franchise review, in favour of the Harlech Consortium, whose bid promised a glittering future of star-filled entertainment and quality documentaries.
No reason was given for the dismissal (as is common practice for franchise changes) but it was believed that TWW's decision to keep its corporate headquarters in London and not move them to within the region was a significant factor. A more darker explanation proffered at the time was that it was government revenge against the broadcaster's major shareholder the News of the World newspaper, which had printed a series of critical articles about the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson. This does appear unlikely as although the ITA was answerable to Parliament it was a wholly-independent body.
TWW's response was, in effect, to throw a temper tantrum — despite the ITA offering to order Harlech to buy TWW's studios and take on all the TWW staff. A later offer from the ITA was to let TWW buy 40% of Harlech's stock to guarantee a profit and a connection with the television industry: It is commonly believed that TWW spurned this offer in a fit of pique but were actually advised to reject it by their merchant bank [4].
Instead TWW quit its franchise early, selling the last five months to Harlech for £500,000 even though the new company was not yet ready to start broadcasting at the time. Following the intervention of the ITA, a temporary service was set up — Independent Television Service for Wales and the West, broadcasting from the old TWW Pontcanna studios in Cardiff, and staffed by former TWW workers, until Harlech (soon renamed "HTV") was ready to take over its franchise early, on 20 May 1968.
[edit] Final evening
The first, but not the last, company to break the ultimate protocol of those tightly-regulated days; to close down for the last time without going through the formal procedure of announcement and national anthem. Having felt desperately hard-done-by by the ITA, and in the fits of a corporate tantrum, Lord Derby’s company showed their final display of anger by closing down with John Betjeman, who had made several films for them in 1962, paying tribute under the title “Come To An End” (a clip shown in the “Betjeman Revisited” series shown regionally by HTV West in 1995, and then nationally on Channel 4 in 1997), a shortened version of the maxim All good things must come to an end.
As Betjeman walked out of the studio, as the credits rolled, the camera panned up to the “EXIT” sign on the wall, and TWW ended its transmission for the last time. Apart from their two months’ involvement with the interim service before the inception of Harlech, TWW were never heard of again.
[edit] Personalities
Among the famous faces who were early broadcasters on TWW are John Humphrys and Claire Rayner.
TWW was the first to showcase Adge Cutler - his appearances on the TWW programme 'The Cider Apple' led to Adge's fame spreading and the formation of The Wurzels.
[edit] Business interests
TWW also owned non-television interests including the optometrists Dollond & Aitchison.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ Ident (Transdiffusion Broadcasting System / Electromusications), accessed 19 August 2006
- ^ Royal Television Society, accessed 19 August 2006
- ^ Historical Television Website
- ^ Black, P, The Mirror in the Corner, Hutchinson, 1972
[edit] External links
- Harlech House of Graphics (unofficial history site)
- Animated TWW Channel 10 logo, 1960s, from 625.uk.com (Requires Macromedia Flash version 6 or later).
- Animated TWW/Teledu Cymru ident, 1964, from 625.uk.com
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