Timeline of Meridian Broadcasting

This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcasterMeridian Broadcasting(now known asITV Meridian). It has provided theITVservice for the South and South East of England since 1993.

1990s

• 1991
  • Meridian Broadcasting is formed to apply for the South of England region in the forthcoming ITV franchise round. Intended as a publisher broadcaster, the majority of programmes would be commissioned from independent producers rather than produced in-house.
  • 16 October – TheITCannounces that Meridian had been awarded the licence. Meridian had tabled a lower bid that the incumbent broadcaster,TVS,but the ITC awarded the licence because it felt that TVS’ bid of £59 million was too high, meaning that TVS's business plan was deemed to be unsatisfactory.Therefore, Meridian was awarded the licence as the next highest bidder (£36.5 million).

• 1992
  • No events.

• 1993
  • 1 January – After the chimes ofBig Ben,Meridian Broadcasting goes on air.
  • 20 July – Meridian joins up withHTV,Westcountry Television,Channel TelevisionandS4Cto form a joint advertising company operated by Meridian Broadcasting and HTV.

• 1994
  • 19 February – Meridian purchasesAnglia Television,the ITV franchise for the east of England.

• 1995
  • No events.

• 1996
  • MAI merges with United Newspapers (via anagreed takeoverby United) to formUnited News & Media.The resulting company owned theDaily Expressnewspaper, Meridian Broadcasting, Anglia Television, and a large shareholding (through theYorkshire Post) inYorkshire Tyne Tees Television,the owners ofYorkshire TelevisionandTyne Tees Television.

• 1997
  • 28 June – United News & Media takes over HTV.

• 1998
  • 15 November – The public launch of digital terrestrial TV in the UK takes place.

• 1999
  • The television assets of Meridian's ownerUnited News & Mediaare sold toGranada.However, due to regulations stating that the company could not control that large an audience share, the broadcasting arm of HTV is sold toCarlton Televisionin exchange forCentral Independent Television's 20% stake in Meridian Broadcasting.
  • 8 November – Anew, hearts-based on-air lookis introduced.

2000s

• 2000
  • No events.

• 2001
  • No events.

• 2002
  • 28 October – On-air regional identities are dropped apart from when introducing regional programmes and Meridian is renamed ITV1 Meridian.

• 2003
  • No events.

• 2004
  • January – The final two remaining English ITV companies, Carlton and Granada, merge to create a singleEnglandandWalesITV company calledITV plc.
  • Meridian moves fromNortham studio complexto a new studio base inWhiteley,Hampshire.

• 2005
  • No events.

• 2006
  • 4 December – The non-franchised regionITV Thames Valleyis launched. It incorporates the former Central South news service and the Meridian North service and both operate as their own sub-regions for non-news programming and for advertising.

• 2007
  • No events.

• 2008
  • December – All non-news local programming ends afterOfcomgives ITV permission to drastically cut back its regional programming.From 2009 the only regional programme is the monthly political discussion show.

• 2009
  • 16 February – As part of ITV's major cutbacks of its operation in England, Meridian's three news services are amalgamated into one. However part of the programme, and the late night bulletin, remain localised.

2010s

• 2010
  • No events.

• 2011
  • No events.

• 2012
  • 27 June – The Meridian region completesdigital switchover.

• 2013
  • 16 September – The 2009 cut-backs are reversed and once again the Meridian region is served by three opt-out services.However to maintain lower costs, the main half-hour programme at 6pm contains a minimum 20 minutes of regional news (10 minutes in theThames Valley) and daily use of "shared content" from outside the region.

• 2014
  • TheOxford transmitteris transferred from the Central to the Meridian region.

See also

• History of ITV
• History of ITV television idents
• Timeline of ITV
• Timeline of TVS– Meridian's predecessor