Associated British Corporation
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Associated British Corporation (otherwise known as ABC Television or ABC Weekend TV) was one of a number of commercial television companies set up in the 1950s by cinema chains in an attempt to safeguard their business by getting involved in television which was taking away their cinema audiences. In this case, the parent company was the Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), who initially did not wish to become involved in the new broadcasting system, but were persuaded to do so by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) and the head of their Pathé News subsidiary Howard Thomas, who became the new company's managing director.
However, when one of the consortia that had been awarded a franchise in 1954 collapsed, the ITA approached ABPC to step into the breach. Accordingly, the Corporation agreed to take up 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 launched in London.
This gave the new ABC five months to come on air in the Midlands, the service launching on 18 February 1956. Soon afterwards, they were also up and running in the North - they went on air there for the first time on 5 May 1956.
ABC's original presentation style was criticised by the ITA for being bland and too much attached to the existing ABC Cinemas brand. Taking this criticism to heart, ABC Television developed a strong corporate identity, effectively becoming the first British TV station to recognise the importance of corporate branding. Its new animated logo showed three triangles joining up to form a bigger triangle (in geometry the points of a triangle are often labelled 'A', 'B' and 'C'), accompanied by a xylophone playing 'la-te-doh' (i. e. 'A-B-C').
Weekend franchises were scrapped - except in the London area - in the 1967 round of franchise renewals. ABC then looked further afield, pinning its hopes on the London weekend franchise, although they also picked the new Midlands seven-day contract as a second choice.
In the event, ABC were offered the London weekdays franchise on condition that it formed a joint company with Rediffusion, London. This was agreed, with profits being shared equally between the two but with ABC maintaining control over the new company, Thames Television.
Thames Television in turn lost its franchise in the 1991-2 round of franchise renewals, although the company continues to exist as an independent programme producer, now a part of the FremantleMedia Group and known as talkbackTHAMES.
Networked programmes from ABC included the drama series Police Surgeon,The Human Jungle, Redcap, The Avengers, the series of one-off plays in ABC's Armchair Theatre, the pop shows Thank Your Lucky Stars and Oh Boy!, plus the gritty dramas Callan and Public Eye (both of which continued as Thames productions after 1968).
Names used
Company names:
- Associated British Cinemas (Television) Limited (1955-1968)
- Associated British Corporation (1966-1970s on exports and on continuing productions on Thames)
- ABC (1956-1968)
- All Bloody Commercials (joke nickname attributed to Bob Monkhouse)
- ABC - Associated British in the North (1956-1958)
- ABC - Associated British in the Midlands (1956-1958)
- ABC, your weekend TV (1958-1964)
- ABC, your weekend television in the north (1964-1968)
- ABC, your weekend television in the midlands (1964-1968)
See also
External links
- [ABC at Large from Telemusications (unofficial history site)]
- [Animated ABC logo], c.1960 from 625.uk.com (Macromedia Flash 6 or later required)
- [Animated ABC logo], 1964 from 625.uk.com.
- [Associated British Corporation on TV Ark]
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