Southern Television

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Southern Television was one of the original ITV companies, serving the south-central and south-east of England from August 30, 1958 until 12:45 AM on January 1, 1982. It also used the name Southern Independent Television, on-air, from 1964 until its demise.

When the Independent Television Authority advertised for applicants to run the south of England station in 1958, Southern Television beat eight other applicants for the contract. Its initial shareholders were Associated Newspapers, the Rank Organisation and the Amalgamated Press, each holding one third of the company. Associated Newspapers was allowed to remain a shareholder in Southern, only on the condition that it sold its remaining 10% stake in Associated-Rediffusion to avoid owning parts of two ITV companies (a very different situation from today). The Amalgamated Press dropped out of the consortium before the station went on air. This led to Associated Newspapers and Rank increasing their stakes to 37.5% each, and D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd taking the remaining 25%.

Notable programmes produced by Southern over the years included: Out Of Town, a countryside programme introduced by Jack Hargreaves[link], who would later join Southern's board of directors; How, a children's science programme also featuring Hargreaves along with Fred Dinenage, Bunty James (later replaced by Marian Davies) and Jon Miller; Freewheelers, a children's spy series; ; and Worzel Gummidge, starring Jon Pertwee as the eponymous walking scarecrow. Generally, the company produced more networked children's programmes than adult programmes, scoring a particularly strong seller internationally with an adaptation of Enid Blyton's The Famous Five. Also worth noting was the children's programme The Saturday Banana, hosted by Bill Oddie (then at the height of his fame as one of The Goodies) which saw the placing of a twenty foot high fibreglass banana outside the studios, supported by its peeled 'skin'.

Southern's failure to win a renewal of its contract in the 1980 bidding session was met with anger and disbelief by its board of directors. Although the Independent Broadcasting Authority gave its usual reason for the decision (the competitor offered a better mix of programmes and greater investment in the new 'dual region' that was the south and south-east), the station's non-local ownership also swayed the balance against it. Another factor was the company's very conservative (and possibly dull) nature and that, with a new decade dawning, the south of England would be a radically different area (which it turned out to be). It was felt that Southern's application was, understandably, more of the same reliable formula, which in time would have not reflected the possibilities for the area.

The winning bidder was TVS, who spent months trying to persuade Southern to sell its studios; until it finally succeeded, TVS was forced to use portable offices in Southern's car park. Finally, Southern agreed to lease its studios for the production of TVS programmes and sell them to TVS outright at the end of 1981. The handover was tinged with acrimony on behalf of Southern, who appeared to take their anger at the decision out on TVS, rather than the IBA who had made the actual choice. In their final programme, And It's Goodbye From Us, a song was featured, deriding the incoming TVS as 'Portakabin TV', and deriding them for choosing Maidstone as a production base in the newly-enlarged dual region (deliberately not mentioning that Southern themselves had already purchased the Vinters Park site, for a planned studio complex in Maidstone if they had won the 1982 franchise, and had sold it on to the TVS consortium).

The closing credits of the network's final programme ended with an animated version of their starbust logo spinning into a starry sky, their acoustic guitar jingle playing with a deep extended echo, and the screen slowly fading to black. There were no closing announcements, no suggestions for viewers to turn off their television sets, nor even the customary playing of "God Save the Queen". The transmitters were simply, and abruptly, shut down.

In 2005, the old Southern studios were closed and scheduled for demolition, after the relocation for their current owners Meridian Television.

Southern Television's programme archive was sold to Southern Star Group. The names "Southern Television Ltd", "Southern Independent Television" and "Southern Television", and the star device idents (1958-81) all transferred to Art Attack producer Nic Ayling in 2004, and Southern now trades as an independent production company.

External links

[Animated Southern Television ident], 1958, from 625.uk.com (Requires Macromedia Flash version 4 or later).
[Animated Southern Television ident], 1960, from 625.uk.com
[Animated Southern ident, in colour], 1969-1981, from 625.uk.com
[Southern Television at TV Ark]

ITV
British television | Channels

Regions North Scotland: Grampian Television | Central Scotland: Scottish Television | Scottish/English Border: Border
North and North West England: ABC, Granada | North East England: Tyne Tees | Yorkshire: Yorkshire | Northern Ireland: UTV
Wales and the West of England: TWW, WWN, ITSWW, HTV | Midlands: ATV, ABC, Central | East Anglia: Anglia
London: Rediffusion, ATV, Thames, LWT, Carlton | Southern England: Southern, TVS, Meridian
South West England: Westward, TSW, Westcountry | Channel Islands: Channel Television

Breakfast: TV-am, GMTV | Teletext: ORACLE, Teletext Ltd.
News: ITN, ITV News Sport: ITV Sport

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Southern Television

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