Westcountry Television

Encyclopedia : W : WE : WES : Westcountry Television

Westcountry Television is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW (Television South West), on 1 January 1993. It covers Devon, Cornwall, and areas of Somerset and Dorset.

Formerly an independent regional ITV broadcaster, Westcountry was taken over by Carlton Communications plc (now ITV plc) in 1996 (who by that time owned the London weekday and Midlands (Central) franchises), and was rebranded "Carlton Westcountry" in 1999.

Westcountry has not made any notable contribution to the ITV network, but produces mainly regional programmes such as Westcountry Live, the main evening news bulletin, as well as several regional factual series.

As with all other Carlton owned ITV franchises, the on-screen regional name has changed, several times. The region was simply called "Westcountry" between 1993 and 1999, and then "Carlton" between 1999 and 2002 (although the official name was "Carlton Westcountry"); today, the region is labelled "ITV1 Westcountry".

As with all other Carlton- and Granada-owned ITV franchises (and Channel Television), from 2002 the regional name has only been used before regional programming; the remainder of the time it is called ITV1. The regional name on screen, between 2002 and 2003, was "ITV1 Carlton"; then from 2003 to 2004, it was "ITV1 for the Westcountry"; and from 2004 to 2006, it was "ITV1 West Country" (now simply "ITV1 Westcountry").

In 2008, the UK plans to begin its five-year process to cease analogue television broadcasts region-by-region, with Border Television, Westcountry, and HTV Wales.

Westcountry Live presenters are David Foster, Sheila Jansen, Peter Wareham, Lorna Dunkley, Richard Bath, Nicky Parr, Jemma Woodman, Alexis Bowater and James Wignall. Richard Bath and Alexis Bowater usually present the main programme at 6pm.

Programmes

Westcountry Live (1993-present)
Westcountry Update - no longer made
Westcountry Life
West Wise
Breathing Counters
Birthday People - discontinued in 2005

External links

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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