comp-abcABC TELEVISION Ltd.
Midlands
Saturdays and Sundays
North of England
Saturdays and Sundays


comp-angliaANGLIA TELEVISION Ltd.

East Anglia
Whole week

comp-assredASSOCIATED-REDIFFUSION Ltd.

London
Mondays to Fridays

comp-atvASSOCIATED TELEVISION Ltd.

London
Saturdays and Sundays
Midlands
Mondays to Fridays

comp-borderBORDER TELEVISION Ltd.

The Borders
Whole week

comp-channelCHANNEL TELEVISION Ltd.

Channel Islands
Whole week

comp-grampianGRAMPIAN TELEVISION Ltd.

North-East Scotland
Whole week

comp-granadaGRANADA TV NETWORK Ltd.

North of England
Mondays to Fridays

comp-stvSCOTTISH TELEVISION Ltd.

Central Scotland
Whole week

comp-southernSOUTHERN TELEVISION Ltd.

Central Southern and
South-East England
Whole week

comp-twwT W W Ltd.

South Wales and the
West of England
Whole week

comp-tttTYNE TEES TELEVISION Ltd.

North-East England
Whole week

comp-ulsterULSTER TELEVISION Ltd.

Northern Ireland
Whole week

comp-walesWALES (West & North) TELEVISION Ltd.

West and North Wales
Whole week

comp-westwardWESTWARD TELEVISION Ltd.

South West England
Whole week

com-itnINDEPENDENT TELEVISION NEWS Ltd

Provides the main news bulletins for all Independent Television areas

comp-itcaINDEPENDENT TELEVISION COMPANIES ASSOCIATION

The Association acts on behalf of all the Programme Companies in certain matters of common interest

The Programme Companies

Area Company Studios Population Coverage
London Weekdays Associated-Rediffusion London 12.91 m.
Weekends Associated TeleVision London 12.91 m.
Midlands Weekdays Associated TeleVision Birmingham 8.85 m.
London
Weekends A.B.C. Television Manchester 8.85 m.
Birmingham
London
North Weekdays Granada TV Network Manchester 12.45 m.
London
Weekends A.B.C. Television Manchester 12.45 m.
Birmingham
London
Central Scotland All week Scottish Television Glasgow 3.98 m.
South Wales and West All week TWW Cardiff 3.29 m.
Bristol
South-East All week Southern Television Southampton 4.27 m.
Dover
North-East All week Tyne Tees Television Newcastle upon Tyne 2.72 m.
East Anglia All week Anglia Television Norwich 2.55 m.
Northern Ireland All week Ulster Television Belfast 1.36 m.
South-West All week Westward Television Plymouth 1.60 m.
Borders All week Border Television Carlisle 0.48 m.
North-East Scotland All week Grampian Television Aberdeen 1.42 m.
West and North Wales All week Wales (West and North) Television Cardiff 1.04 m.
Channel Islands All week Channel Television St. Helier 0.10 m.

Granada TV Network

The North (Mondays to Fridays)

itv1963part3 15

Granada TV Network Limited is the company which, under agreement with the Independent Television Authority, provides the television programmes in the North of England from Monday to Friday.


comp-granada

Granada TV Centre, Quay Street, Manchester 3.
DEANSGATE 7211
36 Golden Square, London W.1.
REGent 8080



    ITA    Channel   Vision     Sound    Opening Date   Population ITA Homes
Transmitter        Frequency  Frequency                    000's      000's
                      Mc/s       Mc/s
Winter Hill     9    194.75     191.25     3rd May 1956   }
                                                          } 12,452     3,282
Emley Moor     10    199.7372   196.2605   3rd Nov 1956   }
Directors

Sidney L Bernstein*; Cecil G Bernstein*; Denis Forman*; Maurice King; Victor Peers*; John Todd; Joseph Warton*; Richard Willder.
* Executive Directors

Officers

Alex Anson (Sales and Advertising); Sir Gerald Barry (Schools and Education); Patrick Crookshank (Overseas Sales); RH Hammans (Director of Engineering); William Nugent (Chief Engineer).

Programme Committee

The Executive Directors and Harry Elton, Tim Hewat, Philip Mackie. Secretary: Kenneth Brierley.

Art and Science

Granada has endowed a Television Research Fellowship at Leeds University, a chair of Drama at Manchester University, a Chair of Communication at Keele University, and an Annual Arts Fellowship at the University of York. The Company has also made grants to repertory theatres in the North.

The Granada Guildhall Lectures

Each year Granada, with the British Association for the Advancement of Science, arranges a series of three lectures on the subject of Communication in the Modern World, with international speakers lecturing in London’s Guildhall. Television versions of the lectures are transmitted.

Research

Granada has commissioned special audience research surveys – Granada Viewership Surveys (three editions) and What Children Watch.

Overseas

Granada has interests in television stations in Canada and Nigeria.

Programme Journal

TV Times publishes a special edition for the North of England giving details of the available programmes.

Studios

THE TV CENTRE, MANCHESTER 3. Deansgate 7211. Granada’s five-acre site is an important feature on Manchester’s city development, on the City Centre ring road, near the new Courts of Justice and Government offices. In 1956, when Phase I of the TV Centre was completed, it was the first building in Britain originally designed for television. Today Phase V of the TV Centre development plan has been finished. There are six studios, floor-space totalling 23,860 sq. ft. Granada also has an audience studio at Chelsea, London.

Outside Broadcasts

Granada has 16 outside broadcast vehicles, including mobile Ampex videotape recording units.

Videotape Recording

Granada has ten Ampex videotape machines at the TV Centre, in its mobile videotape recording vehicle and at its London studios. The TV Centre has a 16-mm. Dubbing Suite for putting sound on film.

Technical Developments

Granada was the first to use a standards conversion unit to “translate” videotape recordings from European to United States line standards. In 1958 the Granada unit converted Eurovision pictures of the Coronation of Pope John to the American System, so that videotape recordings could be flown to New York for immediate transmission. Granada uses mobile videotape equipment for covering news events and recording inserts for programmes. All television facilities at the Manchester TV Centre have been planned, designed and commissioned solely by Granada Planning Engineers. The recently-completed Studio 12 is one of the most up-to-date television studios in the country. The vision mixer system, designed for the most complex operations, is controlled by one third of the buttons and switches normally needed. Half the vision is transistorised and incorporates equipment designed by Granada Design and Development. Granada studios have developed a unique system of lighting grids.

Programmes

Granada programmes include: News and News Magazines: Northern Newscast, Scene at 6.30, a daily news magazine. Talks, Discussions, Current Affairs: What the Papers Say, I Believe…, Appointment With…, election and political party conference coverage, World in Action – special reports from Granada units overseas. Past programmes have covered South Africa, India, Cuba, France and Britain. Natural History: Breakthrough, Animal Parade, Another World, A to Zoo. Schools (for sixth-formers): Discovery, Inquiry, Design, The Art of Music, Art in the Making, Patterns of Power, Word and Image. Plays and Drama Series: regular contributions to the Play of the Week and Television Playhouse series, including works of Jean Anouilh, Elizabeth Baker, Alexander Baron, Harold Brighouse, Friedrich Duerrenmatt, Clive Exton, Lillian Hellman, Stanley Houghton, Donald Howarth, Carson McCullers, Arthur Miller, Allan Monkhouse, Peter Nichols, JB Priestley, William Saroyan, Bernard Shaw, Thornton Wilder; Younger Generation series, 11 plays by new writers, performed by a repertory group of actors; the Saki series, dramatised short stories by HH Munro; de Maupassant dramatised short story series; The Victorians, plays by Victorian writers; The Verdict is Yours; Coronation Street. Light Entertainment: West End, Chelsea at Nine, Bootsie and Snudge. Music: Rosalyn Tureck playing the Bach preludes and fugues; recitals by Oistrakh, Rostropovich, the Borodin String Quartet; concerts by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra; Orpheus in the Underworld, by Sadler’s Wells Opera Company; Cinderella by the Royal Ballet Company; Josh White Sings.

Camera crews in the studio. Granada
Camera crews in the studio. Granada

The North

GranadaABC

  • WINTER HILL
  • Population within measured contours: Primary 6.43 mn, Secondary 0.53 mn, Fringe 0.63 mn. Total 7.59 mn.
  • Channel: Band III Channel 9 (vertically polarised)
  • Vision Carrier Frequency: Actual 194.75 Mc/s
  • Sound Carrier Frequency: Actual 191.25 Mc/s
  • Effective Radiated Power: Vision 100 kw. Sound 25 kw.
  • Power of Transmitters: Vision (peak white) 10 kW. Sound (carrier) 2½ kW
  • Heights above sea level: Site 1450 ft. Mean aerial 1,850 ft.
  • Location: 2° 30′ 55″ W, 53° 37′ 35″ N.
  • EMLEY MOOR
  • Population within measured contours: Primary 3.36 mn, Secondary 0.995 mn, Fringe 0.555 mn. Total 4.91 mn.
  • Channel: Band III Channel 10 (vertically polarised)
  • Vision Carrier Frequency: Nominal 199.75 Mc/s. Actual 199.7372 Mc/s
  • Sound Carrier Frequency: Nominal 196.25 Mc/s. Actual 196.2605 Mc/s
  • Effective Radiated Power: Vision 200 kw maximum. Sound 50 kw maximum.
  • Power of Transmitters: Vision (peak white) 10 kW. Sound (carrier) 2½ kW
  • Heights above sea level: Site 850 ft. Mean aerial 1,250 ft.
  • Location: 1° 39′ 45″ W, 53° 36′ 45″ N.

Winter Hill (Channel 9) and Emley Moor (Channel 10)

Companies: Granada TV Network (weekdays), A.B.C. Television (weekends)

The first proposal for covering the great Northern area with its population of about thirteen million was to build a high-power transmitting station close to the existing BBC Band I station at Holme Moss on the high central rib of the Pennine Chain. Studies showed that this would have been technically attractive had it been possible at that time, without a very considerable delay for special development, to provide an effective radiated power of about 500 kW with a mast height of at least 1,000 ft. Even so, severe fading would undoubtedly have been experienced at the fringes of the service area, on the west coast at Liverpool and on the east coast at Hull.

These and other considerations led the Authority to conclude that the area would be served best by two transmitting stations, one on the western slopes of the Pennines to serve Lancashire, Cheshire and parts of Staffordshire, and another on the east side of the Pennines to serve Yorkshire. The Postmaster-General agreed to this proposal, which constituted the first of several departures from the general principle that Band III stations should be sited close to existing Band I stations. The quality of service which has been given to the North of England as a result of this departure has fully justified the decision. Winter Hill, the Lancashire station, was constructed on the summit of Rivington Moor, a fine site 1,450 feet above sea level. The aerial, which is carried on a self-supporting 450 ft. tower radiates 100 kW omnidirectionadly. Construction work began in September 1955 and the station went into programme service on 3rd May 1956.

Winter Hill
Winter Hill

The selection of the site for the Yorkshire station posed considerable problems largely because coverage of the main concentration of population within the hill-shadowed towns of the West Riding had to be combined with the provision of a service as far away as Kingston-upon-Hull some 5o miles away across the Yorkshire Plain.

Sixteen different sites were studied theoretically and tests, using a balloon transmitter, were made at four of them before Emley Moor, 850 feet above sea level on the eastern slopes of the Pennine Chain, was finally selected. Once again, because of the small area available, a 450 ft. tower was used to support the aerial, which has a semicircular power-radiation pattern delivering 200 kW e.r.p. in all easterly directions but only a few kilowatts backwards to the west into the natural barrier of the Pennines, thus preventing waste and an unnecessary overlap with the service area of the Winter Hill station. Emley Moor went into service on 3rd November 1956.