Channel Strikes Back - The story of the 1979 ITV strike

[@radiotracks7865]

Some along the South coast of England could receive Channel TV. I received it myself a few times in North Wiltshire when conditions were right. I even took a photo of the on-screen clock!

[@rajnirvan3336]

Leonard Parkin was a legend of a newsreader

[@jimr6463]

I remember it well - I was sat on the transmission control desk at Channel covering the lunch break when the network went down! No live broadcast has been as scary since then... Jim R (ex YTV / Channel TV)

[@johnking5174]

Where did Channel TV get their network feed from in 1979? Was it from Southern Television or Westward Television?

[@jimr6463]

@@johnking5174 Westward

[@johnking5174]

@@jimr6463 I would have thought Isle of Wight signals would have been stronger than Westward transmitter, but it must have been made stronger when UHF colour arrived in 1976?

[@jimr6463]

The interesting thing about that service we provided at Channel was that when the network came back up a huge number of channel islanders told us they didn't want it back and they wished the 'new' service would stay on! The trouble was - we were all exhausted and couldn't have kept it up much longer!

[@johnking5174]

@@jimr6463 I have seen copies of the emergency schedules you had. I take my hat off to you, quite a feat to fill 5pm to 11pm with no access to the network.

[@alanpetruj1436]

Remember during the strike they started playing the old test card classical music tapes which was great to listen to again.

[@davidchapman9621]

I worked at the Film Centre scheduling films and series for Channel during the strike. Meeting regularly with Mr Killip at Heathrow to put forward and agree the schedule. I remember well the episode of The Lone Ranger that was in Spanish!

[@anthonyperkins7556]

Channel Television had to dive into the archives and cobble together an emergency schedule of film and videotape programmes to keep some sort of service going while the rest of the network was on strike. If Channel didn't deviate from the national union mood, then it would've collapsed, being a smaller vulnerable itv company.

[@johnking5174]

Problem for Channel was they had no access to archive ITV material, as all networked shows were simply Channel relaying them from the network. So they needed films of movies and TV shows flown into their HQ at St Helier, which was a very tough task

[@anthonyperkins7556]

@@johnking5174 They had did have a few things on videotape and film that they COULD fall back on

[@entertain1048]

Wesley Smith isn't disappear from ITV regional news screens : was freelance journalists since after closure of ITV Thames Valley. in bit of irony he was one of the newsreaders of the Central News South when that service was introduced in 1989 (Wesley has been with Central since 1985).

[@PhilReynoldsLondonGeek]

Whereas that strike caption was seen in the first few days, after ITN did not open on 7 August, in place of news, a different, transmitter-generated caption was used most of the time. It had at least two wordings, as well. (On 8 August I think ATV showed an episode of "In Search Of..." in place of News at One.)

[@LeonardStarbuck-pw6wm]

Great documentary i wondered how channel kept going when the rest of ITV was off they were heroic at channel brilliant!!!!!

[@gangsnapp_yt5945]

they showed a former itv network in that montage. a nice way to pay homage the the past.

[@redeye_]

that reigon was rediffusion.

[@supercw31]

I think that is totally brilliant. An occasional viewer myself now just for the good news, but this must beat em all!

[@bobrew461]

Funny that Michael Grade hated those times, because his uncle Lew, was part of the cause, as he more than once bent over for striking technicians...

[@peterwilliamskelhorn6675]

@bobrew461 hes the reason doctor who went on hiatus in the 80s

[@robertparry4929]

Typical of Grade. The workers make the magic...not the bosses

[@andrewbeadle9168]

and now what would happen with ITV with having no regions ?

[@jahno7154]

This was the year we realised that the BBC was rubbish.

[@johnking5174]

Problem for the BBC was it was the summer season. All schools programmes were off air, meaning no daytime programming apart from sport. BBC never provided a proper codified daytime schedule until Oct 1986, it was all built around schools programmes, adult education, news, Pebble Mill and sport - so when Pebble Mill, schools and adult education were off air for the summer, daytime BBC One was around 70% empty from July until late September. ITV was always the only proper provider of a codified daytime television schedule, all the way back to 1972.

[@bobrew461]

@@johnking5174 The BBC hadn't clue! They didn't have to work hard at getting an audience, because they had / have the guaranteed licence fee to fund their BS! But they have never learned from the old days of the 1970s strikes. Now they are paying the price, as more and more people are not willing to paying their tax of a licence fee...

[@megadigidave4457]

@@bobrew461 nonsense. So Generation Game, Dad’s Army etc were rubbish? BBC doesn’t exist to solely chase ratings. What would be the point? To the Manor Born, Shoestring all started on the BBC during the strike and their ratings popularity continued the following year even when ITV were back.

[@megadigidave4457]

@@bobrew461 stands to reason people don’t like licence fee because there is competition now and youngsters want everything for free these days.

[@bobrew461]

@@megadigidave4457 Only ONE of the shows you've mentioned was any good: Shoestring.

[@ercaysalih5433]

i know i how you feel i wish they could thame was the best duing the early years as far as i can remember it had eveything and they imported some of the amercan show but remember the strke in 1979 it went for almost 3 months

[@christopherhulse8385]

Did Channel TV have the rotating hexagon between the commercials like Westward?

[@christopherwilliams2093]

I think they did, as Westward provided the sales administration to Channel in an arrangement which was made in 1962.

[@rtcp2020]

Why did ITV had so many strikes?

[@jimbo6059]

It was a closed union shop, itv wanted to modernise but the unions would not let them. This was one of the last big industrial actions.

[@bobrew461]

Most people forget that the BBC went on strike around xmas, 1978. But quickly settled.

[@PCDelorian]

@@bobrew461 Probably because the BBC was, at the time at least, a far better employer than anyone in the ITV Group (not to be confused with ITV plc)

[@NelvanaFan1971]

So the EETPU (eat-poo) and the ACTT (act) teamed up with the BBC to stop ITV yet again so that people would only watch The Beeb That Didn't stop the irish from watching RTE, The Islanders near france to get CTV (strike at CTV = franchise ded) and possibly (if the conditions were right) even TF1, A2 and FR3

[@symbolman]

@@PCDelorian It certainly isn't a great employer now, as I know at first hand.

[@altfactor]

Didn't BBC technicians come close to also going on strike, which, except for little Channel Television, would have knocked all British television off the air?

[@johnking5174]

No, the BBC strike happened the year before at December 1978, with the ABS union which was the union for BBC staff went on strike just before Christmas. Knocking off BBC One and BBC Two by 20th December and then BBC Radio staff went on strike on Friday 22nd December which led to BBC Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4 merged into one network for a few hours. That strike was settled by 10pm on Friday 22nd December 1978. This left ITV only on air, however in the Yorkshire TV region, they were off air due to their own strike from 17th December, and so from 20th to 22nd December, people in Yorkshire had no television at all, except spill over reception from other ITV regions such as Granada, Tyne Tees or ATV.

[@johnking5174]

To give you an idea of a typical strike schedule for Channel TV, here is the schedule for Saturday 15th September 1979: 5pm - Puffin. 5.05pm - Tarzan. 6.00pm - Emergency: Snake Bite. 6.55pm - McCoy: The Big Rip Off. 8.15pm - FILM: Good Guys and Bad Guys. 9.55pm - Mannix. 10.50pm - Closedown.

[@johnking5174]

@Tomleç This was an emergency schedule. No programmes were coming from London. Channel Television had to source all their emergency schedules from independent sources, as Channel Television did not have video tape facilities, it all had to be aired on 16 mm or 35 mm film, meaning a lack of resources, so schedules were trimmed to a basic 6 hour daily schedule. Why?

[@johnking5174]

@Tomleç That is right. Thames and LWT controlled the network output, and of course they were off air, leaving Channel with the hard task to fill a schedule with nothing from the network. Channel didn't have access to ITV archives also.

[@johnking5174]

@Tomleç Correct, as Channel TV had a separate agreement with the union ACTT to not go on strike. The ACTT understood that Channel TV was the smallest ITV region, and a prolonged strike would bankrupt the company, and involved all their union staff being made redundant. ACTT never wanted that. So Channel TV signed a different union deal. They have always done this. During every other strike at ITV including the summer 1968 strike, Channel TV remained on air.

[@NelvanaFan1971]

@@johnking5174 yorkshire had some news coverage

[@johnking5174]

@@NelvanaFan1971 It was essential due to the ongoing crime event there.