ITV in the Face Episode 14: Satellite and Digital

[@johnking5174]

Hi Matthew. Just a little historical perspective - Republic of Ireland were years ahead in terms of cable television provision compared to the UK. Since the mid 1950s BBC and later ITV could be received in the Irish republic via spill over signal from Northern Ireland and Wales. Irish television of RTE only launched on 31st December 1961. By 1970 RTE were being faced with competition from BBC and ITV, so they decided to provide these channels and RTE on cable television platform, and hence the start of cable television in Ireland.

[@areasquirrel]

Well that explains how our own Dublin relatives, and the units in Shankill Caravan and Camping Park had cable when we would go down for our annual summer holiday in my birthday week in the 90s. It made young me think everyone in the Republic was filthy rich compared to us 'northerners', because they've all got cable! For one week a year we could watch Sky 1, and The Children's Channel! What luxury! The footage of RTE 2's launch always raises a smile from me due to the technical issues causing us to hear BBC 2's audio, followed by silence when the launch presenters are supposed to be speaking. That footage I also enjoyed for the montage of celebrities wishing the station luck, including Bruce Forsyth bidding us "Top of the Morning to you, or is it the Bottom of the Evening?"

[@johnking5174]

@@areasquirrel Just showed how many of the "stars" could not be arsed to travel to Cork city for the opening ceremony of RTE 2.

[@robertcomer2767]

Was this because RTE was so utterly crap upto 2000

[@Michael-v7g6f]

This series which I have only just discovered is consistently outstanding. Thanks for making it.

[@goodiesguy]

Granada Plus is the last channel that ever played Kenny Everett's ITV series, and the last time UK Viewers saw Thames flagship programme The Benny Hill Show on British TV (save for the 1974 compilation film).

[@bobrew461]

And Mind Your Language...

[@KingEurope1]

“That’s TV Gold” are now showing The Kenny Everett Video Show. It’s a satellite channel run by the same company that destroyed the Channel 7 local TV experiment of the last decade by buying the majority of the licences and then doing the absolute bare minimum with them.

[@rtc9063]

@@KingEurope1 it’s about time OFCOM took those licences off them now. The experiment didn’t work

[@sophie_drachen]

​@@KingEurope1To me, it seems that That's TV is just sitting on an EPG space. As they do rerun shows like Benidorm (albeit cut down insanely short) and Shameless in the world's worst aspect ratio and picture quality. They also have music channels too, and most of the videos on their music channels have an abysmal picture quality, almost as if they ripped the videos off of KZbin from 2005. Most of our local TV, in North Wales (I can also pick up Liverpool's local network too) at least have turned into Talk TV, owned by Rupert Murdoch and exactly like what you'd expect. A bunch of people complaining about how they can't be homophobic and racist anymore. Talk TV is just brain rot to me.

[@AlexSpalex1]

This a personal favorite of all of ITV In The Face.

[@shrillbert]

Reminds me to go back and watch Square Peg from time to time too.

[@whatamalike]

@@shrillbert Same, i'd love him to upload square peg here tbh.

[@reginahyde1488]

Have to agree with you!

[@Larry]

What about The Computer Channel, later renamed Dot TV, That aired after Granade Men and Motors after 6pm.

[@johnking5174]

When I was 6 years old in 1991, we had relatives who lived in Swords, in North County Dublin. Since January 1983 they had been enjoying cable television and could receive BBC One N.I., BBC Two N.I. UTV, Channel 4, RTE 1, Network 2 and a selection of international channels such as CNN and Sky News. Swords in County Dublin could receive UK stations since 1955 onward from Northern Ireland if you had a decent outdoor aerial. Cable just made it better, not worrying about snowy pictures.

[@laotian12innumberverse6]

I love how you gave personification to the channels at various points.

[@barbarakirk3064]

I liked the Storm Thorgerson comparison with some of the logos! Currently, Channel 4 have a sponsorship ident of a man swimming through snow, which always reminds me of the sand swimmer in the booklet for Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.

[@DonPraveen]

I wonder whether the ITV project of the Super Channel may have also had a part to play in Carlton & Granada's doomed forays into multi channel broadcasting...

[@edwardburek1717]

The ITV Digital fiasco needs to be re-examined in greater depth - just to revel in the misfortunes of those who thought it was a good idea to pay millions of pounds for TV rights to the Football League.

[@ccateni28]

Bingo kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXTOhZ6oYtBsrKs

[@stuartkenny7430]

By some accounts, it was David Cameron's idea to pay millions they didn't have for the football. He bailed out just before ITV Digital went into a nosedive, sound familiar?

[@seprishere]

Everyone was overbidding way too much for the Football League rights. There is a court judgment describing the negotiation process in great detail. And how the FL's lawyers did breach their duties to the FL but only had to pay £4 in compensation.

[@stuartkenny7430]

​@@seprishere By rights, Carlton and Granada should have been taken to the cleaners over that, and the fact they only got £4 out of them proves the law is an ass. When it became clearly evident that the Football Deal would sink ITV Digital, Granada actually tried to bail out, but having come so far, they had no option but to see it through to the bitter end, otherwise ITV Digital would have gone under sooner and probably taken Carlton down with them had Granada quit earlier.

[@seprishere]

@@stuartkenny7430 The Football League negotiators were evidently happy to proceed without parent country guarantees at the time. They actually got £0 out of Carlton and Granada (except the dividend from ITV Digital, from which they unwisely gave some away for quick cash), the £4 was from their lawyers.

[@sophie_drachen]

I still haven't worked out what the purpose of ITV2 was and is. Maybe, it's mostly reality shows (Love Island, Dinner Date and all of that type of thing) and American imports, (Family Guy, American Dad, Two and a Half Men). Turns out that they'll be airing Big Brother come October, Big Brother being something that died when it moved to Channel 5, and should've stayed dead.

[@AntarcticaTelevision]

Apparently it was the failure of Super Channel, along with that of BSB that came shortly after, that blew massive near-black holes in the ITV network's general finances, that led to the horrors from 1993 onwards...

[@johnking5174]

RTE Relays was the first Irish cable company, providing cable television to Dublin City. Many more cable companies followed with nearly all of Dublin cabled by 1975, with the hinterlands cabled by 1982. Other big cities followed in the 1980s, Cork (1981), Limerick (1982), Galway (1985) and many smaller towns too. It was estimated by 1985 when I was born, that cable television was available to nearly 65% of the Irish republic. Crystal clear BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4, the RTE channels and later satellite and international channels was the attraction.

[@heggy_69]

I refuse to believe the top gear comment wasnt ragebait

[@craigcharlesworth1538]

Did ITV3 launch with the conclusion of the Pie in the Sky episode viewers had been waiting for since + disappeared? Because that would have been amazing.

[@Firthy2002]

Carlton not launching their channels on satellite from the beginning always seemed like a mis-step to me.

[@itogi]

You know what's odd? That Plus closedown slide 27:40 was from 2010.

[@applemask]

Even NTL itself was long since dead.

[@FACEandLMS2]

how???

[@stevewilliams6374]

Really interesting, didn't know there were so many Granada channels. Great Thea Gilmour song at the end

[@MatgoStyles]

Like the Carlton World idents, Carlton's heart idents used a lot of physical models even though they look CGI.

[@castle6742]

Great video really enjoyed it

[@antoniod]

In 1985, my Brother's Girlfriend's Mother complained "The BBC has the monopoly over influencing people's opinions in England. They only hear what the BBC wants them to hear!" Even then, she was way behind the times.

[@castle6742]

there was lots of cable company in the 90s in uk NTL telewest /cable and wireless they were regional cable TV companies

[@johnking5174]

The first cable company in Ireland was RTE Relays in 1970. Dublin city was the first area to be cabled. I remember watching it when I was young, when we visited family there in 1991. Irish cable were at least two decades ahead of UK cable.

[@castle6742]

@@johnking5174 what happen to RTE relays did that become Virgin Media as well ?

[@johnking5174]

@@castle6742 Yes, there were originally many independent cable companies throughout Ireland. Each applied to the Irish government for a licence to be the cable provider to a certain city, town, area etc. By the late 1980s they began to merge, with RTE owning a good number of them under the name "Cablelink". There would become two big giants of Irish cable - NTL Ireland and Chorus Cable. Both of them merged to form UPC Ireland, which was later formed into Virgin Media Ireland a few years a go. Hope this helps?

[@johnking5174]

@@castle6742 Cable television in Ireland was used to provide the British television channels to those Irish viewers who could not receive the UK channels over the air via spill over signals.

[@castle6742]

@@johnking5174 thank you interesting information 🙂

[@twitchygiraffe4636]

Those ITV digital Johnny Vegas monkeys with the “Sidekick” t-shirt on , which were given away free to subscribers are worth a few bob now! Particularly as Johnny carried on using the monkey on the PG tips adverts, this time the monkey is wearing a PG tips t-shirt though!!!!

[@tomekorzechowski5852]

What did he say about the satelite channels

[@dinogoldie9716]

What is ITV2 for? Two words: "Love" and "Island." Can't stand it myself and only watch the station for the US adult cartoons (Family guy, American Dad, Bob's Burgers).

[@robertcomer2767]

We were told we were getting 7 new channels. The bit they forgot to tell us that apart from Granada Plus, they were all part time channels and every single one of them absolute rubbish. And looking back at the crap they put on, it's hardly wonder ITV went the way it did with Allen and Green at the helm.

[@dinogoldie9716]

MONKEEEY! The recycling of Monkey for PG Tips and the regeneration of those Meerkats for various products/services made me wonder....Do you have a video about repurposed logos/mascots?

[@applemask]

Monkey's the only one I can think of.

[@cromulence]

One thing that isn't touched on in this episode is the fact that Sky were found to be involved with a hacking scene who provided decryption keys for ONdigital services and basically blew apart the security system for it, leading to rampant piracy.

[@castle6742]

Could you make a video about cable TV companies in 90s ?

[@sophie_drachen]

It's not really about cable TV companies, but I would recommend @jonkasonic's "Television Affair" which talks about European/British cable and satellite TV! Very reminiscent of that of Bob's videos. KZbin comments hate me putting links to other videos in. Not too sure about playlists, mind you. kzbin.info/aero/PLfptf7k4EIVFBskhS8vUiILI-IQsF35yU&si=5MKz4nyjFTFzimWr

[@LordDookster]

There were not at all many and is little-nothing much to justify a seperate video case study by him. This video is as good as you'll get. One can remember Diamond Cable. You also forgot the Square Peg documentary he did (So what if am replying 5 years late to this. Megabyte me 😊)

[@bobrew461]

Select TV was a pretty good cable-only channel...Until Carlton took over. 16:58 A multiplex? A group of channels that share a satellite's transponder. 27:46 How appropriate!

[@RickRobinCagnaan]

So how exactly does Men and Motors manage to remain in existence?

[@reginahyde1488]

Because it was popular.

[@RickRobinCagnaan]

Surviving as a KZbin channel is how Men and Motors ended up.

[@anthonyperkins7556]

Carlton Cinema very nearly ended up on Skydigital through detailed negotiations with Sky, but these completely collapsed.

[@ccateni28]

Carlton really shot themselves in the foot there.

[@NelvanaFan1971]

BUT CC WAS ON NTL

[@anthonyperkins7556]

Carlton Cinema via Skydigital's variety pack on the Astra 2 satellites would've been interesting had it happened, but I doubt it would've lasted after the eventual merger of Granada and Carlton to itv plc.

[@seprishere]

Inter alia, ONdigital didn't do a laughable overbid, since Sky did bid £273m for three years. This is in the court judgment when the Football League sued their lawyers (having lost against Granada and Carlton).

[@cattysplat]

BBC has always had a stranglehold on the minds of the British population. But ITV does themselves no favours in catering to the lowest common denominator. The only highlight was CITV for me during the 90s, which had genuinely better choice for kids over BBC outdated "edutainment" like Blue Peter. Now the CITV channel doesn't even exist anymore. And so the next generation grows up never watching TV and thus, TV dies.

[@whatamalike]

Why were granada so ashamed of men & motors? Did the higher ups find the channel, watched primarily by working class blokes like me dad, too uncouth or some shite?

[@reginahyde1488]

Is that the voice of Tiswas heartthrob Sally James in the GSky B promo at the beginning?

[@LordDookster]

Maybe it is 😮 😊 or possibly Trish Bertram...oh wait 😮😊

[@CrazyTobster]

The Children Channel was partly owned by Central ITV

[@WHAFCboy3333]

WELL THANK GOD BROADCASTING ACT 1990 (!)

[@jgdsgh]

ITV2s purpose is as ITVs channel for young people (16-34)

[@rachel.mcgowan]

I’ve always thought of it as ITV Chav LOL

[@laurenceodell5168]

Thing is about Sky themselves, that part about expanding their resources... yeah, sorry to break it to you but due to Disney's buyout of Fox, Comcast (which owns NBC and Universal Studios, mnd you) brought out Sky late last year and as a result, the UK part of their current name has been dropped. Now it's just known as Sky LTD...

[@ccateni28]

Sky isn't so invisible now are they?

[@KitHubCats]

They removed the UK part of their name because now they’re in Germany.

[@briansergeant]

@The Three Group and Italy

[@marsspacex6065]

Dude you’re funny 😂.

[@Sheffield_Steve]

First time of watching this one. Watched all the others about the regions loads, but always skipped past this. Probably didn't want reminding how much of a disaster on/itv digital was.

[@tfn9265]

Hi Matthew. You say ITV didn't have to pool their resources, they could've done other things if they had more imagination. The question is, what other things?

[@alex-xz2dm]

l home and away in 2000

[@alex-xz2dm]

eh 7

[@shrillbert]

Actually, he said they did have to cooperate and integrate more, just not by having Carlton, Granada, and Scottish devour everybody else in a winner-takes-all corporate buying extravaganza. They could, for example, have set up their own production companies that were jointly owned by all the franchise owners(or at least all the major ones). They could have come together to make programmes produced by multiple ITV networks simultaneously(Made by Yorkshire and HTV, for example), which would've allowed for bigger budgets and greater distribution, or a bunch of other ideas of the sort.

[@juliehaywood948]

A Few Years Ago 😁😂 Itv Granada Local News Said: ITV Should Make More Local Regional Televison Programmes Like They Do In America!❤😂🎉😢😮😅😊!

[@jamesdelboy]

Carlton had a few channels Scottish gave a go Sky Scottish didn't last long S2 on the other hand was better but it was just ITV 2 aimed at Scotland

[@TrishulFilms]

Was Carlton always been a copycat? They used the 1992 Star Emblem on their logo. And this Carlton select logo looks like a poor rip off from our Indian broadcaster Doordarshan

[@applemask]

Yeah, pretty much.

[@imrustyokay]

i just learned that Sky is owned by Comcast, and therefore are related to NBC.

[@applemask]

It is now, yes. Making it slightly less evil.

[@GoodOlGranite]

@@applemask Why do you paint NBC in a slightly negative light? I want to know.

[@ccateni28]

@@GoodOlGranite CoMcAsT

[@johnking5174]

Comcast don't have a great reputation in the states. They are a cable television provider who have an appalling bad record for customer service. They are a broadband provider in many US states whose speeds are advertised as 1,000MB but you are more likely to get 100MB at best. They own MSNBC News Channel which is the left wing version of Fox News. They own NBC network which has an appalling track record of sexual abuse and misconduct. Research the name Matt Lauer and you will understand. NBC forced Ronan Farrow to halt his investigation into sex crimes of Harvey Weinstein. They manufactured the Tonight Show 2010 cock up. Do you want me to go on?

[@imrustyokay]

@@GoodOlGranite that would require an entire novel.

[@juliehaywood948]

Remember It 😄😉 Very Well Granada Plus Later Became G+ Used To Show: Classic Emmerdale & Classic Coronation Street! 😊😅😮😢🎉😂❤

[@Hhh77999]

You forgot sky scottish

[@applemask]

I brought it up in the Scottish episode instead. I think.

[@centrevezgaming4862]

ITV was the worst thing happened to Television let's buy every Television Network and drag them all down to the ground .

[@johnking5174]

ITV??? ITV started in 1955, so how the hell can they be the worst? You seriously saying the launch of commercial television in Britain was bad?

[@MateusHonrado]

I can think of stuff that were the worst things to happen on TV than this one.

[@michaelwebster6219]

Sky was allwwys better and on digital wasn't that good at all was it lack of channels also I loved the pure random channels sky had

[@anthonyperkins7556]

Everything Granada touches turns to rubbish, just as much as BSB and OnDigital. Like ex-BSB John Gau says ' they seem to have to forgotten everything and learnt nothing " and this in-between run up to OnDigital proves it, especially when they kicked Sky out of the project, but they had the upper hand though, and beat OnDigital to the post with their vastly superior offering.

[@rewind1980]

What an awful narrator with a very unfunny commentary.

[@anonUK]

What did he say that was so offensive to you?

[@GryphLane]

^ What an awful KZbinr with no sense of humour