ITV Schools on Channel Four / Timelines - 1992

Why do we get this extra piece of music with 'Schools Programmes follow shortly' when they could have had more of the 'The Journey' instead of the 1 min edit version? Preceded by the Channel Four Daily end credits, and a promo.
Sorry if this is a bit shaky but it was right at the end of a tape and it seems to go like that every time!
Ref:XT19/146/03:11

[@97channel]

It's a long and complicated story. But the short version is... ...The first roto sequence is played as though it were a commercial break, transmitted by TV-am. Yes, TV-am transmitted Channel 4's output between 6am and 9.25am. Then the individual regions took over for the rest of the day and night. But whereas ITV's switchover was at 9.25am sharp, Channel 4's was roughly at 9.28am. Not sure why, but it was. So when the first roto sequence fades out, that's TV-am switching off. Then you're watching the next sequence carried by the regions. Watch for the flicker in between, familiar at the end of TV-am each day. The reason why the first tune was different, was simply to avoid confusion within the industry as to whose version of the roto sequence was currently on air. ...Like I say, that's the short version. It's born out of the complex regional structure of ITV. I understand some of it, but not all of it.

[@schoolworksuk]

Thanks a lot for that - I had no idea all this went on! Presumably to do with the terms of the TV-am licence and ITV selling Ch.4 commercial airtime. Even though the 0925 junction has now vanished on ITV during the week, I think the breaks before that still count as breakfast breaks and the ones after as ITV/STV breaks.

[@97channel]

Although the name has changed, the company that was GMTV still hold the breakfast licence, still broadcast between 6am and 9.25am, and the switchovers still occur. Despite the fact that Lorraine now airs through the crossover, the first 25 minutes are broadcast by ITV Breakfast (GMTV) and then the remaining 35 minutes or so by the ITV regions. The bugbear for this virtually antiquated procedure still having to occur, is that STV and UTV remain independent in their regions. In London, the Carlton to LWT switchover still occurs at 5.15pm every Friday. Both companies technically still exist, but are unified under the one brand of ITV London. So they literally switch over from themselves to themselves. But it has to be done, it's a legal obligation.

[@jamesmt142]

TV-AM didn't transmit the C4 Daily - but it would have passed through TV-AM during their hours. I assume that the C4D would have come into Camden Lock as an outside source and TV-AM inserted the ads before sending it on to the transmitters. One assumes Big Breakfast would have done this too in the very, very early days.

[@DuncanMcA]

@@schoolworksuk you can still see evidence of the 0925 relic in Scotland. Before 9.25 Lorraine airs with the itv logo, after 9.25, it’s stv.

[@DuncanMcA]

@@jamesmt142 didn’t the BB make a big deal about airing Channel 4’s very first independent ad break on 1 Jan 1993?

[@onlysmartieshavetheanswer]

I can remember the end tune 30 years later 😂

[@SigmaRho2922]

From 11 January 1993 the holding device was no longer used for the first programme and the introduction of the first programme began with 40 seconds left on the clock. This remained until the end of the 1993 summer term.

[@muk8804]

Why?

[@markc8956]

@@muk8804 Channel 4 became responsible for all that as well as their own advertising post-1992 (up until then,ITV sold C4 advertising space)

[@brucedanton3669]

I presume because of the then new ITV franchises in January 1993 I guess?

[@jamesmt142]

As others have said - first roto is coming out of Camden Lock. Second roto is coming out of Charlotte Street. I'm sure there's a technical reason for effectively keeping TV-AM "on air" a bit longer on C4.

[@mikeauld7971]

That’s interesting- the frame roll seems to occur at 9.28 and not the usual 9.25 that I’ve seen on other C4daily endings, suggesting that BT made the switch later than expected.

[@mikeauld7971]

@Gavin Martin ok, so what I’m getting at here is the routing of C4 through the ITV control rooms to allow them to run the ads. A switchover - similar to that done at 9.25 at ITV - was performed to switch the control room from TV-am to the regional ITV company. I hadn’t seen the frame roll happen at 9.25, but there is one visible at 9.28. The official ITV Schools sequence always* began at 9.28, dating back to when they were shown on ITV. (*=usual caveats apply, ie from the daytime sequence c1973/4 onwards, or later starts like 9.35, or Spring Term 1983!)

[@christopherwilliams2093]

@@mikeauld7971 That's because ITV companies carried Channel 4's unitary signal from the ITV companies' Channel 4 control rooms so that the signal could be sent to the transmitters. At 9.25am when TV-am passed through to the regional ITV centres, this switch also appeared on Channel 4. The switch at 9.28 you refer to is from Channel 4 in Charlotte Street and it changes to Central Television in Birmingham which ran the schools service, then at 11.58am* there is a frame roll between Central and Channel 4 when schools programmes ended.

[@christopherwilliams2093]

@Gavin Martin Actually, Central played out the programmes like they did when schools were on ITV, hence why the frame roll took place at 9.28am. All Channel 4 did was transmit the programmes as well as the rotomotion which was played out by Central. Channel 4 were responsible for transmitting the programme title on the caption bar as their CATS machine was responsible for putting those out. Also, how else were the continuity announcements put out so it wasn't Central on-duty announcers working on their ITV feed, so another announcer would provide those from Central's second presentation suite where Channel 4's advertisement breaks from Birmingham would be transmutted from.

[@christopherwilliams2093]

@Gavin Martin Central played out the programmes and are sent online to Channel 4, hence why there was another picture frame roll just before 12.00 which meant that programmes were played out directly from Central to Channel 4 headquarters.

[@christopherwilliams2093]

@Gavin Martin Channel 4 may have transmitted it but actually the service came from Central in Birmingham and all Channel 4 did was place the caption into the caption bar; everything else (ie the rotomotion and clock) were designed by Central in-house so it does make sense when you actually think about it.