GMTV Ulster TV Opt Outs - 04/03/1993

[@mrhammadmossop1988ul-haq]

It is nice to see all 15 regional opts from GMTV from 1993 on your channel

[@MQsCues]

Funny how that jingle now is indelibly linked in my head with a cut to a studio in early-morning darkness with a local newsreader still bleary-eyed and not yet used to this early-morning opt-out lark. Maybe there's even something about the abrupt climax of the jingle that makes it sound like an unwanted alarm-clock, hence giving that impression. They fixed it somehow in due course. Brighter lights and louder voices in the regional studios, a cheerier link from the national news... not sure.

[@ColmORourke1981]

No video record, but the incident has been documented in a book, "50 Years of UTV" by Don Anderson. Of course, in 2013, UTV are doing the news on Daybreak again, so it looks like all is forgiven.

[@mrhammadmossop1988ul-haq]

Did Border TV not have a breakfast opt-out or did they share with another regional breakfast bulletin?

[@MQsCues]

As far as I can tell there is no video record of that episode, which is such a shame, unless you know different?

[@johnking5174]

The row UTV had with GMTV was due to the fact that UTV wanted to break the news of the loyalist ceasefire in 1994. They knew GMTV would never cover it fully and so decided to opt out and bring full coverage to the region where it mattered, Northern Ireland. I think GMTV should have let it go and realised that it was a very important event in the history of Northern Ireland, but no they went off in a huff. For the next 20 years UTV never promoted GMTV or Daybreak. It took until 2013 when Macmillan Media who had made the local news for GMTV in Northern Ireland ended their contract and UTV stepped in.