Channel Television
Encyclopedia
Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television
(ITV) contractor to the Channel Islands
since 1962. It is based in Jersey
. As well as producing and broadcasting regional programmes, Channel Television was, until November 2011, one of four independent ITV
companies alongside STV (incorporating STV Central
and STV North
), UTV
and ITV plc
. It is now wholly owned by ITV plc
While it was an independent company Channel had continued to offer compliance alongside ITV plc
) dealing with programmes for ITV Network Limited. Some of the programmes Channel Television took responsibility for included The X Factor
, Midsomer Murders
and the British Comedy Awards
. Typically the compliance department within ITV plc
had dealt with all content produced by its constituent companies while Channel Television took on independent productions for ITV Network Limited.
Digital switchover in the Channel Islands was completed in November 2010.
has always treated the islands as an extension of their South West region, relaying programmes from Plymouth
to the islands. (The BBC does now broadcast an opt-out of the regional news bulletin, Spotlight, for the Channel Islands.) However, as the smaller areas of Britain acquired their commercial television channel in the late 1950s and early 1960s, local opinion was that the Channel Islands should have their own franchise.
This posed a problem to the Independent Television Authority
as, constitutionally, the Television Act 1954
did not apply to the islands, so the ITA's ability to operate there had to be permitted by means of extending the Act to the islands by means of an Order in Council.
Secondly, there was a problem of connecting the islands to the rest of the ITV
Network - the solution was to build a relay station on Alderney
, the northern-most island, which would then send the network feed from Westward Television
and occasionally Southern Television
to Channel Television's studio in Jersey; this was initially a problem, because the existence of the relay station meant that Alderney itself could not have a broadcast service from the start of broadcasting, and the local authorities refused to lease land to the ITA for the relay station.
This problem was eventually overcome, and Channel Television went on the air on September 1, 1962 - the penultimate ITV franchise to begin broadcasting (followed by WWN
), and serving the smallest population: only about 150,000 people in 54,000 households.
Channel's arrangement with Westward
changed over, in 1982, to TSW
, the new ITV contractor for the South West; however, in 1986, Channel changed over to TVS
, and this continued with Meridian
from 1993 onwards. Several acquired afternoon serials running on Channel were disrupted during the switchover from TSW to TVS and the Channel TV Times
detailed how they affected viewers. For instance Channel had to miss 172 episodes of The Young Doctors
, the first 9 episodes of Prisoner Cell Block H
which had been screened on TVS in 1985, and they had to re-show 83 episodes of Sons and Daughters
as TVS were behind TSW.
Due to the need to provide a stronger network feed from the UK, and upgraded studio facilities, the Channel Islands
were prevented from receiving colour television, and Channel could only broadcast in black and white until 1976. Similarly, 16:9 widescreen broadcasts from Channel did not begin until early 2008 – many years after the rest of the network, the rest of which was largely widescreen capable by the launch of digital television in 1998.
The small size of the station, once described as 'television in miniature', while having implications for the profitability of the company, has on the whole been to its advantage: it has an extremely close relationship with its viewership, reflecting daily life and government in the islands, and while not producing large numbers of programmes for the ITV Network at the start of the 21st century, it does produce some five-and-a-half hours a week of programmes for its own area, including the local nightly news magazine Channel Report
. This has posed a challenge, as the bailiwick
s are politically separate not only from the UK, but also from one another. Channel also produces the children's programme Puffin's Pla(i)ce
, which was first broadcast in 1964.
Although not widely known, it has been reported that in 2000, amid takeovers of the other licensees by Carlton
, Granada
and SMG, Channel Television had plans to buy HTV, valuing the company at £450 million. HTV had become available after Granada acquired it as part of United News and Media's broadcasting assets, but were forced to sell it to comply with ownership regulations. Part of the reason why the company was targeted was that the management buy-in group that had taken over Channel Television earlier in the same year was led by two former HTV executives - Huw Davies (chief executive) and David Jenkins (finance director). In the end, the bid either failed or was abandoned; Granada sold HTV to Carlton and Channel Television itself was sold again, this time to Iliffe News and Media, part of the privately-owned Yattendon Group plc.
On 18 October 2011, it was announced that Channel Television would be sold to ITV plc subject to approval from the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority. ITV plc completed its takeover of Channel Television from Yattendon Group plc on 23 November 2011.
in 2004 which Channel signed. Channel's license is therefore set to run out in 2014.
regulations during the 2005 British Comedy Awards. During the programme Robbie Williams presented an award to Ant and Dec which should have gone to Catherine Tate, who had received a greater number of phone-in votes. Because the maximum fine which Ofcom can levy is calculated as a percentage of the offending broadcaster's advertising revenue, Channel TV is designated as responsible for compliance for about 40% of ITV's shows. Channel TV being ITV's smallest franchise, it has by far the lowest income, and thus potential exposure to the regulator's fines is minimised. Channel has no involvement in making the programmes other than the responsibility for compliance.
. The station was originally based at Rouge Bouillon
before moving to its present complex in 1988. The complex houses a main studio for Channel Report
, Report Sport & special local programmes and a smaller continuity studio used for Puffin's Pla(i)ce
.
Channel also currently operates from a Guernsey studio & office at Bulwer Avenue in St Sampson and a London office near ITV plc
's studio base
, although the two London sites are expected to be merged following takeover.
, Guernsey
, Alderney
, Sark
and Herm
, and the ident is animated so that each hexagon appears in turn accompanied by one note of the jingle, along with the name. This ident lasted until colour came to the region in the mid 1970s, with only one slight variation in the positioning of the channel name.
The first colour ident used by Channel involved a striped CTV, which would serve as the station logo until 1999. The first ident featured this static logo made of orange stripes on a white outline against a blue background with a soundtrack of a brass
fanfare. This same fanfare was later used when Channel launched their next ident, featuring the lines of the CTV logo spinning into place, coloured gold against a black background. This was introduced c.1985, and was utilised for the stations 25th Anniversary in 1987, when each line of the CTV logo was drawn out, before spinning back to be joined by a striped 25.
In the early 1990s, Channel aired their first computer generated ident, featuring the CTV logo, initially silver, but turned gold by two sideways flashes, falling backwards onto the gradiented blue background. This logo was accompanied by a dramatic score, which was later improved, along with the ident, in 1993. The improvements kept the theme, however repositioned the logo, changed the background to a navy blue, made the logo itself bigger and gold throughout and, most noticeably, improved the music making it less dramatic and giving it a softer feel.
Both during this period and before it, Channel was also notable for using a clock on the channel. This practice was not uncommon in the other regions in the 1970s and early 1980s, but the practive was dropped. However Channel kept the clock well into the 1990s, using it to introduce news. Channel also, unusually would announce the local temperature over the clock prior to the following programme, a practice not used elsewhere in the ITV network. Today, no clock is used, however this is still performed, with a local Time, Temp, Tide check at 6pm prior to Channel Report
.
In 1998, Channel adopted a different feel to presentation. The CTV logo remained, both on end captions and as the company logo, however on screen Channel utilised the device of the word 'Channel' writing in a variety of fonts arranged in circles and moving, spinning and pulsating to a tune of a simple jingle. This look was not to last however, as the second ITV generic look occurred in 1999, which Channel adopted. This look, based on the theme of hearts, also provided Channel with a new logo, featuring a globe with the Channel islands on it being orbited by two comets, whose trails make a heart shape. Channel used the generic look, albeit with their own soundtrack, until 2002. The generic look was used for network programmes, with regional ones using a large Channel logo over the spinning hearts background. When the celebrity idents came, Channel used a variation, where the left side of the screen was taken up by their logo. A number of idents were used featuring different celebrities, some local ones made by Channel themselves, were used, and in 2002 a special ident to celebrate the channels 40th Anniversary was introduced featuring former station logos.
In late 2004, Channel used idents of scenes from around the Channel Islands
, with the logo in a stripe down the left side of the screen. In addition some elements of the network branding was also used.
Since 2006, Channel, whilst being fiercely independent and regional, has now adopted a variation of the national ITV1
network branding and also shares continuity, due to it receiving a non-clean feed of networked programming from Meridian Broadcasting
. While the branding is very similar to regions owned by ITV plc
, Channel Television uses an older ITV1 logo with white letters on its idents supplemented by the wording 'Channel Television' and pre-recorded local continuity announcements are used at key junctions - including prior to national and regional news and on the handover from ITV Breakfast
at 9.25am. Typically this is "This is Channel Television, ITV in the Channel Islands", or at the handover from ITV Breakfast, "It's 9:25 and you're watching Channel Television, your local ITV station". These idents also use music from the original emotion idents, rather than the updated jingle and music. It was the only ITV company to take the network branding without being a part of ITV plc
.
Following the takeover In November 2011, Channel began using ITV1's 2010 logo and updated its idents.
and anthology series which were collaboratively produced in a number of the smaller TV regions.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, following the introduction of daytime television
to ITV, a number of smaller regions contributed programmes to the network either as series in their own right, or as episodes in the collaborative About Britain strand. This saw a number of regional contractors offer up programmes on life and culture in their part of the country - either as dedicated prodctions for the strand or (more commonly) as rebroadcasts of programmes originally produced for local consumption. Channel was among the regions to contribute films to the About Britain strand.
In the 1980s and 1990s Channel was among the roster of regions contributing episodes to two series which travelled the UK to broadcast each episode from a different location; these were Sunday
evening religious series Highway
(1983–93) and weekday morning talk show
strand The Time, The Place
(1987–98). Each series would have a 'home region' which would administrate and coordinate central functions (Tyne Tees Television
for Highway and Anglia Television
for The Time, The Place), with the production of each programme being handled by the local ITV contractor; thus, when the shows came to the Channel Islands, they used Channel's facilities.
Between 1986 and 1991, ITV's summer Saturday
morning children's programming would take the form of a travelling roadshow, which again would be produced by the local ITV franchise of the visited area in partnership with a 'home region' (in this case Tyne Tees
). The two series which followed this format were Get Fresh
(1986–88) and Ghost Train
(1989–91).
Channel's most recent significant on-screen contribution to the ITV network was the gameshow Simply the Best
(2004) which was produced in Jersey as a co-production between Channel and London-based Carlton Television
.
and Report Sport can be watched for up to 30 days. National programming such as This Morning
and Emmerdale
can also be viewed through ctvPlayer. As of August 2011, the player is still in beta
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
(ITV) contractor to the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
since 1962. It is based in Jersey
Jersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
. As well as producing and broadcasting regional programmes, Channel Television was, until November 2011, one of four independent ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
companies alongside STV (incorporating STV Central
Scottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...
and STV North
Grampian Television
Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife...
), UTV
UTV
UTV is a television channel based in the UK region of Northern Ireland. The channel is the Channel 3 or Independent Television licensee for Northern Ireland and is operated by UTV Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of UTV Media.- Terrestrial :* Analogue: Normally tuned to 3 * Freeview : 3...
and ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
. It is now wholly owned by ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
While it was an independent company Channel had continued to offer compliance alongside ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
) dealing with programmes for ITV Network Limited. Some of the programmes Channel Television took responsibility for included The X Factor
The X Factor (UK)
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...
, Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders
Midsomer Murders is a British television detective drama that has aired on ITV since 1997. The show is based on the books by Caroline Graham, as originally adapted by Anthony Horowitz. The lead character is DCI Tom Barnaby who works for Causton CID. When Nettles left the show in 2011 he was...
and the British Comedy Awards
British Comedy Awards
The British Comedy Awards is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year.-History:...
. Typically the compliance department within ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
had dealt with all content produced by its constituent companies while Channel Television took on independent productions for ITV Network Limited.
Digital switchover in the Channel Islands was completed in November 2010.
History
From the point of view of television coverage, the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
has always treated the islands as an extension of their South West region, relaying programmes from Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
to the islands. (The BBC does now broadcast an opt-out of the regional news bulletin, Spotlight, for the Channel Islands.) However, as the smaller areas of Britain acquired their commercial television channel in the late 1950s and early 1960s, local opinion was that the Channel Islands should have their own franchise.
This posed a problem to the Independent Television Authority
Independent Television Authority
The Independent Television Authority was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 to supervise the creation of "Independent Television" , the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom...
as, constitutionally, the Television Act 1954
Television Act 1954
The Television Act 1954 was a British law which permitted the creation of the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom, ITV....
did not apply to the islands, so the ITA's ability to operate there had to be permitted by means of extending the Act to the islands by means of an Order in Council.
Secondly, there was a problem of connecting the islands to the rest of the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
Network - the solution was to build a relay station on Alderney
Alderney
Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The area is , making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick...
, the northern-most island, which would then send the network feed from Westward Television
Westward Television
Westward Television was the first ITV franchise holder for the South West of England from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward provided a popular, distinctive and highly regarded service to its region, until public boardroom squabbles led to its franchise not...
and occasionally Southern Television
Southern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
to Channel Television's studio in Jersey; this was initially a problem, because the existence of the relay station meant that Alderney itself could not have a broadcast service from the start of broadcasting, and the local authorities refused to lease land to the ITA for the relay station.
This problem was eventually overcome, and Channel Television went on the air on September 1, 1962 - the penultimate ITV franchise to begin broadcasting (followed by WWN
Wales West and North Television
Wales Television, known on screen as Teledu Cymru and often abbreviated to WWN, was the Welsh "Independent Television" contractor awarded the franchise area serving 'North and West Wales', from 1962-68...
), and serving the smallest population: only about 150,000 people in 54,000 households.
Channel's arrangement with Westward
Westward Television
Westward Television was the first ITV franchise holder for the South West of England from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward provided a popular, distinctive and highly regarded service to its region, until public boardroom squabbles led to its franchise not...
changed over, in 1982, to TSW
Television South West
Television South West was the ITV franchise holder for the South West England region from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 1992, broadcasting from the former Westward Television studios in Plymouth, Devon.-Origins and Launch:...
, the new ITV contractor for the South West; however, in 1986, Channel changed over to TVS
Television South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
, and this continued with Meridian
Meridian Broadcasting
Meridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited....
from 1993 onwards. Several acquired afternoon serials running on Channel were disrupted during the switchover from TSW to TVS and the Channel TV Times
TV Times
TVTimes is a television listings magazine published in the United Kingdom by IPC Media, a subsidiary of Time Warner. It is known for its access to television actors and their programmes. In 2006 it was refreshed for a more modern look, increasing its emphasis on big star interviews and soaps...
detailed how they affected viewers. For instance Channel had to miss 172 episodes of The Young Doctors
The Young Doctors
The Young Doctors is an Australian early evening soap opera. The series was set in the fictional Albert Memorial hospital and primarily concerned with romances between younger members of the hospital staff, screened on the Nine Network from Monday, 8 November 1976 until Wednesday, 30 March...
, the first 9 episodes of Prisoner Cell Block H
Prisoner (TV series)
Prisoner is an Australian television soap opera which was set in the Wentworth Detention Centre, a fictional women's prison. The series was produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation and ran on Network Ten for 692 episodes from 27 February 1979 to 11 December 1986.The series was inspired by the 1970s...
which had been screened on TVS in 1985, and they had to re-show 83 episodes of Sons and Daughters
Sons and Daughters (Australian TV series)
Sons and Daughters was a Logie Award winning Australian soap opera created by Reg Watson and produced by the Reg Grundy Organisation between 1981 and 1987. The first episode aired in December 1981, during the Christmas/New Year non-ratings period, and the official broadcast date of the final...
as TVS were behind TSW.
Due to the need to provide a stronger network feed from the UK, and upgraded studio facilities, the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
were prevented from receiving colour television, and Channel could only broadcast in black and white until 1976. Similarly, 16:9 widescreen broadcasts from Channel did not begin until early 2008 – many years after the rest of the network, the rest of which was largely widescreen capable by the launch of digital television in 1998.
The small size of the station, once described as 'television in miniature', while having implications for the profitability of the company, has on the whole been to its advantage: it has an extremely close relationship with its viewership, reflecting daily life and government in the islands, and while not producing large numbers of programmes for the ITV Network at the start of the 21st century, it does produce some five-and-a-half hours a week of programmes for its own area, including the local nightly news magazine Channel Report
Channel Report
Channel Report is the flagship news programme on ITV's Channel Islands regional station Channel Television, co-produced with the independent production company, Newsline. Channel Report airs every weeknight at 6pm, with all other bulletins branded as Channel News. Channel Report was first broadcast...
. This has posed a challenge, as the bailiwick
Bailiwick
A bailiwick is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and may also apply to a territory in which the sheriff's functions were exercised by a privately appointed bailiff under a royal or imperial writ. The word is now more generally used in a metaphorical sense, to indicate a sphere of...
s are politically separate not only from the UK, but also from one another. Channel also produces the children's programme Puffin's Pla(i)ce
Puffin's Pla(i)ce
Puffin's Place is a British regional children's programme broadcast on ITV1 Channel Television on weekend afternoons...
, which was first broadcast in 1964.
Although not widely known, it has been reported that in 2000, amid takeovers of the other licensees by Carlton
Carlton Communications
Carlton Communications was a British media company. It was led by Michael Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it taken over by Granada plc to form ITV plc with Carlton gaining 32% of the new company....
, Granada
Granada Ltd.
Granada plc is a former British conglomerate which was best known as the former parent of the Manchester-based Granada Television....
and SMG, Channel Television had plans to buy HTV, valuing the company at £450 million. HTV had become available after Granada acquired it as part of United News and Media's broadcasting assets, but were forced to sell it to comply with ownership regulations. Part of the reason why the company was targeted was that the management buy-in group that had taken over Channel Television earlier in the same year was led by two former HTV executives - Huw Davies (chief executive) and David Jenkins (finance director). In the end, the bid either failed or was abandoned; Granada sold HTV to Carlton and Channel Television itself was sold again, this time to Iliffe News and Media, part of the privately-owned Yattendon Group plc.
On 18 October 2011, it was announced that Channel Television would be sold to ITV plc subject to approval from the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority. ITV plc completed its takeover of Channel Television from Yattendon Group plc on 23 November 2011.
Strikes and disputes
Channel was the only ITV franchise not to be affected by the technicians' strike in the summer of 1968, as it was understood by all that any strike action would probably put the company out of business. Similarly, it was not severely affected locally by the ITV strike of August–October 1979, when the rest of the ITV Network was blacked out for ten weeks by another technicians' dispute; while the rest of the network was displaying an on-screen caption, Channel Television continued to broadcast twelve-hours-a-day of films and local news bulletins, as well as other programmes from the ITV archives.Franchise rounds
Channel Television was not challenged for its licence in the 1967 and 1980 franchise rounds; it defeated a challenger for its franchise, CI3 TV, in the 1991 franchise rounds, with a bid of £1,000 (the minimum bid possible). Channel has since kept its franchise and, in 1999, signed contracts (along with the other ITV companies) to keep their franchises for the next ten years. This was superseded, by a new franchise deal with OfcomOfcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
in 2004 which Channel signed. Channel's license is therefore set to run out in 2014.
Compliance controversy
On May 18, 2008, the Sunday Times published a newspaper article which described Channel Television's role in compliance for the ITV network as a loophole which enabled ITV to lessen a possible fine for breaching OfcomOfcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
regulations during the 2005 British Comedy Awards. During the programme Robbie Williams presented an award to Ant and Dec which should have gone to Catherine Tate, who had received a greater number of phone-in votes. Because the maximum fine which Ofcom can levy is calculated as a percentage of the offending broadcaster's advertising revenue, Channel TV is designated as responsible for compliance for about 40% of ITV's shows. Channel TV being ITV's smallest franchise, it has by far the lowest income, and thus potential exposure to the regulator's fines is minimised. Channel has no involvement in making the programmes other than the responsibility for compliance.
Studios
Channel's studio complex is located at La Pouquelaye near St Helier on the island of JerseyJersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
. The station was originally based at Rouge Bouillon
Vingtaine du Rouge Bouillon
The Vingtaine du Rouge Bouillon is one of the six vingtaines of St. Helier Parish on the Channel Island of Jersey.-National Elections:With the Vingtaine du Mont à l'Abbé and the Vingtaine du Mont Cochon this vingtaine forms St Helier electoral districts 3&4 which return four Deputies to the States...
before moving to its present complex in 1988. The complex houses a main studio for Channel Report
Channel Report
Channel Report is the flagship news programme on ITV's Channel Islands regional station Channel Television, co-produced with the independent production company, Newsline. Channel Report airs every weeknight at 6pm, with all other bulletins branded as Channel News. Channel Report was first broadcast...
, Report Sport & special local programmes and a smaller continuity studio used for Puffin's Pla(i)ce
Puffin's Pla(i)ce
Puffin's Place is a British regional children's programme broadcast on ITV1 Channel Television on weekend afternoons...
.
Channel also currently operates from a Guernsey studio & office at Bulwer Avenue in St Sampson and a London office near ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
's studio base
The London Studios
The London Studios is a television studio complex which is owned by London Weekend Television and has been home to the London Weekend ITV provider since 1972...
, although the two London sites are expected to be merged following takeover.
Identity
Channel Television's first on screen logo featured six hexagons, laid out five below linked together with one on top with a stylised cat's head inside it. The five hexagons below represent the five main channel islands: JerseyJersey
Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and...
, Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
, Alderney
Alderney
Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The area is , making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick...
, Sark
Sark
Sark is a small island in the Channel Islands in southwestern English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. It is a royal fief, geographically located in the Channel Islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population...
and Herm
Herm
Herm is the smallest of the Channel Islands that is open to the public and is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey. Cars are banned from the small island just like its Channel Island neighbour, Sark. Unlike Sark, bicycles are also banned...
, and the ident is animated so that each hexagon appears in turn accompanied by one note of the jingle, along with the name. This ident lasted until colour came to the region in the mid 1970s, with only one slight variation in the positioning of the channel name.
The first colour ident used by Channel involved a striped CTV, which would serve as the station logo until 1999. The first ident featured this static logo made of orange stripes on a white outline against a blue background with a soundtrack of a brass
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
fanfare. This same fanfare was later used when Channel launched their next ident, featuring the lines of the CTV logo spinning into place, coloured gold against a black background. This was introduced c.1985, and was utilised for the stations 25th Anniversary in 1987, when each line of the CTV logo was drawn out, before spinning back to be joined by a striped 25.
In the early 1990s, Channel aired their first computer generated ident, featuring the CTV logo, initially silver, but turned gold by two sideways flashes, falling backwards onto the gradiented blue background. This logo was accompanied by a dramatic score, which was later improved, along with the ident, in 1993. The improvements kept the theme, however repositioned the logo, changed the background to a navy blue, made the logo itself bigger and gold throughout and, most noticeably, improved the music making it less dramatic and giving it a softer feel.
Both during this period and before it, Channel was also notable for using a clock on the channel. This practice was not uncommon in the other regions in the 1970s and early 1980s, but the practive was dropped. However Channel kept the clock well into the 1990s, using it to introduce news. Channel also, unusually would announce the local temperature over the clock prior to the following programme, a practice not used elsewhere in the ITV network. Today, no clock is used, however this is still performed, with a local Time, Temp, Tide check at 6pm prior to Channel Report
Channel Report
Channel Report is the flagship news programme on ITV's Channel Islands regional station Channel Television, co-produced with the independent production company, Newsline. Channel Report airs every weeknight at 6pm, with all other bulletins branded as Channel News. Channel Report was first broadcast...
.
In 1998, Channel adopted a different feel to presentation. The CTV logo remained, both on end captions and as the company logo, however on screen Channel utilised the device of the word 'Channel' writing in a variety of fonts arranged in circles and moving, spinning and pulsating to a tune of a simple jingle. This look was not to last however, as the second ITV generic look occurred in 1999, which Channel adopted. This look, based on the theme of hearts, also provided Channel with a new logo, featuring a globe with the Channel islands on it being orbited by two comets, whose trails make a heart shape. Channel used the generic look, albeit with their own soundtrack, until 2002. The generic look was used for network programmes, with regional ones using a large Channel logo over the spinning hearts background. When the celebrity idents came, Channel used a variation, where the left side of the screen was taken up by their logo. A number of idents were used featuring different celebrities, some local ones made by Channel themselves, were used, and in 2002 a special ident to celebrate the channels 40th Anniversary was introduced featuring former station logos.
In late 2004, Channel used idents of scenes from around the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
, with the logo in a stripe down the left side of the screen. In addition some elements of the network branding was also used.
Since 2006, Channel, whilst being fiercely independent and regional, has now adopted a variation of the national ITV1
ITV1
ITV1 is a generic brand that is used by twelve franchises of the British ITV Network in the English regions, Wales, southern Scotland , the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their...
network branding and also shares continuity, due to it receiving a non-clean feed of networked programming from Meridian Broadcasting
Meridian Broadcasting
Meridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited....
. While the branding is very similar to regions owned by ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
, Channel Television uses an older ITV1 logo with white letters on its idents supplemented by the wording 'Channel Television' and pre-recorded local continuity announcements are used at key junctions - including prior to national and regional news and on the handover from ITV Breakfast
ITV Breakfast
ITV Breakfast Limited is the national ITV breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom...
at 9.25am. Typically this is "This is Channel Television, ITV in the Channel Islands", or at the handover from ITV Breakfast, "It's 9:25 and you're watching Channel Television, your local ITV station". These idents also use music from the original emotion idents, rather than the updated jingle and music. It was the only ITV company to take the network branding without being a part of ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
.
Following the takeover In November 2011, Channel began using ITV1's 2010 logo and updated its idents.
Current
- Channel ReportChannel ReportChannel Report is the flagship news programme on ITV's Channel Islands regional station Channel Television, co-produced with the independent production company, Newsline. Channel Report airs every weeknight at 6pm, with all other bulletins branded as Channel News. Channel Report was first broadcast...
- Channel News
- Channel Nightscreen
- Channel Islands Weather
- Report Sport
- Puffin's Pla(i)cePuffin's Pla(i)cePuffin's Place is a British regional children's programme broadcast on ITV1 Channel Television on weekend afternoons...
- Destination Report
Contributions to network and multiregion series
Although Channel made little for the ITV network, they did contribute to a number of roadshowRoadShow
RoadShow , formerly known as "資訊娛樂共同睇" [paraphrased as Integrated View of Information and Entertainment]) is the first "Multi-Media On Board" service on transit vehicles in the world. It was launched by Kowloon Motor Bus Company on 26 November 2000...
and anthology series which were collaboratively produced in a number of the smaller TV regions.
In the late 1970s and 1980s, following the introduction of daytime television
Daytime television
Daytime television is the general term for television shows produced that are intended to air during the daytime hours on weekdays. This article is about American daytime television, for information about international daytime television see Daytime television....
to ITV, a number of smaller regions contributed programmes to the network either as series in their own right, or as episodes in the collaborative About Britain strand. This saw a number of regional contractors offer up programmes on life and culture in their part of the country - either as dedicated prodctions for the strand or (more commonly) as rebroadcasts of programmes originally produced for local consumption. Channel was among the regions to contribute films to the About Britain strand.
In the 1980s and 1990s Channel was among the roster of regions contributing episodes to two series which travelled the UK to broadcast each episode from a different location; these were Sunday
Sunday
Sunday is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. For most Christians, Sunday is observed as a day for worship of God and rest, due to the belief that it is Lord's Day, the day of Christ's resurrection....
evening religious series Highway
Highway (TV series)
Highway is a British television series broadcast from 1983 until 1993. Presented by Sir Harry Secombe, the show was a mixture of hymns and chat from various locations across Britain, produced by their respective regional ITV franchise holders...
(1983–93) and weekday morning talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
strand The Time, The Place
The Time, The Place
The Time, The Place was a British audience participation talk show that was produced by Central Independent Television, later Anglia Television and broadcast live on ITV from 1987-1998. TTTP was presented by Mike Scott from 1987-1993 and by John Stapleton from 1991-1998...
(1987–98). Each series would have a 'home region' which would administrate and coordinate central functions (Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...
for Highway and Anglia Television
Anglia Television
Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
for The Time, The Place), with the production of each programme being handled by the local ITV contractor; thus, when the shows came to the Channel Islands, they used Channel's facilities.
Between 1986 and 1991, ITV's summer Saturday
Saturday
Saturday is the day of the week following Friday and preceding Sunday.Saturday is the last day of the week on many calendars and in conventions that consider the week as beginning on Sunday, or the sixth day of the week according to international standard ISO 8601 which was first published in...
morning children's programming would take the form of a travelling roadshow, which again would be produced by the local ITV franchise of the visited area in partnership with a 'home region' (in this case Tyne Tees
Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...
). The two series which followed this format were Get Fresh
Get Fresh
Get Fresh was a children's television programme that ran from 1986 to 1988 in the United Kingdom.-Premise:Broadcast on the Children's ITV network, the show starred Gareth Jones , Charlotte Hindle, and a puppet named Gilbert the Alien...
(1986–88) and Ghost Train
Ghost Train (TV series)
Ghost Train was a children's television programme broadcast on ITV, between 1989 and 1991, produced by Tyne Tees Television in association with various ITV regional stations including Border Television, Television South West, Ulster Television, Channel Television and Grampian...
(1989–91).
Channel's most recent significant on-screen contribution to the ITV network was the gameshow Simply the Best
Simply the Best (TV series)
Simply the Best was a game show broadcast on the UK terrestrial network ITV in 2004.Filmed in Jersey as a co-production of Channel Television and Carlton Television, it was hosted by Phil Tufnell and Kirsty Gallacher, and featured the cheerleaders from the American football team the Scottish...
(2004) which was produced in Jersey as a co-production between Channel and London-based Carlton Television
Carlton Television
Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
.
Other programmes
- The Lonely Man (1963)
- The Bitter Years (1970)
- Jambo: The Gentle Giant (one-off documentary, 1986)
- The Dodo Club (1987-9)
- Bertie the Bat (1990)
- Island (1996-7)
ctvPlayer
At the end of Spring 2011, Channel Television launched ctvPlayer. Local programming such as Channel ReportChannel Report
Channel Report is the flagship news programme on ITV's Channel Islands regional station Channel Television, co-produced with the independent production company, Newsline. Channel Report airs every weeknight at 6pm, with all other bulletins branded as Channel News. Channel Report was first broadcast...
and Report Sport can be watched for up to 30 days. National programming such as This Morning
This Morning (TV series)
This Morning is a British daytime television programme broadcast on ITV. As of September 2011, its main presenters are Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, with various other presenters standing in for illness or contributing to sections of the programme.The...
and Emmerdale
Emmerdale
Emmerdale, is a long-running British soap opera set in Emmerdale , a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, Emmerdale was first broadcast on 16 October 1972...
can also be viewed through ctvPlayer. As of August 2011, the player is still in beta
External links
- channelonline.tv - Official Website
- ctvPlayer at channelonline.tv