, or '''Television South''' (the company was referred to on air as "Television South" from
1985 to
1987 , but as "'''TVS'''" before and after those dates), was the
ITV franchise holder in the south and south-east of
England which replaced its predecessor,
Southern Television on the morning of
1 January 1982 (the first show — ''Bring In The New'' — was hosted by
Khalid Aziz ). TVS won the franchise from the
Independent Broadcasting Authority in the hardest fought battle of the
1980 franchise round, having faced competition from the incumbent, Southern, and six further consortia. The company chairman was Lord Boston of Faversham, and Anna Home and
Michael Rodd were among the well-known personalities associated with the winning bid. Rodd presented networked science programmes for TVS in its early years, notably ''The Real World''.
The company operated until midnight on
31 December 1992 , the last show — ''Goodbye To All That'' — presented by
Fred Dinenage and
Fern Britton . At midnight, TVS was in turn replaced by
Meridian Broadcasting . Both TVS and Meridian had a slightly bigger coverage area than Southern, because on the day TVS was launched, the transmitters at Bluebell Hill and
Chatham Town (in north
Kent ) were switched from the
London ITV region to that of the South of England.
TVS operated from two main sites: inherited studios in
Northam ,
Southampton and — after a brief interregnum at Southern's old
Dover studios — a new facility built in Vinters Park,
Maidstone . Like its predecessor, the company made many contributions to the network in the areas of
Children's Television ,
Drama and
Light Entertainment .
As well as the main studios, TVS had an office in London and several smaller offices around the region. They also converted the Plaza Cinema in
Gillingham into the TVS Television Theatre, and it was here that the UK inserts for ''
Fraggle Rock '' were made. In the early days, TVS operated a plane which flew between the main television studios. The plane was later replaced by the TVS helicopter.
TVS's regional news magazine programme was called ''Coast to Coast'' transmitted at 6pm on weekdays from its studios in Southampton and Maidstone. In the late 1980s there was an opt-out for the north of the Southampton region (the Thames Valley) from Reading; from
1993 this area would gain its own full length regional magazine programme.
In the late
1980s , buoyed by increasing profits, TVS purchased the American media company
MTM Enterprises . However, when TVS's licence to broadcast came up for renewal in
1991 , the company was suffering serious financial problems, and it had to bid high to secure an extension to its contract. The bid was deemed excessive and unviable, and the contract was handed to Meridian.
The studios in Southampton were sold to the newcomer. Meanwhile, TVS retained the Maidstone site, intending to become an independent programme producer but TVS was bought by American company
International Family Entertainment in early 1993. Using the TVS programme archive, The Family Channel was launched as a result of this deal, on the Sky Analogue service; it later became Challenge TV (now simply known as Challenge). Live links to the channels and programmes for Family/Challenge were, at one time, made at Maidstone.
Notable programmes produced by TVS include; ''
Catchphrase '',
TUGS , ''Ultra Quiz'', ''Summertime Special'' and ''
The Ruth Rendell Mysteries '' (''
Inspector Wexford ''). ''
Art Attack '', a children's art show, was originally a TVS production and continues to be produced (at the Maidstone Studios) to this day.
