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Yorkshire Television is the ITV contractor for Yorkshire, England , and the surrounding areas. It was formed from a ' Shotgun Marriage ' between two applicant groups in the 1967 franchise round, Telefusion Yorkshire Ltd and Yorkshire Independent Television, the former having large financial backing (supported by the Blackpool-based Telefusion television rental chain) and the latter having the better plans (but fewer resources). It went on air on 29 July 1968 from purpose-built colour studios in Leeds , the first of their kind in Europe. It also has a smaller studio in Sheffield . Before the studios in Leeds were completed early shows were produced at the ABC studios at Didsbury , Manchester while a former trouser-press factory in Leeds was used as an administration centre. STUDIOS The studios were built on slum clearance land on Kirkstall Road , purchased from the former Leeds Corporation . Other sites in Bradford and Sheffield were also considered. Construction commenced in early 1967: A mild winter aided building work and by mid-1968 studios one and two were equipped for transmission (studios three and four being completed by early 1969). The studio was officially opened by the Duchess Of Kent on the 29th July 1968. It was the first purpose-built colour television production centre in Europe and cost over £4 million to build and equip (at 1968 prices). Colour cameras were initially provided by Marconi , although later replaced by EMI 2001 colour cameras. The regional news show Calendar was produced at the centre for many years but in 1989 was moved to a dedicated newsroom and broadcast facility based in a converted Swimming Pool next to the main studios. The site is a major production centre within ITV and today produces programmes such as and sister companies ProVision, Film Lab North and The Finishing School occupy adjacent buildings, although the operation continues to be widely referred to as the Yorkshire Television studios or YTV. HISTORY Until 2002 , Yorkshire Television was often known on air as YTV and is still informally known as such in the Yorkshire region. Its logo, from 1968 until 2004 , was a chevron, and the identification theme (heard before all its programmes throughout the ITV network until the end of 1987 and used within the Yorkshire Television region as late as 2002 ) was based on the traditional Yorkshire song ' On Ilkla Moor Baht'at '. YTV's first startup tune was the striking "Yorkshire Television March", written by Derek New and arranged by Ron Goodwin ; this was changed in 1982 for the "Yorkshire Theme" written by Chris Gunning . The station nearly came to grief a few months after going on-air, when its transmitter at Emley Moor collapsed under a heavy build-up of ice, leaving the major part of the region uncovered by television broadcasts. However, a temporary mast was quickly erected and television to the West Riding of Yorkshire resumed. With the introduction of UHF broadcasting, YTV had failed to gain the Bilsdale Transmitter in North Yorkshire , which was allocated instead to Tyne Tees Television due to the transmitter's penetration into Teesside and County Durham . This seriously reduced YTV's monopoly commercial broadcast area. Partially to address this issue, in 1974 the Independent Broadcasting Authority reallocated the Belmont Transmitter , then served by Anglia Television , to YTV. Although the area served by Belmont was largely rural, it did cover the more industrial centres of Hull , Grimsby , Scunthorpe and Lincoln and it was felt the region would be better served from Leeds rather than from Norwich . Major Yorkshire Television programmes include the soap opera '' Emmerdale '' (originally ''Emmerdale Farm'') and drama '' Heartbeat '', as well as the quiz shows '' 3-2-1 '' and '' Winner Takes All '' for ITV and '' Countdown '' for Channel 4 . Local programmes include the news service '' Calendar ''. From 1974 to 1978 Yorkshire produced one of ITV's few critically-acclaimed Sitcom s, '' Rising Damp '', starring Leonard Rossiter . Its continuity announcers through the 1970s and 1980s included Redvers Kyle , John Crosse and Graham Roberts . As a broadcaster, Yorkshire Television was the first member of the ITV Network to acquire the long-running Australian soap opera '' Prisoner '', premiering the show on Monday 8th October 1984 at 11pm. By summer 1985 the series was "going like a rocket" on Yorkshire prompting other regions to acquire the show. Yorkshire Television was vocal in its disapproval of Thames Television 's surprise poaching of '' Dallas '' from the BBC, and was successful in insisting Thames adhere to the rules of fair play. YTV has often led the way in British commercial broadcasting: As well as building the first purpose-built colour studios on Europe it was the first to offer Breakfast Television . In 1978 the station took part in a six-week trial offering viewers an hour-long show comprising of local and national news and events called ''Good Morning Calendar'' (Calendar being the name of the local regional news programme). The show ran from 8.30 am to the then traditional start-up time of 9.25 am. In 1986 the station was the first to offer 24-hour transmission (when both the BBC and ITV companies closed down at around 12.30 to 1 am). This was achieved by piping non-stop coverage of the satellite station Music Box - both YTV and Music Box were partly-owned by the same company. In the mid 1980s Yorkshire broke from the network by refusing to screen the BAFTA Awards, claiming them to be slaps on the backs of the BBC. The movie '' The Sting '' was a replacement in 1986. As the rest of the network over-ran in the live BAFTA screening, Yorkshire had to cobble together minor programmes until other regions were able to screen the late-running ITN News. YTV, alone amongst ITV regions, also opted out of screening the 1982 FA Cup Final replay, arguing that a game between two London sides would be of limited interested to viewers in its region, and that in any case those who wanted to watch it could do so on BBC1 . A John Wayne film was shown instead. From its inception YTV had a turbulent relationship with the broadcasting unions (a common theme within ITV). Viewers tuning in to watch one edition of News At Ten in 1970 found themselves looking at a hand-written card which read 'Yorkshire TV have threatened to sack us so we are going on strike. Goodnight'. YTV was forced off the air by more industrial action over the whole of Christmas 1978 . This partially coincided with a two-day national shutdown of both BBC channels by strikes in December of that year, meaning that for those two days the people of Yorkshire had no television at all. Many of ITV's Christmas programmes were eventually shown in the Yorkshire region in early 1979 , after the dispute had ended. In the ITV Strike of 1979 the station, like the rest of the network, was off the air for over two months. However the dispute was more intense at YTV as the company's management were seen as instrumental in fighting the unions, and because the company covered an "Old Labour" heartland where the Miners' Strike would later be fought. In the 1980 franchise round several YTV staff submitted their own application for the Yorkshire franchise under the name of 'Television Yorkshire'.
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| url | http://wwwtv-arkorguk/itvyorkshire/yorkshire-newshtml |
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| publisher | TV Ark |
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| title | Yorkshire Television - News |
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