Timeline of Southern Television

This is a timeline of the history of Southern Television.

1950s

• 1958
  • 30 August – At 5:30 pm, Southern Television begins broadcasting.

• 1959
  • No events.

1960s

• 1960
  • 31 January – Southern Television's broadcast area expands when it begins broadcasting to Kent and East Sussex[1] following the Independent Television Authority granting Southern the right to broadcast to South East England.
  • Southern makes minor changes to the visual look of its on-screen logo. The stylised star is banished and replaced by a more compass-like star symbol.[2]

• 1961
  • Southern opens studios in Dover and launches localised news opt-outs for the east of the region, becoming the first broadcaster in the UK provide such a service.
  • 4 April – Southern launches a weeknight 30-minute regional news programme called Day By Day.[3]

• 1962
  • No events.

• 1963
  • No events.

• 1964
  • 9 October – Southern launches a weekly news magazine for South East England called Friday on Ten. This is shown instead of the Friday edition of regional news magazine Day by Day.

• 1965
  • No events.

• 1966
  • Southern Television Limited renames itself Southern Independent Television Limited as part of the 1968 ITV franchise round.

• 1967
  • Southern begins construction of its new studio complex, to be called Television Centre, Southampton.

• 1968
  • August – A technicians strike forces ITV off the air for several weeks although management manage to launch a temporary ITV Emergency National Service with no regional variations.

• 1969
  • 19 August – Southern moves into its new purpose-built studios.
  • 13 December — Southern starts broadcasting in colour but does not mark the change with any alteration to its logo other than replacing the black background with a blue background.[4]

1970s

• 1970
  • No events.

• 1971
  • No events.

• 1972
  • 16 October – Following a law change which removed all restrictions on broadcasting hours, ITV is able to launch an afternoon service.

• 1973
  • No events.

• 1974
  • No events.

• 1975
  • No events.

• 1976
  • No events.

• 1977
  • Due to the popularity of weekly magazine programme Scene South East, Southern launches Scene Midweek. This replaces part two of the Wednesday edition of Day by Day.
  • 26 November – At around 5:10 pm, the Southern Television broadcast interruption takes place. The disruption, which occurs at the Hannington transmitter, is to sound only and lasts for six minutes.[5]

• 1978
  • No events.

• 1979
  • 10 August – The ten week ITV strike forces Southern Television off the air. The strike ends on 24 October.

1980s

• 1980
  • 28 December – The Independent Broadcasting Authority announces that Southern has lost its franchise to TVS.[6]

• 1981
  • August – Southern sells its Southampton studios to TVS but Southern continues to use them until its franchise runs out at the end of the year.

• 1982
  • 1 January – Southern Television closes down for the final time at 12:43 am.[7]

• After 1982
  • 1983 – TVS closes Southern's Dover studios following the opening of its new studios at Maidstone.
  • 1984 – Southern's Dover studios are demolished.
  • Southern's programme archive is sold to Southern Star Group, who later sell it on to Renown Pictures.

See also

• History of ITV
• History of ITV television idents
• Timeline of ITV

References

1. Southern - The Broadcasting Years
2. TV Live: Southern Television
3. TV Ark: ITV South News - Day by Day
4. TV Live: Southern Television
5. Sunday Express, 27 November 1977, p. 28.
6. BBC News - ITV franchise changes ATV, Southern & Westward, TV-AM 28th December 1980 28 December 1980
7. Footage of the final moments of Southern Television