 |
(The 1991 Franchise Auction) |
|
1990 |
The Broadcasting Act confirms that ITV Franchises will be offered
for competitive tender via a 'blind bid' of the annual sum
the bidder is prepared to pay for each year of the franchise.
Also franchise holders will no longer be required to make any of the
programmes they broadcast and can operate as "Publisher-Broadcasters",
having no programme making facilities of their own. Bidders will first be required to pass a 'quality threshold' for their programme proposals and business plan, and only companies who have passed the 'quality threshold' will then have their bid considered. Finally there is an 'exceptional circumstances' clause which allows a licence to be awarded to a lower bid provided it is 'exceptionally better' than the higher bid. |
1991 |
15th May - Thames, along with all other Channel 3 applicants,
deliver their application documents and sealed bid to the ITC
headquarters. Thames decide to bid 32.7 million pounds per year,
knowing that Michael Green's CarltonTV can afford much more, but hoping
that the ITC will use the 'exceptional circumstances' clause. August - Thames' animation subsidiary, Cosgrove Hall, win a commission from the BBC to produce a 13 part series of 'Noddy'. 16th October - At 9.40 a.m. Richard Dunn stands on the fourth floor of Thames' headquarters in the Euston Road watching a piece of paper slowly emerged from a fax machine. It reads: |
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The Independent Television Commission will be announcing today
it's decisions, in accordance with Section 17 of the Broadcasting Act
1990, on the award of Channel 3 licences. The commission recognises, and is grateful for, the time and effort that went into the preparation of the application from Thames for the regional Channel 3 licence for London Weekday. I regret to have to inform you that your application has been unsuccessful. |
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Thames had lost. The ITC had been unable to use the 'exceptional
circumstances' clause because Carlton's programme proposals so closely
mirrored those of Thames. Michael Green had finally got his London ITV franchise, won with a bid of 43.17 million pounds. November - Cosgrove Hall announce it will halve its workforce over the coming six months as Thames confirms it will not commission any more cartoon series during the remaining 14 months of its licence. |
1992 |
February - Thames threatens to drop all but its own programmes
from the autumn schedule unless it recieves firm schedule commitments
for shows currently in production for 1993, when Thames becomes an
independent production company. April - The ITC advertises the new Channel 5 licence. Thames and BBC Enterprises announce a joint satellite entertainment channel featuring programmes from both the BBC and Thames programme libraries. June - Six ITV companies (Central, Yorkshire, Meridian, Carlton, Anglia and LWT) express an interest in acting as 'Publisher' of Thames' programmes after its franchise expires. July - The ITC recieves only one bid to run the new Channel 5. The Thames backed Channel Five Holdings, bids 1000 pounds. Thames secures a 29 million pound deal for over 90 hours of programmes for the 1993 schedule. November - The joint Thames/BBC satellite channel is launched, entitled:  Sooty, the glove puppet star of the Thames children's series signs a new contract with Granada. December - Carlton pays 13.1 million pounds for Thames' TV rights to over 1000 feature films. The ITC rejects the Thames backed bid for Channel 5. David Glencross, Chief Executive of the Independent Television Commission, writes a letter to Richard Dunn praising Thames for maintaining it's commitment to the ITV network to the end of it's franchise. He Writes: |
| It is a measure of your own leadership and the dedication of your colleagues in Thames at all levels that this commitment to the public service has been maintained. There is no doubt that Carlton have a hard act to follow. Over the whole 25 years of it's existance Thames has been the mainstay of the ITV network with many distiguished programmes in all fields to it's credit. |
| 31st December - Richard
Dunn broadcasts a closing speech thanking, on behalf of the viewers,
all who helped to bring Thames programmes to the screen. (Download the speech in 'RealAudio' by clicking on the picture.) |
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| The speech is followed by a
montage of clips from Thames Programmes set to the music "I Only Wanna Be With You!" To Download 'RealVideo' of the montage click on the picture. (This 'RealVideo' is now held at Darren Meldrum's own web site - Thanks Darren) |
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Get Your 
here
At midnight on 31st December Thames Television ceases to
be a member of the ITV Network as it hands over to the new London
Franchise holder:
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Life After Death
or
