ITV Thames
.jpg){kind=logo} The Thames Television ident featuring London landmarks |
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| Based in | London (1968 Teddington) |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater London |
| Established | 30 July 1968 |
| Founder | Howard Thomas |
| First airdate | 30 July 1968 |
| Closed | 31 December 1992 |
| Slogan | A Talent For Television (30 July 1968 – 31 December 1992) |
| Key people |
Jeremy Isaacs, Bryan Cowgill, Brian Tesler, David Elstein, Richard Dunn |
| Replaced | Rediffusion, London |
| Replaced by | Carlton Television |
Thames Television was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding area on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992.
Formed as a joint company, it merged the television interests of British Electric Traction (trading as Associated-Rediffusion) owning 49%, and Associated British Picture Corporation—soon taken over by EMI—owning 51%. It was both a broadcaster and a producer of television programmes, making shows both for the local region it covered and for networking nationally across the ITV regions. The British Film Institute describes Thames as having "served the capital and the network with a long-running, broad-based and extensive series of programmes, several of which either continue or are well-remembered today." Thames covered a broad spectrum of commercial public-service television, with a strong mix of drama, current affairs and comedy.
After Thames was acquired by FremantleMedia it was merged with another Fremantle company, Talkback Productions, to form a new independent production company Talkback Thames; consequently Thames ceased to exist as a separate entity. However, on 1 January 2012, the Thames brand was revived and Talkback Thames has now been split into four different labels; Boundless, Retort, Talkback and Thames within the newly created FremantleMedia UK production arm.
From launch on 22 September 1955 to July 1968, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) contract to provide programming on the ITV network for London on weekdays had been operated by Associated-Rediffusion. Geographical and structural changes in the network, created by the ITA's 1967 invitation for applicants for new franchise contracts for the right to broadcast on ITV (initially intended to run from 1968 to 1974), meant that ABC Weekend Television (ABC) lost both its area franchises, serving the Midlands and the North at weekends, because these areas were to become seven-day operations.
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