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Transmission From The Midlands: 1982-2004

The End Of Almost 50 Years Of Broadcasting From The Midlands (September 2004)

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NG
noggin Founding member
Neil Jones posted:
fanoftv posted:
Wasn't the upgrade to do with widescreen to?
Well this was the thing with CiTV.


I still believe that was being cropped somewhere else down the line before it was shifted to wherever it's coming from now. The fact it's widescreen now is pretty much irrelevant because there's no clue onscreen as to where it's coming from.

Central News is still 4:3. Surely if CiTV had gone widescreen, by virtue of the fact the set was right next door to Central News, then surely that would have gone widescreen too?


Nope - it might just be coming from a widescreen studio... (Most UK widescreen studios can also work in 4:3)

Many ITV1 regional news studios are 16:9/4:3 switchable - and many have been for a while. However politically, ITV decided to keep all their news in 4:3 - both ITN national and regional - so most studios are still running in 4:3.

UTV - not being part of ITV plc - seem to have taken the decision to go 16:9 unilaterally - not a bad idea as it levels the playing field with the 16:9 BBC Newsline.
IS
Isonstine Founding member
I'm glad I'm down in London! From what I've heard...the presentation is nothing short of shocking.

Blimey what a comedown for poor old Central - to think they were major presentation leaders in the late 80s and 90s.

I know it has been a good while since we lost our own presentation...and you'd think you can get over it...but I *STILL* think ITV1 presentation and continuity is completely dull, lifeless and uninspiring. Worlds apart from Mssrs Vasey, Brighting, Pearson, Terzza and May.

The programming had been going down the pan for a while...but something died in each regional station since they watered everything down. A shocking waste of what used to be a leading commercial station...it'll only lead to low morale. And we ALL know what low morale can do...
:-(
A former member
noggin posted:
Neil Jones posted:
fanoftv posted:
Wasn't the upgrade to do with widescreen to?
Well this was the thing with CiTV.


I still believe that was being cropped somewhere else down the line before it was shifted to wherever it's coming from now. The fact it's widescreen now is pretty much irrelevant because there's no clue onscreen as to where it's coming from.

Central News is still 4:3. Surely if CiTV had gone widescreen, by virtue of the fact the set was right next door to Central News, then surely that would have gone widescreen too?


Nope - it might just be coming from a widescreen studio... (Most UK widescreen studios can also work in 4:3)

Many ITV1 regional news studios are 16:9/4:3 switchable - and many have been for a while. However politically, ITV decided to keep all their news in 4:3 - both ITN national and regional - so most studios are still running in 4:3.

UTV - not being part of ITV plc - seem to have taken the decision to go 16:9 unilaterally - not a bad idea as it levels the playing field with the 16:9 BBC Newsline.


Originally the cameras at Gas Street were not widescreen capable. They were upgraded a while back however in anticipation of "N day" when News was due to go 16:9.

However that day got postponed indefinitely due to, it is said, the fact that Granada news sites were not all 16:9 capable, and they did not want to spend the money...

Anyway since CiTV shared the same studio and cameras as the News, and the cameras were 16:9 switchable, the decision was taken to go widescreen with CiTV. This made things easier since most CiTV programs are made widescreen, and were having to be converted to 4:3 (14:9 letterbox).

CiTV is still coming from the same Studio Gallery at Birmingham (Studio A), but due to the Studio floor being divided up to accommodate East and West News, it was decided to have an out-of-vision service. Also there were some cost savings.....
:-(
A former member
Nick Harvey posted:
Westy2 posted:
Is it 'easy' for Brum to retake control from Leeds?

Not THIS week, as they ain't been there since Sunday.


In fact no chance as the people who used to operate the kit are out the door, the equipment that was used for transmission of commercials has already been dismantled and skipped, or decommissioned. Its all a very sorry site I am told...
FA
fanoftv
Central Man posted:
noggin posted:
Neil Jones posted:
fanoftv posted:
Wasn't the upgrade to do with widescreen to?
Well this was the thing with CiTV.


I still believe that was being cropped somewhere else down the line before it was shifted to wherever it's coming from now. The fact it's widescreen now is pretty much irrelevant because there's no clue onscreen as to where it's coming from.

Central News is still 4:3. Surely if CiTV had gone widescreen, by virtue of the fact the set was right next door to Central News, then surely that would have gone widescreen too?


Nope - it might just be coming from a widescreen studio... (Most UK widescreen studios can also work in 4:3)

Many ITV1 regional news studios are 16:9/4:3 switchable - and many have been for a while. However politically, ITV decided to keep all their news in 4:3 - both ITN national and regional - so most studios are still running in 4:3.

UTV - not being part of ITV plc - seem to have taken the decision to go 16:9 unilaterally - not a bad idea as it levels the playing field with the 16:9 BBC Newsline.


Originally the cameras at Gas Street were not widescreen capable. They were upgraded a while back however in anticipation of "N day" when News was due to go 16:9.

However that day got postponed indefinitely due to, it is said, the fact that Granada news sites were not all 16:9 capable, and they did not want to spend the money...

Anyway since CiTV shared the same studio and cameras as the News, and the cameras were 16:9 switchable, the decision was taken to go widescreen with CiTV. This made things easier since most CiTV programs are made widescreen, and were having to be converted to 4:3 (14:9 letterbox).

CiTV is still coming from the same Studio Gallery at Birmingham (Studio A), but due to the Studio floor being divided up to accommodate East and West News, it was decided to have an out-of-vision service. Also there were some cost savings.....


Thanks for finally clearing everything up! I just found it strange that CiTV started to go widescreen on the day that our Central region started to use the breakflash.

It's still a shame that CiTV has gone back out of vision and is a shame that it won't be staying in Birmingham. It's still stupid to hand over control to a possible rival, I'm not sure why Nick are taking it anyway, it's like shooting yourself in the foot.

Unless they're going to use it as a form of sabotage by gaining control, and purposely making the service bad so that they end up with more viewers!

I know it's cost saving through wages of staff, but it's just a shame that they couldn't have used the studio that they did during 1998 and 1999, a lot could have been achieved even though it's a tiny studio, a bit like a modular studio!

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