Networked ITV - 1990s and before...

No, I don't actually remember the phase of totally opting out of CITV continuity - I expect that was no mean feat working off the dirty feed from Central. The slide I'm remembering was used in early 1987, and a different one to the 1988 one you mention, which is vaguely ringing some bells. 'The End' was in a rectangular box in (I think) the bottom right of the screen, with a sort of coloured strobe light effect coming off it to fill the screen. It had a purple/magenta colour from memory.

This is rapidly turning into a TTT thread! Now, I've mentioned this in other threads, so won't go into detail, but Tyne Tees also regularly opted out of the schools continuity from Central, even when they weren't showing different programmes to the network. No idea as to why, unless it was just to put their 'stamp' on things or to relieve a bit of mid-morning boredom! They had a half a dozen or so discs of their own which seemed to get used in rotation during intervals and breakdowns - most of which I've managed to track down copies of!

Sorry for going a wee bit off-topic.

Indeed, although I suspect that it will all be completely electronic, and that paper copies are probably not much used. What would be particularly interesting though (for me anyway) would be some insight into the mechanism used to pass information up to Leeds/STV/UTV etc -- is this completely automated or is it all still done manually?

would they necessarily have been working from a dirty feed? Could Tyne Tees have arranged to have had the feeds from the various regions that go to Central also sent to them? The only difficulty would be programmes that Central originate would need Central to route the VT onto an outgoing local end for BT to send up to Newcastle.

Difficult to tell from watching the output -- TTTV didn't seem to do a bad job of opting out, but whether that was because they went to the trouble of arranging for all the feeds to be sent to them, or were opting out of the dirty feed I'm not sure.

Didn't TSW pull a similar trick in the mid-1980s, or am I mixing that up with something else?

Yes, imagine that sheet in electronic form with the timings (and sources in the case of server ports) rippling and recalculating as items are changed or over-run/under-run. That's pretty much how the modern version looks

According to comments on relevant YouTube files, TSW replaced the opening and closing CITV links on weekday afternoons with Gus Honeybun; I think this happened in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Wouldn't Central have been a bit narked by the fact a region was choosing not to show their CITV continuity (I think it was live around the 1991 era), and therefore being asked to send a clean feed up to Newcastle be seen as adding insult to injury? Or am I missing the point somewhere? I assume the TTT/TSW opt-outs indicate there was no requirement for a station to use/take the CITV brand?

This file from TV Ark amuses me - A generic ITV trail (is that Mike Prince doing the v/o?) followed by TTTV's Colin Weston in-vision promoting the new TV Times - circa 1982 I would say. However, he stumbles over his words at the end a bit and maybe looks a little embarrassed..? Anyone reckon it's because he realises he's just inadvertently advertised Rothmans King Size?!

EDIT: If the above file won't play, it's the fifth row down on the left here.

It's Stewart White on the ITV trail.

I don't think any particular ITV company was obliged to show anything from any other company (ITN News being an exception). Don't forget what the 'I' in ITV stood for, to this day STV haven't

Yes that's why they purchased and rebranded Grampian.

Fact is that TTTV will have paid Network for the CITV presentation -- if they then chose not to use it that was their prerogative. Central wouldn't have cared -- they were contracted to deliver the presentation and will have received their cut for it. It's debatable whether Birmingham even knew that Newcastle had opted out, and it's almost certain that the only people who might have been bothered -- Central/Network management -- never knew about it. Plymouth probably yes, due to the regular nature of their opt-out.

Heck, Tyne Tees were even opting out of their own opts in 1993 -- YTV would send trailers up the line to them and TTTV would zap them and put IVC up instead.

STV is a good comparison -- their recent spat with ITV highlighted the federal structure that still exists in part today. STV were fully entitled to do what they wanted with the schedule, but the question of whether they should pay for the bits they don't show is still up in the air isn't it?

So the final link to the transmitter was still with TTTV then? I assumed that YTV would just cut to Newcastle at the allocated point and that was the only way they got on air.