And we've just reached that point as management took charge of a skeleton service on Southern on the Tuesday evening. I wonder if Ulster made it back to air for a short time then?
And we've just reached that point as management took charge of a skeleton service on Southern on the Tuesday evening. I wonder if Ulster made it back to air for a short time then?
I'm trying to remember, but I think that Southern transmitted their own apology caption ( rather than 'pulling the plug' and having the IBA provided caption) during the intermittent absences. After Chris Robbie's in vision farewell that I witnessed, there was a fade to black, then 30 seconds later a splat, and up came the IBA caption (Oracle data in the VBI ceased at that point too)
Forgive me for appearing stupid here, but I still don't understand why ITV could not have transmitted an emergency schedule in place of regular programming during the course of this strike.
In 1968 a similar strike occurred, which knocked all the ITV stations off air, but for some reason, ITV managed to provide an emergency schedule during the time the strike was held. I don't see why in 1979, the ITV management could have done the same?
ITV had a vast archive and probably a lot of programmes in the can, and a 5pm to Midnight emergency schedule could have aired, like Channel Television in the Channel Islands.
Sorry again for this, but I would like it explained how 1968 was different to 1979.
Because all the technicians were on strike? And the unions of anyone else around would not allow anybody to lace up a 2" VT machine and run a scab service, let alone have the technical knowledge?
Because all the technicians were on strike? And the unions of anyone else around would not allow anybody to lace up a 2" VT machine and run a scab service, let alone have the technical knowledge?
The engineering management would have had the knowledge to operate the equipment, and the equipment was company property, so any authority to use the kit would have ben trumped by the management, but as said waaaaay up thread there was no particular desire to run a service, and it was holiday season, and multiple trades had walked out, etc etc etc.,..
One difference with 1968 was that it was only a few weeks after the franchise changes, so there was a redundant ATV control room in Central London that could be brought into use
Because all the technicians were on strike? And the unions of anyone else around would not allow anybody to lace up a 2" VT machine and run a scab service, let alone have the technical knowledge?
The engineering management would have had the knowledge to operate the equipment, and the equipment was company property, so any authority to use the kit would have ben trumped by the management, but as said waaaaay up thread there was no particular desire to run a service, and it was holiday season, and multiple trades had walked out, etc etc etc.,..
One difference might be that industrial relations were both more formalised, and fractious than those of a decade previous.
An ITV management-led holding service would have attracted the ire of unions at the IBA and the Post Office. The IBA may (may not?) have sided with ITV companies managements, but it is unlikely that Post Office management would have the appetite to take on the POEU were its members to refuse to switch or maintain IBA leased circuits.
Because all the technicians were on strike? And the unions of anyone else around would not allow anybody to lace up a 2" VT machine and run a scab service, let alone have the technical knowledge?
The engineering management would have had the knowledge to operate the equipment, and the equipment was company property, so any authority to use the kit would have ben trumped by the management, but as said waaaaay up thread there was no particular desire to run a service, and it was holiday season, and multiple trades had walked out, etc etc etc.,..
One difference might be that industrial relations were both more formalised, and fractious than those of a decade previous.
An ITV management-led holding service would have attracted the ire of unions at the IBA and the Post Office. The IBA may (may not?) have sided with ITV companies managements, but it is unlikely that Post Office management would have the appetite to take on the POEU were its members to refuse to switch or maintain IBA leased circuits.
There was a bit of that sort of thing a year or so later, there was a GPO dispute, that meant new phone lines couldn't be installed, the knock on for broadcasting was that audio circuits from OB venues couldn't be provided, and the BBC Cricket coverage had no audio (and no TMS on R3 at all). The BBC could have used sound in syncs on the vision links for the audio, but opted not to, (back then broadcasters had to use GPO audio and video circuits, unless the GPO couldn't or wouldn't provide them)
When Thames were on strike but others were not, we know that anything originating from Thames would have to be replaced by programmes being played out locally by each region.
But often programmes from other regions got to air via Thames. Were the unions OK with either BT/GPO feeding the programme directly to the other stations or another region (eg ATV/Central) stepping in to coordinate the networking? I think ITN always got on air via either Thames or LWT so I assume it was ok.
Isn't that down to the idea of 'nominated contractor' - having one region leading the network. If the usual one was off air surely that status would just move to another? AIUI the role did move outside London every so often to give the other big regions a bit of practise doing it