The ITV Strike of 1979 | The Strike To End All Strikes | An AMTV Documentary

this is am tv and now for our regularly scheduled [Music] [Applause] 1917 a cultural peak for british television a time when several programs were seen as national institutions from the science fiction escapades of doctor who to the seemingly more real-life dramas of the cobbles on coronation street the british viewing public were truly spoiled for choice however despite all of the entertainment coming through television screens not all was well behind the cameras the 1970s had seen a vast rise in industrial action with various unions wielding the power they had to call their members out of work in the hopes of achieving greater rights and often greater pay for their workers the two main uk broadcasters of the day the bbc and itv both had suffered in the 1970s from these consistent and seemingly unrelenting strikes however for the other side the worst was yet to come [Music] the origins of the most devastating itv strike began at the london franchise of the network thames television electricians there who were part of the eetpu the electrical electronic telecommunications and plumbers union were facing a breakdown in negotiations over pay with itb when management attempted to crack on as normal members of the act the association of cinematograph television and allied technicians reacted by abandoning their transmission posts citing solidarity with their fellow colleagues the workers were asking for a pay rise of around 25 percent a demand which itv was unwilling to oblige claiming that 15 was the highest they were willing to go the unions called on their members across the country to join a strike in solidarity to last until the commercial broadcaster acquiesced to their demands it didn't take long before the impact was seen on viewers screens early the following day viewers switching on their televisions to the other side would not be greeted by the regular morning's programming instead they would be faced with a blue caption card with white text that read as follows independent television we are sorry that programs have been interrupted there is an industrial dispute transmissions will start again as soon as possible a surprise to millions however initially it was assumed that this interruption would be resolved promptly keep in mind strike action had affected both the bbc and itv's ability to broadcast in the past both channels coming off air or showing the famous test card to a bemused audience however in those instances normal service was often resumed in a matter of days at most what the british public didn't know on august the 10th was that this itv blackout would last for almost 11 weeks staff across the itv network had joined the solidarity call set out by the eetpu and the act with everyone from technicians right up to the heads of programming participating in the strike across the 15 regions that comprised the itv network 14 of them went off the air the one survivor was the service that served guernsey and jersey channel television channel launched as part of the itv network back in 1962 and as was the quota for any independent franchise mixed the big national hits of the other side such as coronation street with a wave of its own regional focus programming reflecting the life and times of the island as it served however technologically speaking it seemed that channel was always the last to catch up colour television was set as the new standard on both bbc and itv in late 1969 however not every region could implement this change right away by the end of 1971 every franchise holder that was part of itb was running a full-time colour service except for channel which wasn't able to get its colour service up and running until the summer of 1976 another issue channel faced was that due to its small size as a company and its viewership restricted to primarily two islands advertising revenue generated from commercials and thus the profits of the station were nowhere near as high as the big boys of the network such as granada and thames so when the 1979 strike came into effect those running channel had a choice to make they could take part in solidarity as everyone else was or go off the air which could mean a massive loss in revenue a loss so great that it had the potential to bankrupt the company in the face of such a damning prospect channel would continue on increasing the amount of regional items that were shown as well as the amount of feature films so they grabbed whatever film cans they had access to in order for the viewers to have consistent entertainment but despite carrying on the strain was beginning to wear on the staff both in front of and behind the camera and the effects of the strike were still costing channel upwards of 10 000 pounds a week however the resilience and determination of those serving guernsey and jersey cannot be overlooked for at a time when most of the uk was without itv it was channel television that was just about able to keep the lights on for its eager viewers however back on the mainland all was not well the strike continued on lasting throughout august and into september and even into october far longer than anyone had ever anticipated the leader of the act alan sappa remained steadfast in his view that a pay rise of 15 the maximum offered by itv bosses was just not enough in comparison to the various franchise holders of the network and what they were making in profit 15 is not reasonable when you compare the profits of the companies uh they're enormously rich and wealthy and made incredible profits over the last four years and therefore we do feel that our claim of of a substantial increase is fair and indeed money had been rolling in 1970s britain was marked by a spout of hyperinflation between 1975 and 1979 this hyperinflation had seen prices shoot up more than 70 percent yet various tv executives cited that a four-year pay deal had seen their salaries increase by around 50 percent and even looking at the franchise companies themselves many of them were hardly on the brink of bankruptcy between the same four year time frame of 75 and 79 the value of the television companies was soaring according to a 1999 article by the guardian grenada television share price shut up by 1 418 in four years the profits of thames television increased by nearly 200 percent and the overall rates of advertising revenue were up by 105 so when the big wigs of itv were claiming 15 was the best they could do in terms of a pay rise for their technicians you can understand why this caused a lot of disdain remember as well that in 1979 itv was the only commercial broadcaster in the uk channel 4 wouldn't be seen until 1982 and satellite television was still several years away so any profit made from television advertising was being made by itv in fact the official newspaper of the act union claimed that the reluctance to meet the higher pay rise demands was like the rockefellers pleading poverty and with this information becoming more public it was becoming increasingly likely that the bosses of itv would not be able to hold out forever with the vast majority of the network off the air this left viewers with only one other broadcaster to provide them with their entertainment the bbc the viewing figures for nearly all of the corporation's programs skyrocketed this being no clearer than with one of my favorite programmes doctor who [Music] by 1979 the sci-fi staple was in its 16th year with its 17th season getting ready to start transmitting in september the previous run of adventures dubbed as the key to time season garnered an overall viewing average of 8.6 million not a bad hold for a six-month period and for a show that was still widely seen by many industry professionals as children's television however when the new season began on september 1st the viewing figures received a sharp boost the opening adventure destiny of the daleks gained an average of 13.5 million with the following story city of death reaching even higher with a 14.5 million average the highest viewing figures doctor who has been able to achieve to date the season as a whole gained an overall average of 11.2 million a 2.6 million increase from the previous year whilst the popularity of the program hadn't waned it is important to note that the primary reason for the sharp increase is down to the fact that itv was off the air everyone says ah the city of death is is the most popular doctor who programmer of all time strictly speaking yes it is but it is only because there is nothing on the other side with virtually no competition aside from whatever the view was showing on its sister channel bbc2 programs on bbc one like doctor who saw these record numbers roll in week after week whilst this was great news for those at the corporation not every viewer was too happy about the lack of content on the other side and i like coronation street and crossroads and bbc just as rubbish yeah all of what day tv i never missed them and i do miss it now the itv bosses were not too happy either the apologetic caption card wasn't going anywhere although amazingly it was reported that sometimes it would get ratings of around a million viewers tuning in in the hope that it would bugger off so that the regular programming could resume or just to listen to some classical music however there was only one other instance in which the caption card was substantially altered yorkshire television three guesses which region they served would replace the regular static card with this it once again apologized for itv being off the air but it also displayed a message from west yorkshire police appealing to viewers to help provide information on catching the yorkshire ripper aside from that rather chilling call out the rest of the uk had nothing to look forward to and the defection of those viewers to the bbc wasn't doing a great deal to soothe the fears of the itv bosses as the strike was approaching its third month in effect a decision had to be taken the commercial broadcaster by this point had lost around a hundred million pounds in advertising revenue and such a loss just couldn't continue especially for some of the smaller franchise holders talks with the unions resumed and towards the end of the month a decision was finally made after nearly three months of having nothing but a blue caption card to look at viewers were shocked to see the card have been updated now with a list of scheduled programs titled with the caption itv returns today and sure enough at 5 38 pm those who were switched onto channel 3 saw the caption card finally fade away and in its place [Music] the mike sam singers brought itv back with a bang and not wanting to dwell on the drought of the past three months news presenter leonard parkin's opening comments seemed quite fitting good evening again it's good to be back again so let me simply say let's get on with it itv was back up and running first airing programs that were already in the can and had been completed months before the big soaps of the day such as coronation street and crossroads aired special introductions before their first episodes back on the air as this was to inform viewers of the events in both programs and where they had left off all the way back in july but did viewers come flooding back instantly well not at first after nearly three months off air it was always going to be an uphill battle to win many millions of viewers back from the hands of the bbc due to the strike production of original programming had also ceased meaning itv would have to play a major game of catch-up in order to get these programs back up and running the bbc continued to dominate the ratings table until early 1980 when the other side brought its productions back up to date and more viewers gradually began switching back it was finally all over but what about the striking staff well if you remember originally they'd asked for a 25 pay rise which itv had initially declined by the time the other side returned to the air it was reported that many of the technicians would receive pay rises of up to 45 which is far more than they had ever initially wanted in the first place so whilst this was a victory for the workers in many ways it was seen as the strike to end all strikes during the dispute a new prime minister was getting settled into 10 downey street this of course was margaret thatcher she didn't like unions or more specifically the sheer power that they had over their various industries during her 11 years in power she would go to great lengths to weaken the influence of the unions and sure enough in the television world at least whilst industrial disputes did occur here and there by the end of the 80s there was nothing on the same scale as the 1979 itp strike and such a scale would never be seen again over 40 years on the memory of those near three months are still remembered strongly by those who lived through it whether they were members of the viewing public heads of itv franchises various staff members suddenly unable to work or those in the channel islands who kept going in spite of it all the itv strike of 1979 remains the longest industrial dispute in the history of british television it did yield some winners mainly the technicians who got their pay rise and the bbc who got millions more viewers but there were also those who lost out hundreds of millions of pounds of ad revenue down the drain the financial strain on some of the regional franchises meant that some people didn't have jobs to return to once the strike was done and dusted but it remains an example of how back in the 70s the power of the worker together with their union could bring the uk's only commercial broadcaster to a grinding halt [Music] welcome welcome welcome home [Music]

Channel: Adam Martyn

Views: 129,231

Keywords: itv strike 1979, itv strike, itv, itv documentary, the history of itv, the history of television, itv logo history, itv idents, adam martyn, adam martyn a brief history, doctor who, doctor who 1979, destiny of the daleks, city of death, doctor who season 17, bbc1 1979, bbc1 continuity 1979, bbc1 strike, bbc2 strike, bbc2 1979, bbc2 ident 1979, itv 1979, itv 1979 strike, itv continuity 1979, itv adverts, itv adverts 1979, itv franchise, 1979, channel television

Id: tbryHxvnsiA

Length: 14min 30sec (870 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 28 2022