The ITV Strike Trilogy | Ten Years of Turbulence | An AMTV Documentary Series

a reminder you can help support the channel by joining the am tv patreon you can also follow us and keep up to date on twitter at adam martin am tv or if you like you can join us here at amtv by becoming a staff member via the youtube membership program [Music] the 1960s have often been cited as the decade in which the medium of television truly came into its own despite many technological innovations and groundbreaking programs getting their start in this decade that didn't mean there wasn't any major problems happening in the background and for the uk's first commercial broadcaster itv these problems would come to a head in the summer of 1968. at a time when many new companies were hosting their first nights on the network severe strike actions threatened to black out itv all across the country however instead of letting this happen the other side decided to stand up and fight back [Music] tonight 7 15 september 22nd 1955 we add another sentence to the long history of london independent television or itv as it would become known launched on the 22nd of september 1955. having held a monopoly on the british television industry for nearly 20 years the new challenger presented the bbc with some serious competition as well as the novelty of television adverts love them or hate them they were just as influential back then as they are today with many companies reporting a boost in sales and profits from having one of their commercials shown on the network commercials were itv's major source of revenue and it was often said that if you could gain a franchise within the network you were practically being awarded a license to print money however despite growing from strength to strengths during the 1960s all was not well behind the scenes starting from 1964 every franchise holder within the itv network was subject to review every few years from the independent transmission authority or ita for short despite no company falling short of ita standards in the first run of reviews many were asked to strengthen their regional programming in effect forcing companies to maintain a high standard for if they didn't they'd lose their money printed license to some other challenger when it came time for the next round of reviews in 1967 huge changes would occur that would drastically alter the structure of itv itself ita chairman lord hall even claimed that all bets were off meaning none of the established companies were necessarily safe from losing their licence and indeed some of them did including tww abc and redifusion london despite these losses several new companies stepped in to take up newly created regional franchises or take over existing ones these newcomers included yorkshire television harlot television london weekend television and thames television this company being an amalgamation of abc and redifusion with the 1968 franchise round completed itv higher-ups were feeling confident in the new network structure their workers on the other hand not so much average inflation at the time was set at around 4.69 which may seem relatively small in comparison to what people have experienced in the decades since but back then this was perceived as being relatively high whilst inflation and by extension the cost of living was increasing itv had seemingly taken their eye off the ball in regards to industry relations as wages were now beginning to fall behind the national standard combined with perceived inequalities for workers amongst different itv companies and you're left with a pretty volatile environment throughout the network at least amongst its technical staff and the worst was yet to come discussions began between the associated cinematograph television and allied technicians or the act and the itv bosses the unionised workers led by george elvin outlined their terms going forward they wanted wages to rise in line with the increased cost of living with a further boost on top of around seven percent additional demands included a reduction in the long working hours from 40 down to around 35 a week and an extra week's paid holiday taking that total to four weeks a year it's fair to say that the itv higher-ups weren't satisfied with these requests at all and despite their resistance it would only rile up the workers further meaning that strike action was increasingly likely disruptions began to hit different areas of the itv network towards the end of july 1968. on wednesday the 24th regional programmes from grampian granada border and anglia all suffered blackouts as did the national news bulletin from itn the very same day on sunday the 28th with negotiations going nowhere further disruption spread around the different regions abc faced sprandic blackouts on its last weekend on air as did atv's outgoing london service with one of its most popular shows the golden shot bearing the brunt of the strike action made worse by the fact that this was a program that was broadcast live the following day on monday the 29th of july it seems that the act team members decided to go for the golden goose by staging a walkout around 7 30 pm just as coronation street was due to begin airing even after just under 10 years on the air corey in its cast had worked their ways into the hearts of the british public easily becoming one of the most recognizable and popular programs on television but despite its popularity with act members walking out it meant that the episode couldn't be broadcast aside from corey being blacked out the 29th of july also marked the debut of yorkshire television for the most part its opening night was carried out without incident and despite that night's curry not being shown yorkshire was able to shift around its schedules to fill the gap however there would be one new current to the itv network who wouldn't be so lucky tuesday the 30th of july a day that was meant to represent a fresh new chapter for the london region of the itv network for this was the day that the public would first be introduced to thames television taking over the london weekday service from redefusion the opening of this new chapter was marred by the strike action of a ctt members further north taintees would face disruption as their coverage of horse racing at red car was blacked out due to strike action and as the evening drew in it was thames's turn to feel the effects despite having only just launched itself on air halfway through a tommy cooper special workers down tools resulting in thames not airing any programs for almost two hours on its opening night no less with itv still holding firm against the union a new tactic was taken up on wednesday the 31st of july a ctt members handled broadcast programs no problem what they refused to handle though were the commercials advertising was a prime source of revenue for itv franchise holders and the peak time to earn said revenue was during the broadcast of the other side's most popular program coronation street funnily enough that night's episode was a reschedule with episode 795 originally slated for broadcast two days prior in the thames granada and anglia regions adverts were replaced with a static caption card between this and other advert blackouts the true cost to itv is up for debate the act claimed its strike action regarding adverts had cost the other side around 300 000 pounds however the independent television companies association claimed the figure was much lower around 130 000 pounds to play devil's advocate let's say the figure was somewhere in the middle around 215 000 pounds when adjusted for inflation it amounts to around two million six hundred and fifty five thousand three hundred and nine pounds and forty two pence in lost revenue this attack on its main source of income seemed to be the final straw for itv bosses who would attempt to strike back at the increasingly regular bouts of action that were taking place across his entire network thursday the 1st of august began with itv announcing their ultimatum if any technician took part in any sort of strike action it would result in their instant dismissal this is quite the stance essentially informing workers that their jobs hung in the balance should they decide to side with the act union and cause disruption to both itv's programmes and its revenue it was hoped that this stark warning would restore some sort of order and some would argue that it did with programs airing as normal without any major disruption however there are some who present a different argument namely alan sappa who back then was the deputy secretary for the act he pointed out that the primary reason for staff returning to work on the 1st of august wasn't down to the threat of dismissal from itv but the fact that the main program of the day was a royal gala which was an aid of charities dedicated to cinema and television staff thus workers would endeavor to make sure this program went out given it was sort of a show of support for their own it's never been directly confirmed or acknowledged what the primary reason for staff returning was so it's up for debate but if itv hoped that their threat of dismissal would restore order it seems that that wish had been unfounded the act were outraged at the statement and the little positive relations that still existed between the two entities broke down entirely friday the 2nd of august would prove to be the tipping point another new franchise name was due to launch in the evening that being london weekend television its first program was a live comedy known as we have ways of making you laugh not that people would have had the chance to see it as during its opening credits screens went to black with technicians at the newly launched lwt walking out just as things were getting underway time teaser tried to put out a cover program for the new franchise but ended up dismissing six technicians who refused to do so meaning that lwt's first night as part of the itv network was completely sabotaged two further technicians over at thames were dismissed also as they refused to work on the today programme again leaving viewers with blank screens the dismissal of those employees perhaps came at the most inappropriate time despite all the bad blood between them members of both itv and the act had been gearing up for some negotiations but when news of this came through the union side walked out in outrage and protest but this was far from it being all over over the weekend mata seemed to go from bad to worse act team members stopped handling any and all film materials which would result in nearly all commercials and a fair few programs going off the air or not being broadcast at all videotape material was still being shown for the time being but with a good chunk of its schedule compromised itv began scrambling to find a solution before doing so all workers who refused to handle film were dismissed which in turn caused more staff members to walk out in sympathy and solidarity in response itv companies began locking out those who walked meaning that they couldn't return to do their jobs even if they wanted to it also meant that wages were stopped which perhaps unintentionally for itv led to even more staff workouts by monday the 5th of august around 1 000 technicians were on strike 800 have been dismissed outright and a further 1200 have been locked out from their respective companies without any pay or compensation the first national strike to hit the itv network had begun saturday the 3rd of august 1968 is often cited as the time when the national strike really began as this would be the time when itv management would make the decision to run the network service themselves albeit presented in one uniform style with most technical staff having walked out across nearly all regions non-union members of management would take their place many having some foreknowledge of the equipment having worked up through the technical ranks however instead of maintaining the 15 different regional identifiers it was decided that one umbrella term should be used for the service the first time in its history that this had occurred independent television would be seen on millions of screens across the nation with this format coming to be known as the emergency national service the presentation style of the ens was very simple the national ident if you will was merely the name independent television in a bold uppercase typeface for continuity an old clock from the now defunct abc was used with the former company's logo blacked out by a piece of tape though clearly done in a hurry as if you look closely enough you can see part of the logo peeking out simplified caption cards were used to showcase upcoming programs with continuity announcers providing the live commentary necessary a scarce view if any live programs could be mounted due to the vast absence of technical staff the only major exception to the rule would be those over at channel television which had only launched a few years earlier back in 1962. given the small size of the station it was well understood that partaking in any sort of national strike action would most likely bankrupt the company whereas the bigger franchise holders are deeper pockets to soften the blow channel wasn't in as lucky a position so throughout the summer they aimed to carry on as normal a stance they were going to take again in itv's 11 week blackout in 1979. the new scratch service by itv was controlled primarily from just one source this being the former atv switching center located on foley street in london to get programs to transmit on a national basis existing material both on video tape and film would be sent from the regional studios down to london and once they were able to clear the picket lines they would be cleared for transmission this may sound like a fairly simple work around the striking staff members but that didn't mean it was all cut and dry even though the management were confident their scratch service would last as long as it needed to money was still being lost in all corners of itb as mentioned earlier the other side's biggest form of revenue would come from its commercial advertising normally smaller local companies could advertise their products to viewers in their region often benefiting with an uptick in sales however given that itv was now broadcasting a uniform schedule on a national basis the advertisements shown were airing nationally also this in effect shut out the smaller companies as even if they did showcase their products they may not have been available to consumers in large sections of the uk to screen adverts on the ens a new rate card was introduced stating that for a 30 second spot prior to 7 pm would cost the advertiser around 2 000 pounds for the same allotted time after 7 30 p.m the price would be around 3 500 pounds given in today's money that would be nearly 25 and 43 000 pounds respectively this was quite the investment for companies wishing to advertise bigger companies benefited particularly those in london who could now show commercials nationally for a substantially smaller amount had they instead gone to the franchises individually but again for itv this strategy bought them time but it was still damaging their bottom line but what about the programs after all this is what the viewing public turned on the television sets for were they able to continue relatively undisturbed while the management running the new national service were primarily relying on two key sources one being access to film libraries and catalogues with the other being already recorded material on videotape for the newer companies such as yorkshire thames and london weekend this wasn't so much of an issue having spent an immense amount of time preparing for launch and its first few months on the air stockpiling of programmes had taken place meaning that despite the lack of technical staff those who remained could utilize the material that had been collecting up until the beginning of the strike atv had a helping hand due to its access of the film libraries of itc and one of the largest companies granada thankfully had a few weeks worth of its key programme coronation street in the can ready for transmission speaking of corey despite it going out as planned it wasn't able to escape some disruption episode 798 which had originally broadcast on monday the 12th of august faced a technical glitch blacking out television screens for an extended period unfortunately the missing portion was the resolution of a key scene in which falbalo is being held by frank reilly a convicted rapist when viewers got the picture back the scene had concluded leading to tons of frustrated calls to granada their switchboard being jammed as a result the episode was set to re-air two days later on wednesday the 14th and in a way this probably drew a sigh of relief from those at granada with no new episodes being recorded due to the strike they were relying on an increasingly dwindling stockpile of episodes so by re-airing episode 798 they bought themselves another week however rumblings of what was going on made their way to the press an addition of the daily express noted to readers that only two more episodes of curry were in the can and that if the dispute between the unions and itv wasn't resolved soon it claimed that coronation street will go off the air altogether and if that happened not only would granada be dealing with frustrated viewers but they would be facing a significant amount of lost revenue it wasn't just curry that was getting by on pre-recorded material several programs were steadily running out of ready to go episodes and whilst the rest of the ens's schedule was taken up with repeats imports and old movies this model could only last for so long both with advertisers and the public who were tuning in the act meanwhile were holding firm and trying to get more unions on their side of the fence when they heard that commercials would be shipped down to london they encouraged staff at film processing laboratories to walk out they also reached out to the association of broadcasting staff the musicians union and equity the british actors union all in the hopes of getting them to turn against itv and join their cause unfortunately for the act these unions were reluctant to do so this didn't mean the strikers weren't deterred though for they then decided to call out ita itself citing that by allowing the scratch service to utilize its transmitters thus showing strike breaking material they were taking a clear side with the itv companies ita responded with a simple statement claiming that they were required by law to put out a programme service and by allowing the ens to broadcast they were doing so it's fair to say the unions were running out of options the itv management were able to put out a national service but although was quite simple and relied heavily on pre-existing material we're still able to entertain viewers and transmit on the airwaves with relatively little incident furthermore they weren't necessarily drawing great amounts of sympathy from the british public while strikes in industries such as transport had the potential to grind the uk to a halt strikes in television didn't yield such an effect at most audiences were inconvenienced if itv wasn't on the air or if their favorite program wasn't available and if they were that desperate for some television they could merely turn the dial over to the competition that being either bbc1 or bbc2 with other unions refusing to join their cause an itv facing little to no disruption with their scratch service perhaps it was time for both sides to sit back down at the negotiating table and wrap this strike up once and for all [Music] on friday the 16th of august 1968 the first national itv strike was brought to an end the emergency national service together with its independent television branding would continue to be used until closed down on sunday the 18th when viewers switched on their sets on monday the 19th it seemed like everything had reverted to normal with regional idents being reinstalled and some programming particularly live shows were resurrected also rehearsals and recording restarted on programs like coronation street the high tension of running on already taped material now finally being swept away so with the familiar regional service having resumed who was the true winner from all this well depending on who you're aligned with both parties would argue that they emerged triumphant perhaps the obvious winner would appear to be itv as they proved that they could continue to operate a service for viewers with relatively minimal disruption all of which was achieved without the expertise of technicians however you could also lay claims that the act achieved victory in all this the number of dismissed workers had risen to around 2000 during the course of the strike but all of them ended up being reinstated although they didn't get any back pay for the previous two weeks the act were able to get itv companies to seek them for consultation regarding future changes rather than implementing them without discussion the signed agreement also ensured that wages would be raised and kept ahead of inflation across all areas of the technical spectrum and whilst the other talking points being a reduced working week and an increased amount of leave days weren't agreed upon there and then they were kept as it were on the table however although they were able to continue operations it is important to note that through this strike action itv lost a considerable amount of money estimates of the time project that the companies combined lost a total of around five hundred thousand pounds which by today's standards when adjusting for inflation is just over six million when it came to the workers how much they lost in lost pay was not reported so ultimately i think you could argue that sure both sides in some form or another emerged as the winner from this strike but what about the viewers well her service was provided granted one that was filled with repeats imports and old films but it still meant that viewers had something to watch on the other side should they wish similar to the colour strike that would hit the network just a few years later the vast majority of the british public were probably unaware that such a strike on a national scale was taking place at itv tv times a magazine previewing upcoming itv programs wouldn't have been able to alert readers in time given the amount of preparation it took to print several different regional versions of the magazine by the time they would have been able to alert viewers of the strike and its changes it would have already been over if you had a keen eye you may have noticed the changes in continuity but with programs still going out it could all just feel like business as usual so what can we take away from the itv strike of 1968 for the unions it showed them that they had some power over the big bosses at the commercial broadcaster if they felt they weren't being paid appropriately or if they were being taken advantage of they could down tools and stop that ever important flow of money falling into the company's pocket it showed them that despite the threat of redundancy when uniformed together across the itv network they could come so close to taking it off the air entirely the key word there being close as for itv the strike of 68 showed them that not only was an emergency national service possible but that it could operate for several weeks if not months should it ever be required despite not having the trained technical staff those who remained were able to operate itv's output across a fortnight with relatively little incident this combined with the lack of sympathy from the general public towards television related strikes eased itv's nerves of a national strike on this scale ever happening again except it did happen again 11 years later in 1979 itv faced another national strike and this time an emergency national service was nowhere to be seen after a turbulent decade the unions this time around would see that the itv network was almost blacked out entirely and without this monumental yet often forgotten bout of strike action in the late 60s it may never have been possible whilst itv had managed to carry on this time around next time they wouldn't be so lucky [Music] this is am tv in color oh over the last 40 years viewers across the world have come to take colour television for granted whether it's watching your favorite drama or sporting event or even just catching up on the day's news the use of color helps us feel a closer connection to what's being shown on the screen and has allowed us to see our world in all its beauty however there was a time when colour television was a pipe dream never mind a daily constant and in the uk when full-time colour services were just getting underway there were a few months in the early 1970s in which it all went horribly wrong by the time television started becoming more of a common household object during the 1950s audiences had only been able to consume colour entertainment in the cinemas mgm's adaptation of the wizard of oz in 1939 being one of the earliest groundbreakers for colour cinema featuring the iconic scene in which dorothy leaves her monochrome world behind for the colourful landscapes of oz the americans cracked colour television in the early 50s and the japanese soon followed by the turn of the 60s the two uk broadcasters the bbc and itv were eager to get their own full colour services up and running but several barriers stood in their way first and foremost the decision to launch such a service had to be assessed and approved by government and secondly the cost of colour equipment and the studios equipped to handle them was enormously expensive back in the early 60s in 1966 the bbc were finally given the go-ahead by government to launch its first full colour service over the recently launched bbc2 after months of preparations in getting all of the equipment fine-tuned and installed bbc2 began transmitting in colour on the first of july 1967. initially only selected programs were shown in color the rest of the lineup remaining in monochrome for the time being highlights included the broadcast of wimbledon in which viewers could finally see the green grass of the tennis courts in all their glory bbc2 would launch its full-time colour service on the 2nd of december 1967 and just two years later on the 15th of november 1969 bbc one and various itv regions began their own full-time colour broadcasts ushering in a vibrant new era of british television adoption of colour tvs amongst audiences was slow to begin with naturally due to the raised cost of a capable receiver but those who could afford one or those exposed to it were transfixed as their favorite programs could now be seen in a whole new way but just shy of one year after itv began full colour transmissions disaster was approaching as mentioned previously the transition to colour tv in the uk was not a smooth or swift one not only did the technology have to be perfected but the cost and difficulty to convert studios for colour recordings as well as various technical problems with the cameras was causing tensions to rise responding to these issues the association of cinematograph television and allied technicians or the act laid out that they believed workers who were tasked with handling all this new equipment should receive a five percent pay rise the act were no strangers into waging war with various television companies and broadcasters to see that their members were paid appropriately in this instance however after failed negotiations with itv on the 13th of november 1970 colour recording and transmissions across the itv network stopped the itv color strike as it came to be known has a rather unusual place in industrial action history workers did down tools but it didn't lead to the itv network going off the air rather preventing it from showcasing its new colour programs essentially workers did continue to film and record programs for transmission but not in colour shows would now revert to being filmed in black and white even using colour cameras to do so even programs that had already been recorded in colour prior to the strike were then broadcast in black and white so with itv going monochrome for an indefinite period of time how did this affect some of its most successful programs let's start with a classic upstairs downstairs was an early 20th century drama showcasing the vastly different lives of an upper-class family the upstairs and their servants who often lived downstairs it was a huge success for itv and ran from october of 1971 until the december of 1975. the first series began filming around the time of the color strike in late 1970 for which itv's prestigious new drama came directly in the firing line the first six episodes of series one were shot in black and white due to the strike action with the remaining seven being filmed in colour as intended the first episode was eventually re-shot in colour for its debut transmission with the original black and white version believed to have been wiped whilst there are no missing episodes of upstairs downstairs as such the impact of the color strike made exporting the complete series rather difficult for itv for many years london weekend television was the franchise holder producing the program and whilst they were able to sell the drama to many countries it was often without the five black and white episodes from the first series just to give an example in 1974 lwt sold all available color episodes over to pbs in the united states they were only able to sell the monochrome installments in 1988 over 14 years later so whilst today we can enjoy upstairs downstairs in its entirety it is a shame that not all of its 68 episodes could be seen in their full-colour splendor another drama affected by the colour strike was yorkshire television's hadley with four series that aired between 1969 and 1976 and a viewership of around 17 million at its peak the endeavors of james hadley to correct local injustices had audiences glued to the screen most of its first series was made and transmitted in black and white making the jump to colour in the final three episodes which aired in november and december of 1969 in line with several itv regions switching to full-time colour broadcasts with the second series in production just as with upstairs downstairs the color strike would see several episodes of hadley air in black and white as opposed to the colour it had recently introduced in the end episodes 1 2 8 9 and 13 of series 2 were made and shown in monochrome between january and april of 1971. however some color did make its way to the screen albeit in a rather odd and unintentional way location sequences were still shot on colour film but as they made their way to the mixing desk the colour signal would be switched off so that recording to tape in monochrome could begin however the results weren't quite perfect certain film sequences in series 2 of hadley showcase a pale array of colours or primary colours either being present or absent in certain shots all 52 episodes of hadley are available to watch today but just like with upstairs downstairs the color strike was able to leave its mark on one of itv's most successful hits of the 1970s finally let's round off with the other side's biggest program coronation street starting in 1960 viewers around the country grew to love the goings-on on the cobbles and catching up on all the latest drama and gossip at the rover's return but just shy of the program's 10th birthday several changes would have to be made in response to the color strike corey was first advertised and seen in colour in november of 1969 and by the time 1970 rolled in episodes were being routinely shot and shown in colour to those who could receive it the first episode to be affected by the colour strike would be episode 1025 which was recorded in colour but was shown in black and white on the 16th of november 1970. from this point up until episode 1051 all episodes of coronation street would be recorded and transmitted in monochrome with all of that new expensive colour equipment going unused for months finally in the february of 1971 corey returned to recording and transmitting in full colour after a three-month lapse back into the world of black and white however monochrome footage would last appear in the program with episode 1055 in which pre-filmed inserts recorded during the strike were shot and transmitted in black and white the remainder of the program being shown in colour a sort of odd mix and match situation but the last instance of black and white footage being used in coronation street aside from flashback sequences would be seen on the 24th of february 1971 but if anything the batch of episodes from late 1970 to early 1971 showcased that even the biggest hits of the day couldn't escape the impact of the colour strike so with every itv region back to broadcasting in black and white what did the colour strike actually mean for itv well in regards to the audience it could be argued that little damage was done as mentioned the introduction of colour meant the production of new televisions that could receive a colour signal these sets were vastly more expensive compared to a monochrome receiver and it would take several years for the british public to fully convert and purchase colour television packages in 1970 it's estimated that around five percent of uk television owners possessed a color capable set so by the time the strike began the majority of viewers would have noticed little difference the reality was the majority of the uk were still consuming television content in black and white with colour television remaining an item of great expense for several years indeed it wouldn't be until around 1976 before colour televisions would start out selling monochrome ones keep in mind as well whilst the bbc had a full colour service running on both of its channels by the dawn of the 70s itv had some serious catching up to do across its network only four of the 15 itv regions kicked over to full-time colour services on the 15th of november 1969 these being atv granada yorkshire and lwt thames would follow two days later on the 17th of november and southern and scottish television would be the final stations to introduce full colour in 1969 doing so on the 13th of december as 1970 rolled in htv would begin their colour service on the 4th of april with taintees following suit on the 17th of july the last two stations to bring in colour before the strike would be ulster and anglia who did so on the 14th of september and the 1st of october respectively this left 4 itv regions in which a colour service wasn't even available when the strike began on the 13th of november and sure enough when the strike ended they still didn't have colour westward would finally bid farewell to monochrome on the 22nd of may 1971 border doing so a few months later on the 1st of september grampian would become the penultimate franchise to bring in colour doing so on the 30th of september 1971 which just left channel as the sole franchise of the itv network to not be broadcasting a full-time colour service after several complications they would finally be able to do so on the 26th of july 1976 thus finally bringing the itv network to complete colour broadcasting across all regions and franchises nearly seven years after setting that plan into motion but reverting to the strike in summary four regions weren't getting colour television whatsoever beforehand and in the 11 regions that were a very small fraction of their viewer bases actually had the means to watch the colour programming so for many uk viewers the colour strike came and went with them noticing little difference in their regularly scheduled programming but make no mistake this doesn't mean the itv as a whole didn't suffer from the fallout the primary concern raised by the colour strike was unsurprisingly centered around income the switch back to broadcasting solely in monochrome would mean itv would be unable to sell airtime at a higher value for which colour broadcast demanded in a way i imagine this gave advertisers a bit of respite as they were able to buy commercial time for a lower rate than those dictated by a full-time colour service furthermore the other side would face increased difficulty in exporting its programs overseas if a black and white option was the only one available to buyers while several smaller countries were still broadcasting in monochrome many of the largest television markets began purchasing imported programs that were made in colour only as mentioned several episodes of upstairs downstairs were left unpurchased for years for the simple fact that they weren't in color and those countries that were willing to purchase black and white material would do so at a lower rate again affecting itv's income like with any bout of industrial action the broadcasters involved wanted an end to it and after nearly three months itv were finally ready to once again sit with members of the act to try and put an end to the colour strike once and for all after many negotiations the strike was called off on the 2nd of february 1971. union members had accepted a deal with itv in which those involved would see a 4 rise back dated to july of 1970 with some grades even going as far back as november 1969 however due to the deal needing to be ratified and accepted across all the regions the recording and transmission of colour programs wouldn't start up again until almost a week later on the 8th of february 1971. the colour strike was over but the fallout from it would be present on television screen sporadically for the rest of the year those programs that had to be recorded in monochrome were still transmitted as such some of them going out as late as december 1971 over a year from when the strike initially took place but even as colour continued to become the norm across the uk the unions wouldn't be fully satisfied for long throughout the 1970s bouts of industrial action would plague the nation's two leading broadcasters with tensions arguably reaching their peak for itv in the strike to end all strikes that took place in 1979. but whilst that event is well remembered where does the color strike sit in uk television history for those who were around in those few months between 1970 and 1971 the advent of the colour strike may have passed them by completely with programming continuing uninterrupted and the severe lack of households that possessed a color television set viewers sat and enjoyed their shows as they would normally seldom realizing that behind the scenes it was anything but a happy occasion the blip back to the days of monochrome seems so sudden given how new the full-time colour service was for itv back then the dawn of a new televisual age seemingly about to be scuppered and drawn back by workers who believe they deserve better for now renowned classics like hadley and upstairs downstairs a small section of their output will forever bear the impact of the colour strike for the other side's biggest hitter coronation street its transition to colour promptly halted for months on end proving that even the most popular programs of the day couldn't escape the consequences of industrial action for itv the loss of potential revenue gained from colour transmissions seemingly became too much to bear and for both them and the bbc they would continue to battle frequently with the unions for the remainder of the 1970s so next time you're sitting down to watch your favorite program maybe you'll not just see color as a guaranteed given because just over 50 years ago that spectacular groundbreaking new color that you were watching on the brand new fancy tv you'd spent a fortune on could have been taken away from you by the flick of a switch [Music] this is am tv and now for our regularly scheduled [Music] [Applause] 1979 a cultural peak for british television a time when several programmes 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 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 10th was that this itv blackout would last for almost 11 weeks staff across the itv network could join 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 itv 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 percent 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 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 granada television share price shut up by 1418 in four years the profits of thames television increased by nearly 200 percent and the overall rates of advertising revenue were up by 105 percent 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 programs 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 city of death is is the most popular doctor who program 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 b was showing on its sister channel bbc2 programs on bbc1 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 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 100 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 p.m 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 percent 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 thank you to our patrons for helping to support the show and a special thank you to macra gen samantha pringle anna art adam martin's biggest fan britney fan 1999 max jackson kelly is live tracy smith the east end girl ashley hoax media ben freeman mitchell and ethan carberry-holt our am tv staff members [Music] you

Channel: Adam Martyn

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Keywords: the itv strike of 1979, the itv colour strike, itv strike 1979, itv strike, itv strike 1968, adam martyn, adam martyn itv, the history of itv, the story of itv, itv, welcome home to itv, itv continuity 1979, coronation street, coronation street first colour episode, itv colour 1969, itv colour, upstairs downstairs, hadleigh tv series, itv test card, channel television, channel television itv, itv regional idents, itv documentary, itv idents, itv logo, itv logo history

Id: T0KTxquw3ek

Length: 52min 0sec (3120 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 06 2022