About us
TV-am - Celebrating 25 years FEBRUARY 1983 - FEBRUARY 2008
In January 1980, the IBA (the regulatory body established by Parliament to allocate ITV franchises) announced that it was considering offering a national breakfast-time licence and invited applications. The franchise was to be for a service "primarily but not exclusively of news, information and current affairs" running seven days a week from 0600hrs to 0915hrs.
TV-am was one of eight groups who submitted applications for this franchise in May 1980. The principal members involved at that time included Peter Jay, David Frost, Sir Richard Marsh, Michael Rosenberg, Angela Rippon, Esther Rantzen, Michael Parkinson, Robert Kee, Michael Deakin, Nick Elliott and Tom Cook. Later that year Anna Ford joined the group, and in the course of 1981 two people dropped out: Esther Rantzen for personal reasons and Nick Elliott for professional reasons.
On 28th December 1980 the IBA awarded the breakfast time franchise to TV-am and announced it would begin some time in 1983. The picture below shows the original franchise application document framed alongside a breakfast menu from the Dorchester Hotel in London signed by TV-am's founding team.
A launch date of February 1st 1983 was finally agreed. In the course of 1981 TV-am selected a site on the banks of the Regents Canal at Hawley Lock, Camden Town, London for the new Breakfast Television Centre and appointed Terry Farrell Partnership as architects and Wiltshiers as contractors to design and build the new headquarters at a total cost of £10million.
TV-am was the only ITV contractor to be defined by hours of the day instead of by geographical region. TV-am made more hours of live television every week than any other ITV company at the time, and was the only ITV company able to offer advertisers network advertising. The station's sunrise logo was designed by Douglas Maxwell and famous composer Jeff Wayne was commissioned to write the TV-am music. A framed watercolour of the sunrise artwork is shown below.
The first "Good Morning Britain" was broadcast on 1st February 1983 as planned. In May 1991 TV-am Chairman and Managing Director Bruce Gyngell submitted the company's application for the new Channel 3 breakfast TV licence but in October 1991 the Independent Television Commission announced that TV-am had been outbid by Sunrise Television (now GMTV). The last broadcast was made on 31st December 1992. In 1993 TV-am became Crockfords PLC part of the Stanley Leisure group.
In 2005 the TV-am name and intellectual property rights including trademarks were transferred to Ian White and the new company TV-am (Breakfast Television) Limited, an independent production company and internet reference source, providing accurate information about the station's life as an ITV franchise holder to researchers, media students, programme makers, archive companies and the general public.
You can call us on 05602 430269
SPECIAL THANKS
Special thanks go to Peter Jay, Lizzie Webb, Nick Owen, Tom Cook, John Fernandez and many other former staff for their valuable help and support.
NOTICE
This website is the only official website of TV-am and all material herein is copyright. All rights are reserved. Nothing on this website should be reproduced in any way without prior written permission of TV-am (Breakfast Television) Limited.
TV-am and its logotype are registered trademarks of Ian White. Reproduction of the TV-am logo is strictly prohibited without licence, agreement or written permission. TV-am (Breakfast Television) Limited, Registered in England number 5952104.