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The ITV strike of 1979 |
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#26 |
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Has the strike actually ended? It doesn't feel that way in UTV land.
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#27 |
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Didn't some advertisers cut back on TV advertising after the strike because they had not seen any change in sales level even though no TV adverts going out.
I seem to remember that the unions' normal technique was to call a union meeting late in the afternoon so the 18:30 news programme would be lost if the management did not give in to their demands. |
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#28 |
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Didn't some advertisers cut back on TV advertising after the strike because they had not seen any change in sales level even though no TV adverts going out.
I seem to remember that the unions' normal technique was to call a union meeting late in the afternoon so the 18:30 news programme would be lost if the management did not give in to their demands. In 1979 local TV (and I assume national too) was way overstaffed, I had a close friend who worked there and he as much admitted to me he had a dead cushy job with superb pay and not much to do. He enjoyed all this until a few years later when the company made him and many more redundant as studio automation took hold. |
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#29 |
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I find it amusing after months off air, the first programme after the news was The Muppet Show.
You'd think they'd have come back on with something really strong, but I guess no one know when programmes would return and it was a last minute schedule, hence the national presentation provided by Thames. |
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#30 |
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I am 100% sure there was a strike at the BBC near Christmas once. I recall waiting for BBC1 to start at lunchtime with my sister on Christmas Eve because there was an Elvis film going to be on. This would have been late 70's I think.
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#31 |
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I am 100% sure there was a strike at the BBC near Christmas once. I recall waiting for BBC1 to start at lunchtime with my sister on Christmas Eve because there was an Elvis film going to be on. This would have been late 70's I think.
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#32 |
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The ACTT (led by Alan Sapper) was a force to be reckoned with back then. As well as the ITV strike of 1979 they managed to get Border shut down for a few weeks in 1978 and again in 1982, in both cases due to rows over new technology.
There is also the famous episode a few years earlier at Yorkshire Television when instead of that evening's News at Ten viewers saw a handwritten note saying: "Yorkshire Television have threatened to sack us, we are going on strike. Goodnight." I also refer you all to Glenn's excellent Transdiffusion article about the 1979 ITV strike which gives the background to this and other strikes which affected both ITV and the BBC: http://www.transdiffusion.org/tv/insidetv/history/union |
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#33 |
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Mrs. Thatcher virtually made it impossible for the type of strike in 1979 to occur again.
Is rife and it's thanks to her that it happens |
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#34 |
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I am 100% sure there waBern monopoly s a strike at the BBC near Christmas once. I recall waiting for BBC1 to start at lunchtime with my sister on Christmas Eve because there was an Elvis film going to be on. This would have been late 70's I think.
70s I remember sitting in front of it and the tv with my patents and brother and it came back on straigh away The words came on like football results oops teleprinter we All. Cherred as well I mean because other than that it would have monopoly |
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#35 |
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In 1979 ...TV ... was way overstaffed, I had a close friend who worked there and he as much admitted to me he had a dead cushy job with superb pay and not much to do........ "I was being aggressively interviewed by a reporter on the question of two men in a cab; all the time over his shoulder there were six men holding up a light!" |
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#36 |
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It's just over 34 years since the biggest strike in television history occured and ITV was off air for ten weeks, meaning viewers only had two BBC channels to watch and quite a lot of people became angry at losing shows such as Coronation St and Crossroads. It was also odd seeing a blue caption on ITV stating it was off air and it seemed like the strike was going on forever. Anyone else have memories of this strike?
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#37 |
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Were viewers THAT angry ? Although I am sure that advertisers would not have been impressed, surely viewers of the era would have welcomed the opportunity to get out and get a life, rather than indulge some pathetic concoctions such as Crossroads or even Coronation Street.
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#38 |
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Were viewers THAT angry ?
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#39 |
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Yes, it was Dec 1978. BBC 1 and 2 were badly affected, and the four national radio networks were merged into one at the height of the dispute. It also coincided with a strike at Yorkshire TV, so people in that region had virtually no TV at all !
![]() Yorks must have been back on as well, but as you remember nobody watched ITV at Christmas then.
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#40 |
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I am on a roll here. The ITV strike was responsible for the massive success of To The Manor Born, which started it's first series while the strike was on. It got mega ratings. I may be wrong.
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#41 |
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If the TV unions had not been "broken" there would be no Freeview or SKY.
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#42 |
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Wasn't The New Avengers LWT?
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#43 |
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What is your basis for making such an extraordinary claim?
But the unions in the 70's were a complete joke and the ITV strike was basically the last straw that lead Thatcher to open up the industry as she did with other union lead organisations . It may have taken well over a decade to really make a difference but the advent of C4 with its publisher format rather than production showed how using independent companies could end the need for in house producers , directors etc and by the mid to late 90's much of the industry was working on a contract basis rather than for an ITV company and moving from one programme to another . Had the unions had as much power I doubt we would have seen as many new channels starting up . Even in the 90's Equity still stood in the way of repeats and both UK Gold and Bravo had to go through the usual clearance hassle to air their archive shows. If all the technicians and behind the scenes boys on the various channels were not on a contract basis there would still be the threat of walk outs from the unions . Thankfully just as she did with the miners , power workers and print workers , Thatcher saw to it that the tv workers would never again be able to do something like the ITV strike. |
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#44 |
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Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 140
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Which Is why bullying and intimidation at work places today
Is rife and it's thanks to her that it happens It may have taken over a decade after the strike but the tv workers were only one of the industries who discovered what goes around comes around. Serves them right |
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#45 |
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What about the TVAM strikes? What was the situation there
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#46 |
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Yes that's right! Its coming back now, the stations merging and Yorks on strike because we live in the area. No wonder we were desparate for beeb one to start.
![]() Yorks must have been back on as well, but as you remember nobody watched ITV at Christmas then. ![]() They were off air so networked YTV shows like 3-2-1 on Xmas day were replaced with infinitely better programmes like Space 1999. But the main problem was for YTV viewers who were denied access to ITV's top Xmas shows which ended up being shown in January and February. Strangely the Kenny Everett Xmas show that was aired on New Years Eve by ITV ended up on YTV on a saturday morning in February around 10am |
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#47 |
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What about the TVAM strikes? What was the situation there
Rather than stop broadcasting TVAM used amateurs and even presenters to run the station . Once again it lead to a schedule far more interesting than what they should have been airing . Batman , Happy Days etc got many more viewers than their usual news and chat rubbish. IIRC the unions had to give up in the end as the workers were all sacked and slowly returned - can't remember how long it took though. Thatcher heartily approved of Bruce Gyngells stance on the matter and when her auction format lead to TVAM losing the franchise to GMTV who grossly overbid she wrote him a letter of apology |
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#48 |
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The tv unions were absurd back in the day .... one of the tech guys had it in his contract that he had to get a space in the car park at tv centre ....
liaison meetings, the 'right' to a parking place was never a part of an individual Established Staff member's contract; it is your tale that is 'absurd'. |
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#49 |
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That was when the TV stations were more or less a closed shop, these days with so much automation in the studios, there might be a slight inconvenience but that is all.
In 1979 local TV (and I assume national too) was way overstaffed, I had a close friend who worked there and he as much admitted to me he had a dead cushy job with superb pay and not much to do. He enjoyed all this until a few years later when the company made him and many more redundant as studio automation took hold. |
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#50 |
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Quote:
Which Is why bullying and intimidation at work places today
Is rife and it's thanks to her that it happens |
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