Television South

TVS, or Television South, was the ITV franchise holder in the South of England which replaced its predecessor, Southern Television on the morning of 1 January 1982, and operated until midnight on 31 December 1992, when it was in turn replaced by Meridian Television. TVS (and Meridian) had a slightly bigger coverage area than Southern because on the day of its launch the Bluebell Hill and Chatham Town transmitters in north Kent were switched from the London ITV region to the South of England region.

The company operated from two sites: inherited studios in Southampton, and a new facility built in Vinters Park, Maidstone. Like its predecessor the company made many contributions to the network in the areas of children's television, drama and light entertainment.

In the late 1980s, buoyed by increasing profits, TVS purchased the American media company MTM. However, when TVS's licence to broadcast came up for renewal in 1990, the company was suffering serious financial problems, and it had to bid high to secure an extension to its contract. The bid was deemed excessive and inviable, and the contract was handed to Meridian. The studios in Southampton were sold to the newcomer, and the Maidstone site and library were sold to an American TV company.

British television | Channels | ITV

Scotland: Grampian, Scottish Television, Border | North and Northwest: ABC, Granada Northeast: Tyne Tees | Yorkshire: Yorkshire | Northern Ireland: UTV | Wales: TWW, WWN, HTV Midlands: ATV, Central | East: Anglia | London: Rediffusion, ATV, Thames, LWT, Carlton South: Southern, TVS, Meridian | Southwest: Westward, TSW, Westcountry | Channel Islands: CTV

Breakfast: TV-am, GMTV | Teletext: ORACLE, Teletext Ltd | News: ITN

ITA | IBA | ITC | Ofcom ITV plc | ITV1 | ITV2 | ITV3 | ITV News Channel | ITV Digital