Westcountry Television

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Westcountry Television

Based in	Plymouth
Broadcast area	Devon Cornwall South and West Somerset West Dorset
Launched	1 January 1993
Westcountry TV logo 1993
Closed	Became Carlton Westcountry in 1999, but its lost on-air identity on 27 October 2002 (now known as ITV1 Westcountry before regional programming only)
Replaced	TSW
Website	itvregions.com/westcountry
Owned by	ITV plc

Westcountry Television is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW (Television South West), on 1 January 1993. It covers Devon, Cornwall, and areas of Somerset and Dorset.

Although Westcountry is intended for Devon and Cornwall, it can be picked up in parts of South Wales and even South-West Ireland (i.e Munster). It is common in many area in South Wales for residents to receive Westcountry solely as opposed to official Welsh broadcaster, HTV. Likewise, people in North Devon and North Cornwall can sometimes pick up ITV Wales and RTE (the national television service of the Republic of Ireland).

In 2009, the UK plans to begin its five-year process to cease analogue television broadcasts region-by-region, with HTV Wales Westcountry TV and Granada TV.

[edit] History

Wetscountry, originally an independent company, replaced Television South West at 00:00 GMT on 1 January 1993. The first programme aired on the channel was a video welcoming viewers to Westcountry and promising higher levels of regional commitment.

In 1996, Westcountry was purchased by Carlton Communications (now ITV plc), who by that time owned the London weekday (Carlton Television) and Midlands (Central) franchises. Subsequently, Westcountry was re-branded as Carlton Westcountry in September 1999, although only referred on screen as Carlton. On 27 October 2002, Carlton Westcountry lost its regional identity, and became known as ITV1 Carlton prior to regional programmes only, while being known as ITV1 at all other times. The franchise briefly became ITV1 for the Westcountry in 2003, before being renamed as ITV1 West Country upon the ITV plc merger of 2004, later ITV1 Westcountry and now only verbally mentioned before any locally-produced programming.

[edit] Programmes

Westcountry has not made any notable contribution to the ITV network, but produces mainly regional programmes such as Westcountry Live, the main evening news bulletin, as well as several regional factual series.

Westcountry Live presenters are David Foster, Sheila Jansen, Peter Wareham, Lorna Dunkley, Richard Bath, Nicky Parr, Jemma Woodman, Alexis Bowater and James Wignall. Richard Bath and Alexis Bowater usually present the main programme at 6pm.

• Westcountry Live (1993-present)
• Westcountry Update - no longer made
• Westcountry Life
• West Wise
• Breathing Counters
• Birthday People - discontinued in 2005

[edit] External links

• ITV Westcountry at itv.com
• ITV Westcountry at itvlocal.com
• Westcountry Television at TV Ark
• Carlton Westcountry at TV Ark