Celebrating 25 Years of Meridian News

Happy Birthday ... to us!

ITV News Meridian first went on-air 25 years ago!

It is 25 years since ITV News Meridian (then called Meridian Broadcasting) began transmitting to the South, South-East and Thames Valley as the new ITV regional licencee.

In the first of a series of special reports we catch-up with those who helped launch ITV News Meridian - our reporter Sally Simmonds has been talking to former Meridian presenter, Debbie Thrower and John Ryall has been speaking to former weather presenter, Ron Lobeck.

Watch this report by Sally Simmonds on a Meridian legend Debbie Thrower.

Watch this report by John Ryall on a Meridian weather legend Ron Lobneck.

How we became Meridian News...

The company had been deemed the best applicant by the Independent Television Commission (ITC - now Ofcom) in the process that saw all the ITV licences around the country going under the hammer during 1992.

TVS (Television South), who had won the licence from Southern Television in 1982, broadcast for the last time on New Year's Eve in 1992. At the stroke of midnight it was out with the old and in with the new - Meridian went live with a special programme detailing what programmes they would be delivering to this region - including how they would divide the region into three for news coverage, providing more local coverage than TVS' dual-region approach.

The new company had won the auction with a bid of £36.5 million, considerably lower than the TVS bid of £59.8 million, but the higher bid was rejected as being unsustainable. TVS was not alone as a losing incumbent, TV-AM lost to Sunrise (later GMTV), Thames Television lost to Carlton and in the south-west, TSW lost to Westcountry Television.