TTTV 1959-2002
~ Tyne Tees Television ~
Tyne Tees Television began broadcasting the ITV service for the North East of England on January 15th 1959. From the studios in City Road in Newcastle, Tyne Tees served the North East well for over 30 years. It was only when Yorkshire bought them out in the early 90s that things began to deteriorate and now, under Granada, Tyne Tees has been relegated to little more than a name which occasionally pops up, based in a tiny outfit by the Metro Centre. I did have clips from *nearly* every ident on here until quite recently, however I decided to remove some of them as the quality was so poor. I did contact Michael who originally sent me them, in the hope we would grab some higher quality versions, however the address keeps bouncing. If anybody with a TV-card can help fill in any of the gaps in the 70s and 80s, PLEASE see the contacts page.
Tyne Tees - 1959
This was the logo used by Tyne Tees, from its launch night in 1959, until the advent of colour in 1969. This clip originates from the start of The Big Move programme in 2005, and is one TTTV love to dig out whenever they're looking at the history of the station.
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Tyne Tees - 1992
Skipping forward to the 90s, this was one of three similar idents introduced after the Generic ITV look was dropped. The first one in 1991 featured the same animation as this, but with a black background at the end. This was slightly changed in January 1992 to the multicoloured background shown here. In May, the logo was slightly changed again, this time to a blueish background.
Tyne Tees - Late 1992
Later on in 1992, the logo was changed again, and was the first signs of Yorkshire meddling. This time the change was dramatic. We lost the good old joined-up letters of TTTV, and the music changed. We haven't seen the old design since. Perhaps an omen indicating how the station itself would never be the same again under new ownership.
Channel 3 NE - 1996
On September 2nd 1996 Yorkshire decided to totally rebrand Tyne Tees. They chose to refer to it as Channel 3 North East, and spent a small fortune in promoting the new name. Needless to say it was a total disaster, with this proving to be the most hated ident of all.
Channel 3 NE Long - 1996
A longer and more powerful version of the ident, introduced a little later in 1997.
Channel 3 NE Short - 1996
This third file shows the very quick version of the Channel 3 North East ident.
Tyne Tees - 1998
Although they had put a lot of effort into the relaunch, Channel 3 North East had to be abandoned in 1998, after a poor response from people who didn't like having a 'Channel 3 Identity'. TTTV was quietly re-introduced in March 1998, with the same music, but a lot less animation. All this was courtesy of Granada, who had taken over the Yorkshire Tyne Tees operation, and were quietly appeasing the viewers until the bigger changes several years later.
ITV Tyne Tees - 2001
In 1999, once again, a generic ITV logo appeared on our screens. This time ITV had the theme of Television from the heart, hence all the hearts in the background. Similar branding was extended to promos and credits.
Tyne Tees - 2000
Despite the generic look, Tyne Tees weren't quite beat yet. In September 2000, they introduced their own new design, following the look through in regional adverts and news bulletins. This was, sadly, to be the last truly regional ident, and only ever appeared before regional ident, despite its superior quality. This is the standard version with The Angel of The North. There was also a sports version. This remained in use until October 2002.
ITV1 Tyne Tees - 2001
On the 11th August 2001, ITV changed its name to ITV1, to 'reflect the fact that they were now a family of services, rather than just a channel' (marketing blurb!). The idents were slightly modified, and this shortened version was introduced on all GMG north stations. The full hearts version was still used, but was VERY rare. This remained in use alongside the regional Tyne Tees ident until the 27/10/2002.
ITV1 Xmas - 2000
Christmas 2001 came, and for the first time in several years, Granada introduced a Christmas ident. However, there was a downside. The Tyne Tees name is nowhere to be seen, although we still heard the voiceover mentioning it sometimes. Could Granada have been testing the water for the upcoming regional name abolition?
ITV1 Brits - 2002
A special ITV1 ident used on the night of the Brit Awards(21/2/2002). Like the Xmas ident, it has no mention of a region name. A sign of the future for the poor North East station.
ITV1 Jubilee - 2002
A third special ident, this time for the Golden Jubilee, once again with no regional branding. Just a warm up for the final goodbye in the autumn. Co-incidentally, notice the brief flash of the news is stretched. This is because the Leeds centre couldn't seem to get the hang of these special idents, and would always fed out anamorphic idents (16:9 squashed to 4:3) to lead into 4:3 programmes.
~ Acknowledgements ~