As we’ve mentioned in another thread, ATV was partly Australian-owned in the 1980s and used a station image campaign (theme and slogan) familiar from Australian regional TV:
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… which, well… less said about the relaunch the better, although gaining Mike Neville apparently was a coup for them. But it was telling that they inflicted that on Tyne Tees, yet got cold feet at trying to rebrand a much stronger brand (in name and with the chevron) in Yorkshire with it - they did one version that combined the “3” with the chevron, but that got chopped pretty quickly afaict. Even got cold feet removing the Tyne Tees name completely. So why bother, almost. 
Bruce Gyngell was involved in that too, after his time at TV-am… which may explain why he thought re-branding it as a channel number a la Australia might’ve worked [of course the Thatcherite reforms had long meant ITV was called “Channel 3” licence-wise, so the name was hardly “new” technically]… but what they did was half-cooked at best - their image promo had nice ideas; I’d seen suggestions where they could’ve cut it up and had a similar idea to the ITV “TV from the Heart” idents from a couple of years later. But they didn’t; they just filled time to the news with it. More’s the pity.
Instead they got comparisons to Europe (and, well, Viasat’s TV3 network looked better :P). Almost have to look at the last look of Irish TV3 [before they became Virgin Media TV a few years ago] to find something less imaginative.
Not that C3NE would’ve lasted anyway even if it stuck; Yorkshire-TTTV were hardly big enough to resist Granada’s siren call, no matter what they were branded.
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And here’s a brief look back at the history of Canada AM, which was launched in 1972:
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Here’s another funny one, featuring former NBA star and Senator Bill Bradley:
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The bit where Keith Olbermann rubbishes Bradley speaking at the Democratic National Convention takes on a whole new meaning nowadays…
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And the idea they came up with on Yorkshire, although it would never have been used like this much because of no room for the continuity announcer (again, it’s possible they could’ve used it before Calendar at 6pm and that’s it, like TTTV/C3NE did with their image promo and North East Tonight). They did cut it down to leave just the chevron spinning - but they did leave the tiny hints of “3” in the background.
[edit: apparently that was a voiceover-less version… there was a version that had a pre-baked voiceover of “Come home to Channel 3… Yorkshire Television” or along those lines. But again, a tad long to wait for a clean version before the continuity announcer could pop in after the crescendo.]
Credit to whoever originally managed the ITV and/or Yorkshire pages on TV Ark; I’d link there but they’re still not exactly fully up yet so there’s not a place to link to:
And this endcap showing both logos kinda shows which of the stations was seen as the “lesser” in the whole Yorkshire-TTTV shebang… (source, though dunno where they got it from), would have no clue what show this was for but the lack of “ITV” suggests this was for a regional show, just played across both parts of Yorkshire-TTTV territory.
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And of course, who can forget this mess…
(From here)
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A 1983 news promo for WBNB in the U.S. Virgin Islands:
(Six years later, the station was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo and its owners decided not to rebuild it.)
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Here’s a tribute to the station; it includes plenty of historical footage as well as some video of the post-Hugo destruction:
Here’s an interesting thread about TV in the Virgin Islands from the 1970s onward:
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/threads/virgin-islands-tv-in-the-70s.628461/
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From 1992, here’s CNN’s International Hour, which aired on both CNN U.S. and CNN International:
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Well, historically, Multimedios/XHAW has been regarded as a superstation targeted at the Northeast of the country; for many years, their only station outside Monterrey was a rebroadcaster in nearby Saltillo. However, with the liberalization of the TV industry in Mexico triggered by the privatisation of state-run commercial network Imevisión into TV Azteca, and the increased roll-out of cable TV led to Multimedios getting additional transmitters, first in the nearby states of Coahuila and Tamaulipas.
For many years, Multimedios was known as “Imagen Familiar”, and had a schedule similar to those of pre-Fox era independent stations, mixing lots of local content with syndicated off-network reruns picked up from Televisa’s archive, mainly dubbed American series and Mexican old films. However, as its coverage increased, the channel began increasing the number of local content, alongside the roll-out of local news opt-outs. By the 90s, the channel had a large number of original content, although it was much less downmarket than it is now.
The radical switch to downmarket content came after three stages: Las Noches del Fútbol, which was originally a summary of the weekend matches played by local soccer teams, quickly became a adult-oriented entertainment variety show and made its host, Ernesto Chavana, a local star almost immediately; the second dubious move was the hiring of Mario “Mayito” Bezares, whose daily show, Acábatelo, quickly tested the limits of decency allowed in mid-afternoon TV; finally, Multimedios transformed a secondary channel, XHSAW 64, into a younger-oriented channel, Altavisión, which quickly skyrocketed in the ratings thanks to its trashy output, including a show hosted by influencer Poncho de Nigris, which was basically nonsense. These moves led to Multimedios’ schedule being dramatically changed, with most of its programming being live, but all sharing this dubious variety of content policy.
Even the newscasts, named Telediario (not related to TVE’s newscasts, but rather to a co-owned newspaper, which was originally known as Diario de Monterrey, but was renamed Milenio in 2000, after expanding to Mexico City), suffered the consequences of this dramatic transformation. The content became much more tabloid and American in style, in a sense similar to WSVN’s (in)famous 7NEWS “if it bleeds, it leads” format. Newsreaders such as Maria Julia Lafuente and Arq. Héctor Benavides began heavily editorialising during the broadcasts, at a level similar to any Sky News or Fox pundit. In the case of Lafuente, she is now more regarded by her clash with co-anchor Luis Carlos Ugalde on Monterrey’s soccer teams. Additionally, many of Multimedios’ presenters have ran into hot water over controversial or inappropriate comments uttered on-air.
When the channel expanded to Mexico City and other states of the country, the announcement was made with enormous backlash from media insiders. Monterrey audiences, feeling the channel only transmits a stereotyped image of the Monterrey population, asked Mexico City viewers to not watch the channel. When they arrived into Mexico City, the Monterrey-style concept of content didn’t cater to the large city’s tastes, more accustomed to watch national TV networks. After some months, the channel quickly took steps to increase decentralisation of its schedules and cater local tastes, with the northern fringe (broadcast from Monterrey) receiving a schedule with more original content, and the southern fringe (based in Mexico City) with an increased number of branded content shows and acquired non-fiction programming from Warner Bros. Discovery and Lucha Libre AAA.
The channel, up until the 2000s, had a quite unpolished brand identity, however, the channel adopted in 2005 a new look for its entertainment and news programming, designed by now-defunct agency Giant Octopus; as part of the changes, Multimedios signed a deal with Stephen Arnold Music for its music provision, composing new musical cues for the channel’s presentation and licensing Overture for its Telediario shows. Since 2015, Multimedios’ theme music is composed internally.
The gradual expansion of Multimedios into other cities led to the channel launching a satellite edition of the network in 2008, which is catered exclusively to airing the channel’s original content. This is also distributed to Costa Rica, where Multimedios has a local channel in the San José metropolitan area, although with local content cut-ins.
Additionally, Multimedios launched a news channel, branded under its Milenio newspaper. The news channel initially focused on a format similar to that of BBC World News, with half-hour news bulletins produced from Monterrey or Mexico City (in an alternate basis) mixed with back half-hours of topical content leveraging the paper’s verticals; since 2016, the channel has strictly focused on rolling news, although some topical shows and long-form content remain, specially in prime time. The channel’s original branding was designed by RenderOn, with music provided by Stephen Arnold Music for its daytime fringe content (News Matrix).
In 2017, Milenio received a large scale rebrand with new graphics from RenderOn, and a new music package produced internally. This package was heavily modified in 2019, after the channel aligned visually with the newspaper.
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A full edition of French news channel LCI’s midnight newscast, aired by corporate sibling TF1 in the early hours of 17 September 1998. The bulletin is presented by Damien Givelet. The graphics were very minimalistic.
An excerpt of Chilevision’s defunct news service MundoVision in November 1994, read by Carolina Jimenez.
Finally, some promos and continuity from the very first day of LWT’s refreshing new look in late August 1996. Trish Bertram voices the ident.
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I recently got my hands on a 1980 Vermont edition TV Guide, so I thought I might share a few pages from the magazine here.
(Click on the images if they’re too small to read here.)
First, here’s a review of CNN, which had launched a few months earlier:
And here’s the channel lineup for the Vermont edition. There are no cable channels listed because cable was still rare in the largely rural state, but there because Vermont borders Canada (and the Montreal skyline can even be seen from some higher elevations of the state), there were no fewer than eight Canadian stations listed, both English and French:
Some random pages from the daily listings:
And finally, here’s ad ad for the news on WCAX, Burlington’s CBS affiliate (serving virtually all of Vermont and parts of northeastern New York State):
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A historical compilation of news opens from KBS in South Korea from the 1960s to the recently introduced look already discussed in the “International News” thread:
In 1981, WAGA in Atlanta changed its branding from News Scene to Eyewitness News and announced the change in a promotional video, which provides an interesting glimpse behind the scenes of early '80s TV news:
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An ATV News at 8 opening in Hong Kong, 1983:
Rare to see ATV at this stage putting some effort in designing the visual branding, rather than just putting some text.
(I may sound like an ATV fan here😂 but I think it’s more interesting to look at pres-wise, cos its near-constant management changes and minor position in TV market!)
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Here’s the station’s English-language news from 1980, when ATV was still known as RTV (Rediffusion Television):
You can see some photos of the old RTV HERE.
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Hey @Medianext.MX, Do you know MTV2 UK/Europe had its own texting show called TXT Drugs N Rock N Roll?
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What do you get when you take Frank Gari’s famous Hello [place name] campaign theme from the 1980s…
…and combine it with “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” from Dirty Dancing…
…or at least a melody that sounds suspiciously like it? Well, you get this unusual version of Hello Calgary heard on CICT:
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One 1970s news open from every American state:
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I’m afraid not, I’m really sorry.
A bit of an obscure piece of American TV history: during the analog cable era, there was a channel called Prevue, a popular barker TV channel which was almost universally available on their lineups. The channel was created by the United Video Satellite Group, which was the distributor of the superstation feed of Chicago’s WGN (later evolving as a conventional cable network, WGN America, and now known as NewsNation), and was formed as a side project to allow UVSG to use the spare capacity on their Satcom transponder. Initially known as the EPG Channel, it initially offered a full-screen scrolling program listings grid (which would become the centerpiece of the channel for most of its history); cable operators were also allowed to vary the features of its channel, including adding scrolling text advertisements and a ticker. Initially functioning on Atari machines, it soon switched to Amiga-based machines, including the launch of EPG Sr., which added a split-screen function to its software by the late 80s, initially displaying more detailed ads.
The success of the EPG led to UVSG to form a special unit, Trakker, which would be renamed Prevue Networks Inc. by 1988. That same year, the EPG Sr. was upgraded to an Amiga 2000-based machine, receiving the ability to display video promos of TV programs in the top half of the screen, with accompanying sound and the ability to display schedule information in the opposite side of the screen, as well as adding color-coded spaces for sport and film programming and weather forecast information inside the grid. Alongside this development, the EPG Channel gained more of its own identity, being renamed Prevue Guide and adding short interstitial programming related to the TV industry and to the channel’s schedules.
During 1993, the channel received a two-phased facelift: by March, the grid had been relaunched and reorganised; the log list design of the grid was replaced by a table-based design, and received a new navy blue color palette and a custom font; this is the channel’s best remembered grid design. By Christmas, the channel was renamed Prevue Guide and received new interstitial music and designs.
With the advent of cable television in other countries and the imminent arrival of digital cable, Prevue greatly expanded, providing the first operators (including TCI) a special IPG interface using Prevue’s programming and scheduling data; additionally, it launched a special feed for Latin American cable operators, featuring mostly programming previews. This feed transitioned to a new Windows NT machine by 1997, due to the massive technical problems of the Amiga 2000-based machines, which tended to crash frequently; this version lacked scrolling abilities, but would serve as a pilot for a new eventual scrolling grid, which would debut after things began changing.
In February 1998, Prevue remodeled its look to reflect the company’s increased focus on launching content designed for new media. The new look, designed by Pittard Sullivan, reflected a new, youthful and cyberpunk-style era for the channel, including the launch of a strict hour wheel format. Then, in June, UVSG bought TV Guide from News Corp, resulting on the group selling its non-Prevue assets by the end of the year. On February 1, 1999, the Prevue channel was renamed TV Guide Channel, and relaunched its hour wheel schedule to include more pop culture and industry-related news content and features; later in the year, the channel received new Windows NT-based grids, codenamed Hollywood, with a striking yellow design and improved features, plus the ability for off-air routine maintenance. By the end of the year, Gemstar, a Chinese-American company which had plagiarised many of Prevue’s patents, forcibly took over UVSG and TV Guide. This led to the settlement of legal lawsuits related to the plagiarism accusations, and Gemstar absorbed Prevue/TV Guide’s own VCR and interactive hardware patents into its own.
With the increasing availability of digital cable and the Internet, Prevue/TV Guide Channel’s original purpose began to be less important. As a result, the channel began airing more full-length content related to industry and pop culture (similar to E!'s programming at the time) and the grid began to occupy less space on air to allow for programming. This led to some major cable operators ending its relationship with TV Guide and establishing its own scrolling guide channels. By 2007, the channel’s schedule was fully made of entertainment-related shows and paid programming, and was duly renamed TV Guide Network. However, it began adding more off-network repeats to its programming over time. The grid designs also began to be altered, with a blue grid appearing in 2003, a navy one in 2004, and a definitive silver grid by 2005; this was also adopted by the Latin American operations after dropping the first generation Windows NT software and adopting the Hollywood hardware, which remained airing programming previews.
Gestar was acquired by Macrovision in 2008 and was renamed Rovi; given the new company wanted to focus on the software side of the business, they sold the TV Guide brands (including the network) to One Equity Partners (the magazine was separately sold to OpenGate Capital, with a licensing agreement to use the brand). One Equity Partners would resell the channel to Lionsgate Television by the end of 2009; this move and the economical crisis would result on the channel suspending most original shows and the increased presence of off-network repeats. The channel also began to gradually drop the grid element of the channel due to the omnipresence of similar services on digital cable and online; those who retained the grid were mostly minor cable companies, and received an update which shrinked even more the size of the grid to allow for an anamorphic widescreen presentation of the channel’s content. By 2011, 75% of cable systems had already dropped the grid.
However, that same year, Lionsgate cancelled the rest of the channel’s originals, focusing entirely on off-network repeats; additionally, it turned less attention to the channel after having recently taken over Summit Entertainment. By 2012, Lionsgate announced plans to sell a stake of the channel, which it did after CBS Corporation (then independent) bought a 50% stake. The channel was renamed TVGN in 2013, re-adding original content, mostly produced by CBS-owned Entertainment Tonight, along with repeats of CBS entertainment and reality shows and specials. This was a temporary measure, however, as CBS and Lionsgate renamed the channel to its current brand, Pop, at the start of 2015.
Although the final carriage agreements which specified the requirement of the scrolling grid expired in 2014, some smaller cable operators still carried this element up until 2016. Currently, Pop is wholly owned by CBS Corporation successor Paramount, as CBS had bought Lionsgate’s stake shortly before the re-merger with Viacom.
In some smaller cable operators in Latin America, a Software Only version of the Hollywood grid software remained in use up until 2016 too:
And now, here’s a quick montage of some of Prevue/TV Guide’s idents and openers used during its history:
Excuses for the very long post, but I don’t think this has been covered in the forum. Before I leave, here’s a trailer for a documentary by a YouTube user and Prevue enthusiast, D.J.R. Saunders, which is making a documentary on the history of this particular kind of channel; it is set to premiere later this year on his own user channel:
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