The end of Fred Dineage and Meridian News

[The Wookiee]

Whilst a news room with a webcam link is at Maidstone I was led to belive that the Presenters Studio at 6.00pm is actually in Hampshire somewhere north of Portsmouth.

I thought there was a huge Meridian studio in Maidstone just off the M20 nr Berstead ?

 

[Easy 10]

What little respect I had for Fred Dineage evaporated when I learned he has built up the largest collection of corkscrews in Britain (something like 650). He keeps them stashed in a series of elaborate display cabinets within a converted barn just outside Havant.

What a tool.

 

[The Oldman]

I thought there was a huge Meridian studio in Maidstone just off the M20 nr Berstead ?

From Wikipedia:


The South and South-East regions produce their own editions of the flagship news magazine Meridian Tonight (6pm weeknights), alongside further Meridian News bulletins throughout the day. Only during GMTV are there pan-regional bulletins, which are now branded GMTV News as they now also cover all of the Thames Valley region. The sub-regions have their own local advertisements too, but otherwise, programmes across the whole Meridian region are identical. All of the bulletins for all three regions come from studios in the same building in Whiteley, Hampshire. Some consider this controversial, particularly as the Meridian South East programme for Kent, East Sussex and South Essex is presented by anchors from a studio in Hampshire, 60 miles from the nearest part of the South East region (Brighton) and 160 miles from its furthest point (Broadstairs). This practice isn't a new one, though, as Anglia have always broadcast both of their editions of Anglia News/Anglia Tonight from Norwich for the east and west of the region since their inception in 1990, covering a geographical area roughly the same size in length as Meridian's. However, it is only the technical production and transmission end of the programmes that is centred in Whiteley - the main south-east newsroom and the reporters are based at The Maidstone Studios in Kent and the programme editorial decisions are made there. The model has been extended to Thames Valley Tonight, which is also produced at the Whiteley headquarters, with the former Central South studio in Abingdon as its newsroom and editorial hub.

 

[eastie]

I live in Eastbourne and all we get from our local ITV Meridian is bloody Gillingham, Southend and Charlton

 

[SurreySeagulls]

I still miss Jack Hargreaves - but I think he was South Today so not relevant

 

[The Oldman]

I still miss Jack Hargreaves - but I think he was South Today so not relevant

I agree. Still miss. A quality show. It was on Southern TV the original ITV franchise for the South.

 

[Storer68]

This is complete b*llocks - it is simply a way to save money by making ITV a national programme (like the BBC only worse) and avoid the tedious and frankly rather embarassing attempts at localism (i.e for Gods sake find a local angle on this national story however spurious and sad)

Agreed. but given they have lost 30% of their revenue stream after the collapse of their Premium Rate competitions (and are we not awaiting a MASSIVE multi million pound fine for GMTV) then presumably something has to go.

 

[Storer68]

I thought there was a huge Meridian studio in Maidstone just off the M20 nr Berstead ?

175 jobs go in Meridian 'massacre'


Jason Deans
Thursday November 20, 2003
MediaGuardian.co.uk


Staff numbers at Granada's Meridian subsidiary are to be decimated, with 175 jobs - half of the total headcount - going in a major reorganisation that has provoked the fury of broadcasting unions.
The massive job cuts, which were described as a "massacre" by one union official, form part of plans announced today to shift the ITV south coast broadcaster from Southampton to a new £6m state of the art facility near Fareham.

Granada is also closing the network factual and sports production departments in Southampton and moving the work to London.

Granada's plans for Meridian have been laid over many months. But the scale of the proposed redundancies will alarm critics of the company's merger with Carlton, who believe the creation of ITV plc can only be bad for the network's commitment to regional programming.

Carlton and Granada have promised to find savings of £55m a year from the merger and today's announcement by Meridian will be seen as a precursor to further job cuts at ITV regional broadcasting operations around the country.

Granada is considering a similar move for its Manchester operation from its old Quay Street headquarters to a nearby warehouse that would be fitted out with state of the art production facilities.

The NUJ national broadcasting organiser, Paul McLaughlin, said the Meridian proposals were "not so much a retreat as a stampede" by Granada from its commitment to regional news.

"Is this their view of regional broadcasting - that you halve the workforce and still provide a service for viewers? You cannot lose that magnitude of jobs without affecting output," Mr McLaughlin said.

Bectu broadcasting official Sharon Elliott added: "It's a massacre of the programme-making capacity of Meridian. Since being taken over by Granada in 2000, Meridian staff have dealt with round after round of cost cutting and restructuring.

"If Granada is serious about retaining production capacity in the regions that can help reinvigorate ITV, then this is not the way of going about it."

But Lindsay Charlton, the managing director of Meridian, defended the proposals, saying it would lead to a "greater emphasis and investment in journalism in order to continue our high quality news service in our region".

"Our current premises are impractical, sprawling and completely out of date for our needs. Many of the staff have been working for years in Portacabins with outdated technology," Mr Charlton said.

"Our commitment to public service broadcasting providing the best quality news, current affairs and diverse regional programmes is as strong as ever. We believe that with the right technology and training we will be able to deliver a more robust service whilst still maintaining our high editorial standards," he added.

Meridian's regional programming operation, which produces eight and a half hours of news, current affairs and features output per week, is to become part of the ITV News division headed by Carlton's Clive Jones under the merger.

Granada has sanctioned a £6m investment in Meridian's new headquarters, which will be on an 18,000sq ft site on the Solent Business Park near the M27, outside Fareham.

The new regional broadcasting centre will be kitted out with the latest production technology, allowing journalists and producers to move from tape-based to a less labour intensive desktop editing system.

As a result Meridian said it expected more multi-skilling, with journalists getting more involved in filming and production. But redundancies are anticipated among editors, camera operators and graphics staff.

The scale of the redundancies at Meridian are expected to hit all areas of the company, including studio and post production staff, as well as "backroom" departments such as admin, IT, finance, personnel and sales.

Meridian is planning to undertake a statutory 90-day consultation period on the proposed redundancies, which are expected to take place over the next 12 months.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Whilst a news room with a webcam link is at Maidstone I was led to belive that the Presenters Studio at 6.00pm is actually in Hampshire somewhere north of Portsmouth.

Well when I watch the morning News it is very Kentcentric..but hey, I'm still half asleep so it may as well be from f***ing Narnia for all I care.

And there is a big old Meridian Broadcasting place as you go into Maidstone..or did I imagine it it is possible.

 

[H block]

I like Fred he is a legend, I will be sad the day he retires, I always take my daughter to his sand castle competions in Littlehampton. He is a really top bloke same as sports presenter Belvers he is all for the Albion getting plenty of coverage.

I think he has always come across as impartial when it comes to football. Not bad seeing he is/was a Pompey director.