North East Of England - When Did They First Get Itv?

[Lynn_M]

Tyne-Tees Television first went on air on 15 January 1959, but did the people of that region have to wait that long for commercial tv broadcasts? Were other ITV companies broadcasting in the North East before then?

One thing I do know, it wouldn't have been enough to own a tv; you had to have a special aerial to receive the broadcasts, as it was when BBC 2 was introduced. In fact, I believe you had to have an up to date tv and a BBC2 aerial to receive BBC 2!

[Buenchico]

The North-East wasnt particularly late to get ITV in 1959:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Independent_Television_ITV_regional_map_1962-1964.png

The only independent TV service that would have been available to people in the area prior to that date would have been 'fringe area' reception of Granada (weekdays) and ABC (weekends) which might have been available to some people in the far south of the region who had paid quite a lot of money for an external VHF TV aerial which had more elements than a standard model, such as this one:
http://www.sub-tv.co.uk/pics/aerials/VHFTV-X.jpg
(or who used a 'stack' of several such aerials together).

You need to remember that not everyone rushed to get commercial TV. There was fierce opposition to the passing of the 1954 Television Act which made it possible; commercial TV was viewed by many as an American concept, which they believed had no place in British society.

As Methyl has indicated, TV transmissions prior to the introduction of BBC2 were transmitted on VHF frequencies, using 405 lines. BBC2 was broadcast in higher definition (625 lines) on UHF frequencies. So viewers needed a new TV set (in order to have 625 lines) and a new aerial (to be able to 'resonate' with UHF frequencies).

[tonymclark]

In our household, we couldn't get BBC2 until around 1972 when we got a new colour TV, which was able to take the 625-line transmissions. Our old black & white TV was only receiving 405-line broadcasts.