Concerned with the huge profits being made by the major companies, their lack of regional identity for the most part, and, perhaps, the reduction in respect being offered to the ITA, Hill and his officers decided on a bombshell.

At a stroke, they:

• Abolished the 5 day - 2 day split in the Midlands and the North, in favour of 7 day operations;
• Split the North down the middle of the Pennines, creating two new 7 day regions, Yorkshire and Lancashire;
• Divided London at 7pm on Fridays, giving a four-and-a-half day - two-and-a-half day split to even out the income between the two competing companies;
• Designated Wales and the West (an artificial region caused by the prevailing geography) as a dual region, with a bilingual service for Wales and a General service for South Wales and the West of England, formalising and refining the system already in place since 1965.

The ITA then advertised the new contracts. All existing contractors as well as newcomers would have to apply, listing in order of preference the 5 regions they most wanted. Hill already had a shape in his mind for the new system - working by region rather than network control, with access to the network available to all that wanted it. Hill and the ITA also had a (unwritten) plan for the contracts. ATV was to be punished for its populism and excess profits - the loss of London, perhaps even its whole contract. Rediffusion would be rebuked for complacency. ABC would be rewarded after an impressive first contract. The non-locally owned regional companies restructured or removed. Perhaps, a sacrifice might be made somewhere in the system, to show that the ITA was in charge, and demonstrate that ITV contracts were not permanent.

This changed the ethos of the system forever.

Of the companies reapplying, there were few surprises. ATV knew that it had no hope of retaining London, so chose Midlands 7-days its as first choice, with London weekends as second. ABC confidently chose them the other way round, with Yorkshire third for good measure. Granada, its region split in two, decided that Manchester was where their heart was. Failing that, Leeds would do. Rediffusion was over-confident of London weekdays, but would have settled for southern England.

Newcomers applied for the major regions plus the new Yorkshire region, as well as Wales and western England, central Scotland, southern England and south-west England.

It was two of the three newcomers that were to cause the problems. The Yorkshire contract went to the Blackpool-based Telefusion group, on the understanding that it was to become local by merging with the unsuccessful Yorkshire Independent Television consortium to become Yorkshire Television. But the bombshells were in London and Wales.

Lord Hill's plans - Rediffusion on weekdays, ABC on weekends - were ruined by the London Television Consortium (later LWT). This powerful group of the great and the good in the media world would have to be given a contract if the system was fair. The solution was to force Rediffusion and ABC to merge, creating a new London weekday station. Because ABC was the system's golden boy, and because of Rediffusion's appalling interview, 51% would go to ABC, leaving Rediffusion with a minority share.

In Wales and the west of England, another dazzling group appeared - the Harlech consortium. This was a finer point for the ITA and Hill, but faced with an application from TWW in the joint names of TWW and WWN (WWN being the loss-making north Wales station TWW had absorbed earlier in the decade, but had kept going as a tax break) and the fact that TWW was London-based rather than regionally-owned, plus the need for a sacrifice in the system, forced Hill to kill the London-run station. TWW did not go quietly unto the Harlech dark. But then, the noise made by the other stations, new, restructured, untouched or moved also reverberated around the media world for the next year.

All of these machinations were recorded by the press of the time. The Transdiffusion Broadcasting System collected the cuttings, and now Photomusications offers you an insight into the Radio Doctor's prescription.

	The stock market replies to Hill
	Changes on the banks of the Thames
	All good things suddenly end