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9.30am and ATV (actually
ABC, but we'll stick with ATV for the sake of consistency) are on the air.
Morning programmes consist solely of this 'family magazine', Week-end. The
family bit seems misplaced - this looks like a programme aimed at housewives, an
audience that, it was to turn out, were not present in front of the television
at that time.
As ATV began to lose
more and more money - though not as much as Associated Rediffusion, they got
nearer bankruptcy than their weekday rival - one of the first things to suffer
was Week-end. With no real audience, or at least not enough for reluctant advertisers,
morning programmes rapidly evaporated.
The experience was to
have profound effects on ITV's treatment of morning television. When the
rules on hours were abolished in the 1970s, the companies extended into the
afternoons and later into the night, but avoided the period before 0930 because
of the experience ATV had early on. It would take the IBA placing a new
contractor in the spot before anyone would realise its potential.
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