GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Limited, was the name of the national ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc in November 2009.ITV buys remaining 25 pct stake in GMTV Reuters report on Interactive Investor, 26 November 2009 Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end. The final edition of GMTV was broadcast on 3 September 2010.
GMTV transmitted daily from 6 am with GMTV's weekday breakfast magazine programme GMTV broadcasting until 8:25 (9:25 on Friday), followed by GMTV with Lorraine (Monday to Thursday), until the regional ITV franchises took over at 9:25 am. In later years, the switchover was practically seamless and the station was 'surrounded' in the most part by ITV Network continuity on either side of transmission. Consequently, most viewers perceived GMTV simply as a programme on ITV; however, until the complete buyout by ITV plc., it was essentially an independent broadcaster with its own news-gathering operation, sales and management teams and in-house production team. GMTV also broadcast its own children's programmes, independent from CITV until Boohbah was cross-promoted on both sides, with different credits for each.
History
Creation
By 1990 TV-am, the ITV breakfast television franchise holder, was among the most profitable television stations in the world. Its success attracted rivals in the 1991 ITV franchise auctions. GMTV outbid TV-am in the auction with £34 million.Winners and Losers. The Times, Thursday, 17 October 1991; pg. 4 It was backed by LWT, STV, Disney, and the Guardian Media Group. GMTV promised a 'cheerful morning and with more information' - termed the 'F-factor'. A new children's news bulletin was to be broadcast at 7:20 am every morning, while at 8:50 am during the week, a new female-led format was also planned.Sunrise offers good cheer and more information. The Times (London, England), Thursday, 17 October 1991 Carlton bought a 20% stake in the consortium in November 1991.Sunrise brings in Carlton to conclude breakfast TV deal. Georgina Herny Madia Editor The Guardian; 23 November 1991 GMTV was originally intended to be called 'Sunrise Television', but as Sky News' breakfast programming also went by that name (and did so until 2019), Sky protested, resulting in the change of name.
In May 1992, GMTV was criticised after unveiling its plans for a more family orientated format with business and city news being dropped. Director of Programmes Lis Howell stated:
GMTV also turned down an offer from David Frost to continue with his Sunday morning programme, instead choosing to introduce a new leisure programme about family matters, as it believed 'TV-am flung its audience away on Sundays'.TV-am successor offers 'soft news' Georgian Henry Media Editor The Guardian; 20 May 1992
Broadcasting
The first edition of GMTV was broadcast on 1 January 1993, presented by Eamonn Holmes and Anne Davies. Its main weekday presenters at its launch were Fiona Armstrong and Michael Wilson (Monday to Thursday), broadcast from Studio 5 at The London Studios on the South Bank.
Within six weeks of broadcasting, the station had lost 2 million viewers. Mark Lawson of The Independent dubbed the new franchise 'Grinning Morons Television'. Channel 4, previously an insignificant competitor to TV-am, had become very popular from September 1992 with The Big Breakfast, and continued to increase its audience. Greg Dyke was appointed chairman of the GMTV board and tasked with overhauling the station format, which included 'more popular journalism'. His role was primarily to bring new and imaginative ideas to the station without taking on full day-to-day running.GMTV brings in new chief to halt slide. Andrew Culf Media Correspondent The Guardian (1959–2003); 20 February 1993; Within three days, Howell had resigned; Dyke had refused to endorse any of her programming strategy for GMTV. Her replacement was Peter McHugh.Programmes director quits beleaguered GMTV. Andrew Gulf Media Correspondent The Guardian (1959–2003); 23 February 1993;GMTV brings in new chief to halt slide. Andrew Culf Media Correspondent The Guardian; P5 February 20, 1993;
On 8 February,GMTV banking on reshuffle on the sofa and Nintendo cartoon to boost ratings Andrew Culf Media Correspondent The Guardian (1959–2003); 5 February 1993 following continued poor ratings, Wilson had moved to present a new 'news-focused' slot from 6 to 7am (which in 1994 became the "Reuters News Hour"). Armstrong continued to co-present with Holmes until 12 March,Fiona Armstrong quits GMTV to spend more time with family: Andrew Culf Media Correspondent: The Guardian; 16 March 1993 Armstrong was replaced by Lorraine Kelly, with her former position as presenter of the post 9am slot Top of the Morning taken up by Fern Britton.
On 19 April, GMTV was revamped, including a new set that mimicked that of TV-am.Breakfast battle hots up. Fiddick, Peter The Guardian P12; 12 April 1993; Sally Meen become the new weather presenter while Penny Smith became the main newsreader, joining from Sky News.Fresh faces on GMTV. The Times, Friday, 2 April 1993;
Within the first six months, GMTV had reported £10 million losses which was double that it initially budgeted for.LWT share deal could create 15 management millionaires. Martin Flanagan. The Times, Friday, 30 July 1993; In early September, GMTV approached the Independent Television Commission (ITC) regarding the possibility of decreasing its quota of news. Just two months earlier, the ITC had criticised the company for being 'too entertainment-led', expressing concerns about other programme areas. The ITC said: 'They [GMTV] will have to put forward a strong case for changing the licence based on the viewers' preferences.'Struggling GMTV aims to cut news. Alexandra Frean Media Correspondent. The Times, Friday, 3 September 1993 The request was denied, and by the end of its first year on air, the ITC had issued GMTV a formal warning for its 'unsatisfactory performance'.TV watchdog condemns quality of programmes. Alexandra Frean, Media Correspondent. The Times, Friday, 27 May 1994
A final warning was given in May 1994; GMTV would face a fine of £2 million unless standards improved. The ITC acknowledged that considerable improvements had taken place up to the start of that year, but its news bulletins continued to be 'unsatisfactory, and initially too short to cover depth or authority', adding: 'its current affairs and children's material did not meet the aspirations... in terms of quality or production.' As part of the package to rectify the issues, American children's television series Barney & Friends was introduced, in addition to the "Reuters News Hour" and an upmarket Sunday morning programme.Dinosaur follows rat as 'poor' GMTV tries to avoid £2m fine. Culf, Andrew The Guardian (1959–2003); 27 May 1994; By 1994, GMTV had achieved high enough standards to avoid the fineQuality rise by GMTV removes threat of fine Andrew Culf Media Correspondent The Guardian (1959–2003); 16 September 1994; and for the first time, had made a profit.GMTV seeks to expand as it moves towards profit for first time. Andrew Culf Media Correspondent. The Guardian (1959–2003); 15 December 1994;
In July 1994, Anthea Turner joined GMTV to present - along with Mr. Motivator - the summer holiday feature Fun in the Sun, before being paired up with Holmes to present the main programme shortly afterwards.Pulsing pectorals add to toned upTV station's buoyant breakfast mood. Culf, Andrew. The Guardian; 22 June 1994; Turner left the station on 24 December 1996, after a dramatic falling out between the pair, which finally resulted in Holmes publicly calling her 'Princess Tippy Toes'. However, management denied she was 'squeezed out', with Turner claiming she had left on her own accord. Fiona Phillips took over her role on 6 January 1997.Eamonn Holmes absent from the GMTV sofa. The Times, Friday, 3 January 1997Cue for truce in TV spat: GMTV presenter apologises over newspaper report. Culf, Andrew. The Guardian; 3 January 1997;
In 1998, GMTV returned into the red, with losses of £12 million and a turnover of £80 million Scottish Media likely to sell 20% stake in GMTV. Raymond Snoddy, Media Editor. The Times, Tuesday, 21 July 1998; In November of that year, GMTV finally received a windfall: the ITC reduced the amount the station had to pay to the treasury from £50 million to £20 million - the most dramatic reduction of all the licenses. The ITC believed this would allow GMTV the money to invest in more programming.Loss-making GMTV wins £30m licence fee windfall. Raymond Snoddy Media Editor. The Times, Thursday, 26 November 1998
GMTV continued to strengthen its output, receiving further praise from the ITC in its Annual Performance Review of 1999: 'The overall programme quality improved...with more feature items and greater breadth of coverage, better journalistic and technical resources.' This led to increased audience share for GMTV among adult viewers; the weekend output for children was also strengthened. The ITC praised GMTV's greater emphasis on overseas coverage and access to key figures in the news, particularly for live interviews.
Social action programming was particularly successful. There were signs of improvement in the information content of the magazine programme for older children, Diggit (previously criticised by the ITC). The ITC proposed improvements in two areas to be made priorities for the year ahead: '... In Sunday programming for adults, where there is scope for better background and analysis to key political stories alongside the major interviews, and in information content in programming for school age children.'
2000s During 1999, the STV Group held talks into buying out the other shareholders in GMTV, with Disney believed to be keen on the idea. By September, an agreement had been reached to acquire Guardian Media Group's 15% stake for £20 million, but both Carlton and Granada objected to the deal. Guardian Media Group concluded in selling off its 15% stake in GMTV for £18 million in January 2000, with all three companies receiving 5% - allowing the four remaining stakeholders to have an equal 25% stake in the company.
In October 2003, STV made public its interest in acquiring Carlton and Granada's stakes in GMTV. Andrew Flanagan, chief executive, was quoted as saying: 'We would be interested in buying GMTV. You need a trigger to try to do something and that's what we have tried to engineer.' STV believed having a controlling stake in GMTV would allow an effective command against the newly formed ITV sales department. In September 2004, ITV plc purchased STV Group's 25% in the company for £31 millionITV buys GMTV stake from SMG Chris Tryhorn Media Guardian, 10 May 2004 after being given the go ahead from the Office of Fair Trading - despite advertisers' fears it could give ITV influence over pricing. SMG said: '[We] are pulling out of GMTV because it did not want to hold a minority interest in someone else's media business.'
In 2005, Holmes left the station. It was later exposed he was deeply unhappy with the 'dumbing down and commercialisation', which resulted in him hating his bosses.
Phone-in scandal