Sofa Wars: An Alternative history of British Breakfast Television

16th October 1991
TV-AM finds out it will lose its franchise to broadcast from 1993 onwards.

20th September 1992
Bruce Gyngell announces that TV-AM will restart on Channel 4 on January 1st 1993 after nearly a year of secret talks.

25th September 1992
The Channel 4 Daily ends after 3 years

1st January 1993
The "new" TV-AM launches on Channel 4
 
According to "Morning Glory" by Ian Jones (brilliant book BTW). Gyngell did talk to C4 about TVAM changing channels.
 
Too bad, no Channel 5 in the early 1990s. Ugh...

On the other hand, would the launch of TV-AM in Channel 4 would mean that subsequently, Channel 4 News would be produced by Sky News rather than ITN in the future?
 
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The "new" TV-AM was a very different creature to its previous form. TV-AM Holdings the new parent company would be owned by the newly formed PBL, based in Sydney and headed by Kerry Packer as Chairman with Gyngell as Managing Director in London.

As PBL's London arm TV-AM would effectively be Channel 9 with a British accent. "Eggcup Towers" would be PBL's London HQ staffed by "old" TV-AM staff as well as 9's London team as well as staff from other PBL outlets including the re-purchased Daily Telegraph (*)

The schedule would be as follows:

MON-FRI

6.00 TV-AM Reports
6.30 Good Morning Britain
8.30 Lorraine

(During commercial breaks there would be "Newsbreaks". A 60 second update)

SATURDAYS
6.00 Hey Hey It's Saturday
8.30 Just For The Record

(Newsbreaks)

SUNDAYS

6.00 Rewind (News Review)
6.30 Cartoon Carnival
8.00 Frost On Sunday

(*Australian Daily Telegraph)
(Newsbreaks)
 
"Right from the start TV-am on Channel 4 was Bruce's baby, it was his creation. He was determined that there would be no repeats of what had happened in the 1980's. TV-am 2 as I call it was "silk and steel" to use Bruce's words. On the surface it was smooth and welcoming but underneath there was that hard, solid news agenda"

Gyles Brandreth "The Battle For Britain's Breakfast" 2014
 
Gyngell's underlying ethic was simple. He avoided hiring ACTT staff and employed as many Australians as possible. This was evident most of all onscreen, While GMB was fronted by Mike Morris and Liza Aziz (promoted from the newsdesk to replace Lorraine Kelly), the news presenters were dominated by Antipodeans. TVAM Reports was presented by Juanita Phillips at first with the Political editor being the much respected Jana Wendt.
 
Internal Memo
Re: Eggs

Dear All

As the building will hold not just TV-AM but also the whole of PBL's London operations there'll be a few changes.

For a start the eggs will be removed from the top of the building. That to me smacks of conceit. A serious media organisation like PBL shouldn't be associated with architectural silliness.

The name "Eggcup Towers" can still be used by staff informally but the official address of our HQ will be:

"Packer Broadcasting Limited UK,
Camden Town,
London"

As a result the egg will no longer feature on screen at all. The new endcap will feature the logo and state

"A Packer Broadcasting Limited UK production for Channel 4"

BG
 
One of the first skirmishes of the battle between GMTV and TVAM was known as F Vs F or Fanciability vs Familiarity.

GMTV initially had Fiona Armstrong and Linda Lusardi as presenters with the unstated aim being to attract various groups of males. With Lusardi it was the Sun-reading "blokes" while with Armstrong it was those males who's preference was something "classier" (*)

With TVAM it was the well established team of Morris, Kelly et al who would pull in their old loyal audience.

(*) Please note that there is no sexism intended in that sentence. IMHO both Lusardi and Armstrong are very beautiful ladies.
 
In the first quarter of 1993 TVAM had beaten GMTV hands down. The warmth and familiarity of Morris and company resulted in average ratings of 2 million as opposed to GMTV's 800,000. (The BBC by this point had handed the breakfast slot over to rolling news and was averaging 1 million a week)

GMTV were in trouble and took drastic steps. Michael Wilson was fired and the use of the breakfast table part of the studio was reduced drastically to just 5-6 minutes an hour for the news while the sofa set was the main focus.
 
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