Pres Café
Ulster TV strike, either 1980s or 1990s - Printable Version

+- Pres Café (https://pres.cafe)
+-- Forum: Pres Café TV and Radio Forums (https://pres.cafe/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Channel Presentation (https://pres.cafe/forumdisplay.php?fid=2)
+--- Thread: Ulster TV strike, either 1980s or 1990s (/showthread.php?tid=542)


Ulster TV strike, either 1980s or 1990s - robertclark125 - 16-08-2023

When my parents used to get a daily newspaper, back when I was a kid, the newspaper had the regional variations, but for Ulster TV, for a few days, it said that due to industrial action, Ulster Television was not going on air until 5.30pm. Given they were starting then, would it be safe to assume they weren't able to broadcast the ITN news? 

Also, when was this strike, what was it about, and what, if anything, did they broadcast in place during the day until they came on air at 5.30pm? Lastly, were they able to broadcast anything networked by ITV, such as Sport, Corrie, World in Action?

RE: Ulster TV strike, either 1980s or 1990s - JAS84 - 16-08-2023

Corrie's wiki has a page for each of the regions, but UTV's page doesn't mention anything other than the 1970 Colour Strike. If that's correct, that means they didn't miss any Corrie episodes.

They probably just broadcast a caption or the testcard while off air.

RE: Ulster TV strike, either 1980s or 1990s - Brekkie - 16-08-2023

Was a TV Forum thread a few years ago which you also started but it seemed to go off on a tangent (as they often did) so not sure you got an answer.

https://www.tvforum.co.uk/tvhome/utv-strike-1990s-40764 

RE: Ulster TV strike, either 1980s or 1990s - Milkshake - 16-08-2023

Going by that thread its around the 23 April 1987:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hUVAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OVkMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5295%2C5396455 

RE: Ulster TV strike, either 1980s or 1990s - Ste - 16-08-2023

(16-08-2023, 07:09 PM)Brekkie Wrote:  Was a TV Forum thread a few years ago which you also started but it seemed to go off on a tangent (as they often did) so not sure you got an answer.

https://www.tvforum.co.uk/tvhome/utv-strike-1990s-40764 

Post seems to be some the same OP 8 years ago, so I guess he didn't find any answer on TVF.

RE: Ulster TV strike, either 1980s or 1990s - what - 16-08-2023

How come it was published in the Glasgow Herald? Can UTV be reliably picked up in large parts of Scotland, and if so, why would people choose to tune into it instead of STV/Grampian?

RE: Ulster TV strike, either 1980s or 1990s - soulfulscotsman - 17-08-2023

I grew up in Saltcoats, on the Ayrshire coast - about 30 miles SW of Glasgow. Off-air reception of Ulster was just about possible, more so in the summer.

But the local Harris' Of Saltcoats TV relay provided an excellent Ulster TV service (from an off-air pickup on the mast at Sharphill). I seem to remember neighbours watching it quite often for live coverage and highlights of English football that wasn't available on STV. And of course generally the schedules of STV and UTV would have been quite different then.

There were other relays up and down the Ayrshire coast, and The Herald was widely read in Glasgow and the West.

RE: Ulster TV strike, either 1980s or 1990s - Si-Co - 17-08-2023

From information I’ve been given from another source, it seems the dispute (or disruption to schedules) began at some point between Tuesday 14th and Friday 17th April (and was certainly underway on 17th, which was Good Friday). It wasn’t resolved until at least Saturday 25th, and possibly not until Monday 27th April, which was fully scheduled - though probably with a few programme changes as UTV would have to find a way to fit in missing episodes of networked serials, etc, as it does appear some of these were missed. From the schedule shared, it doesn’t look like Crossroads or News at Ten went out, so perhaps they weren’t taking anything from the network?

As a matter of interest, I wonder how they did catch up with Corrie, Emmerdale, Crossroads etc if these were missed? Possibly playing extra episodes in the same timeslot on “off-days”? It would be interesting to see the UTV schedules for the couple of weeks after the strike.

EDIT (again): Any idea why Grampian are playing Coronation Street at 7pm on a Thursday? This threw me as I thought we were looking at a Wednesday schedule!