[Neil Jones]

They didn't have much of a choice, as the date Jan 1st 1993 was set down a decade before with the Jan 1st 1982 new franchise launch, and they decided to have a full decade inclusive, meaning using all of 1992 before the new franchise period started.

No it didn't, the 1982 licence was only for 8 years?  They were in fact extended to 31st Dec 1992 because of the new Auction process.

Well Angela Rippon said on the first TV-am "hope to see you not just for this morning's programmes but every morning at least for the next eight years".  Then that went all downhill but that's another discussion.



That statement at fact value would have taken them on face value to February 1991, TV-am of course launching in 1983.



Interesting to note though, the 1982 franchises were extended actually in 1987.

The act doesn't appear on the online legislation, but here's some discussion in the House of Lords about it from the time:

api.parliament.uk 

[As of February 1987] The ITV contracts now in force expire on 31 December 1989. Unless some action is taken, the IBA will advertise during the course of this year [1987] new contracts for a maximum of eight years, to run from the beginning of 1990 until the end of 1997. This would mean that there would be no opportunity for changes to the contracts system itself, or for other changes that might closely affect new contracts, before 1998.

We have discussed this problem with the IBA and as a result have come to the conclusion that the best course would be to provide in the Bill for a three-year extension of the existing contracts.