[James2001]

Bruce Gyngell famously predicted Sunrise (later GMTV) would be bankrupt by 1994.

Which they probably would have been if they weren't allowed to reduce their payments to less than what TV-am bid quite quickly. Then on the other hand it ended up being shown that TVS probably could have afforded the massive amount they bid (even though they did bid 20 million more than they needed to). And of course Central bid a paltry £2,000 because nobody went against them. You really do realise quite quickly what a shambles that franchise round was. So much overbidding and underbidding, subjective quality thresholds and cutting the payments after a few years anyway, it certainly didn't deliver the best for the viewer.