[Stooky Bill]

I assume Carlton saved money by outbidding them for the London Weekday ITV franchise instead of buying them directly?

I think at that time Carlton just wanted to be a 'publisher broadcaster', commissioning programmes instead of making them, rather like C4.  It was only when they bought Central that they became more involved in production.

I'm surprised that they seriously considered buying Thames in 1985, who were quite a prolific production house.

I'm not sure what was cheaper, buying an ITV company or starting one. Certainly by 1993 it could be done on the cheap, as a publisher and hiring facilities but in 1985 that wasn't an option, and of course there was no other way to enter the system or get a TV broadcast license. Also in 1985 there was a lot of money to be made from ITV - it was still the proverbial 'license to print money'.

They were a facilities company in the 80's, buying Thames would have added to that massively and I'm sure there were lots of cost savings to be made as well as possibly some asset stripping. It was a controversial takeover attempt and that was probably one of the reasons, ITV and the IBA were quite keen on keeping the status quo.

1990 was more of a gamble - seems both RTL and Carlton were possible buyers, but imagine buying an ITV company knowing that 18 months later it might not be anymore... not a great risk even for Carlton