We in ATV are very proud that for five days a week we are Independent Television in the Midlands.

It is a great privilege to operate from Birmingham, the industrial capital of the United Kingdom.

We are proud too, of those who serve ATV in the Midlands. Under the lively leadership of Philip Dorté we have a fine team of enthusiasts and experts. Working with them we aim to give as much enjoyment as possible, over as wide a range as possible — light-hearted, serious and moderately serious.

We believe that the purpose of television is to give entertainment and relaxation. We have tried to carry out that purpose since we first started in Birmingham in February, 1956.

We shall continue this endeavour to the utmost of our ability, and to bring to the development of the still new, still very exciting, medium of television the benefits of each new advance in the science of communication and each fresh ingenuity of the human mind.

The post This Exciting, Medium appeared first on THIS IS ATV NETWORK from Transdiffusion.

I went on to explain the intricacies of I.T.V. “Networking” and thus how, for example, the Midland viewer can see our ATV symbol on his screen seven days out of seven, even though ATV are the appointed Programme Contractors in the Midlands on week-days only.

In this booklet we are assuming that readers understand about “Networking” and why a number of the programmes broadcast by the I.T.A.’s transmitter at Lichfield do not actually originate in the Midlands.

Having in mind, too, the constant requests for our Midland stars and our Midland announcers to make personal appearances at every type of function that is held in the Midlands, we are assuming that the reader is most interested in what goes on behind the scenes of television here in the Midlands.

Since February 1956, when Independent Television’s first regional service came on the air in the Midlands, things have moved apace.

ATV’s Midland headquarters have moved to a new and spacious building in Edmund Street, Birmingham; the Alpha Television Studios are now unrecognisable to those who first knew the premises as “The T.V. Theatre” ; the proportion of Midland homes with television sets has increased from 43.6 to 83 per cent (according to a recent survey by the Midlands Electricity Board) and the letters “ATV” have become as familiar in the Midlands as “B.B.C.” which had thirty-five years start over us.

In this booklet will be found information which we hope will be appreciated by viewers and be of interest to that now small proportion of Midlanders whom we do not as yet embrace amongst our audience.

ATV in the Midlands will continue in the future, as in the past, to keep in the closest possible touch with its audience. By leavening the best that is available in Drama and Light Entertainment with the type of programme that is entertaining as well as informative we hope that we shall continue to maintain the confidence and following of the vast majority of Midlanders.

The post Foreword appeared first on THIS IS ATV NETWORK from Transdiffusion.