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'GMTV' ('Good Morning Television') is the national ITV breakfast television contractor,[1] broadcasting in the United Kingdom. It is owned by GMTV Ltd, comprising of ITV plc (75%) and The Walt Disney Company (25%).
Overview
GMTV has held the licence for the breakfast Channel 3 franchise since 1993, when it outbid the previous 6am-9.25am Channel 3 licence-holder, TV-am. It was first intended to be called Sunrise Television, but as Sky News's breakfast programming also went by that name (and still does to this day), Sky protested, resulting in the change of name. SMG, owner of two of the three Channel 3 regional licences for Scotland (Scottish Television and Grampian Television) previously owned 25% of the company; however, this stake was purchased by ITV plc for £31 million in 2004.
GMTV broadcasts from Studio 5 at The London Studios on the South Bank; as of 2005, the station claims to have the highest breakfast-time audience in Europe.
The station claims to reach approximately 13 million viewers a week, transmitting daily from 6.00am until the regional Channel 3 franchises (the ITV Network) take over at 9.25am. Since the switchover is now practically seamless and the station is 'surrounded' on both sides by ITV Network continuity, most viewers perceive GMTV simply as a programme on ITV; however, due to Disney's minority stake in the station, it essentially remains an independent broadcaster with its own news-gathering operation, sales and management teams and in-house production facilities. Very occasionally, in the event of a major sporting fixture or such-like occurring early in the morning, the ITV Network may seek permission from the regulator, Ofcom, to broadcast during GMTV's airtime, although GMTV always reclaims such time from ITV (normally on the Sunday, following such an event).
GMTV's main rivals include BBC Breakfast (which is more news-oriented), Sky News's ''Sunrise'', and Channel 4's morning schedule (which includes ''Friends''). Due to its part-Disney ownership, it also occasionally finds itself in conflict with its own majority owner; for example, it was reported that ITV plc's year-long negotiations to launch a children's channel with Nickelodeon were ultimately thwarted by GMTV, who felt that the viewing figures for its own children's programming would be threatened by such a venture. The plans were scrapped, and instead ITV launched the CITV Channel in partnership with GMTV. ITV plc has attempted to buy out Disney's stake in GMTV, in order to secure 24-hour control of Channel 3, but has so far been unsuccessful.
In 2005, anchor presenter Eamonn Holmes decided not to renew his contract because he considered GMTV to be 'celebrity-oriented', and stated that the channel did not broadcast sufficient news and current affairs output; he also supposedly disagreed with how the directors ran the programmes. He joined Sky News's ''Sunrise'' in October 2005.
GMTV Line-up
A promotional still of the GMTV presenters, including ex-anchorman, Eamonn Holmes
GMTV's programming is designed to reach a large cross-section of the viewing public. On weekday mornings the station attracts a largely female audience; following the ''News Hour'' from 6am-7am, the daily magazine show ''GMTV Today'' is aired, featuring a combination of news, human interest and showbiz items, as well as competitions; Lorraine Kelly usually takes over at 8.35am (Mon-Thu) with fashion and celebrity items, while Fridays include ''Entertainment Today'' with Ben Shephard and Jenni Falconer. During Summer 2007, the main Today programme continues through until 9.25am (Mondays-Thursdays) while on Fridays resident TV boffin Richard Arnold fills Ben and Jenni's shoes presenting his own self-titled show, aided by former Corrie star Debra Stephenson. At weekends, the focus moves to children, with the pre-school strand ''Wakey! Wakey!'' broadcasting 6am to 7.25am, followed by ''Toonattik'' for older kids broadcasting 7.25am to 9.25am. As a nationally available analogue terrestrial station, GMTV is required, by the terms of its licence, to fulfil various public service commitments, including substantial broadcasting of news and current affairs output, as well as the aforementioned children's programmes, and also party political broadcasts over election periods. It has been critcised for its poor journalistic quality (for instance placing a soap opera storyline in its headline news) and an over-reliance on phone-in competitions.
Current presenters
Here is a list of the main anchors of the GMTV programmes:
GMTV Newshour
Main Anchors
★ Penny Smith (also Newsreader on GMTV Today)
★ John Stapleton
Relief Presenters
★ Matt Arnold
★ Gloria de Piero
★ Richard Gaisford
★ Priya Kaur-Jones
★ Amanda Sergeant
GMTV Today
Main Anchors
'Monday - Wednesday'
★ Andrew Castle
★ Fiona Phillips
'Thursday and Friday'
★ Kate Garraway
★ Ben Shephard
Relief Presenters
★ Andrea McLean
★ Carla Romano
★ Penny Smith
★ John Stapleton
LK Today
'Monday - Thursday'
★ Lorraine Kelly
Entertainment Today
'Friday'
★ Jenni Falconer
★ Ben Shephard
★ Michael Underwood
The Richard Arnold Show
'Fridays throughout Summer 2007'
★ Richard Arnold
★ Debra Stephenson (Reporter)
Weather
★ Andrea McLean
★ Clare Nasir
The Sunday Programme
★ Steve Richards (Presenter)
★ Gloria de Piero (Frequent Guest Presenter)
★ Claudia Sermbezis (Newsreader)
Past presenters
★ Fiona Armstrong (1993; now back presenting ITV Border's ''Lookaround'')
★ Simon Biagi (weather)
★ Fearne Cotton (Kids show - ''Diggit'') (1998-2001; most recently presenting ITV2's ''The Xtra Factor'')
★ Anne Davies (1993-2001; now presents the BBC's ''East Midlands Today'')
★ Alan Fisher (Chief Correspondent until 2005)
★ Eamonn Holmes (1993-2005; now with Sky News)
★ Ross Kelly (1993-2000)
★ Sally Meen (weather) (1993-1997; was briefly Jim Davidson's assistant on ''The Generation Game'')
★ Anthea Turner (1994-1996; now presents BBC Three's ''How To Be A Perfect Housewife'')
★ Michael Wilson (1993-1995; now back at Sky News as Business Editor)
Breakfast time in Channel 3
As a Channel 3 licensee, GMTV also has the right to broadcast during the same slot alongside ITV's digital channels; its sister service, GMTV2, follows the same broadcast slot with mostly children's programming, except at weekends from 9am when Teleshopping takes over. GMTV2 is broadcast on the same channel number as ITV plc-owned digital channel ITV2. The company also has broadcasting rights on the same frequency as ITV3 (and even holds a 'GMTV3' license), but has so far foregone its chance to launch a third station, preferring to sell its airtime to ITV plc, to allow ITV3 to broadcast around the clock.
Most recently, GMTV has acquired a further channel slot in the form of the CITV Channel, whose programming between 6am and 9.25am is simulcasted with that of GMTV's children's output on its other two stations: on GMTV2 throughout the week, and on GMTV1 at weekends. GMTV also sells advertising time for the entire output of the new channel. Since its involvement with the CITV Channel, GMTV has adopted CITV branding on all its CITV-simulcast children's output over GMTV1 and GMTV2, in order to simplify the simulcasts, leading to the disappearance of any on-screen reference to GMTV during these times.
The GMTV website has more than 800,000 unique users and attracts more than 8 million page impressions a month. In May 2007, gm.tv teamed up with Reuters to provide 24/7 news and showbiz headlines.[2]
Controversy
On 23 April 2007, a BBC Panorama investigation disclosed that callers to GMTV's phone-in competitions may have been defrauded out of around £40 million, because the telephone system operator, Opera Interactive Technology, had determined the winners before the phone lines had closed. GMTV responded by suspending the phone-in quizzes, and while they initially claimed that "it was confident it had not breached regulators' codes", they subsequently terminated their contract with Opera Interactive after their own investigations discovered "irregularities". Opera Interactive also denied any wrongdoing.[3]
In 2007 GMTV caused controversy when it cut from the Summer 2007 UK floods to go to Paris Hilton being released from prison.
Time Changes
The channel is usually always broadcast from 6.00am - 9.25am, but has had to change times on several occasions. During the 2002 FIFA World Cup, the channel was moved to a later slot, and on more than one occasion, the channel sometimes never broadcast. GMTV is also heavily affected by Formula One races which are live from Asia, which also push GMTV back to a later time, normally it broadcasts on these Sundays from 10am - 12 noon. This is entirely taken up by the ''Toonattik'' cartoons slot.
References
1. National Breakfast-time
2. "GMTV - Latest News", gm.tv. Accessed 2007-08-02.
3. "Viewers 'lose millions' to GMTV", ''BBC News'', 23 April 2007. Accessed 2007-04-23.
External links
★ gm.tv
★ ITV plc at itv.com
★
★ Toonattik.tv
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