TVS Television/Television Idents

Not to be confused with PBS's WTVS, an affiliate from Detroit, Michigan.

Background

Television South replaced Southern Television as the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England on 1 January 1982. It proved not only to be considerably brighter in presentation than its predecessor, but more ambitious too - both on the ITV network and in other countries. As well as pushing to become a major ITV station, it acquired a number of program libraries from abroad, then purchased MTM Enterprises in 1989. However, this was to have a negative impact on the company's finances - so much so that, in the auction-style 1991 franchise round, it felt that the only way it could retain its franchise was to put in an ultra-high bid for it. Eventually, this did not succeed, and thus TVS ceased broadcasting on 31 December 1992, to be replaced by Meridian Television. TVS was then sold to American evangelist Pat Robertson, who launched an British version of his Family Channel. The Walt Disney Company is now the legal successor to TVS, though the logos were bought by other interests, which formed an independent production company of the same name. In 1987, TVS was renamed to TVS Television South, and renamed again 1989 as TVS Television.

1st Logo (January 1, 1982-1987)

Nickname: "Rainbow Flower", "TVS"

Logo: Against a black background, two lines on the edges of the screen are drawn outward simultaneously, followed by two more pairs of lines. The result is a trumpet-shaped flower that takes up the entire screen, which is colored red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple (from left to right). It then zooms out to the left as "TVS" (in white) unfolds horizontally to the right of it.

Variants:

After the flower forms, it would sometimes flip around as it zooms out and "TVS" would quickly zoom in instead. This was used for weekend programs.
Several prototype versions exists, but the closest to the normal logo is a version where the stripes wipe in downwards, one by one, before zooming out to the left. The name appears in-sync with the music, which is much more mellow.
An filmed version exists.

FX/SFX: The flower forming and zooming out.

Music/Sounds: An eight-note horn fanfare, with the first three notes playing in sync with the animation. It was composed by Sussex-based composer Richard Hill.

Availability: Extinct, but the production version is saved on several shows, such as Ruth Rendell Mysteries, and could possibly be retained on British Fraggle Rock DVDs. It can also be seen on archival site TV Ark. The warped version can be found on the US educational film, "Boy on a Skateboard", which can be viewed on the Internet Archive by clicking here.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (1987-December 31, 1992)

Nickname: "CGI Flower", "CGI TVS Television South", "CGI TVS Television", "Television South Television?"

Logo: There were two main versions:

The first version starts with a bluish glass version of the TVS logotype against a silver background. The logotype zooms towards us and flips around, transforming into the flower logo, made out of the same material but giving off rainbow colors. The flower itself flips around, zooming away from us as it does so, and transforms back into the TVS logotype. Finally, "TELEVISION SOUTH" fades in below.
The second version, introduced in 1989 following the restructuring of TVS after its purchase of MTM Enterprises, has a bluish background with diagonal lights. On it, a clear glass version of the flower logo slowly zooms away from us and flips around, again giving off rainbow colors, and transforms into "TVS", made of the same material. "TELEVISION" fades in below.

Trivia: TVS never used the ITV 1989 corporate ident, instead using this logo.

Variants:

The closing variant accompanying the first main version of the logo consisted of the bluish glass TVS logotype on the silver background, with the word "PRODUCTION" below.
When ITV unveiled its first corporate identity in 1989, this closing variant was amended, with the TVS logotype larger and colored gray as opposed to blue, and "PRODUCTION" replaced by "A TVS PRODUCTION FOR" and the ITV logo.
One of the two closing variants accompanying the second main version of the logo consisted of the clear glass TVS logotype on the bluish background, with "TVS PRODUCTION FOR" and the ITV logo below.
The other was similar, but was colored mainly in gray, and replaced the word "PRODUCTION" with "PRESENTATION".

TVS played the second main version one last time at the end of its final program, Goodbye To All That, on 31 December 1992, but with "TELEVISION" replaced by the message "Thanks for watching".

FX/SFX: In both main versions, the TVS logotype and flower logo flipping around and zooming. The CGI here is pretty good.

Music/Sounds: An uplifting horn fanfare. The opening notes differ slightly between the two main versions.

Availability: See first logo. The production version can be seen on seasons 2 to 6 of Ruth Rendell Mysteries and possibly on other shows.

Editor's Note: This was one of the most impressive logos on UK television in the late 80s and early 90s, thanks to its animation and music, though the "TVS Television" name in the later version is redundant since it means "Television South Television".

Logos appear with the permission of Steve Woodgate (CEO of TVS)

External Links

TVS Television on TVARK
Unofficial Website for TVS Television