Trident Television: Difference between revisions

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Background

Trident Television was a British holding company with broadcasting interests. It was created in August 1970 to deal with the issue of fairly allocating commercial airtime at the Bilsdale Transmitter in North Yorkshire. Allocating it to either of the two closest broadcasting companies, Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television, would have given one an unfair advantage over the other when it came to commercial airtime sales. The solution was to create a holding company for the selling of airtime in both television regions, which is what Trident became.

Trident executed a reverse takeover of both Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television in 1974, and initially planned to rename both under the Trident brand. This was, however, vetoed by the IBA.

The third prong of the Trident was long rumoured to be Trident's attempt to buy Anglia Television, potentially stemming from Yorkshire Television discussing cost cutting measures with Anglia Television in early 1969, which would have given the 2 companies shared use of outside broadcast units and regional offices. This was not the case however, with Anglia not even being considered as potential partners in Trident's interests. The third prong instead was focused on the company's non-broadcasting interests.

It also started US-based Trident Television Associates in 1979 to syndicate 23 of CBS' telemovies.

In December 1980, Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television were forced to demerge as a condition of their ITV contract renewals. This effectively ended Trident's participation in ITV, with them disposing of their remaining shares in the company shortly after. Despite this, they continued to receive rental funds from the studios and equipment leased to the companies.

Trident eventually merged with Grand Metropolitan in 1982.

Contents

1st Logo	2nd Logo

1st Logo (1975-1977)

Opening Variant
Closing Variant
Yellow Text Variant

Opening Variant

Closing Variant

Yellow Text Variant

Logo:

Opening: On a black background, we see the text on the left reading "trident colour television", alongside a Trident-shaped object on the right, split by each of its prongs, with each prong colored blue, red and green. It is shaped so that it resembles the letter "T".
Closing: We see the same Trident symbol from the opening logo on the left, and on the right is the text "trident colour television production". Below it is a copyright date.

Variant: On Luke's Kingdom, the symbol is larger and the text is in yellow.

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds:

Opening: The same bombastic 5-note horn fanfare as the 1969 Yorkshire Television logo.
Closing: The end theme of the programme.

Availability: Ultra Rare. It was usually used to cover the Yorkshire and Tyne Tees logos on international prints of programmes.

It was recently discovered on Talking Pictures TV airings of some season 2 episodes of The Main Chance, however most episodes use the Yorkshire Television logos of the time. It is presumably also kept on the show's Network DVD release.
The variant with the yellow text was seen on Luke's Kingdom.

2nd Logo (1978)

Logo: On a brown background, we see a thick, black line about three quarters of the way up the screen. Below it we see the following text in Didot:

Trident Films Ltd.
London, England

Technique: None.

Music/Sounds: The ending theme of the TV movie.

Availability: Extremely Rare.

It was spotted on the 1978 TV movie adaptation of The Four Feathers and was kept intact on said film's DVD release.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{PageCredits|compiled=RSX-798}}
+{{PageCredits|compiled=RSX-798|edits=Luke2505}}
+{{Infobox company
+| name = Trident Television
+| image = TridentTelevision1975A.png
+| founded = August 1970
+| founder = Sir Richard Graham<br>Ward Thomas<br>James Hanson
+| defunct = 1982
+| fate = Merged with Grand<br>Metropolitan
+}}
 ===Background===
-'''Trident Television''' was a British television company that was the owner of two ITV franchisees [[Yorkshire Television|Yorkshire Television]] and [[Tyne Tees Television|Tyne Tees Television]] from 1970 to 1982, when the IBA forced to divest the franchisees during the 1980 renewal. It also considered purchasing [[Anglia Television|Anglia]], but it failed, and chose to make the non-television interests as the third prong of the company. It even started [[Trident Television Associates]] in 1979 to syndicate 23 CBS telemovies and a film subsidiary.
+'''Trident Television''' was a British holding company with broadcasting interests. It was created in August 1970 to deal with the issue of fairly allocating commercial airtime at the Bilsdale Transmitter in North Yorkshire. Allocating it to either of the two closest broadcasting companies, [[Yorkshire Television|Yorkshire Television]] and [[Tyne Tees Television|Tyne Tees Television]], would have given one an unfair advantage over the other when it came to commercial airtime sales. The solution was to create a holding company for the selling of airtime in both television regions, which is what Trident became.
+Trident executed a reverse takeover of both Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television in 1974, and initially planned to rename both under the Trident brand. This was, however, vetoed by the IBA.
+The third prong of the Trident was long rumoured to be Trident's attempt to buy [[Anglia Television|Anglia Television]], potentially stemming from Yorkshire Television discussing cost cutting measures with Anglia Television in early 1969, which would have given the 2 companies shared use of outside broadcast units and regional offices. This was not the case however, with Anglia not even being considered as potential partners in Trident's interests. The third prong instead was focused on the company's non-broadcasting interests.
+It also started US-based [[Trident Television Associates]] in 1979 to syndicate 23 of CBS' telemovies.
+In December 1980, Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television were forced to demerge as a condition of their ITV contract renewals. This effectively ended Trident's participation in ITV, with them disposing of their remaining shares in the company shortly after. Despite this, they continued to receive rental funds from the studios and equipment leased to the companies.
+Trident eventually merged with Grand Metropolitan in 1982.
+{{ImageTOC |TridentTelevision1975A.png|1st Logo |TridentFilmsLtd.png|2nd Logo}}
 ===1st Logo (1975-1977)===
+<tabber>
+Images=
 <gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
-TridentTelevision1975A.png
+TridentTelevision1975A.png|Opening Variant
-TridentTelevision1975B.png
+TridentTelevision1975B.png|Closing Variant
-TridentTelevision1975C.png
+TridentTelevision1975C.png|Yellow Text Variant
 </gallery>
+|-|
+Videos=
+{{YouTube|id=1ZMf3VTLXTI|description=Opening Variant|id2=eFi4Wd78rrg|description2=Closing Variant|id3=kfmE87stsTE|description3=Yellow Text Variant}}
+</tabber>
 '''Logo:'''
-*'''Opening:''' On a black background, we see the text on the left reading "{{color|red|'''''trident colour television'''''}}", and then we see the symbol on the right, which has three sword-like objects in {{color|blue}}, {{color|red}} and {{color|green}}, making it look like the letter "'''''T'''''".
+*'''Opening:''' On a black background, we see the text on the left reading "{{color|red|'''''trident colour television'''''}}", alongside a Trident-shaped object on the right, split by each of its prongs, with each prong colored {{color|blue}}, {{color|red}} and {{color|green}}. It is shaped so that it resembles the letter "'''''T'''''".
-*'''Closing:''' We see the same symbol from the opening logo on the left, and to the right is the text "{{color|red|'''''trident colour television production'''''}}". Below it was a copyright date.
+*'''Closing:''' We see the same Trident symbol from the opening logo on the left, and on the right is the text "{{color|red|'''''trident colour television production'''''}}". Below it is a copyright date.
-'''Variant:''' Sometimes, the symbol is larger and the text is in yellow.
+'''Variant:''' On ''Luke's Kingdom'', the symbol is larger and the text is in {{color|yellow|yellow.}}
 '''Technique:''' None.
+'''Music/Sounds:'''
-'''Music/Sounds:''' For the opening, either the 1969 [[Yorkshire Television|Yorkshire]] or the 1970 [[Tyne Tees Television|Tyne Tees]] logo playing. For the closing, it's the end theme of the programme.
+*'''Opening:''' The same bombastic 5-note horn fanfare as the 1969 [[Yorkshire Television|Yorkshire Television]] logo.
+*'''Closing:''' The end theme of the programme.
-'''Availability:''' Rare. It was usually used to cover the Yorkshire and Tyne Tees logos on international prints of programmes, like Yorkshire Television's ''The Main Chance''. It was also seen on ''Luke's Kingdom''.
+'''Availability:''' Ultra Rare. It was usually used to cover the Yorkshire and Tyne Tees logos on international prints of programmes.
+* It was recently discovered on Talking Pictures TV airings of some season 2 episodes of ''The Main Chance'', however most episodes use the Yorkshire Television logos of the time. It is presumably also kept on the show's Network DVD release.
+* The variant with the yellow text was seen on ''Luke's Kingdom''.
 ===2nd Logo (1978)===
+<tabber>
+Image=
 <gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
 TridentFilmsLtd.png
 </gallery>
+|-|
-'''Logo:''' On a {{color|brown}} background, we see a black line on top, and below it we see the following text:
+Video=
+{{YouTube|id=FdhO32XCWXY}}
+</tabber>
+'''Logo:''' On a {{color|brown}} background, we see a thick, black line about three quarters of the way up the screen. Below it we see the following text in Didot:
 <center>
 {{Font|Times New Roman|{{Big|'''Trident Films Ltd.'''}}}}<br>
 {{Font|Times New Roman|'''London, England'''}}
 </center>
-in a Didot font.
 '''Technique:''' None.
-'''Music/Sounds:''' The end theme of the TV movie.
+'''Music/Sounds:''' The ending theme of the TV movie.
+'''Availability:''' Extremely Rare.
-'''Availability:''' Rare. It was kept intact on the DVD release of the 1978 TV movie adaptation of ''The Four Feathers''.
+* It was spotted on the 1978 TV movie adaptation of ''The Four Feathers'' and was kept intact on said film's DVD release.