GMTV - History

History

GMTV held the licence for the breakfast Channel 3 franchise since 1993, when it outbid the previous at 06:00 until 09:25 GMT Channel 3 licence-holder, TV-am, in the 1991 franchise rounds, which were announced on 16 October that year. The first edition was broadcast on Friday, 1 January 1993 at 06:00 GMT and was presented by Eamonn Holmes and Anne Davies. Its main weekday presenters at launch were Fiona Armstrong and Michael Wilson. By March 1993, following poor ratings, Wilson had moved to present the news-focused at 06:00 until 07:00 GMT which in 1994 became the "Reuters News Hour". Armstrong continued to co-present with Eamonn Holmes until Easter 1993, when her departure coincided with a revamp of the main programme on 19 April, which included a new set that mimicked that of TV-am. Armstrong was replaced by Lorraine Kelly, who had been launch presenter of the post-9 a.m slot Top of the Morning.

GMTV was first intended to be called 'Sunrise Television', but as Sky News' breakfast programming also went by that name (and still does to this day), Sky protested, resulting in the change of name.

Mark Lawson, in the Independent, dubbed the new franchise "Grinning Morons Television"

STV Group plc (then known as SMG plc), 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. In November 2009, ITV plc took full control of the broadcaster after purchasing The Walt Disney Company's 25% share. GMTV broadcast from Studio 5 at The London Studios on the South Bank, except for the final few months where GMTV came from Studio 3 at TLS (where Lorraine and Loose Women come from). This move was because Al Jazeera Sports, which originally came from Studio 7, had to move to studio 5 so that 7 could be fitted out for Daybreak. This was also how the final shot was achieved - the amount of people present when the camera turned round, would have never fitted into 5. GMTV was also broadcast on the same channel as ITV1 HD from 2 April 2010 where GMTV programming broadcast on the same channel as ITV1 was upscaled to High Definition. The station claimed to reach approximately 13 million viewers a week.

GMTV transmitted daily from at 06:00 GMT until the regional ITV franchises took over at 09:25 GMT. In later years, the switchover was practically seamless and the station was 'surrounded' in the most part by ITV continuity on either side of transmission. Consequently, most viewers perceived GMTV simply as a programme on ITV; however, until the complete buyout by ITV, it was essentially an independent broadcaster with its own news-gathering operation, sales and management teams and in-house production team. It also did its own children's programmes, independent from CITV until Boohbah was cross-promoted on both sides with different versions of the credits.

GMTV's main rivals included BBC Breakfast (more news-orientated), Sky News' Sunrise, and Channel 4's morning schedule (which included Friends until Autumn 2011).