A History of Independent Television in Wales
ISBN: 9780708323083
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / University of Wales Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Performing Arts;

This book provides, for the first time, a detailed historical narrative and critical analysis of independent television (ITV) in Wales. Focusing primarily on the critical years of the 1950s and 1960s, and drawing on key archival sources from Wales and beyond, it locates the history of ITV within wider debates over national identity, language and culture in Wales. It also aims to redress an imbalance in media historiography where the more established BBC has 'stolen the limelight'. The attention devoted to Wales, and commercial television in Wales in particular, in the broad spectrum of broadcasting historiography has been minimal. Seen by some as a more populist and sometimes 'tacky' alternative to the BBC, the book argues that in Wales ITV pioneered across a range of programming formats, including games shows and news in the Welsh language, and moved the television service forward in many ways. ITV in Wales provided nurture for creative talent in both English and Welsh languages and produced some ground-breaking programmes which changed the face of Welsh television. It also provided a degree of plurality within the media in Wales. Accessible to undergraduate and postgraduate students, it will also appeal to the general reader with an interest in the media in Wales, Welsh history and the cultural politics of broadcasting in a small nation.


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