User blog:Telco/Regional ITV post-1993 (NOTE BELOW)

Pre-1993
On 26 April 1988, a documentary called "Death on the Rock" was due to air on ITV, the British government intervened to prevent its broadcast. Howe telephoned Lord Thomson, chair of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), to request he force the postponement of the broadcast on the grounds that Howe feared the documentary might prejudice the coroner's inquest. Thomson personally viewed "Death on the Rock" before making the final decision to permit its broadcast, with two alterations to the commentary.[note 2] He later wrote that, "paradoxically", the decision "was not a difficult one. My colleagues and I saw no reason why the IBA should prevent Thames' journalists interviewing those who claimed to be eyewitnesses and investigating the affair as numerous other journalists had since the shootings, provided that the criminal record of the terrorists and the enormity of the outrage they planned was made clear and the legal position had been established to our satisfaction". With a slightly altered rationale—that the documentary could contaminate witness evidence at the inquest—Howe again attempted to prevent the programme's broadcast on the day it was due to be shown; with this, Thomson finally pulled the broadcast altogether. If he had broadcast the programme, it would result in the IBA being abolished and Thames (the producer) losing it‘s ITV franchise.

In 1990, EuroMedia, a Euro Republics based media company, bought TVS and sold off MTM to International Family Entertainment, stating “it doesn’t need it anymore”.

1991-2002
On 16 October 1991, the newly rebranded IBS announced via Lord Thomson, the then chair of the authority, that it had reviewed the ITV broadcasting licences again, for contracts beginning on 1 January 1993. Weekend television would also be reintroduced in some other regions and now one could own up to two franchises but would not be allowed to rebrand the station under the same name, much to the disappointment of Carlton Television. In additon, an Irish franchsie was created for carriage by cable companies to air alongside Ulster Television, after UTV stated that they wanted to stay viewable in the Republic. New franchises were also created for the Isle Of Man and the Isle Of Wight. The franchise round concluded with the following changes:
 * Thames Television merged with Carlton Television and CPV-TV, it's competitors, to form Capital Television.
 * The Central Scotland franchise was given to a new company called Thistle Television.
 * The West region was spun off and was awarded to Western, jointly owned by Carlton and Scottish.
 * LWT lost to London Independent Broadcasting. It was backed by Central Television and BSkyB.
 * The new Isle Of Wight franchise was awarded to Wight Television.
 * The new Isle Of Man franchise was awarded Manxnet.
 * The new Republic of Ireland franchise was awarded to Eirevision.
 * Central Scotland would also have a new weekend franchise, AWT (Alba Weekend Television).

1993–1997
In 1992, Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television merged again, creating Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television plc. The two companies were permitted to merge before their existing arrangements expired in June 1992, due to the marginal nature of both companies' finances, and a need to rationalise the two companies before the franchise handover date. On New Years Eve 1992, most outgoing regions aired goodbye programmes. Thames' final show, The End Of The Year show, aired on Thames, Granada, HTV Wales, Central, and Ulster. Scottish's last programme, The End Of The TV As We Knew It, aired on their franchise, alongside Border, TSW and Channel. HTV West ran a local farewell broadcast, The End In The West, broadcast in the West region. LWT's goodbye show, Our Last Weekend Together, aired nationwide on December 27. Takeovers began in earnest in 1994, as Carlton Television took over Central Independent Television having held a stake in the company since 1987 and CPV-TV, merged with Anglia who has been operating 50% of TVE for a while. As a result of the latter, TVE's presentation and playout facilities were moved to CPV's base in Southampton. No further takeovers happened afterwards and are yet to happen. Carlton sold Central Television to CPV-TV in 1997. The Cake idents were reinstated with this.

1997-1999
In 1997, Channel 4, a television channel directly owned by the IBS, was rebranded as ITV2. It would