Editor John Osmond Assistant Editor Nick Morris Associate Editors Geraint Talfan Davies Rhys David spring 2008 Administration Helen Sims-Coomber and Clare Johnson Design WOOD&WOOD Design Consultants. wood2.com To advertise Telephone 029 2066 6606 media meltdown TV Wales is celebrating fifty years of broadcasting during 2008. In that time the Welsh franchise has gone through several permutations. First to hold it was TWW, Television Wales and the West. A decade later Harlech Television won control, later Institute of Welsh Affairs i 1–3 Museum Place becoming HTV Wales and the West. In 1997 HTV was taken over by United News and Cardiff Media which subsequently became part of Carlton in 2000. ITV Wales is now part of a CF10 3BD merged ITV, which owns all the ITV franchises in England and Wales. Driven by Telephone 029 2066 6606 commercialisation, each stage has seen a process of centralisation in which the distinctive E-mail
[email protected] dimension of Welsh broadcasting has been eroded and diminished. How far can the Web www.iwa.org.uk process go before we see an end to any autonomous Welsh presence within commercial The IWA is a non-aligned broadcasting? independent think-tank and research institute, based in Cardiff with branches in north The question is important on a number of fronts. In purely economic terms ITV Wales and west Wales, Gwent, contributes more than £12 million of disposable income into the local economy and Swansea Bay and London. supports the equivalent of more than 670 jobs, according to a study carried out by the Members (annual subscription £40) receive agenda three times Welsh Economic Research Unit at Cardiff Business School in 2002.