Independent Television Service For Wales and The West - TWW Problems

TWW Problems

Although a condition of the new incumbent's licence was that all technical, office and engineering staff of the old company should be taken on (the standard ITA practice at the time), it was becoming obvious that the new contractor, Harlech Television, intended to dismiss all the on-screen personnel of TWW, and launch with a fresh team. These intentions had a marked effect on TWW morale and programme production became more difficult as the winter of 1967–68 wore on.

Additionally, the board of TWW had been advised not to take the stake in Harlech offered to them by the ITA. TWW had other subsidiaries, but none were as profitable or fast growing as the television business. This depressed the TWW share price.

Early in 1968, the TWW board decided that more money would be realised for shareholders in the eventual winding up of the company if they were to "sell" the last part of the old contract to the incoming consortium. This would provide a fixed guaranteed income for the final months of TWW and give some underpinning to the share price. TWW's accountants advanced this plan, and the ITA, who thought it would bring more stability to the situation, backed it.

It was calculated that the profit after expenses that TWW might have made would be about £100,000 per month and that the earliest that TWW could reasonably exit would be around the end of February 1968. It was agreed to sell the last five months of the contract to Harlech for just under £500,000.

However, Harlech were not yet in a position to begin production and would therefore have to launch their promised new service using "in the can" TWW productions. This was not an ideal situation for a replacement franchisee.