Goodbye Ulster Television... ?

DMC

Looks like UTV's name might change today... according to Media Guardian, the name of the company will be changed from Ulster Television plc, but it doesnt say to what.... probably something crappy like U Media or some such..

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,1783716,00.html

I'm still confused! More on this as I get it...

flogen

probably something crappy like UMediaGroup; they might even keep it as Ulster though, as that piece claims TV is the real issue.

L1011

I thought they wanted to get rid of the "Ulster" from the name due to 'political sensitivities' or some such term one of their managment said a few years back. They've already effectively excised it from the TV channel name and everything else is branded "UTV" with no expansion for the acronym.

Round Cable

According to wikipedia there was a motion at their AGM to change it to "UTV plc"

L1011

I would hazard a guess that someone heard the story and.... made a guess, to be honest.

Elmo

Perhaps when they were bidding for TV3 they where thinking of a name change from UTV to ITV. (I = Ireland OR I = Island) or may AITV (All Ireland TV), or WITV (Whole Island TV), or APTV (All Province TV).

Is their not a Bank called Ulster Bank,

L1011

There is, and they issue my Laser card...

Elmo

And does this cause problems?

No.

"They" have little to be offended by who ever "they" might be. Perhaps "They" are people who give out about such drivel as The Da Vince(sp?) Code :rolleyes:

SRB

They changed the name to UTV, that's all. The details and reasoning behind was posted on their website a while back :
http://www.utvplc.com/agm.asp?sub=iv&sublk=agm

watty

Not as mad as Allied Irish Bank becoming AIB Bank.

Ulsterman 1690

I thought they wanted to get rid of the "Ulster" from the name due to 'political sensitivities' or some such term one of their managment said a few years back.

Nothing 'politically sensitive' about the term "Ulster" everyone agrees the place exists just some people differ on how big it is

Perhaps when they were bidding for TV3 they where thinking of a name change from UTV to ITV. (I = Ireland OR I = Island) or may AITV (All Ireland TV), or WITV (Whole Island TV), or APTV (All Province TV)

Some ot those suggested names are a lot more 'politically sensitive' but more importantly are a bit of a mouthful.

Quite frankly I dont see why theyre bothering with the name change. "For virtually all of its existance "Ulster" Television has had more viewers from outside "Ulster" than in it and its never been a problem.

Just like the Ulster bank !

Elmo

Nothing 'politically sensitive' about the term "Ulster" everyone agrees the place exists just some people differ on how big it is

I cann't see Island TV being a bad name that could be considered political. I was being Ironic when I was suggesting the names. :rolleyes:

According to an old woman on C4 the Republic should really give back the other 3 counties. She was a unionist and it was a show about the marches.
But a this stage, as I know moderators on ICDG hate having to talk about anything political here, I will stop .

flogen

Elmo wrote:

I cann't see Island TV being a bad name that could be considered political. I was being Ironic when I was suggesting the names. :rolleyes:

According to an old woman on C4 the Republic should really give back the other 3 counties. She was a unionist and it was a show about the marches.
But a this stage, as I know moderators on ICDG hate having to talk about anything political here, I will stop .

Let's not get too political here, but if the Republic did give the 3 counties "back" to the UK, it would be the single worst event in Unionist history ever!

I think the UTV plc group would be wise to drop the TV from their name, after all they no longer are just TV; the "U", or even the word Ulster matters little, they are available in the majority of Ulster (and the rest!), and as was said, the word itself isn't an issue.

icdg

Really the Ulster Television brand was consigned to history back in 1993 when the on-air name changed. All this means is that they will be able to take the name off any legal documents or stock exchange announcements they have to issue. It also means that investors that want to look up company information or statistics can see them listed under "UTV plc", rather than "Ulster Television plc".

watty

Let's not get too political here, but if the Republic did give the 3 counties "back" to the UK, it would be the single worst event in Unionist history ever!

Instant Nationalist majority and thus N.I. joins ROI democratically as per Good Friday agreement. That is of course why those three counties are NOT part of NI.

flogen

watty wrote:

Instant Nationalist majority and thus N.I. joins ROI democratically as per Good Friday agreement. That is of course why those three counties are NOT part of NI.

exactly!

So has the change from Ulster Television plc to UTV plc happened?