Some of Tyne Tees' best known programming includes the groundbreaking music show The Tube, critically acclaimed adaptations of Catherine Cookson novels, and children's programmes such as Supergran.

[6] Sir Richard Pease headed a local consortium that included film producer Sydney Box and News Chronicle executives George and Alfred Black.

[12] However, this local content was followed by an episode of the American police series Highway Patrol and an evening of entertainment programmes including I Love Lucy and Double Your Money.

[15] Initially produced from an office in Forth Lane, near Newcastle station, it moved to the City Road studios when Dickens Press took over publication in 1963.

One of the range of promotional material was a poster called 'Sweet Sixteen', featuring photographs of 15 men accompanied by their full names, job titles and other formal history.

Some companies, historian Simon Cherry notes, were scrambling "very readily for the lowest common denominator ... Tyne Tees was notorious for avoiding minority programmes and putting out cop shows or westerns instead.

The ITA agreed that Tyne Tees and Yorkshire could be considered as one company for the purposes of selling airtime, while expressing their individual identities in their programming output.

Pointing out that Smith became a director of the station, Pilkington asked why Tyne Tees failed to produce a documentary about a Newcastle politician, instead leaving it to Manchester-based Granada's current affairs programme World in Action.

[24][28] The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the successor to the ITA, recognised the criticism, reported The Economist, "that Trident was London-dominated, overly diversified, and out of touch with the grass roots.

From a small two-camera studio at Corporation House in the centre of Middlesbrough, Tyne Tees developed nightly opt-out news bulletins for Teesside, County Durham and North Yorkshire as part of the flagship magazine programme Northern Life.

[30][31] In the same year, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher initiated a blind auction system, through the Broadcasting Act 1990, through which companies had to bid for the regional franchises.

[32][33] Together, the now-merged companies were committed to paying about £60 million a year to the government for the right to broadcast, a substantial amount compared to the £2,000 bid by Central, ITV's largest station.

According to Variety, YTT "oversold its airtime to advertisers and failed to meet its ratings targets, resulting in a huge revenue shortfall estimated by analysts at over $20 million.

"[33] The industry newspaper also reported that the company "attempted to bolster its flagging 1992–93 revenues by giving advertisers deep discounts for advance airtime bookings made for the following year.

"[33] Local MP Peter Mandelson wrote to the Secretary of State for National Heritage, David Mellor, in June 1992, saying "Yorkshire and Tyne Tees are motivated by the interests of their shareholders, not their viewers, and need to make urgent savings ... it is quite clear that this is not so much a merger but a gobbling up of a smaller franchise held by a larger company.

To halting "a slide in viewing figures and reflecting confidence in the region",[42] in September that year, Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television plc rebranded its stations as Channel 3.

On 16 September 2013 both ITV News Tyne Tees and Lookaround were restored as two single 30-minute regional programmes on weekdays with separate shorter daytime and weekend bulletins reintroduced.

As a result of the merger, ITV plc had (according to the company) an over-capacity of studio facilities and production units around the country, which had previously been rivals, but were now all part of the same group.

As part of the same plans, he also announced that Tyne Tees would be merged with Border Television, subject to Ofcom approval which occurred the following year, resulting in one large programme covering both regions.

[69][70] The station identification, or idents for short, of Tyne Tees varied over time; however, most were based the letters TTTV arranged in a box format.

[71] This ident was accompanied by a shortened version of the station's signature tune "Three Rivers Fantasy", a specially commissioned work by composer and arranger Arthur Wilkinson.

[71] When Tyne Tees adopted the Channel 3 North East branding in September 1996, the traditional "TTTV" logo arrangement was dropped in favour of a large '3', with the region written to the left of the '3'.

[71] The name "Tyne Tees Television" was only seen in small letters at the bottom of the screen, whereas Yorkshire, who also adopted the Channel 3 brand a month later, was allowed to keep its 'chevron' logo alongside the '3'.

[77] The station's founding executives George and Alfred Black used their theatrical background to produce a lot of light entertainment programming on Tyne Tees in the early years.

Local non-news programming was also broadcast on early Sunday evenings and various late slots following News at Ten on Tuesday and Thursday nights.

This continued into the 1980s with Madabout, How Dare You!, Gilbert's Fridge and weekday pop-music show Razzamatazz, a pop programme that attracted many major recording artists to appear in a 17:15 slot.

With independent production company Festival Films and Television, Tyne Tees produced several adaptations of books by local novelist Catherine Cookson.

[90] In 1979, Tyne Tees launched two national series, Alright Now and Check it Out, the latter a mix of rock music and segments on youth-oriented social issues; among performances by established acts, the two shows offered early exposure to bands linked to the North East, notably Dire Straits and The Police.

Whereas The Tube featured rock and punk bands and emerging musicians, Tyne Tees' The Roxy, concentrated on the mainstream UK singles chart.

Also, unlike The Tube, which had gained a loyal fanbase and respect from artists, mainstream acts were reluctant to travel to Newcastle for a three-minute performance when they could appear on the BBC's more established Top of the Pops in the more accessible London.