Though on a stable footing by 1986 and winning its ratings battle with the BBC's Breakfast Time, within a year turmoil had ensued when industrial action hit the company.

The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) announced on 24 January 1980 that in the next ITV franchising round it would offer a national licence for breakfast television.

Firstly, ITV had failed in its negotiations for royalties and rates for advertising on the new Channel 4 and the breakfast service with the actors' trade union, Equity.

TV-am was spearheaded by the so-called Famous Five who were not only lined up as presenters on the station, but were also shareholders: Michael Parkinson, David Frost (1983–92), Angela Rippon (1983), Anna Ford (1983) and Robert Kee.

This interval was needed because the process of the switching the broadcast signals from TV-am to each regional company was still manual and this gap gave British Telecom the required time to complete this task.

Its high-minded and somewhat starchy approach, summed up in the phrase "mission to explain" (coined by chief executive Peter Jay) sat uneasily at that time of day, compared to the accessible magazine style of Breakfast Time, which mixed heavy news and light-hearted features, famously moving cabinet ministers, after a serious interview, to help with a cookery demonstration.

The first day of broadcasting from TV-am included an hour of news in Daybreak, a short film and an interview with Norman Tebbit about the current level of unemployment, a live comic strip called The World of Melanie Parker,[7] and Through the Keyhole.

[14] A boardroom coup ensued on 18 March, when Peter Jay stepped aside allowing Jonathan Aitken, a sitting Conservative MP, to become chief executive of the station, after mounting pressure from investors who had demanded changes.

[22][23] On 1 April[24] (Good Friday), puppet Roland Rat made his first appearance; he was created by David Claridge and launched by TV-am Children's editor Anne Wood to entertain younger viewers during the Easter holidays,[25][26][27] which boosted the station's audience.

Parkinson ended up in lengthy talks with Aitken over the issues and the sacking of his two former colleagues, which resulted in him becoming a director of the company and joining the board of management.

[42] Ford encountered Jonathan Aitken at a party in Chelsea; in a parting shot over the terms of her dismissal, she threw her glass of wine in his face, saying of her action: "It was the only form of self-defence left to a woman when she has been so monstrously treated.

"[43][44] A couple of days later both Rippon and Ford started procedures to sue TV-am;[45][46] by October, the case was dropped after reaching an out of court settlement.

[47] Lynda Berry was brought in as stop-gap measurement for six weeks, before Anne Diamond joined from the BBC to become Owen's new co-presenter from 6 June.

[51] Continuing low audiences brought further financial difficulties: the company was close to having its power supply disconnected; a London Electricity official arrived during a press conference with a warrant to cut off power for non-payment; and on numerous occasions, the presenters failed to receive their monthly wages, while the local newsagent stopped supplying the station with newspapers due to lack of payment.

[52][53] David Frost was given the Sunday slot from 28 August, initially for eight weeks[54][55] with the belief that Parkinson would return to his full duties in October.

The situation was resolved in November when a new refinance package come into effect with new shareholders including Ladbrokes and the owners of the Daily Express which injected new capital worth over £4.5 million into the company.

[68] Gyngell pursued the same lightweight, populist approach that Dyke had forged to establish the station's viability, a model parodied later in a Guardian newspaper headline as "Snap, Crackle and Pap".

The station overhauled its children's Saturday morning programme with Wide Awake Club, replacing Data Run and SPLAT as part of the cost-cutting by management.

In an echo of the changes which had occurred in newspapers, Gyngell was determined to make use of technical developments in television in order to reduce staff and save money.

He believed that the ease of use of modern broadcasting equipment meant that staffing levels could be reduced: ENG crews would no longer require a separate lighting technician (following a pattern familiar in Gyngell's native Australia), and technical personnel could be virtually eliminated.

In the hurricane-force storms that hit England in October 1987, electrical power to the studios was lost and an emergency programme had to be transmitted from facilities at Thames Television's Euston Road centre, using reports from the crews of TV-am and those of ITN, TSW and TVS.

In 1990, changes in broadcasting law meant that commercial television franchises were no longer allocated on merit or potential, but rather through a blind auction.

The ITV franchise results were announced on 16 October and the bid for £14.3m that TV-am had made was beaten by another consortium, Sunrise Television (renamed GMTV when it launched) which offered £36.4m.

Ironically, in the years following its launch, GMTV approached the ITC to retrospectively obtain a reduction in this fee,[84] taking it to a level below what TV-am had originally bid.

Children's programming also suffered, with fewer appearances of Timmy Mallett, though Wacaday would continue during major school holidays until TV-am's close.

[86] Margaret Thatcher, whose government had introduced the change to the allocation of commercial television franchises (but who had by then been replaced as prime minister by John Major), famously wrote to Bruce Gyngell, apologising for being partly responsible for TV-am losing its licence.

Credits over a black-and-white still of the station's cast and crew in the studio showed snapshot of their portraits as the screen faded ending with the caption: TV-am: 1 February 1983 – 31 December 1992.

Breakfast Television Centre in Camden Town was sold to MTV Networks in 1993, with the famous eggcups still standing on the roof of the building beside the Regent's Canal.

The TV-am lettering built into the fascia of the building was obscured – by being covered with discs – but were still partially visible until they were completely removed during further renovations in spring 2012.