Alpha Television

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Alpha Television was a British limited company that ran television studios in Aston, Birmingham from 1956 to 1970. It began as a joint venture between ATV and ABC Weekend Television to share Midlands broadcasting duties—ATV for weekdays and ABC for weekends. To avoid duplicating facilities, they created Alpha Television Services (Birmingham) Limited to operate the Aston site, which bought the old Astoria Cinema. The site opened with one studio and basic facilities, plus separate presentation areas for ATV and ABC. In 1963 they expanded with an office block, a second studio, and improved facilities, while the cinema facade was rebuilt to match.

In 1967 ITV reorganised regional licenses: ABC lost the Midlands weekend contract and ATV won a seven-day Midlands licence. ABC was offered the London weekday licence if it merged with Rediffusion into Thames Television and sold its stake in Alpha to ATV. Because Alpha’s studios were built for black-and-white broadcasting and colour was coming, ATV began building new colour studios in central Birmingham. In 1968 work started on the Paradise Centre, later known as ATV Centre and Alpha Tower, a £15 million complex. By early 1970, Alpha Studios closed, staff moved to ATV Network, and Alpha Television Services (Birmingham) Limited ceased trading. The site later housed BRMB radio from 1974, which moved to new studios in 1996; the office block remains, but the cinema was demolished.