Southern Television (sometimes abbreviated to just "Southern") first went on the air on 30th August 1958 covering the south and south-east of England outside of the London area. Although its influence on the ITV network was never as strong as some of the major players (such as Granada or ATV) its childrens' programmes did have a very strong profile within ITV. Southern lost its franchise in the reshuffle of 1980 and officially ceased broadcasting on 31st December 1981. It was succeeded in the region by Television South.