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Note: ITV (or iTV) can also mean interactive
television. This article is about the British television network.
Independent Television (ITV) is the name given to the original network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up to provide competition to the BBC.
History
Note: This article (mostly) discusses the history of the ITV network as a whole; for information on
individual ITV companies please see their respective articles - links to which are available in the "ITV Companies: Past and Present" section.
The Early Years: 1954-1968
After much debate both in the British Parliament and the British Press,
the Television Act became law in 1954. This Act paved the way
for the establishment of a commercial television service in the UK, creating the Independent Television Authority (ITA), the body that would regulate the new
television service. The ITA's responsibility was to regulate the new service, and to ensure that the new service did not follow
the same path taken by American television networks (which were perceived as "vulgar" by some people). For example, one thing
that was insisted upon was that commercials should be clearly
distinguishable from programmes.
The "Independent Television" service, so-called because of its independence from the BBC (which previously had held a monopoly
on broadcasting in the UK), was to be made up of regions, with each region run by different companies. The three largest regions
(London, the Midlands and the North of England) were subdivided into weekday and weekend services, with a different company
running each. Space for commercials, shown during and between programmes has always been sold on a region-by-region basis by each
ITV company, and not on a nationwide basis throughout the United Kingdom. The reason for this seemingly overcomplicated
arrangement was to prevent any individual company obtaining a monopoly on commercial broadcasting.
The ITV companies were contracted by the ITA to provide a local television service for their particular region, producing
programmes such as a local news bulletin or documentary. However, national news bulletins, covering events in the UK and the rest
of the world, were (and still are) produced by Independent Television News (ITN). Until recently, ITN was owned by all the ITV companies.
Each company also produced programming that would be shown across the network (although the decision as to when or if to show
each programme remained with the individual regions), with the four largest regions (known as the "Big Four" - London Weekday,
London Weekend, the North of England and the Midlands) producing the bulk of this output. Each regional service had its own
on-screen identity to distinguish it from other regions, since there was often a sizeable overlap between regions.
The first ITV contractor to begin broadcasting was the London Weekday contractor Associated-Rediffusion, on 22 September
1955. The London Weekend contractor, ATV London (initially known as "ABC" until the Midlands contractor, Associated
British Corporation, complained), began two days later. The other regions all launched later:
- 1955:
- 1956:
- 1957:
- 1958:
- 1959:
- 1961:
- 1962:
The ITV regions initially broadcast on 405-line VHF.
During the 1960s some commercial companies proposed the introduction of colour on the
405-line system, but the BBC insisted that colour should wait until the higher-definition 625-line UHF system became standard. ITV eventually introduced PAL colour on this system in 1969, simultaneous with BBC ONE and two years after BBC TWO. This did
not, however, spread immediately across the UK; some regions, like the Channel Islands, had to wait a few more years before colour was available.
In general, usually a few years after their launch, the regional companies made a profit; the largest regions especially so.
However, this was not the case with Wales
(West and North) Television (WWN). Problems with the construction of their transmitter network, as well as strict provisions
in their contract to produce a large amount of Welsh-language programming, meant that WWN lost a lot of money. Although WWN did
receive some help from other ITV contractors, it was not enough; the company declared itself bankrupt in 1964 - the only ITV company to have ever done so. The Teledu
Cymru name and studio facilities were taken over by TWW, who continued to broadcast in North and West Wales using that name until
1968.
Reorganisation: 1968-1992
Contracts to run an ITV region were, and still are, not permanent. Contracts were renewed by the ITA every few years, but it
was not guaranteed that the incumbent contractor would win an extension; a new company could take over instead. A licence review
had taken place in September 1963, but no
company lost its position as the local ITV contractor for their region and all licences were extended for another three years
(starting July 1964).
However, unlike 1963, the 1967 review was to create dramatic changes to the structure of
the ITV network. The ITA made the following changes to the ITV region map:
- Any split weekday/weekend licences were removed in all regions except London.
- The North of England region was split into North West and Yorkshire and Lincolnshire regions.
There were also changes to the companies running each region:
- Granada, the existing weekday contractor for the North of England region, was given a seven-day licence for the new North
West region.
- A new company, Yorkshire Television, was given the
licence to broadcast in the newly created Yorkshire and Lincolnshire region.
- ATV won the new seven-day Midlands licence, replacing ABC at the weekend.
- ABC and Rediffusion were asked to merge by the ITA, creating Thames Television. Thames was awarded the London Weekday licence previously held by Rediffusion.
- London Weekend Television was awarded the
London Weekend licence, replacing ATV.
- Most controversially, TWW lost its franchise for Wales and the West of England to Harlech Television, which soon became known as HTV.
During this period, the ITA was given the responsibility of regulating the new commercial "Independent Local Radio" (ILR)
stations under the Sound Broadcasting Act 1972. As a result, the name of the ITA was changed to the Independent Broadcasting Authority, or IBA.
The teletext service ORACLE was fully launched in 1974 - one of the first of its kind
(along with the BBC's CEEFAX).
At the beginning of the 1980s the IBA reviewed the ITV broadcasting licences. As a
result, the following changes occurred:
- ATV was considered by the IBA to have not focused on their region enough, and were ordered to change in order to keep their
licence. The renamed Central Independent
Television took over from ATV in 1981.
- Southern Television lost their South of England licence, in favour of Television South (TVS).
- Westward Television also lost their licence (for South West England), being replaced by Television South West (TSW).
Consolidation: 1993-present
The Broadcasting
Act 1990 paved the way for the deregulation of the British Broadcasting industry, which was to have many consequences for the
ITV system. The following changes were made by the Act:
- The old Independent Broadcasting Authority was split into the new Independent Television Commission (otherwise known as the ITC; the commission also
inherited the responsibility of the old Cable Authority) and the Radio Authority.
- The legal name of the ITV network was changed to "Channel 3", although the network is still referred to as ITV by the general
public.
- The system of licence allocation was changed; there would now be auctions to determine the winner of the ITV regional
franchise.
- ITN, the news provider for ITV, no longer had to be exclusively owned by ITV companies.
- Channel 4, which had previously been controlled by the ITV companies, was now
to become a Government-owned corporation, selling its own advertisement space.
The results of the Channel 3 franchise auction were:
- Television South West lost the South West England franchise to Westcountry Television.
- Thames Television lost the London Weekday franchise to Carlton
Television. However, Thames, although it has lost its broadcasting licence, still produces programmes for ITV, such as
The Bill and the successful reality television programme Pop Idol.
- TVS lost the South of England franchise to Meridian Broadcasting.
- TV-am lost the National Breakfast television to Sunrise Television, who changed their name to GMTV before launch due to a dispute with BSkyB over the "Sunrise" name.
- ORACLE lost the National Teletext franchise to Teletext Ltd
All other existing ITV companies retained their regional franchises.
The relaxation in the franchise ownership rules as a result of the 1990 Act meant that mergers between ITV companies were now
possible (even more after the Broadcasting Act 1996, which relaxed the rules even further). This was quickly taken advantage of by
the larger companies - Carlton Communications, Granada and (to a lesser extent) Scottish Television:
- 1993:
- Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees re-merged, creating Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television plc.
- Carlton Television buys Central Independent Television.
- 1994:
- MAI (later United News and Media - UNM) buys Anglia Television.
- Granada takeover of LWT takes place.
- 1996:
- Carlton buys Westcountry Television.
- United News and Media purchases HTV.
- 1997:
- Granada acquisition of Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television plc.
- Scottish Media Group (SMG) acquires Grampian Television.
- 2000:
- Granada acquires Anglia, Meridian and HTV from UNM; Granada then sells HTV to Carlton to comply with the then-current
regulatory requirements.
Carlton and Granada attempted to merge twice in the 1990s, creating a new company that
would own all the Channel 3 licences in England and Wales (and
the English-Scottish Border). In October 2003,
the Government announced that it would no longer prevent a merger from taking place, subject to safeguards being set in place to
ensure the continued independence of the Scottish Media Group, UTV and Channel Television. The merger of the two companies
finally took place at the end of January 2004,
and the new company - named ITV plc - started trading on 2 February, with former Carlton shareholders owning 38% and Granada shareholders owning 68% of the new
shares in the company.
The choice of the name "ITV plc" was controversial, since it could imply that the company runs the entire network, and an
agreement had to be reached with SMG, UTV and Channel before the name could be used. Granada and Carlton have also been
criticised in the past for using the ITV name to brand their failed pay television service, ITV Digital, and the ITV Sports Channel.
Although still the major force in UK commercial television, ITV's share of the TV viewing audience has been falling for years,
particularly since the start of competition by satellite
television and cable, and more recently Digital Terrestrial Television. As a result, the ITV network has tried
to adapt, by launching two additional channels broadcast on the main digital television platforms. ITV2 launched in 1998, and carries a mix of imported and homemade programming,
as well as extended coverage of ITV's reality television programmes. The ITV News Channel shows ITV News bulletins 24-hours a day (produced by ITN).
In recognition of this fact, the ITV network (in the Carlton and Granada owned areas) was rebranded ITV1 in 2001. From October
2002 regional branding in these regions (and Channel Television) was dropped altogether,
except before regional programming, with all ITV plc regions now being controlled from a reduced number of transmission centres.
This has lead to a number of job cuts and scaled-back operations at regional centres, with some studios being sold off
altogether. In view of the national audiences they serve, Scottish, Grampian and UTV have all decided not to adopt the
ITV1 brand, and still use their own individual identities at all times.
Programmes
There are some programmes produced by ITV companies (past and present) that are well-known, usually in the UK, but often
worldwide. These include:
It is believed by some people that ITV has started "dumbing-down" in recent years. They argue that serious documentary and
current affairs programmes are seldom to be seen in prime time, whilst the amount of reality television programmes and soap operas has
increased (although this may be something attributed British television in general, since the BBC has been accused of the same
things). In its defence, ITV does continue to show its major strengths in the fields of sports coverage and drama productions,
and the production of "high-brow" programming such as "The South Bank Show" has continued.
ITV Companies: Past and Present
Former ITV Contractors
Current ITV Franchise holders
See Also
External Links
The ITV Companies
Unofficial Sites about ITV
| British television |
Channels |
ITV |
Scotland: Grampian, Scottish Television, Border | North and Northwest: ABC, Granada
Northeast: Tyne Tees | Yorkshire:
Yorkshire | Northern Ireland: UTV | Wales: TWW, WWN, HTV
Midlands: ATV,
Central | East: Anglia | London: Rediffusion, ATV, Thames, LWT, Carlton
South: Southern, TVS, Meridian | Southwest: Westward, TSW, Westcountry | Channel Islands: CTV
|
Breakfast: TV-am, GMTV | Teletext: ORACLE,
Teletext Ltd | News: ITN
|
ITA | IBA | ITC | Ofcom
ITV plc | ITV1 | ITV2 | ITV News Channel | ITV Digital
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