ITV
- 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
\nNote: 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
\nAfter 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:
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.
\n
Reorganisation: 1968-1992
\nContracts 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.\n*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.\n*A new company, Yorkshire Television, was given the licence to broadcast in the newly created Yorkshire and Lincolnshire region.\n*ATV won the new seven-day Midlands licence, replacing ABC at the weekend.\n*ABC and Rediffusion were asked to merge by the ITA, creating Thames Television. Thames was awarded the London Weekday licence previously held by Rediffusion.\n*London Weekend Television was awarded the London Weekend licence, replacing ATV.\n*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.\n*Southern Television lost their South of England licence, in favour of Television South (TVS).\n*Westward Television also lost their licence (for South West England), being replaced by Television South West (TSW).
\n
Consolidation: 1993-present
\nThe 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.\n*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.\n*The system of licence allocation was changed; there would now be auctions to determine the winner of the ITV regional franchise.\n*ITN, the news provider for ITV, no longer had to be exclusively owned by ITV companies.\n*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.\n*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.\n*TVS lost the South of England franchise to Meridian Broadcasting.\n*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.\n*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:\n**Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees re-merged, creating Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television plc.\n**Carlton Television buys Central Independent Television.\n*1994:\n**MAI (later United News and Media - UNM) buys Anglia Television.\n**Granada takeover of LWT takes place.\n*1996:\n**Carlton buys Westcountry Television.\n**United News and Media purchases HTV.\n*1997:\n**Granada acquisition of Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television plc.\n**Scottish Media Group (SMG) acquires Grampian Television.\n*2000:\n**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
\nThere 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
\nFormer ITV Contractors
Current ITV Franchise holders
\n* Owned by ITV plc:\n**
Anglia Television: East of England franchise (
1959-)\n**
Border Television: English - Scottish border and Isle of Man franchise (
1961-)\n**
Carlton: London weekday franchise (
1993-)\n**
Central Independent Television: Midlands franchise (
1981-)\n**
Granada Television: North of England weekday franchise (
1956-
1968); NW England franchise (
1968-)\n**
HTV (originally "Harlech"): Wales and West of England franchise (
1968-)\n**
London Weekend Television (LWT): London Weekend franchise (
1968-)\n**
Meridian Broadcasting: South and south-east England franchise (
1993-)\n**
Tyne Tees Television: North-east England franchise (
1958-)\n**
Westcountry Television SW England franchise (
1993-)\n**
Yorkshire Television: Yorkshire/Lincolnshire franchise (
1968-)\n* Owned by
Scottish Media Group:\n**
Grampian Television: North-east Scotland franchise (
1961-)\n**
Scottish Television: Central Scotland franchise (
1957-)\n* Other regional franchises:\n**
Channel Television: Channel Islands franchise (
1962-)\n**
Ulster Television (UTV): Northern Ireland franchise (
1959-)\n* National franchises:\n**
GMTV: National Breakfast franchise (
1993-)\n**
Teletext Ltd: National Teletext franchise (
1993-)
See Also
\n*List of British television channels\n*
ITV plc\n*
Ofcom - the Office of Communications\n*
ITV1\n*
ITV2\n*
ITV News Channel\n*
ITV Digital
External Links
\nThe ITV Companies
\n*ITV.com - the main ITV website\n*
ITV plc\n*
Channel Television Ltd\n*
SMG plc\n*
UTV plc
Unofficial Sites about ITV
\n*The Transdiffusion Network - a British Communications History website\n*
Independent TeleWeb - a history of ITV\n*
The Historical Television Website\n*
Harlech House of Graphics - a site about ITV in Wales and the West of England\n*
Tyne Tees Logo Page - about the North East England broadcaster\n*
Television Southwest - about ITV companies in the South West of England
Category:Television networks\nCategory:ITV
