Contents
Launched 22 September 1955
Owned by ITV Network Limited
(consisting of
ITV plc,
STV Group plc,
UTV Media plc,
Channel Television Ltd.)
Audience share 16.6%
(June 2008, [1])
Slogan "Get Ready" (1989)
"TV from the Heart" (1999)
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Website www.itv.com,
www.stvplc.com,
www.utvmedia.com,
www.channelonline.tv
Availability
Terrestrial
Analogue Normally tuned to 3
Freeview Channel 3
Satellite
Sky Digital Channel 103
Freesat Channel 103
Astra 2D 10758V 22000 5/6
Cable
Virgin Media Channel 103
Tiscali TV Channel 3
UPC Ireland Channel 110 (UTV)
Internet Television
itv.com Any Page (ITV London)
Independent Television (generally known as ITV) is a public service network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up under the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide competition to the BBC. ITV is the oldest commercial television network in the UK. Since 1990 and the Broadcasting Act 1990, its legal name has been Channel 3, the number 3 having no real meaning other than to distinguish it from BBC One, BBC Two and Channel 4 - prior to this, the network had no legal overall name. In part, 3 was assigned as televisions would usually be tuned so that the regional ITV station would be on the third button, the other stations being allocated to that of the number their name contained.
ITV is to be distinguished from ITV plc, the company that resulted from the merger of Granada plc and Carlton Communications in 2004 and which owns all of the Channel 3 broadcasting licences in England, Wales, the Scottish/English Border and the Isle of Man. Similarly ITV1 is the brand used by ITV plc for the Channel 3 service in these areas, with STV and UTV using their own brands in their own respective areas (North and Central Scotland and Northern Ireland).
Organisation
Unlike practically all other TV channels in the United Kingdom, ITV is not owned by one single company, although it has come close in recent years. Ofcom licences fifteen companies to provide regional Channel 3 services in various areas of the UK, with a separate franchise for the national breakfast service between 6:00am and 9:25am, and two franchises for London, for a weekday service and a weekend service. The licences were last put out to full tender in 1991, since then they have been renewed on a rolling basis.
In addition to ITV plc as mentioned above, central and northern Scotland are served by STV Group plc, the owner of the two franchises completely within Scotland, (branded as STV), Northern Ireland is served by UTV, under that name, whilst the Channel Islands are served by Channel Television, Ltd., also under the name ITV1. In the Republic of Ireland ITV plc formerly had a 45% share in the television station TV3, which shows many ITV shows such as The X Factor and Hells Kitchen. This was sold in 2007, but the programming supply agreement continues. UTV is also available in the vast majority of homes in the country in any case.
Additionally, Channel 3 has since 1983 included a national breakfast franchise, currently held by GMTV, and has a national contractual teletext provider.
National teletext provider
The Public Teletext Licence[1] allows the holder to broadcast a text-based information service around the clock on Channel 3 (as well as Channel 4 and S4C) frequencies. Teletext on ITV had been provided since 1974 by ORACLE, and since 1993 is provided by Teletext Ltd., whose news, sport and TV listings pages rival that of the BBC's television offering, Ceefax on terrestrial and BBC Red Button on digital. Teletext Ltd. also provides digital teletext for the Channel 3 services, as well as the text output for both Channel 4 and S4C (which is covered under the same licence) and Five (under a separate licence).
Digital Channel 3
Since 1998, each of the Channel 3 franchises have received gifted capacity on digital terrestrial television (DTT). As per the original agreement, each regional ITV contractor broadcasts its Channel 3 service from 9:25am to 6:00am daily, with the breakfast operator broadcasting in the remaining hours. However, unlike analogue broadcasts, the assigned capacity across DTT is able to carry multiple television services which, like Channel 3, are broadcast by the regional franchisee between the hours of 9:25am and 6:00am, with the breakfast contractor operating between 6:00am and 9:25am.
At present, all franchisees opt to broadcast ITV plc-owned channels, being ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and the CITV Channel, as opposed to broadcasting their own. Up until 2002, UTV in Northern Ireland ran a service known as UTV2, while both Scottish and Grampian ran S2. The breakfast operator, currently GMTV, is obliged to broadcast between the hours of 6:00 and 9:25am daily. Alongside the Channel 3 GMTV service, GMTV also broadcasts GMTV2, which is broadcast on the same capacity as ITV2 and the CITV Channel. The company also holds a third GMTV3 licence however it currently sells this gifted capacity to ITV plc to broadcast ITV3 24 hours a day. ITV is available all across the UK and is also available in the Rep. of Ireland on free to air and Digital satellite.
Channel 3 shares its space with Channel 4 on Multiplex 2, known as Digital 3&4.
Public service broadcasting
The right granted by Ofcom of Channel 3's nationally-available status on both analogue and digital television comes with responsibility, in the form of public service broadcasting. Alongside the BBC, Channel 4 and Five, the members of the ITV Network and GMTV all have a responsibility to broadcast various programming of public importance on their analogue stations. This includes quotas for news, current affairs, independent and European programming, children's and religious programming, and output containing subtitles, signing and audio description. In addition, Channel 3 stations are legally obliged to screen party election broadcasts on behalf of all the major political parties, and also other political events such as the Budget.
All the companies holding a franchise are members of ITV Network Limited (formerly the Independent Television Companies' Association Limited), a not-for-profit body. It is this body that commissions programmes for the network, and schedules the network programming. However, in practice ITV plc, which owns eleven of the fifteen licences, dominates the system.
Much of the originated networked programme output (around 50%[citation needed], but previously up to 65%[citation needed] according to some reports) is contributed by ITV Productions, the production arm of ITV plc (consisting of the consolidated regional companies' network production departments), although a growing number of programmes are commissioned by the Network from independents (a minimum of 25% of total output, as stipulated by the 1990 Broadcasting Act). In addition, the entire network is obliged to broadcast national news sourced by a common contractor (currently ITN). All stations have the right to opt out of national programming (except for the national news) but generally do not, since most are owned by the one company and the others have limited resources for non-networked productions.
Franchise details
The table below lists current franchises and the franchise holder.
Franchise Area Franchise holder[2] Franchise held since Parent Company Name On-air nameRegional Franchises
Northern Scotland Grampian Television 1961 STV Group plc Grampian Television STV (North)
Central Scotland Scottish Television 1957 STV Group plc Scottish Television STV (Central)
Northern Ireland Ulster Television 1959 UTV Media Ulster Television UTV1
The Channel Islands Channel Television 1962 Yattendon Investment Trust ITV1 Channel Television2 ITV1
English-Scottish border and Isle of Man Border Television 1961 ITV plc ITV1 Border2 ITV1
North East England Tyne Tees Television 1958 ITV plc ITV1 Tyne Tees2 ITV1
Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk Yorkshire Television 1968 ITV plc ITV1 Yorkshire2 ITV1
North West England Granada Television 19563 ITV plc ITV1 Granada2 ITV1
Wales and the West of England HTV 1968 ITV plc ITV1 Wales1/
ITV1 West2 ITV1 Wales
ITV1
The Midlands Central Independent Television 1982 ITV plc ITV1 Central2/
ITV1 Thames Valley2 ITV1
East of England Anglia Television 1959 ITV plc ITV1 Anglia2 ITV1
London Weekday Carlton Television 1993 ITV plc ITV1 London (Weekdays)2 ITV1
London Weekend London Weekend Television 1968 ITV plc ITV1 London (Weekends)2 ITV1
South and South East England Meridian Broadcasting 1993 ITV plc ITV1 Meridian2/
ITV1 Thames Valley2 ITV1
South West England Westcountry Television 1993 ITV plc ITV1 Westcountry2 ITV1
National Franchises
National teletext service Teletext Ltd. 1993 DMGT ITV Teletext Teletext
National breakfast time GMTV Ltd 1993 ITV plc (75%)/
The Walt Disney Company (25%) Good Morning Television GMTV4
1. ITV1 Branding is used overnight
2. always just "ITV1"
3. to 1968 Granada Television's franchise included most of what is now Yorkshire Television's franchise area and operated a weekday only contract
4. Also uses CITV branding for children's output at the weekend and on digital services
History
Independent Television was created following the Television Act 1954. The Independent Television Authority was set up to control and review the network. In the three main areas – London, the Midlands and the North of England – ITV was launched in September 1955, February 1956 and May 1956 respectively. The shape of the ITV Network and the course it has taken down the years has largely been controlled by regular refranchising rounds which occurred in 1964, 1968, 1974, 1982, and 1993. These rounds saw regions and franchise areas reshaped and franchise holders changed. Additionally, since the Broadcasting Act 1990 the consolidation of ITV companies has also had an important bearing on the direction of the network. The 1990s saw the number of broadcasters drop dramatically, for instance in 1992, Yorkshire Television acquired Tyne Tees Television, only for this entity to merge with Granada Television in 1997. A similar process happened with the Southern Regions, leaving Carlton Television and Granada Television as the two major players, until the failure of ITV Digital saw these two merge.