History of ITV

The history of ITV, the United Kingdom "Independent Television" commercial network, goes back to 1955.

Independent Television began as a network of independently-owned regional companies that were both broadcasters and programme makers, beginning with four companies operating six stations in three large regions in 1955–1956, and gradually expanding to 17 stations in 14 regions by 1962. Each regional station was responsible for its own branding, scheduling and advertising, with many peak-time programmes shared simultaneously across the whole network.

By 29 February 2016, 12 regions in England and Wales shared national ITV branding and scheduling, and, together with a 13th region UTV in Northern Ireland, were owned by a single company, ITV plc. A further two regions in Scotland carry STV branding and are owned by the STV Group.

1955–1964

Formation

The Independent Television network came about as a result of the Television Act 1954, which paved the way for the establishment of a commercial television service in the United Kingdom and created the Independent Television Authority (ITA). The act itself was not without controversy, and much debate ensued both in the British Parliament and the British Press, and it was passed on the basis that the ITA would regulate the new service and ensure that the new service did not follow the same path taken by the American networks (which were perceived as 'vulgar' by some commentators). For example, it was made obligatory that commercials be clearly distinguishable from programmes. At the time, programmes in the USA were normally sponsored by a single company, so it was not uncommon for a game show host to step away from their podium after a round to sell cars or The Flintstones to segue into an ad for cigarettes with no perceived change from show to advertising.

The new "Independent Television" network, named due to its independence from the BBC which until then had a monopoly on broadcasting within the United Kingdom, was made up of numerous companies providing a regional television service and would also generally provide programmes to the network as a whole. Each individual company broadcast on 405-line VHF and was responsible for providing a local service, including daily news bulletins and local documentaries, and for selling advertising space on their channel: this measure ensured that all the independent companies were in competition with each other and that no single broadcaster could gain a monopoly over commercial broadcasting. However, national news was not provided by the individual companies and was instead provided by Independent Television News (ITN). Each regional service had its own on-screen identity to distinguish it from other regions, since there was often a sizeable overlap in reception capability within each region.

Upon the creation of the network, six franchises were awarded for London, the Midlands and the North of England with separate franchises for weekdays and the weekends. The companies in these regions were known as 'The Big Four' and consisted of Associated-Rediffusion (London weekday), ATV (Midlands weekday and London weekend), Granada Television (North of England weekday) and ABC (North of England and Midlands weekend). These companies were generally the best known and provided the most network output.

Launch

The first ITA contractor to begin broadcasting was the London weekday contractor Associated-Rediffusion, on 22 September 1955 beginning at 7.15pm. On the first night of telecasts, the BBC, who had held the monopoly on broadcasting in Britain, aired a melodramatic episode of their popular radio soap opera The Archers on the BBC Home Service (later became BBC Radio 4 in 1967). In the episode, core character Grace Archer was fatally injured in a fire, and it was seen as a ploy to keep loyal viewers and listeners away from the new station. The first full day of transmissions was 23 September 1955 when Britain's first female newsreader Barbara Mandell appeared. The London weekend contractor ATV launched two days later.

The other franchises launched within a year of the London launch, and other contracts were awarded by the ITA between 1956 and 1961. All the franchises had launched by September 1962.

Franchise Awarded	Launch Date	Regional Area	Programme Company
26 October 1954	22 September 1955	London (weekdays)	Associated-Rediffusion
26 October 1954	24 September 1955	London (weekends)	Associated Television (ATV)
26 October 1954	17 February 1956	Midlands (weekdays)	Associated Television (ATV)
26 October 1954	18 February 1956	Midlands (weekends)	ABC Weekend TV
26 October 1954	3 May 1956	North of England (weekdays)	Granada Television
26 October 1954	5 May 1956	North of England (weekends)	ABC Weekend TV
30 May 1956	31 August 1957	Central Scotland	Scottish Television
26 October 1956	14 January 1958	Central Wales	Wales Television
22 July 1957	30 August 1958	South & South East England	Southern Television
13 December 1957	15 January 1959	North East England	Tyne Tees Television
13 June 1958	27 October 1959	East of England	Anglia Television
10 November 1958	31 October 1959	Northern Ireland	Ulster Television
21 December 1958	25 December 1959	Republic of Ireland	Lagan Television
16 December 1959	29 April 1961	West & South West England	Westward Television
5 May 1960	1 September 1961	England-Scotland Borders	Border Television
2 August 1960	30 September 1961	Northern Scotland	Grampian Television
28 March 1961	1 September 1962	Channel Islands	Channel Television

ITV was admitted as an active member of the European Broadcasting Union through the Independent Television Companies' Association Ltd together with the ITA on 1 January 1960.

1964-1968

In 1963, the ITA chairman, Lord Hill of Luton, initiated a review of all the ITV companies following the release of the Pilkington Report, which saw the launch of BBC2 and heavily criticised ITV. This review would review a company's performance, and either grant them an extension to their service licence or replace the company with another in that region. This process was repeated frequently throughout the early life of ITV and lasted approximately ten years. Reviews like this also ensured that the companies maintained their high performance by maintaining the possibility of the loss of their licence. The new licences also included clauses which took into account the promise of an "ITV2" UHF channel to be launched if the Conservative Party won the 1964 general election.

Despite the review, 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), although several of the major companies were instructed to strengthen the regional emphasis of their on-screen identities. Overall, the regional companies made a profit within the first few years of their existence; the largest regions especially so. Roy Thomson, the Canadian founding chairman of Scottish Television, described the ownership of an ITV franchise as "a licence to print money".

1968-1969

Another franchise review was called by the ITA on 12 June 1967, for contracts running from the end of July 1968, that was to drastically change the structure of ITV itself. The review aimed to ensure that the ITV system was ready for the impending arrival of colour broadcasting, and also to again allow for the potential start of ITV2, should the Conservatives win any general election held after 1970. The behaviour of some of the companies only reinforced the ITA's assumptions of 'arrogance' following the few changes in the last franchise round: Rediffusion London's department managers also popped up in similar roles for rival applications. As a result, Lord Hill had made it clear in 1966 that "all bets were off" on the next franchise round and that the regions themselves might change. Therefore, in the period between the interviews of each applicant and the announcement of the changes, the newspapers speculated wildly about the likely changes: suggestions were made of Scottish Television exiting the system, Rediffusion London moving to replace Southern Television and various other wild ideas.

In the end, the changes made to the ITV regions were as follows:

• The weekend franchises in the North of England and the Midlands were abolished.
• The North of England region was split into two new smaller regions, the North West and Yorkshire. Seven-day contracts were specified in both these new regions, as well as in the Midlands.
• Separate weekday and weekend franchises continued in London; however, the handover time was moved from the beginning of Saturday to Friday at 7.00pm.

The ITV companies themselves changed considerably. Some merely had their contracts changed, while others were replaced altogether by new companies. The changes were as follows:

• Wales Television controversially lost the Wales franchise to a new company, Harlech Television (later shortened to HTV on 4 April 1970). Unhappy with the development, Wales ceased broadcasting on 4 March 1968 – nearly five months before its contract was due to expire – with the ITA providing an interim service until Harlech Television took over on 20 May.
• Associated Television lost the London weekend franchise to a consortium led by David Frost (called the London Television Consortium), which was soon renamed London Weekend Television. It had been expected that ABC would take over this franchise. ATV was (in turn of this) awarded the seven-day contract for the Midlands region, replacing ABC at the weekends.
• Granada Television was awarded the seven-day contract for the new North West region, again replacing ABC at the weekends.
• Two consortia applied for the new Yorkshire region, Telefusion Yorkshire and Yorkshire Independent Television. The region was awarded to Telefusion, on the basis that it merged with Yorkshire Independent. The merged company took the name Yorkshire Television, which replaced Granada on weekdays and ABC at the weekends.
• Rediffusion and ABC were asked to form a joint company for the London weekday franchise, in an attempt by the ITA to keep ABC in the network. This company (Thames Television) was controlled by ABC, who owned 51% while Rediffusion owned 49%.
• Roy Thomson (later Baron Thomson of Fleet) was required to divest himself of most of his holding in Scottish Television.

These changes resulted in the "Big Four" of Rediffusion, ATV, ABC and Granada (who had produced most of the major network output before 1964), being replaced by a new "Big Five" of Thames, LWT, ATV, Granada and Yorkshire. In addition, the Independent Television Publications company was formed to produce a national ITV programme schedule listings magazine. This magazine was called the TV Times, originally the title of the London listings magazine (and also briefly used by the Midlands magazine). It replaced all of the regional magazines, except the Channel Islands publication, which continued until 19 October 1991. Before the changes were implemented, however, the prime minister Harold Wilson appointed Lord Hill as chairman of the BBC Board of Governors and replaced him with Herbert Bowden, also known as Lord Aylestone. Aylestone reviewed the changes Hill had made, but allowed them to stand.

Colour television

This era also saw the introduction of colour television to the network and the introduction of the new 625-line system. During the 1960s, some commercial companies proposed the introduction of colour on the 405-line system, but the General Post Office insisted that colour should wait until the higher-definition 625-line UHF system became standard. This was primarily due to the cost incurred in purchasing new broadcasting equipment and the subsequent studio upgrade that usually accompanied it. Colour was available to nearly 100% of the United Kingdom from 1976, with the Channel Islands being the last region to be converted. This enabled the 405-line system to be phased out between 1982 and 1985.

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