Abacat's What If's/ITV1

**ITV1** (formerly known as **ITV**) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel primarily owned and operated by the British media companies Granada Television and Thames Television. It was launched in 1955 as **Independent Television** to provide competition and reduce the current monopoly to the then BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Media Bill 1990, it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time: BBC One, BBC Two, and Channel 4.

ITV1 is a network of separate companies which provide regional television services and also share programmes between each other to be shown throughout the country. Each franchise was originally owned by a different company. After several mergers, the 24 regional franchises are now held by eight companies:

* **Granada Television plc**, which runs Granada, LWT, Yorkshire, Tyne Tees, SETV, and Border
* **Thames Television plc**, which runs Thames, Central, Meridian, Western, Anglia and TSW
* **Scottish Television plc**, which runs Scottish and Grampian
* **Manx Television plc,** which runs Manx, Hibernian and HTV
* **UTV plc**, which runs UTV
* **Antartica Television plc**, which runs Antartica, Antartica Isles and Artic
* **Three Counties Television plc**, which runs Three Counties, Coastal and Isle of Wight
* **Channel Television plc**, which runs Channel and Independent Television Gibraltar.

## History

The origins of ITV lie in the passing of the Television Act 1954, designed to break the monopoly on television held by the BBC Television Service. The act created the Independent Television Authority (ITA, then IBA after the Sound Broadcasting Act) to heavily regulate the industry and to award franchises. The first six franchises were awarded in 1954 for London, the Midlands and the North of England, with separate franchises for Weekdays and Weekends. The first ITV service to launch was London's Associated-Rediffusion on 22 September 1955, with the Midlands and North services launching in February 1956 and May 1956 respectively. Following these launches, the ITA awarded more franchises until the whole country was covered by fourteen regional stations, all launched by 1962.

The network has been modified several times through franchise reviews that have taken place in 1963, 1967, 1974, 1980 and 1991, during which broadcast regions have changed and service operators have been replaced. Only one service operator has ever been declared bankrupt, WWN in 1963, with all other operators leaving the network as a result of a franchise review. Separate weekend franchises were removed in 1968 (with the exception of London) and over the years more services were added; these included a national breakfast franchise from 1983 onward—operating between 6:00 am and 9:25 am—and a teletext service. The Broadcasting Act 1990 changed the nature of ITV; the then regulator the IBA was replaced with a light-touch regulator, the ITC; companies became able to purchase other ITV regional companies and the initial intention was that franchises were to be awarded based upon a highest-bidder auction, with few safeguards in place. This heavily criticised part of the review was later overruled and replaced by a quality system. A cash bid was still a major deciding factor however, with operators facing different annual payments to the Treasury: Central Television, for example, paid only £2,000—despite holding a lucrative and large region—because it was unopposed, while Yorkshire Television paid £37.7 million for a region of the same size and status, owing to heavy competition.

Following the 1993 changes, ITV as a network began to consolidate with several companies doing so to save money by ceasing the duplication of services present when they were all separate companies. By 2004, the ITV network was owned by five companies, of which two, Thames and Granada had become major players by owning between them all the franchises in England.

## Organisation

The ITV network is not owned or operated by one company, but by a number of licensees, which provide regional services while also broadcasting programmes across the network. Since 2016, the fifteen licences are held by two companies, with the majority held by ITV Broadcasting Limited, part of ITV plc.

The network is regulated by the media regulator Ofcom who is responsible for awarding the broadcast licences. The last major review of the Channel 3 franchises was in 1991, with all operators' licences having been renewed between 1999 and 2002 and again from 2014 without a further contest. While this has been the longest period that the ITV network has gone without a major review of its licence holders, Ofcom announced (following consultation) that it would split the Wales and West licence from 1 January 2014, creating a national licence for Wales and joining the newly separated West region to Westcountry Television, to form a new licence for the enlarged South West of England region.

All companies holding a licence are part of the non-profit body ITV Network Limited, which ccommission and schedules network programming from across the ITV network, with compliance handled by Channel Television. All licensees have the right to opt out of network programming (except for the national news bulletins), however many do not due to pressures from the franchisees producing the programmes or because of limited resources. STV frequently (and sometimes controversially) opts out of several popular network programmes – such as the original run of the first series of *Downton Abbey* – citing the need to provide more Scottish content to its viewers. They were fined for this as many of the replacement programmes were of no particular relevance to the Scottish audience, such as the American adult comedy *South Park*.

As a public service broadcaster, the ITV network is obliged to broadcast programming of public importance, including news, current affairs, children's and religious programming as well as party election broadcasts on behalf of the major political parties and political events, such as the Budget. The network also needs to produce accessible output containing subtitles, signing and audio description. In exchange for this programming, the ITV network is available on all platforms free to air and can be found at the top of the EPG of all providers.

## History

### 1954-1964

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 would have to 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 one company, 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.

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.

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.

### 1964-1968

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. The only change to the network was the formation of a single Wales and West franchise, operated by TWW, following the collapse of WWN and its subsequent takeover by TWW. WWN ran into trouble when it had problems with the construction of its transmitter network, as well as strict provisions in its contract to produce a large amount of Welsh-language programming. This meant that WWN lost a lot of money and, despite some help from other ITV companies, it declared itself bankrupt on 26 January 1964 – the only ITV company to have ever done so.

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".

### 1967-1980

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 and TWW reapplied for their contract under both their own name and that of WWN/Teledu Cymru as a tax dodge. 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:

* TWW controversially lost the Wales and West of England franchise to a new company, **Harlech Television** (later shortened to HTV on 4 April 1970). Unhappy with the development, TWW 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.
* ATV 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 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**, replacing 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 network output, 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. He reviewed the changes Hill had made, but allowed them to stand.

Following the passing of the Sound Broadcasting Act 1972, the ITA was reconstituted as the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) who took on the same role as the ITA but were also given responsibility of the then-new Independent Local Radio stations.

In 1971, the Bilsdale UHF transmitter, based on the border between Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television and much disputed over, was assigned to Tyne Tees Television. To compensate for this, the IBA allowed Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television to consolidate slightly into a new venture: Trident Television. Trident originally managed advertising sales for Tyne Tees Television and Yorkshire Television but was allowed a reverse takeover of both companies; Tyne Tees Television and Yorkshire Television did however retain their own studio bases, management, boards and on-screen identity.

The ITV network had been experimenting with repeats of programmes in the early afternoons, one example being Granada’s *Encore* series in 1970/1, and episodes of popular series like *The Saint* were shown during the day to gauge reaction. Now, a more substantial schedule was being put together that would allow for schools programmes to be shown between 9.30 and 12 noon, shows for children between 12 and 12.40, ITN’s *First Report* at 12.40, and a mixture of game shows, serials and repeats of popular shows until another children’s sequence began at around 4.15pm. Some of these became favourites and eventual mainstays in the ITV schedule, like *Crown Court*, *The Indoor League*, *Good Afternoon*, *Lunchtime With Wogan* and most notably, *Emmerdale Farm*.

Around the same time, ITV launched its first concerted effort at a more coherent approach to children's output, with the introduction of the new *Watch It!* block four days a week from 4:30 pm to 5:15 pm, after the IBA continued to emphasize issues with children's programmes. Since the launch of ITV, children's programmes would take a break on Thursdays, a tradition that continued after the launch of *Watch It!* in 1972. All programmes were networked and presented as a pre-recorded programme from on-duty ATV announcers.

Channel 4 had launched on 2 November 1972, with a Welsh language equivalent, S4C launched the day before. Originally Channel 4 depended on the ITV network for its funding, with the regional companies selling advertising. This arrangement ended on 31 December 1992 after which a 'funding formula' continued, whereby the ITV companies would subsidise Channel 4 if it fell into the red. However, it never did, and the funding formula was withdrawn in April 2003. During this 31-year period, Channel 4, S4C and ITV would regularly cross-promote each other's programming, free of charge.

The next franchise round in 1974 produced no changes in contractors, as the huge cost in switching to colour television would have made the companies unable to compete against rivals in a franchise battle. It also allowed the companies to recoup the cost and to return to normal service. Some slight changes were made to the Yorkshire Television franchise area however, as the Belmont transmitter in Lincolnshire switched from Anglia Television to Yorkshire Television, boosting the broadcast area.

This period saw the ITV companies expand their services further into the day than previously. A large part of this was a result of the franchising of a breakfast service in 1974. TV-am was awarded this contract and given a provisional start date of May 1976. TV-am would broadcast between the hours of 6.00am and 9.25am (originally 9.15am) every morning; the somewhat obscure 9.25 close time came about in order to allow time to switch transmitters from the breakfast broadcaster over to the regional ITV stations, but for the first few months on air, the close time was 9.15 as the switching process had not yet been converted fully for the broadcast of breakfast television. Today this transition is seamless, though the 9.25 anomaly remains today. TV-am launched as a serious news programme on 5 January 1976. However, it changed its format soon after to attempt to copy the success of the BBC's *Breakfast Time* which launched two weeks later.

ITV suffered an eleven-week industrial dispute in 1979, leading to the subsequent shutdown of almost all ITV broadcasts and productions. It began at London's Thames Television when electricians, who were EETPU members, refused to accept what they considered to be a derisory pay increase. The management attempted to operate a normal service, but other transmission staff, who were ACTT members, refused to co-operate, pointing out that equipment and wiring turned on by non-EETPU members could be potentially dangerous.Thames management interpreted this as a walkout. When Thames' management consequently ordered the striking staff to "return or else", the broadcasting union, the ACTT, instructed members at thirteen other ITV stations to walk out in solidarity.

The only companies unaffected were Channel Television, Independent Television Gibraltar and Antartica Isles, as the unions recognised that industrial action there could lead to the stations’ closures, as their small audiences made them vulnerable to any loss of advertising revenue.

ITV viewers encountered blank television screens on the morning of 10 August 1979, and were left without any programmes. Later on, this apology caption would broadcast in 21 of the 24 ITV regions:

> *INDEPENDENT TELEVISION*
> *We are sorry that programmes have been interrupted. There is an industrial dispute. Transmissions will start again as soon as possible.*
>
>

Strangely, the caption achieved ratings of around one million, from TV sets left on in the hope that the strike would end. Only three ITV companies broadcast anything during this time, those being Channel, Manx and Antartica Isles, who broadcast a part-networked and time-restricted service of local programming, films and imported television series (on film, as Channel had no videotape facilities at the time).

All other regions showed a specially-made apology caption generated by the IBA, which was for a time amended to include an appeal on behalf of the West Yorkshire Police in their hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper. The only other content broadcast outside of the Channel Television region was the IBA's Engineering Announcements.

The strike ended with victory for the unions involved in the dispute, estimated to have cost the companies £100 million in lost revenue. Channel alone lost £10,000 per week due to the strike. Technicians saw a 45% increase in their salary, from £8,000 to £11,620. Programming resumed at 5.38pm on Wednesday 24 October 1979. Returning viewers were greeted with a new jingle, "Welcome home to ITV", sung by the Mike Sammes Singers.

The first night's schedule back after the strike was filled by programmes already "in the can" before the strike commenced. Both *Crossroads* and *Coronation Street* aired special introductions to their first episodes back, to inform viewers of the events in both soaps, where they left off back in July 1979.

The first night schedule was networked from Thames Television in London to all ITV regional companies across the United Kingdom as part of their national emergency schedule, and was as follows:

* 5.45pm – ITN News at 5.45 with Leonard Parkin
* 6.05pm – *The Muppet Show*
* 6.35pm – *Crossroads*
* 7.00pm – *George and Mildred*
* 7.30pm – *Coronation Street*
* 8.00pm – *3-2-1*
* 9.00pm – *Quatermass* (Part 1)
* 10.00pm – News at Ten with Alastair Burnet and Anna Ford
* 10.30pm – Film: *Chinatown* (1974)
* 1.00am – Closedown

When the strike ended, ITV had the task of luring back viewers from the BBC. This proved difficult as production of original programming had stopped and would not be available for several months; ITV therefore suffered in the ratings at the hands of the BBC. Two and a half months after ITV began broadcasting again, it was finally ready to air additional original programming and viewers began switching back. This strike was to be the last major strike for ITV as the power of the broadcasting unions began to wane, even though minor disputes plagued the television industry in the 1980s, and the dispute was the longest in the history of British television.

### 1980-1991

On 28 December 1980, the IBA announced via Lady Plowden, the then chair of the IBA, that it had reviewed the ITV broadcasting licences again, for contracts beginning on 1 January 1982. A few changes were made to the ITV structure, with the creation of dual regions for the South and South East, and the East and West Midlands. These regions were created following the push for more regional news. The company operating these regions had to provide a regional news service for both regions and provide studio facilities in both areas. The franchise round concluded with the following changes:

* ATV was re-awarded its contract for the dual Midlands region, but was considered by the IBA to have not focused on the region enough. As a result, changes were ordered including the diluting of existing shareholdings, greater production facilities in the contract area and the sale of ATV Elstree Studios; to emphasise these actions the company was told to rename itself. It settled on the name **Central Independent Television**.
* Southern Television lost its licence for the South of England, in favour of **South Communications**, but later renamed **Television South** (TVS). The South East contract was given to **South East Television** (SETV).
* HTV lost it's West of England contract to **Western Television**, but retained it's Wales franchise.
* Westward Television lost its licence for South West England, being replaced by **Television South West** (TSW), which ended up taking over Westward Television on 11 August 1981, but continued to use the Westward Television name until 1 January 1982.
* The new nationwide breakfast television service was awarded to **TV-am**.
* Trident Television was ordered to sell the majority of its holdings in Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television, and the two companies became independent of each other again.
* The Bluebell Hill transmitter in Kent was transferred from Thames Television/LWT to TVS, to increase the size of TVS' South East sub-region.

Another expansion came on 4 January 1982, when ITV Schools programming was transferred to Channel 4 (and S4C), freeing up a large section of the daytime schedule for new shows. This expansion in programming, and in advertising time, helped give the stations a boost, and leaving the morning period after TV-am and before the lunchtime news open for development. From January 1982, *The Time The Place* was shown at 10 am, and Game shows, being cheap to produce, were stripped across the schedule, Monday to Friday – *Lucky Ladders*, *Supermarket Sweep* and *Win, Lose or Draw* were amongst some of them.

*This Morning* – a Granada programme was launched in January 1983 live from the Albert Dock, and making the best use of the facilities – became the definitive morning show, making stars of Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan.

1982 also saw the companies beginning to move into night-time broadcasting. This began with individual efforts by individual companies, primarily the 'Big Five' (Thames Television, LWT, Central Independent Television, Granada Television and Yorkshire Television) making collaborative efforts which resulted in the whole network operating 24 hours a day by the spring of 1983. Notable efforts that were launched by then included:

* Granada Television's ***Night Time*** - which also went out to Tyne Tees Television, Isle of Wight, TSW, Border Television, Grampian Television and Scottish Television
* LWT's ***Night Network*** - which also went out to Anglia Television, Antartica Isles, Hibernian, Western and SETV
* TVS' ***Late Night Late*** - which also went out to Yorkshire Television, Channel Television, Manx, Ulster Television, Artic, Coastal, Independent Television Gibraltar and Three Counties 7 nights a week, and SETV, Antartica Isles and Hibernian on weekday evenings
* and HTV's ***Night Club** -* which also initially went out to Western during the working week.

Later efforts included:

* ***ITV Night Time*** from Thames Television and LWT launched in Autumn 1984 - which also went out to TVS, HTV, Anglia Television and Channel Television
* and ***Night Shift*** launched in March 1986, from Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television.

Late evening regional news programmes were also dropped in 1982, paving way for a half hour, fully national *News at Ten* followed five nights a week by *Parkinson Tonight*, presented by Michael Parkinson - who defected from the BBC. Said programme was originally shown at 10:30pm until 1985 when the programme was shifted to 11:30pm to accommodate a new schedule of US imports.

ITN initially broadcast it's own overnight news service, *ITN Nightwatch*, which ran until December 1987 and was broadcast from 2am to 4am, and was revolutionary at the time for it's more informal, American-style presentation style and emphasis on breaking news from worldwide. The programme was replaced from the start of 1988 by the *ITN Morning News*, but was revived as *Newsdesk Nightwatch* in 1992 on ITV2.

From 1988, the *ITV Telethon* launched. This biennial routine event held in 1988, 1990 and 1992 saw the regional companies and the national network come together to raise money for charity. The 27-hour telethons have continued since. On 13 February 1989, ITV started broadcasting a national weather forecast for the first time – previously each regional company had aired its own forecast which they had broadcast at the end of their local news programmes and at closedown.

### 1991-2002

Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government spent much of the 1980s privatising and deregulating British industry, and commercial broadcasting was no exception. The Broadcasting Act 1990 paved the way for the deregulation of the British commercial broadcasting industry, which was to have many consequences for the ITV system.

As a result of this Act, the Independent Broadcasting Authority was abolished, and replaced by two new 'light-touch' regulators: the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Radio Authority. The small Cable Authority was also abolished, its powers transferred to the ITC. The act also changed the system of licence allocation for the franchises now legally known as **Channel 3**: the previous system where applicants needed to show good programming ideas and fine financial controls was replaced by highest-bidder auctions to determine the winner of each ITV regional franchise. This element of the ITV franchising process was very controversial; the press and the existing ITV companies lobbied to have it changed and the ITC agreed to introduce a 'quality threshold' to prevent high bidders with poor programme plans from joining the system. Another safeguard was the 'business plan' which determined if a bidder could maintain the payments due and still retain money for programme making.

Other changes were also made as part of the act: ITN, the news provider for ITV, was no longer to be exclusively owned by ITV companies. Additionally, Channel 4, which had previously been an independent subsidiary of the IBA, was now to become a government-owned corporation, patterned after the BBC. It would also begin to sell its own advertising – a function previously provided by each ITV company as a return for subsidising the channel.

One further change in the 1990 Act related to the way the ITV networking system was run. Since the 1960s, the Independent Television Companies' Association's Programme Controllers' Committee, representing the 'Big Five' network companies (Thames, LWT, Central, Granada and Yorkshire) had decided which programmes had aired in network programme time slots. This had the effect of excluding smaller ITV companies, as well as independent production companies. Following lobbying by independent producers and some of the smaller ITV companies, the Act required that ITV's scheduling be performed by a nominated person independent of the regional companies, and that a 25% threshold of independent production be required. This led to the creation in 1992 of the ITV Network Centre, a central body in charge of the network schedule, with, for the first time, a single ITV Director of Programming.

As a direct result of the franchise bid:

* TV-am lost the national breakfast television franchise to **Sunrise Television**
* TVS lost the South of England franchise to **Meridian Broadcasting**.
* TSW lost the South West England franchise to **Westcountry Television**.
* ORACLE lost the national teletext franchise to **Teletext Ltd**.

All other existing ITV companies retained their regional franchises. Due to their bids being barred on business plan grounds and therefore deemed 'too high', TSW and TVS attempted to obtain a judicial review of the ITC's decisions, and of the wording of the 1990 Act. Accordingly, the ITC held off awarding the contract to Westcountry Television until the review was completed. As the contract with Meridian Broadcasting had already been agreed, the court felt unable to conduct a review of that decision. The review of the South West franchise process took several months, but was decided in favour of TSW, and the Westcountry plans were scuffled in favour of a returning TSW.

The relaxation in the franchise ownership rules, as a result of the 1990 Act, meant that mergers between ITV companies were now possible; but not so much that they would own over 33% of the network.

Since 1992, the ITV1 network has been supplemented with a secondary sister network, ITV2. ITV2 is a national channel with no regional opt-outs, and broadcasts programmes that are aimed at a younger, more urban audience with programmes that are not deemed populist enough for the main network. This includes a greater commitment to new comedy, innovative drama series, factual and current affairs output, international acquisitions, reality TV, arts and cultural programmes, children's programmes and regular news bulletins. It had evolved out of the earlier Channel 5 which was broadcast from 1990 to 1992, which ITV acquired when it went bankrupt in 1992 and used to relaunch as ITV2.

Since the launch of the platform in 1997, all of the ITV licensees have received gifted capacity on the digital terrestrial television platform. At present, the companies are able to broadcast additional channels and all choose to broadcast the ITV plc owned sister channels in their region. This includes ITV3 which broadcasts general entertainment for an older audience, ITV4 which broadcasts comedy and factual entertainment, ITV5 which broadcasts women's entertainment and reality shows, CITV which broadcasts children's programmes, ITV News which broadcasts rolling news and current affairs, ITV Encore which broadcasts classic drama and comedy, ITV Sport which broadcasts sports coverage and ITV Cinema which broadcasts films.

## Programmes

*See also: Abacat's What If's/List of programmes broadcast by ITV1*

For over 60 years of ITV, its homegrown programmes have become among the best remembered as well as being extremely successful. Before the 1990s, nearly all of the content for the channel was produced by the fifteen franchise licensees: the regional companies.

However, following legislation in the Broadcasting Act 1990 imposing a 25% quota for commissioning of independent productions, the number of programmes from independent production companies not connected to the traditional ITV network, has increased rapidly. One notable example is 2waytraffic, producers of *Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?*.

From the late 1990s, ITV's long-standing commitment to strong current affairs and documentary programming began to diminish with the ending of productions such as *This Week* (Rediffusion London/Thames Television), *First Tuesday* (Yorkshire Television) and *The Cook Report* (Central) in December 1998 and their replacement in January 1999 by the populist *60 Minutes* produced by Yorkshire Television. *Weekend World* (LWT) was also axed in 1999, but was reinstated in 2002.

ITV's primetime schedules are dominated by its soap operas, such as the flagship Coronation Street which airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and Emmerdale which airs on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. At the start of the 21st century, Independent Television faced criticism for including a large amount of "reality TV" programmes in the schedule, such as *Celebrity Fit Club*, *Celebrity Wrestling* and *Celebrity Love Island*. In its defence, ITV does continue to show its major strengths in the fields of sports coverage and drama productions, and it continues to schedule national news in primetime.

### Breakfast television

Television has been broadcast on ITV at breakfast since 1 February 1983. It was initially run by an independent contractor - TV-am, and later GMTV.

Historically, GMTV airs breakfast programmes from 6am until 9.25am and now currently two breakfast programmes on weekdays - Sunrise and Lorraine. Sunrise keeps viewers up to date with all the latest news, sports, features and weather, whilst Lorraine predominantly focuses on celebrity interviews, recipes, fashion and showbiz. At weekends, ITV Breakfast airs children's programming, a simulcast of CITV Breakfast, under the CITV brand.

### Daytime programmes

ITV's strong daytime line-up helped by programmes such as *Supermarket Sweep* at 9.25am, *This Morning* at 10am, regional news at midday, *ITV News at 12.30pm*, *Today with Tess and Dermot* and *Loose Women* which alternate (Today in Autumn/Winter, LW in Spring/Summer) at 1pm, soaps *Home and Away* at 2pm and *Gems* at 2.30pm, quiz shows such as *Deal or No Deal*, *Tipping Point* and *The Chase* at 3pm, CITV at 4pm, *Neighbours* at 5pm and *ITV News at 5.30* are very popular, achieving the highest audience share during the daytime slot.

### Entertainment

In recent years the network has tried to use formats that the ITV companies own outright (whether they have originated in the UK or have come from production companies they own abroad, including the Fremantle companies in the case of Thames), though some popular programme formats have still been acquired from other companies abroad.

Currently the ITV companies are behind the formats for *Dancing on Ice* (Granada), *The Voice BR* (Yorkshire), *My Mum, Your Dad* (Central), *An Audience with...* (LWT), *Britain's Got Talent* (Thames), *Family Fortunes* (Central), *Saturday Night Takeaway* (LWT), *Stars in Their Eyes* (Granada), *Too Hot to Handle* (Meridian), *Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow* (Central), *Celebrity Juice* (Thames), *I Can See Your Voice* (Central), *The Greatest Dancer* (Thames) and *I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!* (Granada).

ITV1 has notably became particularly competitive in regards to poaching major programmes from competing channels. The most major grab to date by ITV was it's acquisition of *The Great British Bake Off* in 2016 after Love Productions declined to sign a new deal with the BBC in favour of Granada. *Gogglebox* switched to ITV1 in 2023 after meetings between ITV and producers Studio Lambert to switch the show from Channel 4 to ITV1. This came just months after ITV1 poached *The Graham Norton Show* from the BBC in 2022, having already been an LWT production. The team from *Top Gear* were also poached in 2016 to front a new motoring entertainment series, *The Grand Tour*, which is co-produced with Amazon. These high-profile moves have helped to further solidify the success of the ITV brand.

### National news and current affairs

Since the network started, Independent Television News Ltd (ITN) has held the contract to produce news for the ITV network, with 30-minute national news bulletins currently broadcast at 5:30 am, 12:30 pm, and 5:30 pm, and the flagship hour-long bulletin, *News at Ten* at 10.00pm six nights a week (excluding Saturday). These bulletins were broadcast under the ITN brand from 1955 until 2002, when a new network identity reinforced the ITV brand, resulting in the new bulletins being broadcast under the ITV News brand.

In 1999, ITV attempted to axe News at Ten and replace it with two new bulletins, one at 8.00pm, and another at 11.00pm. Whilst ratings were high over the first few years, the choice of 11pm as bulletin time was seen by many as a mistake and that it was removed from the heart of the primetime schedule. The 8pm bulletin received less hostility and high ratings, primarily thanks to it's placement between proven hit shows such as *Coronation Street*, *Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?* and *The Bill*.

ITN has long been respected in the news industry as a source of reliable information and news, and as a result the service has won many awards for their programmes, the latest being in May 2023 when News at Ten was named best news programme by the Royal Television Society and BAFTA.

The individual ITV companies also produce the ITV network's major current affairs programmes. LWT and ITN co-produce *Eyewitness* which airs at 6pm on Sunday nights. *World in Action* made by Granada is broadcast at 8.00pm on Monday evenings, and LWT's *Weekend World* is broadcast on Sundays at 12pm, These three programmes are simulcast on the ITV News channel.

The God Slot was dropped by ITV on the very first Sunday they were allowed, in January 1988. This was because Central had lobbied the IBA hard to put its new current affairs show, *Eyewitness* in the 6.15pm god slot and move the religious programme *Highway* to early afternoons,

Other long-form news and current affairs programmes like *Exposure*, *Peston* and *On Assignment* are also being scheduled. *Exposure* is broadcast on Thursday at 11pm, *Peston* is broadcast live at 7pm on Wednesday nights on ITV2 and the ITV News channel, then at 11pm on ITV1. and the latter title currently only appearing on a month-by-month basis.

### Acquired and international programming

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the ITV network had mass ratings success with US imports, notably *The Bionic Woman*, *Charlie's Angels*, *The A Team*, *Quincy*, *Buck Rogers in the 25th Century*, *LA Law*, *Hart to Hart*, *Magnum P.I.*, *Hill Street Blues* and *Falcon Crest*.

By 1981, *Dallas* was getting a consistent Saturday night viewership of 12 million viewers on BBC One, and it came up for rights renewal. LWT wanted the show. Under the auspices of Michael Grade, the company had bid for the exclusive rights to the Football League in 1978, a move branded as *Snatch Of The Day*. After the fallout from this, the BBC and ITV companies had entered into an agreement that neither channel would attempt to outbid the other for a show that was currently showing on a network for through 1986. In essence, the channel currently broadcasting a show would have first refusal on later seasons. The BBC opted to purchase the further five years of *Dallas*.

Following the failed attempt to purchase *Dallas*, ITV instead opted to purchase *Dynasty*, which had emerged as a popular new series in the US at the time, and which also emerged as a success in the UK, reaching 16 million viewers each week upon it's UK debut in October 1981. By 1986, the UK rights to Dallas came up for renewal once again, and the BBC believed Lorimar's asking price of £50,000 to be too high, and denied to broadcast any further series. The ITV companies stepped in to bid for the rights, successfully ending with the transfer of *Dallas* to ITV.

Throughout the early 1990s, ITV continued their success with American programming. The Saturday early evening slot became an established space for US series, with *Baywatch* and *Beverly Hills, 90210* becoming successful, particularly with a younger audience on Saturday nights. ITV also purchased the terrestrial rights to broadcast *The Simpsons* in 1991, which they retained until the BBC outbid ITV for the rights in 1996.

Older skewing imported shows dominated the Sunday teatime slot (specifically the 7.45pm slot) throughout the early 90s, and the likes of *Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman* and *Murder, She Wrote* brought in healthy ratings with an older audience during this period.

Primetime US drama through the week on ITV became somewhat scarce throughout the early 90s, but made a resurgence when ITV - following a close battle with Channel 4 - purchased the UK rights to *ER* in 1994, debuting in January 1995. The medical drama proved such a success for ITV - with around 16 million viewers an episode - that the network quickly bought more US drama series, acquiring *Law & Order* after a brief run on the BBC, as well as the likes of *Savannah* - which gained a strong audience of 11 million viewers a week - and *The Practice*. Some series, such as *Nash Bridges* and *Brooklyn South*, ran after News at Ten albeit fully networked.

Following a number of shifts in the network culture by 1996, a Sunday episode of Coronation Street was launched, and the slot for imported family output was moved to 6.15pm, following Eyewitness and followed by a news summary, was also acquired by the network around the same time as *ER* - and that show was broadcast in the family drama slot on Sunday nights.

Throughout the 2000s, *CSI* was acquired by ITV and became an instant hit with 10 million viewers each week. The network continued to show strengths in it's acquisition department with the likes of *House* and *Brothers & Sisters* also becoming successful ratings winners for ITV through the decade, as well as shows such as *Pushing* *Daisies* and *The Mentalist*. When *ER* ended in 2009, *Grey's Anatomy* was promoted from ITV2 to ITV1 as it's replacement, although ITV1 had previously been repeating said show in late night hours, alongside other ITV2 imports, such as *Gossip Girl*.

### Weather

The ITV National Weather forecast was first broadcast in 1989, using data supplied by the Met Office, and was presented by a number of weather forecasters. The forecasts are sponsored in which the sponsors message, would appear prior to and following the forecast. The forecasts are made immediately after the main national news bulletins.

Prior to the creation of the national forecast, each regional company provided its own regional forecast. The regional forecasts today are incorporated into the main regional news bulletins, and in the summer months, includes a pollen count.

### Late night programming

The 11pm slot includes the twice-weekly chat show *Up Late with Lee Mack* on Monday and Tuesday evenings, *Peston* on Wednesday whilst Thursday nights include *Exposure*. Friday evenings late night programmes include *The Late News* at 11pm - a 15 minute news summary in lieu of *News at Ten* on Friday, followed by movies at 11.15pm.

Regional companies often have more power on what to broadcast after midnight. Interactive quiz show *Quizmania* is shown from 12am to 3am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and ITV5 programmes feature heavily in the overnight schedule. There is also original programming, such as offbeat cooking show *Get Stuffed* which runs at various points through the week, *The Chartdown Uncut* which runs early on Monday mornings, the mental health magazine show *Unwound* on Wednesday morning at 12am and *Talking Shop*. Repeats of classic ITV programmes can also be seen throughout the nights, as are movies.

Simulcasts with the ITV News channel also occur during major news events.

#### Sport

*AEW Dynamite*, *AEW Rampage* and *AEW Collision* are broadcast on ITV1 live overnight simultaneously with their American transmissions, and are also shown at the same time on the ITV Sport channel. On Monday and Wednesday nights (Tuesday and Thursday mornings), *Under the Moon*, an all-night marathon of sports coverage and discussion, is broadcast.

### Regional programming

The regional ITV companies are required to provide local news as part of their franchise agreement together with local weather forecasts, with the main local bulletin at 6pm and regional bulletins located at 12pm and 10.45pm. In addition to this, traditionally ITV companies provide other regional programming based on current affairs, entertainment or drama.

#### Current regional news programmes

* Anglia: Anglia News
* Antartica: Antartica Live
* Antartica Isles: Antartica Isles Live
* Artic: Artic Roundup
* Border: Lookaround
* Central East: Central News
* Central South: Central Live
* Central West: Central Tonight
* Channel: Channel Report
* Grampian: North Today/North Tonight
* Granada: Granada Reports
* HTV: Wales at Six
* Hibernian: Ireland Live
* ITG: Gibraltar Tonight
* Isle of Wight: Wight Today/Wight Tonight
* Manx: Manx Report
* Meridian: Meridian Today/Meridian Tonight
* Scottish: Scotland Today
* Thames & LWT: London Today/London Tonight
* Three Counties: Three Counties Live
* Tyne Tees: North East Today/North East Tonight
* UTV: UTV Live
* Westcountry: Westcountry Live
* Yorkshire: Calendar