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Independent Television (ITV) is the name given to the original network of British commercial television broadcasters, set up to provide competition to the BBC. The original 'ITV' channel has now been rebranded as ITV1 by ITV plc (the operator of the "Channel 3" franchises in England and Wales).
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.
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 ITA's responsibility was to regulate the new service, ensuring 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, it was made obiligatory that commercials 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 19551955 is a common year starting on Saturday. see link for calendar) Events January events January 2 Panama president Jose Antonio Remon is assassinated. January 19 The Scrabble board game debuts. February events February 8 Nikolai Bulganin ousts Georgi Mal. The London Weekend contractor, ATVAssociated Television Network Limited (ATV was a British television company formed by Lew Grade's Associated Communications Corporation and ITC Entertainment. Grade originally called the company Associated Broadcasting Company (ABC), possibly in imitation 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 from 15 November, 1969, simultaneous with BBC1 and two years after BBC2. This did not, however, spread immediately across the UK; some regions, had to wait a few more years before colour was available. Colour was available to nearly 100% of the UK 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.
In general, usually a few years after their launch, the regional companies made a profit; the largest regions especially so. Roy Thomson, the Canadian founding Chairman of Scottish Television famously described the ownership of an ITV franchise as "a licence to print money". 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.
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