ITV PLC Formation

[AaronLancs]

Kind of riffing the Granda Sky Broadcasting discussion.

When ITV plc was formed through the acquision of Carlton by Granda. Was there a reason that the Granda or Carlton names weren't used for the eventual company? Also given that "Granada" still techincally exists in that all of the other companies have folded into it. What would the chances of the "Granada" brand being reused in the UK be?

Sorry to go slightly off topic from my usual BBC talk but it just pinged in my head.

[harshy]

Silly question but does the license names still exist ie Granada, Yorkshire etc but it’s owned by this big company ?

I am guessing franchise rounds was a thing of the past and not needed anymore?

[Inspector Sands]

Silly question but does the license names still exist ie Granada, Yorkshire etc but it’s owned by this big company ?

No they're all held by ITV Broadcasting Ltd, which was originally Anglia Television
https://find-and-update.company-informat...y/00955957

No idea why Anglia was chosen to be the company used

[Inspector Sands]

ITV Plc was incorporated in 2003 so what became of Carlton and Granada.....

Carlton UK Productions (formed in 1994 I think when they took over Central) is now ITV Consumer AKA ITV Hub
https://find-and-update.company-informat...y/02937518

The company that won/ran the London ITV license, Carlton Broadcasting has been dissolved

The original Granada company dating from 1928 is now ITV Services Ltd which is a holding company and provides services to the other ITV subsidiaries
https://find-and-update.company-informat...y/00229607

Granada Media Group (Formed in 1994 when they bought LWT) is now ITV Studios
https://find-and-update.company-informat...y/03106525

[AaronLancs]

Silly question but does the license names still exist ie Granada, Yorkshire etc but it’s owned by this big company ?

No they're all held by ITV Broadcasting Ltd, which was originally Anglia Television
https://find-and-update.company-informat...y/00955957

No idea why Anglia was chosen to be the company used

Why does one picture in 2005/6-ish someone throwing a dart or pointing on a map and them reaching Norfolk. But good to see that "Anglia" still in spirit exists.

[Inspector Sands]

Why does one picture in 2005/6-ish someone throwing a dart or pointing on a map and them reaching Norfolk. But good to see that "Anglia" still in spirit exists.

More likely it was just the first alphabetically

[harshy]

So the franchise names still live on under the guise of ITV Broadcasting, well that’s great to know at least.

[AaronLancs]

How many franchises were there in total for ITV?

[Inspector Sands]

So the franchise names still live on under the guise of ITV Broadcasting, well that’s great to know at least.

Kind of, they're all listed seperately by Ofcom with old names but all held by the same company except STV (though the original names and addresses of UTV and Channel TV are still there too)

Most of the former regional TV companies now owned by ITV Plc are now dormant companies

[CameronYoung]

How many franchises were there in total for ITV?

I think 16:
- Scottish North
- Scottish South
- Ulster
- Wales & West/HTV
- Westcountry
- South East/TVS/Meridian
- London Weekday/Carlton/Thames
- London Weekend
- Anglia
- Central/ATV
- North West/Granada
- Scottish Borders/Border TV
- North East/Tyne Tees TV
- Yorkshire
- Channel Islands/Channel TV
- Breakfast/TV-AM/GMTV

Also ITN but I'm not sure it's technically a franchise - have I missed one?

[JAS84]

That's correct, yes. Grampian, Scottish, Ulster, HTV, Westcountry, Meridian, Carlton, LWT, Anglia, Central, Granada, Border, Tyne Tees, Yorkshire, Channel and GMTV.

[Ash101]

What was the reasoning behind the Breakfast timeslot being a separate franchise?

[nwtv2003]

What was the reasoning behind the Breakfast timeslot being a separate franchise?

The IBA wanted ITV to have breakfast television. None of the companies for whatever reason had Breakfast programmes back in the day, with the exception of Yorkshire and Tyne Tees’ 13 week experiment in 1977. For the most part ITV started no earlier than 9:30am. As the space wasn’t being used they franchised it out in 1980. As TV-am made it work eventually it was formed part of the 1991 auctions.

[CameronYoung]

For the most part ITV started no earlier than 9:30am.

Presumably this is the reason the slot until a couple years ago finished at 9.25?

[Neil Jones]

For the most part ITV started no earlier than 9:30am.

Presumably this is the reason the slot until a couple years ago finished at 9.25?

The idea for 9:25 (once things had been automated) was because of start up sequences, typically 5 minute VT and music, for a 9:30 "proper" start. Once that went out the window often a local news bulletin was dropped in at 9:25 but the trend soon came to be go from TV-am straight into programming at 9:25.

TV-am used to finish at 9:15am for a couple of months to allow BT to switch things around at transmitter level. Once this had automated there was no point having a 10 minute gap for something that happened in a fingersnap although there were minutes I read somewhere saying the IBA weren't entirely sure what they were going to do with the gap when the automation was done, though in the end it went to the breakfast company anyway.