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ITV (TV network)

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 213.253.40.129 (talk) at 18:29, 12 February 2003 (Although still the major force in British commercial television, ITV's share of the TV viewing audience has been falling for years, particularly since the start of competition by [[satellite televisio). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Independent Television (ITV) is the name given to the original commercial British television broadcasters, set up to provide competition to the BBC.

ITV was initially set up and regulated by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) which was created by the Television Act 1954.

Originally each contracting company was only responsible for its own franchise area (although the contractors for the "Big Four" franchises (London Weekday, London Weekend, Midlands, and North of England) - after 1968 the "Big Five" franchises after the split of the North into the Northwest and Yorkshire franchises, were responsible for the production of the great majority of networked programmes), and the ITA, and later the IBA rigorously prevented the owners of one franchise from owning more than a small share of the franchise-holders in other areas. From the 1990s, however, the restrictions on companies holding multiple franchises were lifted and as of early 2003 all the companies awarded franchises in 1991-2 have since been bought by either Granada or Carlton, with the exception of the contractors for Scotland, Northern Ireland, and the Channel Islands. Carlton and Granada have twice, to date, attempted to merge to form one company dominating ITV, or Channel 3 as it was officially renamed in the early 1990s (few people ever refer to the network as anything other than ITV).

The ITV currently broadcasts three television channels: the terrestrial ITV service (currently dubbed ITV1), and two digital channels: ITV2 and ITV News.

Although still the major force in British commercial television, ITV's share of the TV viewing audience has been falling for years, particularly since the start of competition by satellite television, and more recently digital terrestrial television.

Topics to mention:

Companies in, formerly in, or associated with the ITV Network

Breakfast television

Teletext services


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