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The history of ITV, the United Kingdom and Crown Dependencies "Independent Television" commercial network, goes back to 1955.^[1]

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, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man 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).^[1] 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 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:

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. 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".

1968–1974

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.

1968 strike

The implementation of the ITV changes led to industrial unrest in the companies. Although there were no job losses in the system – this was an ITA stipulation – people were forced to move from Manchester and Birmingham to Leeds, from London to Cardiff and, perhaps less troublesome, from one part of London to another. Many staff stayed in the same jobs in the same locations, but now had a different employer. Since this meant that staff were being made redundant (albeit with a guaranteed job to go to), the unions required redundancy payments. However, these payments led to problems in staff not receiving them, who were changing company but not location, as in the case of the Teddington Studios. The unions asked for payments to be made in those cases; the companies responded by drawing the line, and wildcat strikes broke out in the weeks before and after the changes came into effect.

By Friday, after the changes, a mixture of strike action and management lock-outs had taken ITV off the air, and for most of August 1968, the regional network was replaced with a single national service run by management. By September 1968, with both sides claiming victory, all workers had returned to work. However, memory of this strike would cause more industrial unrest in the decades that followed.

Post-strike and 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.^{[citation needed]}

ITV eventually introduced PAL colour on this system from 1969,^[4] on the same day as BBC1 and two years after BBC2. This did not, however, spread immediately across the United Kingdom, as some regions had to wait a few more years before colour was available:

This was primarily due to the cost incurred in purchasing new broadcasting equipment and the subsequent studio upgrade that usually accompanied it.

Colour strike

The colour strike was an industrial action by technicians at all ITV companies between 13 November 1970 and 8 February 1971 (although some shows made during this period in black and white were having their first transmission as late as December 1971) who, due to a pay dispute with their management refused to make programmes in colour.

Post-colour strike

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.

Three-Day Week

The British government imposed early close downs of all three television channels (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV) from 17 December 1973 in order to save electricity during the Three-Day Week, following overtime ban by the National Union of Mineworkers between strike action in the power supply industry and effects of the oil crisis. The early close downs forced ITV (including 14 regional companies) to end their broadcasting day at 10.30pm, thus costing the network much of its advertising revenue. The restrictions were lifted temporarily on 24 December 1973 (Christmas Eve) to allow the public to enjoy festive programming. The restrictions recommenced on 7 January 1974, and ended on 8 February due to the upcoming general election.

1974–1981

Before the 1979 dispute

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.^[5][6] 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.^[7]

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.

Launch of Oracle teletext

This period also saw the launch of the Oracle teletext service. It was officially launched in 1978, a few years after the launch of the BBC's Ceefax service and offered news and information delivered through the remaining lines of information in the television transmission. The service began to see improved takings following a heavy promotional campaign using the slogan Page the Oracle and the inclusion of the software as standard in most new television sets at the beginning of the 1980s.

1979 dispute

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.^{[citation needed]} Thames management interpreted this as a walkout.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]} The only company unaffected was Channel Television, as the unions recognised that industrial action there could lead to the station's closure, as its small audience made it vulnerable to any loss of advertising revenue.^[8]

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 14 of the 15 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 one ITV company broadcast anything during this time, that being Channel Television, who broadcast a time-restricted service of local programming, films and imported television series (on film, as Channel had no videotape facilities at the time).

An example of the emergency schedule offered by Channel Television during the strike can be seen here below, with the schedule for Thursday 6 September 1979:

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.

Post-1979 strike

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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:

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.

1982–1990

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 and South East England, in favour of South and South-East Communications, but later renamed Television South (TVS).
• 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.
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