ITV stands for Independent Television.

It was first formed in 1955, and was the UK's first commercial broadcaster, the only other channel at the time was BBC1.

Originally, ITV consisted of several different regions, broadcasting different programming suited to each region, and including national programmes, sometimes made by a region (not just in London). An example of an ITV region is Westcountry, which served the South West of England. Since Granada and Carlton (the two companies who gradually owned most of the regions) merged, sadly, most of the broadcasting was then centralised to London (where ITV HQ is based) and so the regional broadcasting is gradually being phased out, except for regional news. The only regions to stay independent are the Scottish channels (Scottish TV and Grampian), and the Channel Islands (Channel TV).

The future for ITV is now quite uncertain, even an American broadcaster could buy it up! Be warned!

If you would to find out more about how ITV used to look, with a wide selection of idents and continuity from each of the regions, you might be interested in visiting the TV Ark site - here.

MTSATURN.co.uk is not responsible for the content of external sites.