ITV1
TV channel|
name= ITV1|
logosize=200px|
logofile= ITV1logo06.png|
logoalt= ITV1 Logo|
launch=
September 22,
1955 |
closed date=|
share= ITV Network - 20.5% |
share as of= June '06|
share source= [
1]| owner= ITV Network Limited (consisting of
ITV plc,
SMG plc,
UTV plc,
Channel Television) | former names= ITV (until
August 11,
2001), Independent Television | web=
www.itv.com | terr serv 1=
UK analogue| terr chan 1=
Normally tuned to 3| terr serv 2=
Freeview |
terr chan 2=Channel 3|
sat serv 1=
Sky Digital|
sat chan 1=Channel 103|
sat serv 2=
SES Astra|
sat chan 2=|Channel 13|
cable serv 1=
Telewest|
cable chan 1= Channel 103|
cable serv 2=
NTL|
cable chan 2= Channel 103|
cable serv 3=
NTL Ireland|
cable chan 3= Channel 107|
cable serv 4=
Chorus Digital (Republic of Ireland) |
cable chan 4= Channel 7 |
dummy parameter=|}}
ITV1 is the name, in England, Wales and the Scottish borders, for a terrestrial, free-to-air
television channel broadcast in the
United Kingdom by the
ITV network. In Northern and Central Scotland the channel is known as
stv and
UTV in Northern Ireland. The channel is the oldest and most popular commercial television channel in the country.
Together with
GMTV and the channel's
Teletext service,
Analogue ITV1 forms part of what is officially referred to as
Channel 3.
This article deals with the ITV1 channel as it is broadcast at present. For information on the long history of the channel, see the separate article,
ITV.
ITV1 offers a broad range of daytime programming including their flagship daytime show,
This Morning,
CITV and
The Price is Right.Early evening is dominated by
soap operas, with the long running
Coronation Street,
Emmerdale, and police drama
The Bill.
ITV1 covers many popular sports. The channel emphasises coverage of
football (it holds the UK terrestrial rights to the
UEFA Champions League). It also covers
Formula 1 racing,
rugby, and other sports.
ITV1 has a full news service. The channel is required under the
Broadcasting Act 1990 to put its news contract out to a nominated news provider. Since the channel's opening,
Independent Television News Limited has held the contract. News bulletins are broadcast at 5:30am, 12:30pm, 6:30pm, and 10:30pm. For more details on
ITV News, see the separate article on
ITN.
The regional ITV companies provide local programmes tailored for the regional audiences. All the ITV companies provide a main local bulletin at 6pm (preceded in the
UTV region by a more
features-based programme at 5:30pm), as well as other local features and sport programming. The regional programmes in England and Wales have however been drastically reduced in recent years. See the separate articles on each ITV regional company for details of what programmes they provide.
As of early next year, ITV1 will show the
U.S. drama
Six Degrees. This will be the first
U.S. import to air on the network during prime-time in nine years.
Unlike practically all other TV channels in the
United Kingdom, ITV1 is not owned by one single company, although it has come close in recent years. The UK
Office of Communications (Ofcom) licences fifteen companies to provide regional
Channel 3 services in various areas of Britain, with a separate franchise for the national breakfast service between 6:00am and 9:25am. The licences were last put out to full tender in 1991, since then they have been renewed on a rolling basis. All the companies are members of ITV Network Limited (formerly the Independent Television Companies' Association Limited), a not-for-profit body. It is this body that commissions programmes for the network, and schedules the network programming.
In practical terms,
ITV plc, which owns eleven of the fifteen licences (all except
Scottish Television,
Grampian Television both now known as
,
UTV,
Channel Television and
GMTV (which it still partially owns) dominates the system nowadays.
The following companies hold the licences that make up the ITV network:
1. ITV1 Branding is used overnight2. Branding is usually just "ITV1"From its founding in 1955 the channel was known nationally as Independent Television (later ITV) and locally by the regional branding of the local ITV franchise operator. (
For the history of the channel, see the main ITV article). Up until 1989, only the local regional name would regularly be seen on-air however. In 1989, the network introduced dual branding on-air for the first time, with a common ident featuring the ITV logo designed for all the stations, although in the event less than half of them used it. Under dual-branding, the ITV name and logo was used alongside the existing regional name and logo. In 1998, a new ITV logo was launched and in 1999, a second common ident (once again using dual-branding) was launched, under the theme, "TV From The Heart". This was used by most stations in England and Wales, although the stations owned by
Carlton used a different package with the same "heart" theme, but with the Carlton branding more prominent. The network was renamed ITV1 on
11 August 2001, with the increased uptake of
digital TV and the existence of
ITV2. Initially this entailed re-edits of the existing dual-branded idents.
However from
28 October 2002, in
England and the
Scottish Borders (where all the franchises are owned by
ITV plc), the station dropped regional branding and identification before most programming and adopted a unified national branding of ITV1. In
Wales, although the
HTV name has been dropped, some "local" identification remains in the form of . At this time all regional continuity announcers were replaced with a team of six
ITV Network Continuity Announcers. Since the re-brand of 2006, that team has been reduced to just four.
Local programmes are often preceded in England by ITV1 (Region Name) outside of London, e.g. ITV1 Central or ITV1 Tyne Tees. However, the process of consolidation within the ITV plc company means that these names are themselves being phased out, with, for example, Tyne Tees productions increasingly seen credited to ITV Yorkshire.
Wales,
Scotland (with the exception of the Borders) and
Northern Ireland have different branding on the channel, reflecting the national audiences they serve. In Wales, the local licensee,
HTV (also owned by ITV plc) broadcasts under the name "ITV1 Wales". In the
Scottish Television (Central Scotland) and
Grampian Television (Northern Scotland) regions the channel is known as
, and
UTV (Northern Ireland) uses the name UTV before all programmes. None of these licensees are owned by ITV plc.
On
1 November,
2004, the channel adopted a new on-air look to coincide with the launch of
ITV3. The new look was designed mainly to improve cross-channel promotion across the ITV network. Another entirely new logo was introduced in early
2006, bringing ITV1,
ITV2 and
ITV3 in line with
ITV4's. The new look had already been spotted on various billboard ads in the UK when the new identity was first used on-screen on
16 January 2006.
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itv.com
