ITV plc
ITV plc is a
British media company which operates the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. It owns a dominant stake in
ITV1, which has vied with the
British Broadcasting Corporation's
BBC One for the status of the UK's most watched channel since the 1950s. ITV plc was formed by the merger of
Carlton Communications and
Granada plc and began trading on
2 February 2004. This was the last stage in a long process of mergers between the original ITV regional franchises.
ITV plc currently owns the following
ITV franchises in the UK:
Former Granada-owned franchises:
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Anglia Television: East of
England franchise
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Border Television: English -
Scottish border and
Isle of Man franchise
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Granada Television:
North West England franchise
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London Weekend Television:
London weekend franchise
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Meridian Television: South and
South East England franchise
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Tyne Tees Television:
North East England franchise
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Yorkshire Television:
Yorkshire/
Lincolnshire franchise
Former Carlton-owned franchises:
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Carlton Television: London weekday franchise
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Central Independent Television:
Midlands franchise
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HTV:
Wales and West of England franchise
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Westcountry Television:
South West England franchise
ITV plc does not own or operate the remaining four ITV franchises:
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Channel Television: Channel Islands franchise
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Grampian Television: North of
Scotland franchise
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Scottish Television:
Scotland franchise
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UTV:
Northern Ireland franchise
As the holder of eleven out of fifteen ITV franchises ITV plc has a dominant influence on
ITV1, but it does not actually operate the channel. However it wholly owns the following television channels:
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ITV2*
ITV3*
ITV4*
ITV Play*
CITV Channel*
ITV News Channel (produced by
ITN) (defunct)
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Men & Motors (operated by
Granada Sky Broadcasting)
ITV plc also owns 75% of the
ITV national breakfast television franchise
GMTV, as well as 45% of the Irish broadcaster
TV3. The company owns a 16.9% shareholding in
SMG plc, owner of the Scottish and Grampian ITV1 franchises, as well as a 40% stake in its news provider
Independent Television News Limited.
On
27 April 2005 ITV plc bought the SDN
digital terrestrial franchise holder of multiplex A (currently transmitting ten channels) from its shareholders,
S4C and
UBM for £134 million.
ITV plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was created through a share swop, Granada shareholders exchanged their shares for ITV shares at a rate of 1:1, Carlton shareholders at a rate of almost 2:1. Thus the former Granada shareholders own almost 2/3rds of the new company.
ITV plc is divided into three divisions: Broadcast, which operates the TV networks, News, which runs the ITV regional franchises, and
Granada which is the network production division.
ITV plc also owns the largest cinema advertising business in the UK and
Ireland,
Carlton Screen Advertising,
Leckie and Leckie (Scotland's leading educational publishers) and recently bought
Friends Reunited, a website dedicated to reunited former schoolfriends or work colleagues in a number of countries.
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itv.com - ITV plc
