ITV plc

ITV plc is a British media company based in London, England. It holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. The network, which is branded ITV by ITV plc, has vied with BBC One for the status of the UK's most watched channel since the 1950s (a crown it lost in 2005).

The company was formed by a corporate takeover by Granada plc (the parent company of Granada Television) of Carlton Communications. Granada acquired a 68% controlling interest of the newly formed company whilst Carlton retained the 32% remaining shares. It began trading on 2 February 2004. This was the most recent stage in a long process of mergers between the original ITV regional franchises. It acquired the remaining 25% of the Breakfast franchise holder, GMTV, from The Walt Disney Company in 2009, Channel Television from Yattendon Group plc in 2011 and UTV for £100 million in 2015,with ownership transferring to ITV on 29 February 2016.

ITV plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Pre-merger
ITV plc was the result of a merger between Granada and Carlton following the various mergers between the companies of the ITV network that had taken place from 1993 when the ownership rules were relaxed.

The first wave of mergers began with Yorkshire Television acquiring Tyne Tees Television in 1992, forming a parent group called Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television Holdings. In 1994, Carlton Communications – which had owned a 20% stake in Central Independent Television – acquired the remainder of the company and, because of Central's shareholdings, inherited a 20% stake in Meridian Broadcasting. Later that year, Granada acquired London Weekend Television through a hostile takeover worth in the region of £750 million. MAI, which controlled Meridian Broadcasting, acquired Anglia Television; MAI became United News & Media after merging with United Newspapers – owners of The Daily Express in 1996. Ownership rules, that previously restricted ownership of ITV licences by one company to two outright, plus 20% in a third, were relaxed, and so Carlton went on to acquire Westcountry Television (later re-branding it Carlton, along with Central), Granada acquired Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Holdings (with the parent group becoming Granada Media, later simply Granada) and United acquired HTV.

The idiosyncrasies and business model of the future ITV plc operation can be found in the way these new conglomerates operated their franchises. Carlton re-branded all of its stations with its own name, creating a single identity across the whole expanse of its territory. By contrast, Granada and United, while keeping the franchisees names, centralised their continuity departments – Granada in Leeds and United in Southampton. All three, however, merged the network production operations of their franchises, creating Carlton Productions, Granada Content and United Productions.

By the end of the 1990s, there were three dominating owners of the ITV franchises in England and Wales: Carlton Communications, Granada plc and United News and Media. In 2000, after an aborted merger attempt with Carlton, UNM decided to leave ITV and Granada bought all the UNM franchises, but sold HTV to Carlton in order to comply with the permitted audience percentage covered by a single broadcasting interest. It kept the production arm of HTV, however, renaming it Granada Bristol and moving it out of Bath Road to a new, smaller office in Whiteladies Road (near the BBC). This arm of the company closed in 2006, following later rationalisation of ITV's production operations. The last remaining independent ITV franchise in England and Wales, Border Television, had been bought by Capital Group in 2000, and was sold on to Granada in 2001, with Border's radio assets being retained by Capital Radio plc.

Organisation
ITV plc is divided into two divisions:
 * ITV Broadcast & Online, which operates the TV networks (including the ITV News Group, which runs the ITV regional licensees)
 * ITV Studios, which comprises both UK and international production, ITV's facilities businesses and Global Entertainment which exploits programme rights.

Network licences
Through ITV Broadcasting Ltd., ITV plc holds 13 of a total 15 ITV network licences, covering the vast majority of ITV regions across the UK; it holds all licences in England and Wales, and the single one in the Channel Islands and Northern Ireland:


 * Owned by Granada plc until 2004:
 * North West England: Granada Television. Service now named ITV Granada.
 * London (on weekends): London Weekend Television. Now part of the ITV London service.
 * North East England: Tyne Tees Television. Service now named ITV Tyne Tees.
 * East of England: Anglia Television. Service now named ITV Anglia.
 * Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and North Norfolk: Yorkshire Television. Service now named ITV Yorkshire.
 * English-Scottish border and Isle of Man: Border Television. Service now named ITV Border (broadcasting for the Isle of Man was taken over by ITV Granada).
 * South and South East England: Meridian Broadcasting. Service now named ITV Meridian.
 * Owned by Carlton Communications plc until 2004:
 * London (on weekdays): Carlton Television. Now part of the ITV London service.
 * Midlands: Central Independent Television. Service now named ITV Central.
 * South West England: Westcountry Television. The service was renamed ITV Westcountry until 2009, before it was merged with ITV West to form the new non-franchise ITV West & Westcountry region (rebranded as ITV West Country shortly after). This service became a licence in its own right from 1 January 2014 when it split from Wales and has an opt-out for the western sub-region (formerly the Westcountry region).
 * West of England and Wales: HTV (Harlech Television). The franchise was renamed ITV Wales & West, since it has traditionally held a "dual-region" licence for two areas, each one with its own service: ITV West (now the eastern sub-region of ITV West Country) and ITV Cymru Wales. From 1 January 2014 the dual-region licence was split into two separate licences for Wales and South West England (combining the former West and Westcountry regions).
 * Owned by UTV Media plc until 2016:
 * Northern Ireland: UTV
 * Former independently owned:
 * Channel Islands: Channel Television, service now named ITV Channel Television (since 2011).

ITV plc is also the sole owner of the ITV national breakfast television franchise ITV Breakfast, formerly known as GMTV, which airs and produces Good Morning Britain, and Lorraine. On 18 October 2011, ITV plc agreed to buy Channel Television from Yattendon Group plc for an undisclosed amount, the transaction was completed on 23 November 2011.

Channels
Channels wholly owned through ITV Digital Channels:


 * ITV2
 * ITV3
 * ITV4
 * ITVBe
 * CITV
 * The Store
 * ITV Box Office
 * Timeshift services and HD feeds for ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and ITVBe.