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ITV1

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Template:Infobox ITV franchisee ITV1 is the generic brand, that is used by twelve franchises of the ITV Network in England, Wales, the Scottish Borders, the Isle of Man and the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey. The ITV1 brand was introduced by Carlton and Granada in 2001, alongside the regional identities of their eleven regional companies. ITV1 replaced these regional brands completely in October 2002, before Granada and Carlton merged to form ITV plc in 2004. The brand is also used by the non-ITV plc owned Channel Television. The ITV1 brand, however, should be distinguished from the UK-wide ITV, of which ITV1 forms a large proportion.

You can watch ITV1 live at http://www.itv.com/watchitv/ only from IP addresses allocated to UK-based proxy server. This is because of rights agreements with third parties. You are also required to have a UK television licence for the live option.

ITV1 and its predecessor channels (collectively known simply as ITV from 1955 to 2001, and always treated as a single channel for ratings purposes), have contended with BBC One for the status of the UK's most watched television channel since the 1950s. However in line with other terrestrial channels, ITV1's audience share has fallen in the era of multi-channel television.

History

Following the creation of the Television Act in 1954, the establishment of a commercial television service in the UK began.

The "Independent Television" service was made up of regions, with each region run by different companies. The three largest regions (London, the Midlands and the North of England) were subdivided into weekday and weekend services, with a different company running each. ITV existed in a region-heavy form from its inception to the 2000s, although the switch was gradual.

ITV1 became the generic on-screen brand name used by the twelve franchises of the ITV Network in the United Kingdom. The brand was introduced in 2001 by Carlton- and Granada-owned franchises, initially used alongside the local regional name. However, it became the sole on-air identity in 2002 when the two companies decided to create a single unified playout of the channel, with regional references only used prior to regional programming. Carlton and Granada went on to merge in 2004, creating ITV plc which now owns eleven of the fifteen regional ITV licences.

The ITV1 name was only used in England, Wales, Southern Scotland and Isle of Man until Channel Television adopted the name in January 2006, bringing it to the Channel Islands. It should be noted, however, that as national continuity is often used on Channel Television, ITV1 national branding had been seen on the station for several years previously.

The franchises that use the ITV1 brand are Anglia Television, Border Television, Carlton Television, Central Independent Television, Channel Television, Granada Television, HTV, London Weekend Television, Meridian Broadcasting, Tyne Tees Television, Westcountry Television and Yorkshire Television.

HTV is the only exception using the name ITV1 Wales at all times for the Welsh part of its broadcast area, as it has a higher regional commitment, although recently the ITV1 Wales name is only used on Breakbumpers and regionally advertised programmes. Non ITV plc-owned franchises on the network generally do not refer to the ITV1 name.

The companies which represent ITV1 produce programming under the ITV Studios and Granada brands.

ITV1 +1

On 1 September 2009 it was announced that ITV1 would get a one-hour timeshift on digital satellite and Virgin Media, on 1 October 2009, subject to the Competition Commission's ruling on the contract rights renewal system.[1][2]

On 18 September 2009 it was announced that ITV1 +1 has been postponed until further notice.[3] Prior to this announcement, EPG data for the service had appeared on satellite.[4]

It will only launch in England and Wales as all the other regions are non-ITV plc franchises. It will only broadcast between 10:25 am and 7:00 am, as it will not broadcast GMTV. ITV1 broadcasts 22 different editions of digital satellite, but the timeshifted service will only transmit six macro regional variants:[5]

  • London
  • South East Macro (encompassing Meridian and Anglia)
  • West Macro (encompassing Wales & West and Westcountry)
  • Central
  • Yorkshire/Tyne Tees Macro (encompassing Yorkshire and Tyne Tees)
  • Granada/Border Macro (encompassing Granada and Border)

The Competition Commission has delayed the final decision in its review of ITV's Contract Rights Renewal undertakings to the end of February 2010 because it is still considering the "significant" submissions it has received.[6]

On 19 January 2010, the Competition Commission delivered its provisional findings, ruling that audiences for both ITV1 +1 and ITV1 HD will be accredited to ITV1's commercial impacts.[7] The Competition Commission recognised that the broadcaster had been deterred from launching new ways of delivering ITV1, because of the way media buying is currently conducted under the established contracts rights renewal (CRR) mechanism. However, the regulator rejected ITV's proposed removal of large elements of the "outdated" CRR Undertakings while maintaining an obligation on ITV to offer ITV1 airtime on "fair and reasonable" terms. The Competition Commission announced that such a change would leave the process too open to interpretation and that they were "not likely to be either practicable or effective in addressing the adverse effects of the merger".

On 12 May 2010, the Competition Commission stood by its provisional decision to retain the contracts rights renewal system – but it added that the mechanism should be dropped at some point and that the entire UK TV ad sales market needs a review.[8][9][10] "ITV1 remains a 'must have' for certain advertisers and certain types of campaign," said the chairman of the CRR review group at the Competition Commission, Diana Guy. "Despite all the changes in this market, no other channel or medium can come close to matching the size of audience that ITV regularly provides. So the essential reason for the CRR undertakings remains: to protect advertisers and other commercial broadcasters." The ITV chief executive, Adam Crozier, said that the ruling was "out of touch and damaging for the interests of creative Britain". He added that it was "unlikely" that ITV would look to seek a judicial review but that ITV would redouble its lobbying campaign for a liberalisation of regulation and "urgent modernisation" of competition law. But the commission said there was "virtual unanimity" among advertisers, media agencies, commercial broadcasters and trade bodies that CRR should be kept "in some form". The commission confirmed that the CRR remedy should be broadened to include ITV+1 and ITV's high definition channels.

On 27 July 2010, the House Of Lords confirmed plans to launch an inquiry into the television advertising market, which will "pay particular attention" to the CRR mechanism.[11] The Lords committee will investigate the declining revenues that commercial broadcasters gain from the sale of advertising across their networks. The members will also consider possible changes to current ad market regulation, including the CRR system, product placement rules and the scheduling and sale of advertising. The committee wants to hear evidence on the current levels of regulation and what impact a relaxation of the rules could have on the commercial broadcasting sector. Interested parties must submit written evidence to the inquiry by September 24, with oral evidence to be heard in October. A written report is expected to follow in late 2010 or early 2011.

On 3 August 2010, ITV plc announced the launch of ITV1 +1 would take place in Q1 2011.[12]

High definition

A high-definition simulcast of ITV1, ITV1 HD, debuted on 2 December 2009 with the technical launch of the Freeview HD service. The channel has its roots in ITV HD, which began as a trial service in 2006 on a low-power digital terrestrial (DVB-T) channel from London's Crystal Palace Transmitter, and on Telewest TV Drive cable service. The channel was revived on 7 June 2008 in time for the UEFA Euro 2008 football tournament, this time exclusively available on the Freesat digital satellite service [13][14] With its debut on Freeview HD, the channel was re-branded as ITV1 HD in December 2009.[15]

ITV1 HD aimed to include 35% 'native HD' content at the start of 2010, rising to at least 60% at the start of 2012 and at least 70% at the start of 2014. In the early years, the service will focus on sport and drama content, over time it is expected that the majority of other genres to convert to native HD.[16] During this period, ITV1 HD operated from 18:00 to 23:00 seven days a week.[16] From August 2009, ITV began testing a HD simulcast of the Granada region's feed on satellite, before later switching to ITV London.[17]

On 12 March 2010, it was announced that ITV1 HD would become a standard channel on 2 April 2010, simulcasting the main ITV1 channel, and launching on Sky Digital and Virgin Media, as well as switching from a red button interactive service to a full time channel on Freesat.[18] It continues to only be available in ITV plc owned ITV franchise areas, covering England, Wales and the Scottish Borders area, though red button access on ITV1 London (Freesat channel 977) remains in place. The launch coincided with the closure of Men & Motors.[19] During March 2010, Ofcom issued broadcast licenses for six regional variations of ITV1 HD,[20] with Central, Granada/Border and Meridian/Anglia regions joining London/LWT in June 2010.[21] Central and Meridian variations are only available on a free-to-view basis on satellite, this also means that Freesat viewers in those regions are instead given either the Granada/Border or London/LWT variation.

Corporate unification

ITV1 share of viewing 1992-2007 BARB figures
Flow diagram displaying consolidation of ITV franchises into ITV plc

ITV1 was formed by the unification of eleven of the ITV licences. The Broadcasting Act 1990 changed many of the rules regulating the ITV Network, which most notably relaxed franchise ownership and hours of production. However as far back as 1974, Yorkshire Television and its North East neighbour, Tyne Tees Television, formally created Trident Television, a merged entity of the two companies. By 1981 due to regulation, the company was forced to de-merge, however they resumed their alliance in 1993 as Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television, which therefore owned the two franchises and integrated the two company's assets more than its predecessor.

However, the intense race to own more of the ITV Network began in 1994 when Carlton Communications, the owner of London weekday broadcaster Carlton Television, took control of Central Independent Television in the Midlands. Literally days afterwards, Granada plc, owner of Granada Television of the North West purchased London Weekend Television. Meridian's owner, Mills and Allen International, then went on to purchase Anglia Television in the same year, before merging to become United News and Media (UNM) in 1995. UNM then went on to purchase Wales and West broadcaster, HTV in 1996, while Carlton purchased Westcountry Television later that year. Granada then agreed a deal to take over Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television in 1997, giving the broadcaster access to both Yorkshire and North East franchises.

There was no movement in the take-over of franchises until 2000 when Border Television and all of its radio assets were sold to Capital Radio Group, who consequently sold the television broadcasting arm to Granada Media Group. Granada then went on to purchase all of UNM's television interests (including its ITV franchises), which brought Meridian, Anglia and HTV into its power, however due to regulation Granada was forced to sell HTV to Carlton. By this time, all of the franchises in England and Wales were owned by either Carlton or Granada.

In 2004, Granada plc officially merged with Carlton Communications, creating ITV plc, although it was a takeover by Granada in effect.

Regional variations

ITV1 consists of eleven franchises in England and Wales which broadcast regional news and other local programming to its area. Many franchise areas in England previously had sub-regions providing separate regional news bulletins. For example, the Anglia reason was divided into West and East. This arrangement came to an end in February 2009 when ITV implemented plans to save the company £40m a year on the amount it spent making local news.

Since 27 October 2002, all ITV plc-owned franchises, regional programming is either preceded or plugged by an oral regional announcement, in the format ITV1 regional brand, e.g. ITV1 Granada. In English regions, up until 13 November 2006, regional names were also superimposed (post-production) on these idents below the ITV1 logo, however this practice has since ceased. ITV Wales remains unaffected and still continues to use dual-branding across all of its on-screen presentation. Despite the lack of regional names on screen, the regional name is usually spoken by the announcer prior to local programmes. After ITV's unification in 2002, the two London franchises, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television were merged into a single entity, ITV London, while the Wales and West franchise lost its official identity and instead was substituted with ITV Wales and ITV West on-air, with no reference linking the two together.

Although Channel Television have adopted the ITV1 brand on-air, announcements are still referred to "Channel Television". Channel Television is the only franchise not owned by ITV plc to use the brand.

Areas with full ITV1 branding and continuity:

Broadcast area Pre-ITV1 branding Post-ITV1 branding
English-Scottish border/Isle of Man Border ITV1
North East England Tyne Tees ITV1
Yorkshire and Lincolnshire Yorkshire ITV1
North West England Granada ITV1
Wales HTV Wales ITV1 Wales
West of England HTV West ITV1
The Midlands Central ITV1
East of England Anglia ITV1
London (weekdays) Carlton ITV1
London (weekends) LWT ITV1
South and South East England Meridian ITV1
South West England Westcountry ITV1

In the English regions, the channel has been known since 2006 as ITV1 at all times. Regional references no longer appear before any programming at all in these areas.

  • The ITV1 Wales name is not used overnight.

Areas without full ITV1 branding and continuity:

Broadcast area Present Branding Former Branding
Channel Islands ITV1 (Channel Television) Channel Television**
Northern Ireland UTV Ulster Television***
Northern Scotland STV Grampian Television
Central Scotland STV Scottish Television

**Channel Television use the ITV1 logo on all idents, promotions, ECPs, etc.
***UTV uses the ITV1 branding from around midnight until the beginning of GMTV daily.

Proposed regional changes

In June 2007, ITV plc executive chairman Michael Grade hinted at a possible re-structure of the ITV regional layout, stating the existence of smaller regional services "no longer makes sense" relative to the regional audience they serve.[22]

The plan was confirmed in September 2007, reducing the number of regional news programmes from 17 to just 9, saving around £35 to £40 million each year, and affecting every ITV plc regional company with the exception of ITV London, ITV Wales and ITV Granada. These changes were implemented in early 2009. All sub-regional news programmes ceased, ITV Border's Lookaround programme was merged with ITV Tyne Tees' North East Tonight programme, ITV Westcountry's Westcountry Live merged with ITV West's The West Tonight programme, and ITV Meridian's Meridian Tonight south and south east editions merged with ITV Thames Valley's Thames Valley Tonight.

Pre-recorded sub-regional opt-outs are included in most of these new regions - a practice that has been used by Westcountry since their launch in 1993. Future job losses are currently unknown.[23]

Branding

Main article: ITV television presentation
ITV1 logo (2004 - 2006)

From the founding of the ITV Network in 1955, it was known nationally as Independent Television (later ITV) and locally by the regional branding of the local ITV franchise operator.

In 1989, the ITV Association set out a generic presentation package with a new "ITV" logo, which included idents, promotions and general on and off air design, and an edit of this package was designed for each franchise holder. The dual branded idents included a large "ITV" logo, in which the "V" contained part of the franchise's logo, and written below the logo in a grey capitalised font was the name of the regional broadcaster. However, only half of the regional broadcasters opted to use the package, which had completely failed by 1997.

In 1999, another second common presentation package (once again using dual-branding with the ITV name) was launched, under the theme, "TV From The Heart". Like the 1989 attempt, a version was created for every franchise holder, however it was only taken by nine of the fifteen ITV broadcasters, two of which resorted to other designs, being London Weekend Television, which actually used the look for a year but then adopted a more original look (claiming it "wasn't exciting enough"), and HTV which adopted Carlton's identity when it was purchased by the company in 2001. Carlton, owner of three ITV licences at the time, did not adopt the generic look and instead used another package designed by Lambie-Nairn, which again followed the "TV from the Heart" theme, however with more emphasis on the Carlton corporate identity.

By 2001, all eleven franchises of England and Wales were owned by either Granada plc or Carlton Communications, and a new common name, ITV1, was launched on 11 August 2001 to coincide with digital channel ITV2. The existing "Hearts" idents were simply re-edited.

However from 28 October 2002, in England, the Scottish/English Border and Isle of Man (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 regional identification remains in the form of ITV1 Wales. At this time all regional continuity announcers were replaced with a single team of six national continuity announcers. Since the re-brand of 2006, that team has been reduced to just four.

ITV Day

In 2005, ITV plc introduced a new channel branding called ITV Day , used to identify ITV1 between 9.25am and 5.00pm. ITV Day was treated as a separate entity to ITV1 and featured its own presentation set focusing using the colours of red, orange and yellow and featured scenes of typical "daytime" activities. Promotions were used in a similar format to ITV1, and all daytime programmes advertised within ITV1 hours were branded with the ITV Day logo. A similar "UTV Day" branding was adopted in Northern Ireland.

ITV1 (2006–present)

File:Itv logo feb06.gif

In January 2006, the channel adopted a new on-air look to coincide with the launch of ITV4, designed mainly to improve cross-channel promotion across ITV's multichannel presence. The new logo brought ITV1, ITV2 and ITV3 in line with ITV4's, and had been observed on various billboard ads in the UK when the new identity was first used on-screen on 16 January 2006. The overhaul also put an end to the former ITV Day brand, which was axed in favour of a full-time ITV1 identity.

File:Itv1nov2006.png

On 13 November 2006, a new set of idents replaced the previous set which debuted in January, the theme being "alive with colour". The initial set consisted of 'Beach', 'Bike', 'Lake' and 'Market'; 'Basketball' and 'Pavement Art' were added later in the year. They were created by Blink Productions for ITV, unlike the old idents which were masterminded by Red Bee Media. The logo remained the same in essence; only the 'itv' lettering was inverted from its previous white state to black, to allow it to stand out against the yellow more.[24]

File:ITV1.svg

On 3 September 2007, four more idents where added to the set, featuring 'Bubbles', 'Fountains', 'Garden' and 'Buildings', and as of 19 September 2009, all now have 'the brighter side' on their breakbumpers. On 9 April 2010, four more idents where added to the set, 'Lanterns', 'Sunflowers', 'Snakes and Ladders' and 'Dodgems', featuring an updated ITV1 logo as seen on ITV1 HD.

ITV plc recently announced that ITV1 +1, a one hour time-shift version of ITV1, would launch in October 2009 from 10.25 am to 7 am daily. The hours covered by GMTV from 7 am to 10.25 am will not be included in the relay. This format would be similar to how Channel 4 has its one hour time-shift version which was launched in August 2007. [25] On 18 September 2009 it was announced that ITV1 +1 has been postponed until further notice. [26]

Programming

See also

References

  1. ^ "Implementation - ITV1+1". AGB Nielsen Media Research. 2009-09-01.
  2. ^ "ITV to wait for CRR ruling before launching +1 channel". AGB Nielsen Media Research. 2009-09-03.
  3. ^ "ITV postpones ITV1+1 launch". Digital Spy. 18 September 2009.
  4. ^ "ITV1+1 data appears on Sky's EPG". Digital Spy. 17 September 2009.
  5. ^ "ITV to launch ITV1+1 channel". Digital Spy. 1 September 2009.
  6. ^ "CRR decision put back as commission chews on submissions". Brand Republic. 2009-12-02.
  7. ^ "ITV given green light for +1 and HD channels under CRR". Media Week. 2010-01-19.
  8. ^ "ITV's CRR ad rules stay – for now". The Guardian. 2010-05-12.
  9. ^ "CC PUBLISHES FINAL DECISION ON CRR" (PDF). Competition Commission. 2010-05-12.
  10. ^ "ITV Statement In Response To The Competition Commission's Final Decision On Contract Rights Renewal (CRR)". ITV plc. 2010-05-12.
  11. ^ "Lords to review ITV1's CRR mechanism". Digital Spy. 2010-07-28.
  12. ^ "ITV plc 2010 Interim Results & Sky deal". ITV plc. 3 August 2010.
  13. ^ "Confirmed: ITV HD is Freesat exclusive". Digital Spy. 2008-05-06. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  14. ^ "HD version of ITV to launch next Spring". Digital Spy. 12 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  15. ^ "ITV HD will relaunch for Freeview HD". What Satellite & Digital TV. 2009-08-07.
  16. ^ a b "MULTIPLEX B NOTICE OF VARIATION" (PDF). Ofcom. 2009-06-03.
  17. ^ "ITV starts ITV1 HD test transmissions". Digital Spy. 2009-08-11.
  18. ^ "New ITV1 HD channel available on Freesat, Freeview, Sky and Virgin". ITV plc. 2010-03-12. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  19. ^ "Men & Motors to close on satellite". Digital Spy. 2010-03-29.
  20. ^ "Television Broadcast Licensing Update March 2010". Ofcom. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  21. ^ "Questions about ITV1 HD". ITV plc. Retrieved 2010-05-26.
  22. ^ "Grade hints at ITV region restructure". Digital Spy. 12 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  23. ^ "ITV to merge regional newsrooms". BBC News. 12 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  24. ^ Deans, Jason (13 November 2006). "ITV1 rolls out more idents". London: Guardian. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
  25. ^ "ITV1+1 to lauch in October". Marketing Magazine. 2 September 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
  26. ^ "Implementation - ITV1+1Updated". AGB Nielsen Media Research. 2009-09-18.
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