Granada plc (previously called Granada Ltd, Granada Group plc, and Granada Media plc) was a British
conglomerate best known as the parent from 1954 to 2004 of the
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
-based
Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
.
The company merged with
Carlton Communications
Carlton was a British media company. It was led by Michael P. Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it was bought by Granada plc in a corporate takeover to form ITV plc. Carlton shareholders gained ap ...
in 2004 to become
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom.
ITV plc is listed on the ...
. It was once a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index
The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...
.
History
Media business
Granada has its origins in
Sidney Bernstein's Granada Theatres Ltd, a
cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
* ...
company founded in
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
in 1930. The company was incorporated as Granada Ltd in 1934, with Granada Theatres Ltd turned into a subsidiary.
[ITV: History]
/ref> Granada has been listed on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
in one form or another since 1935.[ It was awarded the North of England ]ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
franchise in 1954, broadcasting as Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
.[ The company also established a chain of television rental shops from 1959 onwards.
Granada entered the publishing business in the 1960s: it combined its operations into the publisher ]Hart-Davis, MacGibbon
The British publishing house of Hart-Davis, MacGibbon was formed in 1972 by its parent group, Granada. The parent company had acquired the publishing concern of Rupert Hart-Davis in 1963 and the house of MacGibbon & Kee (founded by James MacGib ...
in 1972. William Collins, Sons
William Collins, Sons (often referred to as Collins) was a Scottish printing and publishing company founded by a Presbyterian schoolmaster, William Collins, in Glasgow in 1819, in partnership with Charles Chalmers, the younger brother of Thomas ...
acquired Granada Publishing in 1983. Paperback imprints
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series
* "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror''
* ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film
...
of Granada Publishing Ltd included Panther Books
Panther Books Ltd was a British publishing house especially active in the 1950s and 1960s, specialising in paperback fiction. It was established in May 1952 by Hamilton's Ltd and titles carried the line "A Panther Book" or "Panther Science Ficti ...
, Paladin Books (co-founded in 1966 by Sonny Mehta
Ajai Singh "Sonny" Mehta (9 November 1942McFadden, Robert D. (31 December 2019) ''The New York Times''. – 30 December 2019) was an Indian editor and the editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf and chairman of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
...
), Grafton (established c. 1981), and Mayflower.
During the 1980s, Granada became involved in the British Satellite Broadcasting
British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) was a television company, headquartered in London, that provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. They started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. The company was merged with ...
satellite television
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...
company. This went on air in March 1990, but merged with Sky Television in November 1990, to form British Sky Broadcasting
Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...
(BSkyB), in which Granada had a minority shareholding for some time. In 1991, Granada Theatres Ltd was sold to Bass. In 1994 Granada acquired London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...
.[ Two years later, both Granada, LWT and a British consortium of cable channels to form Granada Media Group plc, which a year later, it acquired Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television plc.][ In 1997, Granada expanded onto the North American market by launching Granada Entertainment USA.
Granada also bid together with ]Carlton Communications
Carlton was a British media company. It was led by Michael P. Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it was bought by Granada plc in a corporate takeover to form ITV plc. Carlton shareholders gained ap ...
and BSkyB for one of the UK Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...
licences. They won the licence, though BSkyB was excluded from the company, ONdigital
ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners o ...
, on competition grounds. It went on air in 1998, was rebranded to ITV Digital in 2001, then entered voluntary liquidation before closing in 2002.
In 2000, Granada purchased United News & Media's television interests, which were Meridian Broadcasting
ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned an ...
and Anglia Television
ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...
;[ Granada was forced to sell the HTV broadcasting business (to Carlton) for competition reasons, though it held onto HTV's network production business. It also acquired ]Border Television
ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, the S ...
in 2001, from Capital Radio plc.
Red Arrow (later Granada) TV Rental
Until 2000, there was a widespread high street chain called Granada TV Rental in the UK, Canada and in the US. The UK headquarters were originally in Manchester. The company started life as Red Arrow TV Rental, using a red version of Granada's north-pointing arrow as its logo. This was a home entertainment equipment rental chain, similar to Radio Rentals
Radio Rentals was formed in 1930Radio Rentals Staff Handbook in Brighton, Sussex, UK to rent out radio sets by Percy Perring-Thoms with a turnover in the first year of £780 (). It later offered televisions and ultimately video recorders for re ...
and Rediffusion
Rediffusion was a business that distributed radio and TV signals through wired relay networks. The business gave rise to a number of other companies, including Associated-Rediffusion, later known as Rediffusion London, the first ITV (commercia ...
. The mainstay of the business from the late 1950s, and through the 1960s and 70s, was television set rental; during this period television receivers were expensive to purchase and were often unreliable.
In 1978 the company expanded its operations into the domestic VCR (videocassette recorder
A videocassette recorder (VCR) or video recorder is an electromechanical device that records analog audio and analog video from broadcast television or other source on a removable, magnetic tape videocassette
Videotape is magnetic tape ...
) rental market. This new household item was also a high-cost item in home entertainment: for example, a JVC model HR3300 VHS recorder cost £680 in 1978, . In the 1980s, the rental of satellite TV reception equipment became another opportunity for the company to supplement its declining income.
As electronic product prices fell and their reliability improved, consumer behaviour changed from renting to buying electrical goods. This drift away from rental eventually resulted in the decline of this chain and others. Granada purchased Telefusion (a Blackpool-based rental company) and DVR. It then went on to merge with Robinson Rentals, moving the Granada base from Sharston Road, Manchester, to the Robinson building on Ampthill Road, Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
. The two main players at this time were Granada TV Rental (GTVR) and Radio Rentals. Both were experiencing a decline in business and in 2000 they merged to form Boxclever
Boxclever (styled as “boxclever”) is a British electronic and domestic appliance rental chain that was founded in 2000 by the merger of Radio Rentals and Granada Rentals. The company originally operated through high street stores but later ...
.
Red Arrow was one of a number of experimental companies launched by Sidney and Alex Bernstein's Granada Group and was, apart from Granada Cinemas and Granada Television, by far the most successful. Others included Green Arrow – artificial plant and flower leasing to companies, and Black Arrow – office furniture and equipment leasing. This company was disposed of and has no connection with any other venture of a similar name.
Catering business
Aside from media, Granada's other main strength was in the catering business. It opened its first motorway service area
Motorway service areas in the United Kingdom and Ireland, also known as services or service stations, are rest areas where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel/recharge, rest, eat and drink, shop or stay in an on-site overnight hotel. The vas ...
in 1964, and established a chain of service areas across the British motorway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
network. Granada was the first British service station operator to move away from fancy dining and instead offer a basic but quicker service. Soon, all the other operators took on this idea. Granada's hospitality arm was at its strongest in the 1990s under Gerry Robinson
Sir Gerrard Jude Robinson (23 October 1948 – 14 October 2021) was an Irish-born British business executive and television presenter. He was non-executive chairman of Allied Domecq and chairman/chief executive of Granada.
Early life
Robinso ...
's chairmanship of the group. At one time the company owned and operated 75% of the motorway service areas. It expanded into other areas of catering, including most notably the acquisition in 1996 of Forte Group
Forte Group plc was a British hotel and restaurant company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Granada in 1996. Its head office was in the London Borough of Camden.
...
. This included rival operator Welcome Break
Welcome Break is a British motorway service station operator that operates 35 motorway service stations in the UK. It is the second-largest motorway service area operator behind Moto. It also operates hotels and motels. It is a subsidiary of ...
(later sold due to regulations), roadside chains Little Chef
Little Chef was a chain of restaurants in the United Kingdom, founded in 1958 by entrepreneur Sam Alper, who was inspired by American diners. The chain was famous for the "Olympic Breakfast" – its version of a full English – as well as it ...
and Happy Eater
Happy Eater was a chain of restaurants in England and Wales. Founded by Sir Michael Pickard in 1973, the chain wanted to compete against the British roadside restaurant category killer at the time, Little Chef, who would end up absorbing it in ...
, and Forte's hotels (including Travelodge
Travelodge (formerly TraveLodge) refers to several hotel chains around the world. Current operations include: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and several countries in Asia. However, many of t ...
and Le Méridien
Le Méridien is an upscale, design-focused international hotel brand with a European perspective. It was originally founded by Air France in 1972 and was later based in the United Kingdom. Marriott International now owns the chain. As of June 202 ...
).
In July 2000 Granada merged with Compass Group
Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including off ...
plc to form Granada Compass plc, as part of a strategy to separate Granada's media and catering interests. The demerger took place in early 2001, with the media business becoming Granada Ltd. The motorway service stations were soon rebranded as Moto.
Other ventures
* In the 1960s, when bingo
Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Gaming
* Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers
** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland
** Bi ...
was at its most popular, Granada turned some of their cinema chains into bingo halls. This business was sold to Bass in 1991 and was rebranded as Gala Bingo
Gala Bingo is an online bingo and casino offering under the ownership of Entain.
Gala Bingo was created in 1991 as a division of Bass plc. It later became an independent company, and then became the Gala Coral Group after acquiring Coral Euro ...
.
*From the late 1980s to the late 1990s, Granada operated three theme parks
An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...
:
** Camelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the ...
was purchased by Granada in 1986 along with Park Hall Leisure. The park near Charnock Richard
Charnock Richard is a small village and civil parish in the borough of Chorley, Lancashire, in England. The population of the civil parish taken at the 2011 census was 1,748.
History
The village was named in the early 13th century by the local ...
, Lancashire, had a medieval theme and featured a jousting
Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament (medieval), tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying t ...
arena. It was sold by Granada in 1998 and closed in 2012.
** The American Adventure was opened by Granada in 1987 in Ilkeston
Ilkeston is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Derbyshire, England, on the River Erewash, from which the borough takes its name, with a population at the 2011 census of 38,640. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/texti ...
, Derbyshire. The site had been sold by Derbyshire County Council after a failed theme park called Britannia Park closed 10 weeks after opening. The park was successful for several years and was known for having the tallest log flume
A log flume is a watertight flume constructed to transport lumber and logs down mountainous terrain using flowing water. Flumes replaced horse- or oxen-drawn carriages on dangerous mountain trails in the late 19th century. Logging operations pre ...
in the United Kingdom. Granada sold the park in 1997 after its business started to decline; it eventually closed at the end of 2006.
** The Granada Studios Tour
Granada Studios Tour was an entertainment theme park at the Granada Studios complex in Castlefield, Manchester, England which operated from 1988 to 1999. The park was in the heart of Manchester city centre adjacent to the Granada House building ...
was opened in 1988. It was a Granada Television themed park that featured sets, props and techniques used by the company. In 1997 the park gained Skytrak Total, the world's first flying roller coaster
A flying roller coaster is a type of roller coaster meant to simulate the sensations of flight by harnessing riders in a prone position during the duration of the ride. The roller coaster cars are suspended below the track, with riders secured s ...
. The park closed to the public in 1999 and fully in 2001, during the company's difficulties with ITV Digital
ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners o ...
.
*From 1988, Granada opened and operated a chain of bowling alleys under the name GX Superbowl. In 1995, the chain was sold to Allied Leisure.
* Granada purchased the Madison chain of nightclubs from Taz Leisure Group in 1989.
*In 1983, Granada Microcomputer Services were set up to supply computer hardware to businesses. These services were originally marketed as shops but later became "business centres". This business was sold in 1987.
* Granada expanded into book publishing in 1961, but sold the business in 1983. They also owned publishers Leckie and Leckie
Leckie and Leckie is an educational publishing firm based in Glasgow, Scotland. The main focus of the company is educational books for students taking Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) courses. They offer books on most Standard Grade, In ...
.
Merger with Carlton
In 2002 speculation began to centre on when, not if, Carlton
Carlton may refer to:
People
* Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname
* Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy
* Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...
and Granada would merge. In 2003 a merger was agreed between the two companies, with Granada shareholders owning two-thirds of the new company.ITV shares on London Stock Market
/ref> That the new company was in effect a takeover by Granada of Carlton was admitted in the first annual report of the new company, ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom.
ITV plc is listed on the ...
, which treated the company as effectively a continuation of Granada plc (with the Carlton merger regarded as an acquisition) for accounting purposes.
The Granada name continues on as the official name of the North West ITV region and its on air regional news programme Granada Reports
ITV News ''Granada Reports'' is a British television news service broadcast and produced by ITV Granada.
Overview
''Granada Reports'' is produced and broadcast from studios in the Orange Tower at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays.
Before this, the ...
and was used to brand productions of ITV plc companies on channels other than ITV branded channels in the United Kingdom until it was replaced by the ITV Studios
ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcas ...
brand in 2009.
Operations
At the time of the merger with Carlton Communications, Granada was mainly involved in the television business. It owned seven ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
companies – Granada Television
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
, London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...
, Yorkshire Television
ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...
, Tyne Tees Television
ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire.
Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from stud ...
, Meridian Broadcasting
ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at 12:00 am on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned an ...
, Anglia Television
ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...
and Border Television
ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, the S ...
. It also owned the ITV Digital Channels Ltd
ITV Digital Channels Limited (formerly known as Granada Sky Broadcasting) is a subsidiary, wholly owned subsidiary of British broadcaster ITV plc. It manages all of the company's television channels with the exception of ITV (TV channel), ITV ...
pay-TV business, which at the time offered two channels, Men and Motors
Men & Motors was a men's lifestyle television channel in the UK. It was the last remaining station operated by the former Granada Sky Broadcasting joint venture, set up by Granada Television (now part of ITV plc) and satellite broadcaster Britis ...
and Granada Plus
Plus was a digital channel run by Granada Sky Broadcasting. It was launched on 1 October 1996 under the original name of Granada Plus, and during its availability it underwent successive rebrands as G Plus, G+ and then simply Plus. However, it ...
. ITV plc has since taken full control of GSB and closed down archive channel Plus in favour of ITV3. Granada also owned 50% shares in ITV2
ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...
and the ITV News Channel
The ITV News Channel was a 24-hour television news channel in the United Kingdom which broadcast from 1 August 2000 to 23 December 2005. It was available on Sky, NTL:Telewest, ITV Digital (until 2002), Freeview (latterly only between 6:00 am a ...
, and a 20% share of Independent Television News
Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, ...
. It also owned 45% of TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to:
Television
*Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso
*Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala
*Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...
, Ireland.
Charles Allen was chief executive of Granada until 2 February 2004, when he became chief executive of the newly created ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom.
ITV plc is listed on the ...
, a post he retained until 1 October 2006.
See also
* ITV Granada
ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...
, formerly Granada Television
* ITV Studios
ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcas ...
, formerly Granada Productions
* Red Heart
Red Heart was a joint venture between the Seven Network and Granada Television, Granada PLC between c. 1999 and 2001. It brought together all of its Australian parents' TV production resources, except those used for Seven's news and soaps.
One ...
, joint venture with Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
References
External links
Granada Productions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Granada Plc
ITV (TV network)
Granada plc
Granada plc (previously called Granada Ltd, Granada Group plc, and Granada Media plc) was a British conglomerate best known as the parent from 1954 to 2004 of the Manchester-based Granada Television.
The company merged with Carlton Communica ...
Television broadcasting companies of the United Kingdom
Defunct mass media companies of the United Kingdom
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
British companies established in 1930
Mass media companies established in 1930
Companies disestablished in 2004
Defunct companies based in Manchester
Compass Group