The Independent Television Commission (ITC) licensed and regulated commercial
television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
services in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
(except
S4C in
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
) between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003.
History
The creation of ITC, by the
Broadcasting Act 1990
The Broadcasting Act 1990 is a law of the British parliament, initiated in part due to a 1989 European Council Directive (89/552), also known as the Television Without Frontiers directive. The aim of the Act was to liberalise and deregulate the B ...
to replace the television regulation functions of the
Independent Broadcasting Authority
The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...
(formed by the Sound Broadcasting Act 1972) and
Cable Authority
The Cable Authority was the United Kingdom statutory body established by the Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984 to regulate the newly liberalised cable television industry. It came into existence on 1 December 1984 and took on its functions with e ...
. From 1 January 1991 it regulated the existing
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 ...
network. The 1990 Act also established the
Channel Four Television Corporation
Channel Four Television Corporation is a British state-owned media company headquartered in London. Its original and principal activity is the British national television network Channel 4.
The company was founded in 1982 as the Channel Four T ...
to run
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
, regulated by the ITC. There was no fanfare, as control was passed from Channel Four Television Company Limited.
Activities
The establishing Act required the
auction of Channel 3 licences for the fifteen ITV regions
[http://www.ukfree.tv/maps.php?key=tblITVsubregions_ID&c=8, ] and nationwide breakfast time. Most of the Channel 3 licences were awarded to the incumbent ITV companies; however there were some controversial decisions:
*
Carlton Television outbid
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992.
Thames Television broa ...
for the London Weekday licence;
CPV-TV
CPV-TV (from Chrysalis, Paradine and Virgin) was a company which had bid for three ITV franchises at the 1991 ITV franchise auction.
It was a consortium led by Sir David Frost and Richard Branson with further backing from the Chrysalis Group m ...
was the highest bidder, but its bid failed due to quality considerations.
*
GMTV
GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...
(changed to ''Good Morning Television'' as the bid name 'Sunrise Television' was already used by
Sky News) outbid
TV-am
TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchis ...
for the Breakfast television licence.
*
TVS and
TSW were deemed to have overbid for their licences, and hence their franchises were awarded to lower bidders
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 ...
and
Westcountry Television
ITV Westcountry, formerly known as Westcountry Television and Carlton Westcountry, was the ITV franchise holder for the south west of England, covering Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, southern and western Somerset and western Dorset. The co ...
, respectively.
On 1 January 1993 these new arrangements came into force, and the ITC began its job of 'light-touch regulation'. During this time, the ITC regulated the Channel 3 system as well as Channel 4. It issued licences to new satellite broadcasters and awarded the
Channel 5 licence in the mid-1990s. It also regulated cable TV.
In the early 2000s, the British government, in a
white paper
A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white paper ...
, declared its intention to merge the ITC with the
Radio Authority
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...
,
Office of Telecommunications
The Office of Telecommunications (Oftel) (''the telecommunications regulator'') was a department in the United Kingdom government, under civil service control, charged with promoting competition and maintaining the interests of consumers in the U ...
, and
Radiocommunications Agency
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
. This merger, under the
Communications Act 2003
The Communications Act 2003 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The act, which came into force on 25 July 2003, superseded the Telecommunications Act 1984. The new act was the responsibility of Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell. It ...
, took effect on 29 December 2003. Most powers of the ITC are now exercised by the Office of Communications (
Ofcom
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
), making some powers – and the ITC itself – defunct.
At this point, technical standards regulation, previously carried out in accordance with the IBA engineering "Code of Practice", seems to have disappeared from the regulatory landscape.
Technical standards are part of the licence conditions and both are set by Ofcom, this is the current technical standard issued by Ofcom; https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/62663/broadcast-TV-technical-codes.pdf
The ITC's co-regulators and origins
Timeline of communications regulators (1953–present)
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Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
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from: 1982 till: 1990 text:" IBA (1982–1990)" color: iba
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from: 1997 till: 2003 text:"ITC (1997–2003)" color: itc
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Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
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from: 1990 till: 2003 text:"ITC (1990–2003)" color: itc
from: 2003 till: end text:Ofcom
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Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
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from: 2017 till:end text:"Ofcom
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* Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication
/small>
Alongside the ITC, two other independent bodies also dealt with complaints: the Broadcasting Complaints Commission dealt with injustices against individuals, whereas the Broadcasting Standards Council dealt with complaints about the moral content of programs, with no redress for individuals.
Historically, all of independent television (from 22 September 1955) and radio (from 8 October 1973) was governed by the IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority) – joined by the Cable Authority in 1984. On 1 July 1985, the Home Secretary asked the IBA to review prospects for commercial Direct broadcast satellite, DBS.
In 1988, the Broadcasting Standards Council was set up to monitor 'taste and decency' on television. In 1990, large-scale changes brought about the Radio Authority, the privatization of the IBA's engineering division as NTL, and formation of the Independent Television Commission.
Since its formation, the BBC has been primarily responsible for its own governance - initially through the Corporation's Board of Governors and since 1 January 2007 through the BBC Trust
The BBC Trust was the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) between 2007 and 2017. It was operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies, and its stated aim was to make decisions in the best interests of ...
.
See also
*
Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events
References
{{reflist
Communications authorities
Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom
1991 establishments in the United Kingdom
2003 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
Television channels and stations established in 1991
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2003