This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster

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 ...

(now known as ITV London at weekend). It has provided the

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 ...

weekend service for London since 1968.

1960s

* 1967 ** LWT is awarded the London weekend franchise. The new franchise includes Friday evenings so LWT broadcasts from 7pm on Fridays as well as Saturday and Sunday. * 1968 ** 2 August – LWT goes on air, for fifteen seconds because this day is the start of the technicians strike which forces ITV off the air for several weeks although management manage to launch a temporary

ITV Emergency National Service The ITV Emergency National Service was the management response to the near-complete Independent Television technicians' strike immediately after the 1968 franchise changes took effect.Bowden-Smith, Kif Strike Service'' Vision On, 1 January 2002, ...

with no regional variations. * 1969 ** 15 November – LWT begins broadcasting in colour.

1970s

* 1970 ** 18 September – LWT launches its famous river ident.TV Live: London Weekend Television
/ref> * 1971 ** February –

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

becomes Managing Director. * 1972 ** 1 October – LWT launches the UK's first Sunday politics programme, ''

Weekend World ''Weekend World'' is a British television political series, made by London Weekend Television (LWT) and broadcast from 1972 to 1988. Created by John Birt, not long after he had joined LWT, the series was broadcast on the ITV network at midday ...

''. It continues until 1988. ** LWT opens its purpose-built studios called

The London Studios The London Studios (also known as The South Bank Studios, The London Television Centre, ITV Tower, Kent House and LWT Tower) in Lambeth, Central London was a television studio complex owned by ITV plc and originally built for London Weekend Te ...

although they were not fully operational until 1974. These new studios replace its studio base in Wembley which were the former home of

Associated-Rediffusion Associated-Rediffusion, later Rediffusion London, was the British ITV franchise holder for London and parts of the surrounding counties, on weekdays between 22 September 1955 and 29 July 1968. It was the first ITA franchisee to go on air, ...

. * 1973 ** No events. * 1974 ** 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 Authorit ...

(IBA) automatically extends all ITV franchise contracts from 1974 to 1981, owing to the enormous costs of introducing colour television. * 1975 ** No events. * 1976 ** May – LWT is reorganised, to form a new company, LWT (Holdings) Limited. which allowed the company to expand into a number of new ventures, including Hutchinson Publishing. * 1977 ** February –

Michael Grade Michael Ian Grade, Baron Grade of Yarmouth, (born 8 March 1943) is an English television executive and businessman. He has held a number of senior roles in television, including controller of BBC1 (1984–1986), chief executive of Channel 4 ( ...

is appointed as Director of Programmes. * 1978 ** 4 January – The first edition of arts magazine ''

The South Bank Show ''The South Bank Show'' is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, ...

'' is broadcast, replacing ''

Aquarius Aquarius may refer to: Astrology * Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign * Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages Astronomy * Aquarius (constellation) * Aquarius in Chinese astronomy Arts and entertainme ...

''. It continues to be broadcast until the end of 2009 before

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

revives the programme in 2012. ** November – News International sells 16% of its LWT holding, reducing its shares from 39.7% to 25%. * 1979 ** 10 August – The ten week ITV strike forces

off the air. The strike ends on 24 October and LWT's acquisition of specialist travel and tour operator Page & Moy and its Hutchinson publishing operations helped offset the losses made during the strike.

1980s

* 1980 ** 11 February –

's Minorities Unit launches the UK's first television series specifically aimed at a gay audience. The programme, called ''

Gay Life Gay Life was a weekly newspaper about LGBT culture, gay culture published by the LGBT Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland. It was distributed in Baltimore, Maryland and throughout the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic re ...

'', airs late on Sundays and runs for two series. ** News International sells its remaining 25% stake, bringing an end to LWT's connection with the Australian tycoon. * 1981 ** No events. * 1982 ** 1 January *** LWT (and Thames) are no longer able to broadcast to north west Kent due to the Bluebell Hill transmitter near Maidstone being transferred to the new TVS, as part of the creation of the south and south east franchise. *** LWT gains 105 minutes more transmission time on Fridays when the handover from

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

was moved back from 7pm to 5:15pm. ** 8 January – Due to the earlier Friday start, LWT becomes contractually responsible for providing a Friday London news service. Rather than launch its own news service, LWT pays Thames to provide a 15-minute insert into ''

The Six O'Clock Show ''The Six O'Clock Show'' was a regional television magazine show broadcast in the Greater London area and produced by London Weekend Television between 1982 and 1988. The Friday evening programme was launched on Friday 8 January 1982 and prese ...

'', LWT's Friday teatime magazine. The bulletin is called '' Thames Weekend News''. Over the weekend, LWT's news coverage consists of ''LWT News Headlines'' which are aired mid-afternoon and late evening. These bulletins usually consisted solely of the duty continuity announcer in-vision reading copy sourced from the

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...

station

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadca ...

and later from local wire agencies. ** January – John Birt replaces Michael Grade as Director of Programmes and makes major changes to output aimed at maximising audiences with some niche programming, such as arts and science, moving out of primetime to the schedule margins to make way for more entertainment shows at peak time. * 1983 ** January – LWT drops in-vision continuity. ** 5 February – Following the launch of ITV's breakfast television service,

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 ...

four days earlier, LWT's broadcast day now begins at 9:25am. ** 9 September – LWT launches a computerised version of its ident with the tagline “Your Weekend ITV”. ** LWT launches an into-the-night ''Nightlife'' strand, resulting in LWT staying on air until around 2am on Friday and Saturday nights. * 1984 ** No events. * 1985 ** LWT comes to an agreement with TVS to help to fill its schedules with domestically-produced programming while not having to increase its budget. This helps TVS to get more of its programmes onto the ITV network. ** May–June – LWT's flagship Friday evening news magazine ''

'' is briefly extended to Saturdays. However, only six episodes are broadcast. * 1986 ** 29 August – After 16 years, LWT drops its river-based logo and launches a new ident. * 1987 ** April –

Greg Dyke Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...

returns to LWT after three years at TVS to replace John Birt as Director of Programmes. ** 28 August – LWT begins 24-hour transmissions and launches the UK's first overnight show ''

Night Network ''Night Network'', ''Night Time'' and ''Night Shift'' were names given to the overnight (usually between 12 and 6am) schedule of the ITV (TV network), ITV network in the United Kingdom. The first ITV company began 24-hour broadcasting in 1986, w ...

''. However it is short lived and ends on Friday 31 March 1989. ** December – '' Thames Weekend News'' which had produced LWT's Friday teatime news bulletin, is broadcast for the final time. * 1988 ** 8 January – Following concern from the IBA over LWT's regional news output, LWT launches its own news service called ''

LWT News ''LWT News'' was a regional news service provided by London Weekend Television, serving the Greater London area in various formats between January 1982 and 3 January 1993. History On Friday 1 January 1982, LWT began extending its broadcasting ...

''. The service is outsourced and is provided by ''Screen News''. ** 15 July – ''

'' is broadcast for the final time. ** 7 October – ''The Six O'Clock Shows replacement programme, ''Friday Now!'', launches. * 1989 ** 28 July – '' Friday Now'' is broadcast for the final time. It is axed due to poor ratings. ** 1 September ***LWT adopts the new corporate ITV logo. ***''Friday Now'' is replaced by ''Six O'Clock Live''.

1990s

* 1990 ** January – Chrysalis Television takes over the contract to produce ''

''. * 1991 ** April – LWT, in conjunction with Thames, launches a new overnight strand called ''ITV Night Time''. ** 16 October – LWT retains its licence. There had been one other applicant, London Independent Broadcasting. However, it was ruled out because it failed to make the quality threshold. It had bid five times more than LWT which retains the licence with a bid of £7.59 million. * 1992 ** 21 August – '' Six O’Clock Live'' is axed to make way for the forthcoming ''

London Tonight ''ITV News London'' is a British television news service broadcast on both ITV London and the ITV Hub. It is produced by ITN. History London News Network The programme launched on Monday 4 January 1993 as ''London Tonight'', after Carlton ...

''. ** 4 September – LWT launches a new ident, sometimes dubbed the flying blocks ident. * 1993 ** 3 January – ''

'' is broadcast for the final time. ** 8 January – ''

'' is broadcast on LWT for the first time. It is the name of the new regional news bulletins produced by

London News Network London News Network (or LNN) was a television news, production and facilities organisation in London. It was created in 1992 as a joint operation between London's two ITV contractors, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television, with each ...

, the new seven days a week news service jointly owned by LWT and new contractor Carlton Television. * 1994 ** 25 February – LWT is bought by

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 ...

for £770 million. This resulted in Greg Dyke and Sir Christopher Bland leaving LWT. * 1995 ** No events. * 1996 ** 30 August – LWT modifies its logo and new idents launch. ** 1 October –

LWT 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 un ...

’s owner Granada launches

Granada Sky Broadcasting ITV Digital Channels Limited (formerly known as Granada Sky Broadcasting) is a wholly owned subsidiary of British broadcaster ITV plc. It manages all of the company's television channels with the exception of ITV, which is part of the entir ...

as a joint venture between Granada and BSkyB. Content from LWT's archives is shown on one of the channels created,

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 ...

. * 1997 ** No events. * 1998 ** 15 November – The public launch of digital terrestrial TV in the UK takes place. * 1999 ** 12 November – LWT unveils what will be its last ever logo and launches new idents.

2000s

* 2000 ** 24 March – LWT becomes the only ITV region to drop the 1999 generic look, replacing it with the theme of a video wall. * 2001 ** No events. * 2002 ** 28 October – LWT marks its final day on air with a series of tributes to their past, with long-serving continuity announcers Glen Thompsett and Trish Bertram appearing in-vision in LWT's playout centre in the London Television Centre. When GMTV handed over to the weekday franchise the following morning, the national ITV1 brand was on-air. ITV1 (ITV1 London prior to regional programmes) is formed as a unified on-screen brand for the Carlton and LWT franchises. Consequently, the new "region" operates as a seven-day service.

ITV London ITV London is the on-air brand name used by ''ITV Broadcasting Limited'' for two broadcast franchises of ITV, Carlton Television (weekdays) and London Weekend Television (weekends) in the London ITV region. Its terrestrial digital signal is ...

is formally created. * 2003 ** No events. * 2004 ** 2 February – Granada merges with Carlton Communications to form a single England and Wales ITV company called

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 ...

. ** 31 March – The LWT logo is seen for the final time. It had continued to appear as an endcap.

References