Granada plc
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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 and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
-based
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), 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 on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...
. The company agreed a corporate takeover of
Carlton Communications Carlton Communications plc 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 s ...
in 2004 and Granada plc subsequently became
ITV plc ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV (TV network), ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc ...
on 2 February 2004. 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 the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most highly capitalised blue chips listed on ...
.


History


Media business

Granada has its origins in Sidney Bernstein's Granada Theatres Ltd, a cinema company founded in
Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast 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 southeast 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. Granada has been listed on the
London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...
in one form or another since 1935. It was awarded the North of England ITV franchise in 1954, broadcasting as
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), 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 on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...
. The company also established a chain of television rental shops from 1959 onwards, expanding in 1968 by purchasing Robinson Rentals for £8 million from David Robinson. Granada entered the publishing business in the 1960s: it bought Mayflower Books from their founding U.S. publisher, Dell Publishing, and Panther Books (including Paladin Books, founded 1966 by
Sonny Mehta Ajai Singh "Sonny" Mehta (9 November 1942McFadden, Robert D. (31 December 2019) ''The New York Times''. – 30 December 2019) was a British and American editor. Mehta was the editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf and chairman of the Knopf Doubleday ...
) by 1968, which imprints continued to be run separately editorially, and added
Rupert Hart-Davis Sir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis (28 August 1907 – 8 December 1999) was an English publisher and editor. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. As a biographer, he is remembered for his ''Hugh Walpole'' (1952), as an editor, ...
and MacGibbon and Kee which it combined to form Hart-Davis, MacGibbon in 1972. Eventually the various publishing companies were combined as Granada Publishing.
William Collins, Sons William Collins, Sons & Co., often referred to as Collins, was a Scotland, Scottish printing and publishing company founded by a Presbyterianism, Presbyterian schoolmaster, William Collins (publisher), William Collins, in Glasgow in 1819, in par ...
acquired Granada Publishing in 1983, renaming it Grafton Books after the editorial offices' address. During the 1980s, Granada became involved in the
British Satellite Broadcasting British Satellite Broadcasting plc (BSB) was a television company, based in London, that provided satellite television, direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. It started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. The company ...
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.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...
company. This went on air in March 1990, but merged with Sky Television in November 1990 to form
British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers a ...
(BSkyB), in which Granada had a minority shareholding for some time. In 1991, Granada Theatres Ltd was sold to
Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
. In 1994, Granada acquired
London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...
. Two years later, Granada, LWT and a British consortium of cable channels formed Granada Media Group plc, which a year later acquired Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television plc. In 1997, Granada expanded onto the North American market by launching Granada Entertainment USA. In March 1998, Granada announced their plans to launch a home video unit, eventually signing a five-year deal with Video Collection International to launch Granada Video in September. Granada also bid together with
Carlton Communications Carlton Communications plc 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 s ...
and BSkyB for one of the UK
digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...
licences. They won the licence, though BSkyB was excluded from the company, ONdigital, 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, namely
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 midnight on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...
and Anglia Television; 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 and Dumfries and Galloway, the ...
in 2001, from
Capital Radio plc GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed on 9 May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index ...
.


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 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 (TV network ...
. 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
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 AV sources and can play back the recording after rewinding. The use of a VCR to reco ...
(VCR) rental market. This new household item was also a high-cost purchase: for example, a JVC HR-3300
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
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 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 was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
. 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. 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 (MSA) also known as services or service stations, are rest areas in the UK and Ireland where drivers can leave a motorway to refuel/recharge, rest, eat and drink, shop, use the toilet or stay in an on-site overnight hotel ...
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 ...
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'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. This included rival operator Welcome Break (later sold due to regulations), roadside chains Little Chef and Happy Eater, and Forte's hotels (including Travelodge and Le Méridien). 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 Europe, ahead of Sodexo, employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in location ...
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 was at its most popular, Granada turned some of their cinema chains into bingo halls. This business was sold to
Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...
in 1991 and was rebranded as Gala Bingo. * 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, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...
: **
Camelot Camelot is a legendary castle and Royal court, court associated with 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 ...
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 medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The term is derived from Old French , ultim ...
arena. It was sold by Granada in 1998 and closed in 2012. ** The American Adventure was opened by Granada in 1987 in Ilkeston, 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 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 buildin ...
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. 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 ...
. * 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.


Merger with Carlton

In 2002 speculation began to centre on when, not if, Carlton and Granada would merge. In 2003 a merger was agreed between the two companies, with Granada shareholders owning two-thirds of the new company. 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 (TV network), ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc ...
, 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 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 Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is ba ...
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 companies –
Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), 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 on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...
,
London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...
,
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 franchisee for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from stu ...
,
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 midnight on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...
, Anglia Television 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 and Dumfries and Galloway, the ...
. It also owned the ITV Digital Channels Ltd pay-TV business, which at the time offered two channels, Men and Motors and Granada Plus. 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 Television in the United Kingdom, 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 fiv ...
and the ITV News Channel, and a 20% share of
Independent Television News Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washington, D.C. I ...
. It also owned 45% of TV3, 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 (TV network), ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. ITV plc ...
, a post he retained until 1 October 2006.


See also

*
ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), 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 on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...
, formerly Granada Television *
ITV Studios ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television media company owned by British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is ba ...
, formerly Granada Productions * Red Heart, joint venture with
Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...


References


External links


History of Granada Group
{{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 agreed a corporate takeover of ...
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