ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

public broadcast Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...

television network. It is branded as

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is branded as STV. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

(established in 1936). ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the

Broadcasting Act 1990 The Broadcasting Act 1990 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which aimed to liberalise and deregulate the British broadcasting industry by promoting competition; an example being ITV (TV network), ...

, it has been legally known as Channel 3 to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time:

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded entirely by its commerci ...

. ITV was, for decades, a network of separate companies that provided regional television services and also shared programmes among themselves to be shown on the entire network. Each franchise was originally owned by a different company. After several mergers, the fifteen regional franchises are now held by two companies:

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 runs the ITV1 channel, and STV Group, which runs the STV channel. The ITV network is a separate entity from ITV plc, the company that resulted from the merger of

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 ...

and

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. ITV plc holds the Channel 3 broadcasting licences for every region except for central and northern Scotland, which are held by STV Group. Today, ITV plc simply commissions the network schedule centrally; programmes are made by its own subsidiary ITV Studios and independent production companies. Regional programming remains in news and some current affairs series. Although the ITV network's history goes back to 1955, many regional franchisees changed over the years. Some of the most important names in the network's past—notably

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 th ...

, ABC and ATV—have no connection with the modern network.

History

The origins of ITV lie in the passing of the Television Act 1954, designed to break the monopoly on television held by the

BBC Television Service BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

. The act created the

Independent Television Authority The Independent Television Authority (ITA) was an agency created by the Television Act 1954 ( 2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 55) to supervise the creation of " Independent Television" (ITV), the first commercial television network in the United Kingdom. The ...

(ITA, then IBA after the Sound Broadcasting Act) to heavily regulate the industry and to award franchises. The first six franchises were awarded in 1954 for London,

the Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefords ...

and the North of England, with separate franchises for Weekdays and Weekends. The first ITV service to launch was London's

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, ...

on 22 September 1955, with the Midlands and North services launching in February 1956 and May 1956 respectively. Following these launches, the ITA awarded more franchises until the whole country was covered by fourteen regional stations, all launched by 1962. The network has been modified several times through franchise reviews that have taken place in 1963, 1967, 1974, 1980 and 1991, during which broadcast regions have changed and service operators have been replaced. Only one service operator has ever been declared bankrupt, WWN in 1963, with all other operators leaving the network as a result of a franchise review. Separate weekend franchises were removed in 1968 (with the exception of London) and over the years more services were added; these included a national breakfast franchise from 1983 onward—operating between 6:00 am and 9:25 am—and a teletext service. The

changed the nature of ITV; the then regulator the IBA was replaced with a light-touch regulator, the ITC; companies became able to purchase other ITV regional companies and franchises were now being awarded based upon a highest-bidder auction, with few safeguards in place. This heavily criticised part of the review saw four operators replaced, and the operators facing different annual payments to the Treasury:

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the ITV (TV network), Independent Television franchisee in Midlands, the English Midlands ...

, for example, paid only £2,000—despite holding a lucrative and large region—because it was unopposed, while Yorkshire Television paid £37.7 million for a region of the same size and status, owing to heavy competition. Following the 1993 changes, ITV as a network began to consolidate with several companies doing so to save money by ceasing the duplication of services present when they were all separate companies. By 2004, the ITV network was owned by five companies, of which two, Carlton and

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

had become major players by owning between them all the franchises in England, Wales, the Scottish borders and the Isle of Man. That same year, the two merged to form ITV plc with the only subsequent acquisitions being the takeover of

Channel Television ITV Channel Television, previously Channel Television, is a British television station which has served as the ITV (TV network), ITV contractor for the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey and broadcasts regional programmes for i ...

, the Channel Islands franchise, in 2011; and UTV, the franchise for ITV in Northern Ireland, in 2015.

Organisation (other networks)

The ITV network is not owned or operated by one company, but by a number of licensees, which provide regional services while also broadcasting programmes across the network. Since 2016, the fifteen licences are held by two companies, with the majority held by ITV Broadcasting Limited, part of ITV plc. The network is regulated by the media regulator

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

who is responsible for awarding the broadcast licences. The last major review of the Channel 3 franchises was in 1991, with all operators' licences having been renewed between 1999 and 2002 and again from 2014 without a further contest. While this has been the longest period that the ITV network has gone without a major review of its licence holders, Ofcom announced (following consultation) that it would split the Wales and West licence from 1 January 2014, creating a national licence for Wales and joining the newly separated West region to Westcountry Television, to form a new licence for the enlarged South West of England region. All companies holding a licence were part of the non-profit body ITV Network Limited, which commissioned and scheduled network programming, with compliance previously handled by ITV plc and

. However, due to amalgamation of several of these companies since the creation of ITV Network Limited (and given Channel Television is now owned by ITV plc), it has been replaced by an affiliation system. Approved by Ofcom, this results in ITV plc commissioning and funding the network schedule, with STV and UTV paying a fee to broadcast it. All licensees have the right to opt out of network programming (except for the national news bulletins), but, unlike the previous system, will receive no fee refund for doing so. Therefore many do not opt out due to pressures from the parent company or because of limited resources. Prior to the affiliate system being introduced, STV would frequently (and sometimes controversially) opt out of several popular network programmes – such as the original run of the first series of ''

Downton Abbey ''Downton Abbey'' is a British historical drama television series set in the early 20th century, created and co-written by Julian Fellowes. It first aired in the United Kingdom on ITV (TV network), ITV on 26 September 2010 and in the United St ...

'' – citing the need to provide more Scottish content to its viewers. As a public service broadcaster, the ITV network is obliged to broadcast programming of public importance, including news, current affairs, children's and religious programming as well as party election broadcasts on behalf of the major political parties and political events, such as the Budget. The network also needs to produce accessible output containing subtitles, signing and audio description. In exchange for this programming, the ITV network is available on all platforms free to air and can be found at the top of the

EPG Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information fo ...

of all providers. Since the launch of the platform in 1998, all of the ITV licensees have received gifted capacity on the

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 ...

platform. At present, the companies are able to broadcast additional channels and all choose to broadcast the ITV plc owned

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 ...

ITV3 ITV3 is a Television in the United Kingdom, British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first launched on Monday 1 November 2004 at 9 pm, replacing Plus (British TV channel), Plus ...

ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which first aired on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV plc. The channel focuses primarily on general entertainment programming targeting a male audience, including action series and films, ...

and

ITV Quiz ITV Quiz is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV plc. The channel was first announced on 16 April 2025 and launched on 9 June 2025, replacing ITVBe. The channel primarily airs reruns of game shows produced for ITV. History ...

in their region. UTV and STV (formerly

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

and

Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and which, decades later, was merged with the Central Belt channel STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isle ...

) previously broadcast their own services – UTV2 in Northern Ireland and S2 in central and northern Scotland – until 2002, when they adopted the ITV plc channels. Despite this, STV was given a broadcasting licence for what would become the STV2 channel in 2013, however this was short-lived and the channel closed in 2018. The broadcasters all make use of the Digital 3&4 multiplex, shared with

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

CITV CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged ...

launched in March 2006 (closed September 2023). ITV Encore launched in June 2014 (closed May 2018) and

ITVBe ITVBe was a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. Launched on 8 October 2014, the channel was positioned as a spin-off of ITV2 targeting a female audience, focusing primarily upon reality an ...

launched in October 2014. ITV Box Office launched in February 2017 (closed January 2020). On 13 September 2022, ITV confirmed that during the day of Monday 19 September, the day of the state funeral for Her Majesty Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, all programming schedules on ITV's digital channels will be scrapped, with the main ITV News coverage being shown live and uninterrupted on every channel. This was the first time ITV decided to do this, with the company keeping their digital channels' schedules mostly as advertised in the run up to the funeral (with a few amendments for cancelled sporting events on ITV4) and all royal coverage being on their main channel.

ITV plc

ITV plc owns thirteen of the fifteen franchises and broadcasts to England, Wales, southern Scotland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and Northern Ireland through its subsidiary company ITV Broadcasting Limited. The company also owns the breakfast television licence, which as of January 2020, broadcasts across the network between 6:00 and 10:00am each morning using the '' Good Morning Britain'' (previously '' Daybreak'') and ''

Lorraine Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...

'' names. The company broadcasts a centralised service under the

brand. In Northern Ireland, ITV used the UTV brand name as the name of the channel until April 2020. The group also owns

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 ...

, the production arm of the company and formed from an amalgamation of all the production departments of the regional licences they own. The company produces a large proportion of ITV's networked programming (around 47%, but previously as high as 66% according to some reports), with the rest coming primarily from independent suppliers (under the Broadcasting Act 1990, at least 25% of ITV's total output must be from independent companies). ITV plc hopes to increase the amount of in-house programming to as close to the 75% limit as possible. The group cut the number of regional news programmes offered from 17 in 2007 to 9 by 2009, resulting several regions being merged to form one programme, including the

Border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

and Tyne Tees regions, the Westcountry and

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

regions and the removal of sub regional programming, with some regions only represented by pre-recorded segments. Sub-regions were restored in 2013.

STV Group

STV Group plc owns two franchises, covering central and northern Scotland, through subsidiary companies STV Central and STV North, broadcasting a central service under the STV brand. The company had several disputes with ITV plc in the late 2000s and early 2010s over network programming. STV aimed to broadcast more Scottish programmes at peak times and so removed several key ITV plc programmes from their schedule in July 2009 including ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'', ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...

'' and '' Lewis''. Despite STV's explanation of expense, ITV plc were angered by the decision, as a recent schedule change had made ''The Bill'' central to their programming, and broadcast the programmes on

as well to ensure Scottish viewers could see the programmes. On 23 September ITV plc was reported to be in the process of suing STV for £20 million, as ITV felt dropping the shows constituted a breach of network agreements; STV subsequently counter-sued ITV plc for £35 million. The dispute was ended in 2011 with STV agreeing to pay ITV plc £18 million. The signing of the new affiliation deal has resulted in STV paying a flat fee for all networked programming, and so to drop any programmes is unlikely due to the large costs involved.

Current licensees

There are fifteen regional licences, covering fourteen regions (there are separate weekday and weekend licences for the London region), and one national licence for the breakfast service. All licences listed here were renewed until the end of 2024. Licences in England and Wales were held by the individual regional ITV plc owned companies prior to November 2008. The appointment to provide national news for Channel 3 is also subject to approval by Ofcom. This appointment has been held by

ITN 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 City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

since the channel's inception, and has also been approved through the end of 2024.

Programming

For over 60 years of ITV, its homegrown programmes have become among the best remembered as well as being extremely successful. Before the 1990s, nearly all of the content for the channel was produced by the fifteen franchise licensees: the regional companies. However, following legislation in the

imposing a 25% quota for commissioning of independent productions, the number of programmes from independent production companies not connected to the traditional ITV network, has increased rapidly. Notable examples include

Talkback Thames Talkback Thames is a British television production company, a division of Fremantle (company), FremantleMedia (now Fremantle), part of the RTL Group, which in turn is owned by Bertelsmann. It was formed by the merger of Talkback (production com ...

(one half of which,

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 ...

, was itself a former ITV franchisee), producers of ''

'' and co-producers of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'', and 2waytraffic, producers of '' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?''. From the late 1990s, ITV's long-standing commitment to strong current affairs and documentary programming began to diminish with the ending of productions such as ''

World in Action ''World in Action'' was a British investigative current affairs programme made by Granada Television for ITV from 7 January 1963 until 7 December 1998. Its campaigning journalism frequently had a major impact on events of the day. Its product ...

'' (

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, ...

), '' This Week'' (

Rediffusion London 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, ...

), ''First Tuesday'' (

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 ...

), '' Network First'', ''

Survival Survival or survivorship, the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things ...

'' ( Anglia Television), and '' Weekend World'' ( LWT) and their replacement with populist shows such as ''

Tonight Tonight may refer to: Television * ''Tonight'' (1957 TV programme), a 1957–1965 British current events television programme hosted by Cliff Michelmore that was broadcast on BBC * ''Tonight'' (1975 TV programme), a 1975–1979 British current ...

''. '' News at Ten'' was also axed in 1999, although it was reinstated in 2001. In December 2009, the final edition of ITV's long-running arts programme, '' The South Bank Show'' was broadcast. ITV's primetime schedules are dominated by its soap operas, such as the flagship ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' and ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...

''. At the start of the 21st century, ITV faced criticism for including a large amount of "reality TV" programmes in the schedule, such as '' Celebrity Fit Club'', '' Celebrity Wrestling'' and '' Celebrity Love Island''. In its defence, ITV does continue to show its major strengths in the fields of sports coverage and drama productions, and it continues to schedule national news in primetime.

Breakfast

Breakfast television programmes have been broadcast on ITV since 1 February 1983. It was initially run by an independent contractor -

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 franchise ...

, and later GMTV - until

GMTV GMTV (an initialism for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ''ITV Breakfast, ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited'', was the name of the national ITV (TV network), ITV breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the Uni ...

Limited became a wholly owned subsidiary of

in November 2009. Historically, ITV aired breakfast programmes from 6am until 9.25am but ITV extended this to 10am on weekdays on 6 January 2020. and now broadcasts two breakfast programmes on weekdays - '' Good Morning Britain'' and ''

''. ''Good Morning Britain'' keeps viewers up to date with all the latest news, sports, features and weather, whilst ''Lorraine'' predominantly focuses on celebrity interviews, recipes, fashion and showbiz. Until 27th August 2023, the service would show a simulcast of the CITV channel, but since that service has closed, a mix of repeated programming is shown whilst the CITV service that still exist broadcasts at breakfast time on ITV2 (which has the CITV block), ITV3, ITV4 and ITVBe from 7am show other repeats some of which provide a sign language service within the broadcast as part of its quota and licence requirements.

Daytime programming

ITV's strong daytime line-up helped by programmes such as '' This Morning'', '' Loose Women'', '' Dickinson's Real Deal'' and game shows '' Tipping Point'' and '' The Chase'' are very popular, achieving the highest audience share during the daytime slot.

Entertainment

In recent years the network has tried to use formats that ITV Studios own outright (whether they have originated in the UK with their Lifted Entertainment company or have come from production companies they own abroad), though some popular programme formats like '' The Masked Singer'' have still been acquired from other companies abroad. Currently ITV are behind the formats for ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series broadcast from 2006 to 2014 and then from 2018 to 2025. It was presented by Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern. Other previous hosts include Phillip Schofield and Christine Lampard. The series ...

'', ''

The Voice UK ''The Voice UK'' is a British singing reality competition television series. Created by John de Mol and Roel van Velzen, it premiered on BBC One on 24 March 2012. Based on the original Dutch singing competition '' The Voice of Holland'', and ...

'' (the format originally coming from their Dutch production company) and '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'', while forthcoming music game show ''Walk The Line'' has been co-developed by Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment and ITV.

National and international news

Since the network started,

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 ...

Limited (ITN) has held the contract to produce news for the ITV network, with 30-minute national news bulletins currently broadcast at 1:30 pm, and 10:00 pm, and an hour-long bulletin at 6.30pm. These bulletins were broadcast under the ITN brand from 1955 until 1999, when a new network identity reinforced the ITV brand, resulting in the new bulletins being broadcast under the ITV News brand. ITN has long been respected in the news industry as a source of reliable information and news, and as a result the service has won many awards for their programmes, the latest being in May 2011 when ''News at Ten'' was named best news programme by the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

and

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

Weather

The ITV National Weather forecast was first broadcast in 1989, using data supplied by the

Met Office The Met Office, until November 2000 officially the Meteorological Office, is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. It is an executive agency and trading fund of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and ...

, and was presented by a number of weather forecasters. The forecasts are sponsored with the sponsor's message appearing before and after the forecast. The forecasts are made immediately after the main national news bulletins. Prior to the creation of the national forecast, each regional company provided its own regional forecast. The regional forecasts today are incorporated into the main regional news bulletins, and in the summer months, includes a pollen count.

Late-night programming

Currently only new episodes of long-form news and current affairs programmes like ''Exposure'', '' Peston'' and '' On Assignment'' are being scheduled after ''News at Ten''. The channel broadcasts a partnership teleshopping service overnight, replacing gambling broadcasts: the time between the news and the shopping is usually kept for re-runs, with ITV repeating its primetime entertainment shows, films, or sports programming from ITV4. Also aired overnight are showbiz news bulletin ''FYI Extra'' and repeats, many of which have on-screen BSL signing for the deaf community. Replacing the information-based ''

ITV Nightscreen ''ITV Nightscreen'' was a scheduled programme on the ITV television network that was broadcast from 1998 to 2021. It consisted of a sequence of animated pages of information about ITV's upcoming programmes, features and special events, with ea ...

'' slot in 2021 was ''Unwind With ITV'', programming produced in association with the

Campaign Against Living Miserably Campaign Against Living Miserably, or CALM, is a registered charity based in England. CALM runs a free, confidential and anonymous helpline as well as a web chat service, offering help, advice and information to anyone who is struggling or in c ...

. This mindfulness programme shows calming shots of natural landscapes and relaxing animations, with versions of the footage also seen on ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4. On some occasions the schedule is varied, for example a live event overnight, such as the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

or the

Oscars The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence i ...

. This overnight programme service is very different to what used to be shown on the network in the years after 24-hour broadcasting was introduced - this included new entertainment, imports, sports and other information programmes, and, in some regions, a job finder service.

Regional programming

The regional ITV companies are required to provide local news as part of their franchise agreement together with local weather forecasts, with the main local bulletin at 6pm and regional bulletins located after each national news programme. In addition to this, traditionally ITV companies would provide other regional programming based on current affairs, entertainment or drama. However, apart from a monthly political programme, most non-news regional programming in the English regions was dropped by ITV plc in 2009, although it continues in Wales and the Channel Islands, as well as on STV and UTV and ITV Border in Scotland from 2014 to cover mainly Scottish politics whilst ITV Border in England broadcast network programming . On 14 January 2013, ITV plc regional news programmes titles were discontinued in favour of more generic branding under the ''

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...

'' title with the region listed as the subheading. However some "heritage" brand names were retained including ''Calendar'', ''Granada Reports'' and ''Lookaround''. On 28 June 2014, ''ITV News Cymru Wales'' returned to its historic name of ''Wales at Six''.

Current regional news programmes

#Anglia: '' ITV News Anglia'' (with East and West variations) #Border: '' ITV News Lookaround'' (although with a Scotland non-news opt out) #Central: '' ITV News Central'' (with East and West variations) #Channel: '' ITV News Channel TV'' #Granada: '' ITV News Granada Reports'' #London: '' ITV News London'' #Meridian: '' ITV News Meridian'' (with South variation and a Thames Valley opt-out and South East variation) #STV Central: ''

STV News ''STV News'' is a Scottish news division produced by STV. The news department produces two regional services covering STV's Channel 3 franchise areas of Northern and Central Scotland. STV News programmes are produced from studios in Glasgo ...

'' (non-ITV plc) (with East and West variations) #STV North: ''

'' (non-ITV plc) (with a Dundee opt-out) #Tyne Tees: '' ITV News Tyne Tees'' #UTV: ''

UTV Live ''UTV Live'' is a Northern Irish television news service broadcast and produced by UTV (TV channel), UTV. Overview The main edition of ''UTV Live'' airs from 18:00 to 18:30 every weeknight, covering the day's news, current affairs and sport f ...

'' #Wales: '' ITV News Wales at Six'' #West Country: '' ITV News West Country'' (with West and South West variations) #Yorkshire: '' ITV News Calendar'' (with East and West variations)

Former programmes

*ATV: '' ATV Midlands News'', ''

ATV Today ''ATV Today'' is a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ATV, serving the English Midlands. The programme aired from 5 October 1964 until 31 December 1981 – the final day of broadcasting from ATV before the c ...

'' *Anglia: '' About Anglia'', '' Anglia News'', '' Anglia News Tonight'', '' Anglia Tonight'' *Carlton: '' London Tonight'' *Central / Carlton (Central): '' Central News'', '' Central News at Six'', '' Central Tonight'' *Channel: '' Channel Report'' *Grampian: '' North Tonight'' *Granada: '' Northern Newscast'', '' Scene at Six Thirty'', ''

Granada Tonight ''ITV News Granada Reports'' is a British television regional news service, produced by ITV Granada and serving the North West of England. Overview ''Granada Reports'' is produced and broadcast from studios in the Orange Tower at MediaCityUK i ...

'' *HTV Wales / ITV Wales: '' Report Wales/Y Dydd'', ''

Wales Tonight ITV News'' Wales at Six'' is the evening news programme broadcast and produced by ITV Cymru Wales. Overview ''Wales at Six'' and all other ITV Wales news programming is broadcast live from studios at Assembly Square in Cardiff Bay, with a Nor ...

'', '' HTV News'', '' ITV Wales News'' *HTV West / ITV West: '' Report West'', '' HTV News'', '' The West Tonight'', '' ITV West News'', '' West Country Tonight'' *London Weekend Television / LWT: '' LWT News'', '' London Tonight'' *Meridian: '' Meridian Tonight'' *Scottish Television / STV: '' Scotland Today'' *Southern: '' Day by Day'' / '' Scene South East'' (Dover Transmitter) *Television South West / TSW: '' Today South West'', '' TSW Today'' *Television South / TVS: '' Coast to Coast'' *Thames: '' Thames News'' *Thames Valley (Non-Franchise): '' Thames Valley Tonight'' *Tyne Tees: '' Today At Six'', '' Northern Life'', '' Tyne Tees Today'' / '' Network North'' (Bilsdale Transmitter), '' North East Tonight'' *Ulster Television / UTV: '' Good Evening Ulster'', ''Six Tonight'' *Westward: '' Westward Diary'' *Westcountry / Carlton (Westcountry): '' Westcountry Live''

Sports

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

**ITV holds joint rights for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

and the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

with the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and has shown every World Cup live since 1966, on a shared basis with the BBC. This arrangement has been in place since the 1960s. ITV shares the rights for the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

with the BBC, having previously done so from 1955 to 1988. ITV also held the live rights to the competition from 1998 to 2001 and from 2008 until 2014. The 24/25 season also added the Carabao Cup to its portfolio broadcasting both semi finals with the first leg of one and the second leg of the other and the final sharing the broadcasting rights with Sky Sports. *

Horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

**ITV other flagship sporting coverage is as the exclusive free to air home of British horse racing. ITV's deal, which began on 1 January 2017, encompasses horse racing every Saturday afternoon on ITV or ITV4. *

Boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

**ITV Sport has broadcast many boxing matches over the years under the '' Big Fight Live'' banner and the sport was a regular fixture on ITV screens until the mid 1990s when ITV lost its two premier contracts to

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

In 2005, ITV returned to the ring when it reached an agreement to broadcast the main share of Frank Warren's Sports Network fights. This continued until 2008, and in 2010 ITV decided to stop covering the sport as ITV thought that boxing was no longer commercially viable. In the late 2010s ITV showed some boxing on a pay-per-view channel ITV Box Office. However ITV's boxing coverage is now restricted to Premier Boxing Champions which it shows on ITV4, having closed ITV Box Office at the start of 2020. *

Cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

**ITV has shown the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

in 2002. Initially, live coverage was only broadcast at the weekend but since the 2010 Tour de France,

has broadcast daily live coverage of every stage. ITV also broadcasts the Women's Tour and Tour of Britain live. *Darts **ITV4 covers six tournaments each year, including the UK Open,

The Masters The Masters Tournament (usually referred to as simply the Masters, or as the U.S. Masters outside North America) is one of the four men's major golf championships, men's major championships in Professional golf tours, professional golf. Schedul ...

and the

World Series of Darts The World Series of Darts is a series of darts tournaments organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. Beginning in 2013, the World Series has comprised between two and seven tournaments across the world, where a mixture of the top-ranked P ...

. ITV had previously extensively covered the sport and did so from 1972 until it decided to drop the sport in 1988. ITV resumed coverage of

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

in 2007 and since then it has gradually increased the number of events it shows. *

Motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

**ITV's flagship motorsport coverage is of the

British Touring Car Championship The British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), officially known as the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by ...

and has shown the event in full since 2002. ITV also broadcasts highlights of the

World Superbike Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette road racing series based on heavily modified production sports motorcycles. The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Champio ...

and the

British Superbike Championship The British Superbike Championship (BSB), known for sponsorship reasons as the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, is a road racing championship for superbike class machines in the United Kingdom and acknowledged as the premier domestic s ...

. ITV had previously covered

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

and did so for 12 seasons, from 1997 to 2008. * Rugby **ITV has broadcast every

Rugby World Cup The Men's Rugby World Cup is a rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams, the winners of which are recognised as the World championship, world champions of the sport. The tournament is administer ...

live since 1991. ITV also broadcasts the Women's Rugby World Cup and the Under 20 World Cup. Since 2016, ITV has shared coverage of the

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament conte ...

with the

. ITV broadcasts all England, France Ireland and Italy home matches live, while BBC shows all Scotland and Wales home matches live. ITV also shows 7 live matches from

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

including the final and a weekly highlights show on ITV4 on Sunday evenings, repeated later on ITV1. *

Snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

**Snooker is another sport which ITV dropped but has subsequently restarted showing. In the 1980s and early 1990s, ITV broadcast four tournaments per season. ITV dropped snooker after the 1993 British Open and the sport was mostly absent from ITV screens until the 2010s. In summer 2014 ITV and Barry Hearn announced they had signed a 5-year deal to cover 2 Snooker Tournaments per year, keeping coverage of the Champion of Champions and a new tournament called the World Grand Prix. ITV now shows four tournaments each year, including the Champion of Champions and the World Grand Prix.

Children's programming

The network broadcasts children's programming under the CITV (Children's ITV) strand. Children's programming was originally provided during weekday afternoons and weekend mornings, however following the launch of the

channel in 2006, all children's programming, with the exception of the weekend ITV Breakfast slot, were relocated from the ITV line-up to the CITV channel in 2007, a move which was challenged by Ofcom in April 2007. In 2023, ITV announced that CITV would cease broadcasting as a linear channel, and would be replaced by ITVX Kids, a

streaming media Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a Computer network, network for playback using a Media player (disambiguation), media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of Network packet, packets from a Server (computing), ...

service which launched in July 2023. The CITV channel closed on 1 September 2023, with a dedicated CITV programming block now broadcasting on ITV2 every morning, from 2 September 2023.

Schools programming

Schools programming on the network began in 1957 in some regions and expanded as more regions began broadcasting. It was a contractual obligation for some ITV companies to broadcast schools programming, and this was initially broadcast as part of the normal scheduling. The programmes were moved into a segment for broadcast during the day in the 1960s, under the banner ''Independent Television for Schools and Colleges'' and from 1987 were broadcast on

in the ''ITV Schools on Channel 4'' segment. In 1993, this segment became ''Channel 4 Schools'' and later in 2000 ''4Learning''. These strands of programming consisted of schools programming from all the ITV companies or from independent sources. The schools strand itself is now defunct, with no particular branding segment used.

Acquired programming

ITV was originally very reliant on broadcasting American series, with westerns such as ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central charact ...

'' and '' Rawhide'' in particular being considerable successes for the network during its earlier years. Action drama '' The Fugitive'' and sci-fi anthology ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology series, anthology television series created by Rod Serling in which characters find themselves dealing with often disturbing or unusual events, an experience described ...

'' were also broadcast by various regions in the early 1960s, with ''

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

'' and ''

I Dream of Jeannie ''I Dream of Jeannie'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy sitcom television series created by Sidney Sheldon and starring Barbara Eden as a beautiful but guileless 2,000-year-old Jinn, genie and Larry Hagman as an astronaut with whom s ...

'' shown later on in the decade. Due to the varying schedules of many ITV regions, acquired content was not broadcast by some franchises. By the 1970s, most ITV regions were airing the likes of '' Hawaii Five-O'', ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marsha ...

'', and ''

The Brady Bunch ''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired five seasons from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family of six children, with three boys and three gir ...

''. 1972 also saw the beginning of ITV's daytime programmes at lunchtime, a slot that would become associated with the many Australian soap operas that were broadcast in the newly expanded schedule, including '' The Sullivans'' and '' The Young Doctors''. By the 1980s, more were added to the schedule, such as '' Sons and Daughters'' and '' A Country Practice''. In primetime by the 1980s, ITV was broadcasting the likes of '' Hill Street Blues'' (which ITV began showing just one week after its debut on NBC in the United States) and ''

L.A. Law ''L.A. Law'' is an American legal drama television series created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher for NBC. It ran for eight seasons and List of L.A. Law episodes, 172 episodes from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. The series cente ...

''. It was also early in the decade when Australian evening soap opera '' Prisoner: Cell Block H'' was bought by ITV, and was broadcast after ''News at Ten''. By 1982, Channel 4 had launched, and despite originally being related to ITV, it competed against its parent network to screen popular American programmes such as ''

St. Elsewhere ''St. Elsewhere'' is an American medical drama television series created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982, to May 25, 1988. The series stars Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd, and William Daniels as ...

'' and ''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American television sitcom, created by Glen and Les Charles, Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, that aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/C ...

'', although the latter did receive a single ITV broadcast as part of a night showcasing Channel 4 programmes. Both ''Hill Street Blues'' and ''L.A. Law'' had moved from ITV to Channel 4 by the end of their runs. A heavy emphasis on action, fantasy and science fiction series was also placed by ITV during the 1980s, with ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American Action television, action television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983, to March 8, 1987, about a fictional team of former United States Army Special Forces who work as mercenaries while on the run from ...

'', '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'', and ''

Airwolf ''Airwolf'' is an American action military drama television series. It centers on a high-technology attack helicopter, code-named '' Airwolf'', and its crew. They undertake various exotic missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War the ...

'' being broadcast by the network, as well as the likes of ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American Drama (film and television), drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz ...

'' and ''

SeaQuest DSV ''SeaQuest DSV'' (stylized as ''seaQuest DSV'' and also promoted as simply ''seaQuest'') is an American science fiction television series created by Rockne S. O'Bannon for NBC. It aired between 1993 and 1996. In its final season, it was re ...

'' by the 1990s. ITV also picked up a glut of older-skewing CBS dramas through that period, including ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

'' and '' Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman''. In February 1989, in tandem with the network launching its national weather forecast, and as part of a new early evening lineup which involved the shortening of Children's ITV, Australian soap ''

Home and Away ''Home and Away'' (''H&A'') is an Australian television soap opera. It was created by Alan Bateman and commenced broadcast on the Seven Network on 17 January 1988. Bateman came up with the concept of the show during a trip to Kangaroo Point, N ...

'' was acquired by ITV, particularly to compete with the success of rival Australian soap opera ''

Neighbours ''Neighbours'' is an Australian television soap opera that has aired since 18 March 1985. It was created by television executive Reg Watson. The Seven Network commissioned the show following the success of Watson's earlier soap '' Sons and ...

'' on BBC One. ITV also broadcast ''

Beverly Hills, 90210 ''Beverly Hills, 90210'' (often referred to as ''90210'') is an American teen drama television series created by Darren Star and produced by Aaron Spelling via his production company Spelling Television. The series ran for 10 seasons on Fo ...

'' beginning in early 1991, in the same Saturday teatime slot that ''Baywatch'' had occupied, although some episodes were broadcast in later time slots. It moved to

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

beginning with the third season. ITV reshuffled its daytime schedules in the Autumn of 1993, and just a few months prior, Central began broadcasting the New Zealand soap opera ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand Prime time, prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital. The show was first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992 and is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, be ...

''. The revamp saw more ITV companies pick it up, with

the only region to reject the series outright. Central also broadcast the Australian soap opera '' Echo Point'' around the same time, although no other franchises picked it up. ITV also aired a considerable amount of syndicated unscripted US programmes in daytime during the 90s, such as ''

Judge Judy ''Judge Judy'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated court ...

'' and ''

The Jerry Springer Show ''Jerry Springer'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Jerry Springer. The show ran for twenty-seven seasons from September 30, 1991, to July 26, 2018, in which it broadcast 3,891 episodes. It was taped at the NB ...

''. By 1996, ITV had been quiet with US series in primetime, particularly as Channel 4 and Sky One increased the competition for securing the most popular US dramas and sitcoms. However, that summer, ITV debuted the primetime soap ''

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

'', in a 9pm Friday slot. It was a considerable success for ITV's standards, and it became the highest rated new American series of that year. Despite this success, ITV moved the show for its second season, no longer networking the series and moving to late night slots. ITV tried again at broadcasting an American drama series in September 1997, with the ABC legal drama ''

The Practice ''The Practice'' is an American legal drama television series created by David E. Kelley centering on partners and associates at a Boston law firm. The show ran for eight seasons on ABC, from March 4, 1997, to May 16, 2004. It won an Emmy i ...

'', which ran in the same slot that ''Savannah'' had the year prior. It saw nowhere near the same levels of success, and was dropped by the network after just three episodes. It later resurfaced in late night before moving to BBC One in 2000. ITV attempted launching a Monday night block for American sitcoms in the post-''News at Ten'' slot in the autumn of 1998, with '' Veronica's Closet'' (which ITV beat Channel 4 for the rights to) followed by '' Dharma & Greg''. After this failed to catch much steam, ITV all but pulled out from showing American programmes on the main network by the end of the decade, and it would prove to be the final time ITV aired US comedy on the main network. ITV made attempts during the mid 2000s to poach proven popular US shows such as the mystery comedy-drama ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

'' and medical drama ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

'' from Channel 4 and Five, respectively, but both shows ended up remaining on their incumbent rights holders. ITV were reportedly also interested in 2004 about acquiring the ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

'' spin-off ''

Joey Joey may refer to: People *Joey (name) Animals * Joey (marsupial), an infant marsupial * Joey, a blue-fronted Amazon parrot who was one of the Blue Peter pets Film and television * ''Joey'' (1977 film), an American film directed by Horace ...

'' but later denied such interest, and in 2007 were close to picking up ''Neighbours'' after the BBC declined to continue broadcasting it, although Five eventually won the rights to both programmes. ITV returned to US programming in 2006, acquiring '' Six Degrees''. Initially it had been planned to air in a primetime slot in 2007, but ended up being shown in late nights in 2008. This could be due to the show being cancelled after its first season by original network ABC due to low ratings, despite high expectations and its slot following top-10 hit ''

Grey's Anatomy ''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...

''. It was also around this time that ''

Supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

'' and ''

Dexter Dexter may refer to: People * Dexter (given name) * Dexter (surname) * Dexter (singer), Brazilian rapper Marcos Fernandes de Omena (born 1973) * Famous Dex, also known as Dexter, American rapper Dexter Tiewon Gore Jr. (born 1993) Places United ...

'', which ITV2 & ITV4 aired respectively, were given late night repeats on ITV1. The following year, ITV acquired another US programme, fellow ABC series '' Pushing Daisies''. It debuted in 2008 in a Saturday evening slot and initially did well garnering 5.7 million viewers, although there were fan complaints when ITV chose to skip broadcasting the second episode, blaming football coverage, eventually releasing it on their website. The last attempt so far by ITV to broadcast acquired output in primetime was the TV adaption of ''

Lethal Weapon ''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American action film directed by Richard Donner and written by Shane Black. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darlene Love, and Mitchell Ryan. In ''Lethal Weapon'', a pai ...

'' in 2017, where it remained for all three seasons. As of 2024, most US acquired programming that ITV owns the UK rights to, such as ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

'', ''

Bob's Burgers ''Bob's Burgers'' is an American animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is centered on the Belcher family—parents Bob Belcher, Bob and Linda Belcher, Linda and their three children, Tina Belcher, Tina, G ...

'', '' The O.C.'', ''

Dawson's Creek ''Dawson's Creek'' is an American teen drama television series about the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, beginning in high school and continuing into college. It aired from January 20, 19 ...

'', ''

Gilmore Girls ''Gilmore Girls'' is an American comedy drama television series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The show debuted October 5, 2000, on The WB and became a flagship series for the network. The show ran fo ...

'' and '' Superstore'' air on

, as opposed to the main ITV network.

Notable programming

Daytime programming

* '' Good Morning Britain'' * ''

'' * '' This Morning'' * '' Loose Women'' * '' ITV Lunchtime News'' * '' Dickinson's Real Deal'' * '' Tenable'' * '' Lingo'' * '' Riddiculous'' * '' Tipping Point'' * '' Deal or No Deal'' * ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...

'' * '' The Chase''

Primetime programming

* '' ITV Evening News'' * '' ITV News at Ten'' * ''

'' * ''

'' * '' Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' * ''

'' * ''

Vera Vera may refer to: Names *Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) **Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarr ...

'' * '' The Bay'' * '' My Mum, Your Dad'' * '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!'' * '' Big Brother'' * ''

Celebrity Big Brother ''Celebrity Big Brother'' or ''Big Brother VIP'' is an adaptation of the '' Big Brother'' reality television series. It is the celebrity version of its parent franchise ''Big Brother'', the celebrity version airs in several countries, however, t ...

'' * '' The Martin Lewis Money Show'' * '' Beat the Chasers'' * '' On Assignment'' * '' Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs'' * '' Kate Garraway's Life Stories'' * ''

ITV Sport ITV Sport is the Broadcasting of sports events, sports department of ITV plc, which produces and presents sports programming for the ITV (TV network), ITV network and ITVX. The branding was originally introduced in 1985 as an umbrella title fo ...

'' * '' Peston''

Weekend programming

* '' The 1% Club'' * '' Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway'' * '' Britain's Got Talent'' * ''

Catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

'' * '' The Chase: Celebrity Special'' * ''

'' * '' Family Fortunes'' * '' ITV Weekend News'' * '' ITV Racing'' * '' James Martin's Saturday Morning'' * ''John and Lisa's Weekend Kitchen'' * '' The John Bishop Show'' * '' The Jonathan Ross Show'' * '' Limitless Win'' * '' Love Your Garden'' * '' The Masked Singer'' * ''

Password A password, sometimes called a passcode, is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of password-protected services t ...

'' * '' Soccer Aid'' * '' Tipping Point: Lucky Stars'' * ''

'' * '' The Voice Kids'' * '' Wheel of Fortune''

Night-time programming

* ''

AEW Dynamite ''AEW Dynamite'', also known as ''Wednesday Night Dynamite'' or simply ''Dynamite'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American Professional wrestling promotion, promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It air ...

'' * '' AEW Rampage'' * ''

'' * '' Shop Direct'' * '' Unwind with ITV''

Teletext provider

The Public Teletext Licence allows the holder to broadcast a text-based information service around the clock on Channel 3 (as well as

and

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

) frequencies. Teletext on ITV was provided by

ORACLE An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

from 1974 until 1993 and from 1993 to 2010 by Teletext Ltd., whose news, sport and TV listings pages rivalled the BBC's offering, Ceefax on terrestrial and

BBC Red Button BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to cl ...

on digital. Teletext Ltd. also provided digital teletext for the Channel 3 services, as well as the text output for both

and

under the same licence and Channel 5. However, the licence was revoked by Ofcom on 29 January 2010 for failing to provide news and local non-news information on ITV and there is currently no teletext licence holder for ITV.

Availability outside the UK

ITV (as UTV) is widely available in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, where it is received directly in areas bordering

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, or in coastal areas from

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

(as

ITV Cymru Wales ITV Cymru Wales is the ITV franchise for Wales. The new separate licence began on 1 January 2014, replacing the long-serving dual franchise region ITV Wales & West serving Wales and the West of England, which had previously used the branding " ...

). Until 2015, it was also carried on

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

, when it was replaced by UTV Ireland, which was itself replaced by be3, now

Virgin Media Three Virgin Media Three, also called Virgin Three, is an Irish free-to-air television channel owned by Virgin Media Television. The channel was first launched by Northern Irish broadcaster UTV Media on 1 January 2015 as UTV Ireland; it primari ...

. ITV programming is also available to Irish viewers on Virgin Media One (including

soap operas A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originated from radio dramas original ...

'' and ''

''). ITV is also available on cable and

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV), also called TV over broadband, is the service delivery of television over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. Usually sold and run by a Telephone company, telecom provider, it consists of broadcast live telev ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

. Since 27 March 2013, it has been offered by the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) to members of HM Forces and their families around the world, replacing the BFBS3 TV channel, which already carried a selection of ITV programmes.

Criticism

Since the launch of ITV, there have been concerns from politicians and the press that ITV faced a conflict concerning programme audiences and advertisers. As advertisers are reluctant to buy advertising space around low viewing programmes, there is a pressure on ITV to broadcast more popular programmes in peak times. This became more profound in the early 21st century, following a relaxation in regulation and significantly more competition in the advertising market following the huge increase in commercial channels. In the 2000s, programmes from the reality television genre including the celebrity and talent show subgenres became a dominant presence on the channel. This led to accusations of ITV 'dumbing down' their programmes and appealing to the '

lowest common denominator In mathematics, the lowest common denominator or least common denominator (abbreviated LCD) is the lowest common multiple of the denominators of a set of fractions. It simplifies adding, subtracting, and comparing fractions. Description The l ...

', accusations that are at odds with the network's status as a public service broadcaster. ITV was/is also heavily criticized for scaling back its regional programmes, including regional news.

Awards and nominations

Visual identity

There has never been an identity for ITV as a whole that was adopted uniformly by all broadcasters within the ITV network. Before 1989, each regional company used its own name for identification and the name "ITV" was rarely seen on screen, except for some sub-brands such as ITV Schools or

. In September 1989, a national ITV

corporate identity A corporate identity or corporate image is the manner in which a corporation, firm or business enterprise presents itself to the public. The corporate identity is typically visualized by branding and with the use of trademarks, but it can also i ...

was established, which saw regional brands combined with the national ITV brand, although the balance between regional and national brands varied from company to company, and some companies never used the ITV brand at all. It was not until October 2002 that national ITV-branded continuity was adopted across all the regions in England and Wales (see

), although regional continuity before local programmes continued until November 2006.

Notes

References

External links

ITV – ''itv.com''

STV – ''stv.tv''

Parent companies

ITV plc

STV Group plc
{{Authority control ITV (TV network) Television networks in the United Kingdom

History

Organisation (other networks)

ITV plc

STV Group

Current licensees

Programming

Breakfast

Daytime programming

Entertainment

National and international news

Weather

Late-night programming

Regional programming

Current regional news programmes

Former programmes

Sports

Children's programming

Schools programming

Acquired programming

Notable programming

Daytime programming

Primetime programming

Weekend programming

Night-time programming

Teletext provider

Availability outside the UK

Criticism

Awards and nominations

Visual identity

See also

Notes

References

External links

Parent companies