ITV Cymru Wales is the ITV franchise for

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 ...

. The new separate licence began on 1 January 2014, replacing the long-serving dual franchise region

ITV Wales & West ITV Wales and West, previously known as Harlech Television (HTV), was an ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee in the United Kingdom until 31 December 2013, licensed to broadcast by the regulator Ofcom. There is no channel, past or present, named " ...

serving Wales and the West of England, which had previously used the branding "ITV Wales" within the Wales subregion.

Licence

The licence continues to be held by ITV Broadcasting Ltd, who hold all Channel 3 licences in England and Wales. As of January 2023, the former HTV West company is still legally named ITV Wales and West Ltd. The company is, along with most other regional companies, owned by ITV plc, though listed at

Companies House Companies House is the executive agency of the British Government that maintains the Company register, register of companies, employs the company registrars and is responsible for Incorporation (business), incorporating all forms of Company, co ...

as a "

dormant company A dormant company is a company that carries out no business activities in the given period of time. United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, a dormant company is a company whose transactions have been limited to payment for shares taken by subscr ...

".ITV Cymru Wales news shake-up under new Ofcom licence
Huw Thomas,

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

, 23 July 2013

History

The broadcasting licence was created following the split of

. It is hoped that the separate licence will benefit local viewers. In May 2012, Ofcom raised the possibility of a stand-alone licence for Wales. On 25 August 2015, ITV Cymru Wales began broadcasting in HD (prior to this HD viewers in Wales received ITV Central HD), including the company's news service and non-news programming including current affairs and documentaries.

Programming

ITV Cymru Wales produces around six hours a week of national news, current affairs and features programming in English. Its flagship programme ''

Wales at Six 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 Nort ...

'' broadcasts each weeknight at 6pm with shorter ''ITV News Cymru Wales'' bulletins throughout the day and during the weekend. The news service is supplemented by regular current affairs programmes including ''Newsweek Wales'' on Sunday lunchtimes, the long-running investigative series ''

Wales This Week ''Wales This Week'' is a long-running Welsh current affairs television programme produced by ITV Cymru Wales (formerly HTV Wales). The programme deals with a wide range of topics relating to the Welsh public, and is usually told through the eye ...

'' and the political review ''Sharp End'' on Monday nights. Feature series are also broadcast throughout the year, including rural affairs series ''Coast and Country'', political interview strand ''Face to Face'' and the arts and entertainment show ''Backstage''. ITV Cymru Wales also produces

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

output for

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 ...

in the fields of current affairs, features, drama and entertainment. Two of its flagship titles figure among S4C's longest-running and most popular programmes, the rural documentary series and the investigative current affairs programmes and . ITV Cymru Wales are also known for a number of half hour documentaries, which debut in Wales before getting a slot on the main ITV network at a time which usually provides a convenient opt-out slot for viewers in Scotland watching on ITV Border or on STV. Many of the documentaries are of a format which tracks year in the life of a coastal resort or area, with ''The Village'' documenting Portmeirion, ''The Strait'' showing life around the Menai Strait and ''The Harbour'' showing a year in Tenby. ITV Cymru Wales' latest coastal six-part series is ''The Pier'', with Llandudno Pier having been filmed during the summer of 2021. The series started on ITV Cymru Wales on 4 October 2021, with one episode from the series broadcast so far on ITV in England on 13 March 2022. In addition to these shows, ''The Mountain'' and ''Return to the Mountain'' were filmed on Mount Snowdon, while Sean Fletcher has presented a couple of walking documentaries for ITV Cymru Wales with ''Wonders of the Border'' taking Flecher along the

Offa's Dyke Offa's Dyke () is a large linear Earthworks (Archaeology), earthwork that roughly follows the England–Wales border, border between England and Wales. The structure is named after Offa of Mercia, Offa, the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon king of Mer ...

Path and ''Wonders of the Coast Path'' showing him along the 870-mile long Wales Coast Path. In addition to these programmes, which have also been broadcast by ITV in England, Fletcher is currently a presenter on ''Coast & Country'' alongside Ruth Dodsworth, with the programme transmitted in Wales since 2013.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:ITV Cymru Wales 2014 establishments in Wales Companies based in Cardiff Economy of Cardiff Cymru Wales Television channels and stations established in 2014 Television channels in Wales