59-693: Heart Dunstable (formerly 97.6 Chiltern FM ) was an Independent Local Radio station based in Chiltern Road in Dunstable , Bedfordshire . Together with sister stations 96.9 Chiltern FM , Northants 96 and Horizon Radio , the station formed the Chiltern Radio Network , which became the Chiltern Radio Group. The Chiltern Radio Group underwent a number of ownership changes as Britain's radio ownership rules were liberalised, first becoming part of
118-574: A Post Office licence. Manx Radio is funded by a mixture of commercial advertising and a yearly £860,000 Manx Government subvention. ITV (TV channel) ITV1 (formerly known as ITV ) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc . It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for
177-570: A deal to take over Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television in 1997, giving the broadcaster access to both Yorkshire and North East franchises. There was no further movement in the take-over of franchises until 2000, when Border Television and all of its radio assets were sold to Capital Radio Group , who consequently sold the television broadcasting arm to Granada Media Group. Granada then went on to purchase all of UNM's television interests (including its ITV franchises), which brought Meridian, Anglia, and HTV into its power, but due to regulation, Granada
236-621: A group of independent regional broadcasters sharing programmes. The unification was consolidated in 2004 when Granada plc acquired Carlton Communications to form ITV plc . By then, the two companies had acquired all the regional Channel 3 companies in England and Wales. ITV plc later acquired Channel Television in the Channel Islands and UTV in Northern Ireland. ITV1 is today the biggest and most popular commercial television channel in
295-448: A new channel branding called ITV Day , used to identify ITV1 between 9:25am and 6:00pm. ITV Day was treated as a separate entity to ITV1 and featured its own presentation set focusing using the colours of red, orange and yellow and featured scenes of typical "daytime" activities. Promotions were used in a similar format to ITV1, and all daytime programmes advertised within ITV1 hours branded with
354-527: A new common name, ITV1, was launched on 11 August 2001. On 28 October 2002, regional continuity and idents were dropped in the English regions while the service in Wales was rebranded ITV1 Wales. At this time all English regional continuity announcers were replaced with a single team of national continuity announcers – initially, there were six but the number was later reduced to just four. In 2005, ITV plc introduced
413-663: A possible re-structure of the ITV regional layout, stating the existence of smaller regional services "no longer makes sense" relative to the regional audience they serve. The plan was confirmed in September 2007, reducing the number of regional news programmes from 17 to just 9, saving around £35 to £40 million each year, and affecting every ITV plc regional company with the exception of ITV London, ITV Wales, and ITV Granada. These changes were implemented in early 2009. All sub-regional news programmes ceased; ITV Border 's Lookaround programme
472-416: A tweaked version with the new UTV logo. On 1 January 2019, ITV refreshed its on-air presentation again. The logo and trailers were modified to use a different colour scheme, but the main change was to the idents. In a project known as ITV Creates , a new set of idents were used weekly. They were built around interpretations of the ITV logo commissioned from British visual artists. The first artist featured
531-585: A week took place, although the first experimental part-time split service had taken place two years earlier when Radio Forth created Festival City Radio for the duration of the Edinburgh Festival . The first station to permanently split their frequencies was Guildford's County Sound who rebranded the FM output as Premier Radio and turned the AM output into a new golden oldies station, County Sound Gold in 1988. By 1988,
590-589: A weekday regional programme and localised news, weather and peak-time travel information. The same name is used for Independent Local Radio in Ireland . Until the early 1970s, the BBC had a legal monopoly on radio broadcasting in the UK. Despite competition from the commercial Radio Luxembourg and, for a period in the mid-1960s, the off-shore " pirate " broadcasters, it had remained the policy of both major political parties that radio
649-551: A year – and to reduce the criteria for a "viable service area" with the introduction of Small Scale Local Licences (SALLIES) for villages, special interest groups and small communities. By this time the medium wave band had become unpopular with radio groups and the majority of new stations were awarded an FM licence only, even when an AM licence was jointly available. In 1994 the Radio Authority introduced regional stations (Independent Regional Radio, again usually grouped under
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#1732852593615708-626: Is not available in the main channels (e.g. channel 203 on Sky, channel 34 on Freeview, channel 112 on Freesat), and may be in the regional variation channels instead (e.g. channel 973 on Sky). In the English regions (plus Border Scotland, Channel Islands and Isle of Man), the channel was known from 2006 until 2013 as ITV1, from 2013 until 2022 as ITV, and from 15 November 2022, ITV1 at all times. Regional references no longer appear before any programming at all in these areas. ITV network areas without full ITV1 channel branding and continuity: In June 2007, ITV plc executive chairman Michael Grade hinted at
767-571: Is registered to broadcast within the European Union/EEA through ALIA in Luxembourg. Since 27 March 2013, ITV1 London has been offered by 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. ITV was not consistently promoted as a brand name until 1989 although
826-687: Is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990 , and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003 , most commercial stations are now neither independent (although they remain independent from the BBC ) nor local with all of the frequencies now used by Bauer or Global , and almost all of them are now relays of one of either company's national brands, with all remaining locality reduced to
885-421: Is usually spoken by the continuity announcer prior to local programmes. After ITV1's unification in 2002, the two London franchises, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television were merged into a single entity, ITV London , while the Wales and West franchise lost its official identity, and instead was substituted with ITV1 Wales and ITV1 West on-air, with no reference linking the two together (the licence
944-659: The Freeview HD service. The channel has its roots in ITV HD, which began as a trial service in 2006 on a low-power digital terrestrial ( DVB-T ) channel from London's Crystal Palace transmitting station , and on Telewest TV Drive cable service. The channel was revived on 7 June 2008, in time for the UEFA Euro 2008 football tournament, this time exclusively available on the Freesat digital satellite service. With its debut on Freeview HD,
1003-581: The Midlands . Days afterwards, Granada plc , owner of Granada Television of the North West , purchased London Weekend Television (LWT). Meridian's owner, Mills and Allen International, then went on to purchase Anglia Television in the same year, before merging to become United News and Media (UNM) in 1995. UNM then went on to purchase Wales and West broadcaster, HTV in 1996, while Carlton purchased Westcountry Television later that year. Granada then agreed
1062-399: The 2000s, although the switch to a single unified service was gradual. ITV1 became the generic on-screen brand name used by the twelve franchises of the ITV network in the United Kingdom. The ITV1 brand was introduced on 11 August 2001 by the franchisees owned by Carlton and Granada, initially used alongside the local regional name, such as "ITV1 Anglia" and "ITV1 Meridian". However, it became
1121-518: The Anglia region is divided into West and East. This arrangement was suspended in February 2009, when ITV implemented plans to save the company £40m a year on the amount it spent making local news, but was reinstated (with slightly fewer sub-regions) on 16 September 2013. Since 27 October 2002, on all ITV plc-owned franchises, regional programming has been preceded or plugged by an oral regional announcement, in
1180-557: The Borders, for example, saw a return to a Border-only news service, with all stories covered solely on Southern Scotland and Cumbria, similar to the pre-Tyne Tees merger in February 2009. Meanwhile, in the Westcountry, viewers in Devon and Cornwall also saw a return to a more localised service. A high-definition simulcast of ITV1, ITV1 HD , debuted on 7 June 2008, with the technical launch of
1239-627: The GWR Group's Mix Network in September 1995, during which time networked programming from the group's headquarters in Bristol was introduced to off-peak hours (after 7pm). When GWR merged with Capital Radio in May 2005 to form GCap Media, the combined group's local FM network, including Chiltern, was renamed the One Network for advertising clients, though the station was still called Chiltern on air (even returning to
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#17328525936151298-601: The IBA's ILR plans as it was felt that they were not viable. This did not prevent Radio West in Bristol getting into financial trouble and having to merge with Wiltshire Radio on 1 October 1985; nor did it prevent Centre Radio going into receivership on 6 October 1983. In 1986 the Home Office sanctioned in principle the idea that different services could be broadcast on each station's FM and AM frequency and six experiments of split programming on Independent Local Radio of up to ten hours
1357-477: The IBA's time as the regulator and did not receive a commercial station until after its successor, The Radio Authority, came into being in 1991. In the late 1980s, the expansion of ILR continued at a similar rate. Under the Broadcasting Acts, the IBA had a duty to ensure that any area it licensed for radio could support a station with the available advertising revenue. Therefore, many areas were not included in
1416-462: The ITV Association set out a basic package with a new "ITV" logo, which included idents, promotions and general on and off air design, and an edit of this package was designed for each franchise holder within the ITV network. The dual branded idents included a large "ITV" logo, in which the "V" contained part of the franchise logo, and written below the logo in a grey capitalised font was the name of
1475-494: The ITV Day logo. A similar "UTV Day" branding was adopted in Northern Ireland. In January 2006, the channel adopted a new on-air look, designed mainly to improve cross-channel promotion across ITV's multichannel presence. The new logo brought ITV1, ITV2, and ITV3 in line with ITV4's and had been observed on various billboard ads in the UK when the new identity was first used on-screen on 16 January 2006. The overhaul also put an end to
1534-624: The UTV name was retained, but on 2 April 2020 the station began using ITV's national continuity-at first as an emergency measure due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom , then announced as a permanent transition on 26 November 2020. The ITV1 channel consists of thirteen regional franchises in England, Wales and Northern Ireland which each broadcast regional news and other local programming to its area. Many franchise areas in England have sub-regions providing separate regional news bulletins. For example,
1593-478: The United Kingdom. ITV1, and its predecessor regional channels, have contended with BBC One for the status of the UK's most watched television channel since the 1950s. However, in line with the other former analogue channels, ITV1's audience share has fallen as a result of availability of multi-channel television, and more recently streaming services, in the UK. Following the creation of the Television Act 1954 ,
1652-634: The United Kingdom. This service would be planned and regulated in a similar manner to the existing ITV service and would compete with the recently developed BBC Local Radio services (rather than the four national BBC services). The Sound Broadcasting Act received royal assent on 12 July 1972 and the Independent Television Authority (ITA) accordingly changed its name to the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) that same day. The IBA immediately began to plan
1711-706: The banner "ILR" by most commentators) and began to license the commercial Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) multiplexes in October 1998. The Radio Authority was replaced by the Office of Communications ( Ofcom ) in 2004, which also replaced the ITC, the Broadcasting Standards Commission, the Radio Communications Agency and the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel). Ofcom has stated that they plan to continue
1770-542: The broadcasting field (mainly due to the Annan Report ), no further contracts were awarded until 1980, when a second tranche of contracts were awarded. All stations were awarded an AM and an FM frequency, on which they broadcast the same service. In July 1981, the Home Secretary approved proposals for the creation of Independent Local Radio services in 25 more areas. However some of these areas were not licensed during
1829-448: The central and northern areas of Scotland where STV provides the service. ITV1 as a consistent national channel (with dedicated slots for regional news and other regional programmes) evolved out of the old ITV network – a federation of separately owned regional companies which had significantly different local schedules and branding. During the 1990s, the differences between the schedules in each region gradually reduced – partly through
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1888-643: The channel was re-branded as ITV1 HD in December 2009. The time-shift channel ITV1 +1 launched on all TV platforms, including Freeview in 2011. ITV channels are available on cable and IPTV in Switzerland and Liechtenstein . In the Republic of Ireland, ITV (as UTV ) was widely available; however, UTV Ireland was launched in 2015 and replaced UTV in the Republic of Ireland. UTV has since ceased broadcasting in Ireland. ITV
1947-523: The consolidation of ownership and partly through the standardisation in the volume and scheduling of regional programmes. In 2002, a major change of appearance occurred when all ITV regions in England and Wales adopted national continuity. Regional logos vanished and regional names were mentioned only before regional programmes. Effectively this left ITV1 in England and Wales looking like a national channel with slots for regional opt-outs – similar to channels like BBC One and France 's France 3 – rather than
2006-719: The development of Independent Local Radio, with an emphasis on digital broadcasting, and to "ensure the character" of local stations, following the mergers and loss of local identities that followed the 1990 Act. In 2005, there were 217 licensed analogue ILR and IRR services in England; 16 in Wales; 34 in Scotland; eight in Northern Ireland; and two in the Channel Islands . These are licences rather than franchises . Some licences are grouped nationally, regionally or by format to provide one service; other licences cover two or more services. There were three national analogue services. There
2065-408: The early years, the network was sometimes referred to as the "ITA network", and the companies as "ITA contractors" or "ITA stations". The companies were principally identified on air using by their own names though some did make reference to ITV too. There were also specific uses of the ITV name – for instance, ITV Schools , ITV Sport , and Children's ITV were used for programming strands. In 1989,
2124-517: The establishment of a commercial television service in the UK began. The Independent Television service, later abbreviated to " ITV ", was made up of distinct regions, with each region run by different franchisee companies. The three largest regions, London, the Midlands, and the North of England, were initially sub-divided into weekday and weekend services, with a different company running each. The service
2183-524: The final stations ending waveband simulcasting by the mid-1990s. Incremental Radio was a new type of radio licence given out by the IBA between 1989 and 1990. These were additional radio services introduced into areas already served by an Independent Local Radio station and most had to offer output not already available on ILR, such as specialist music, programmes for a specific section of the community or for smaller areas than ILR stations cover. 22 stations went on air, most of which were eventually acquired by
2242-405: The format ITV1 regional brand ; e.g. ITV1 Granada. In English regions, up until 13 November 2006, regional names were also superimposed (post-production) on these idents below the ITV1 logo, but this practice has since ceased. ITV Wales remains unaffected, and still continues to use dual-branding across all of its on-screen presentation. Despite the lack of regional names on screen, the regional name
2301-451: The former ITV Day brand, which was axed in favour of a full-time ITV1 identity. On 14 January 2013, ITV unveiled a huge rebranding, including a new corporate logo inspired by handwriting, and the renaming of the flagship channel back from ITV1 to just ITV. Its colour schemes vary on-air to complement its surroundings; a practice referred to internally as "colour picking". Following the buyout in 2016, UTV also rebranded to these idents, using
2360-438: The government had decided that the practice of splitting was beneficial and a quick way to increase choice for listeners. The IBA then began encouraging ILR stations to split their services and most soon complied. The usual format was to have a "gold" (oldies) service on AM and pop music on FM, although Radio City tried "City Talk" on AM before abandoning the format. By the start of the 1990s, most stations had done 'the splits' with
2419-582: The heritage branding Chiltern Radio for a time). GCap was itself bought out by Global Radio in 2008, with the new owners planning to operate many of their new acquisitions under Global's existing Heart and Galaxy brands. As a result, in January 2009, Chiltern Radio was rebranded by its owners Global Radio as Heart, this move ended, after 28 years, the use of the Chiltern Radio brand name. On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced plans to close Heart Dunstable and merge
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2478-504: The large radio groups and absorbed into their networks. As of 2024 only a few remain independently owned and operated. The regulatory model these stations were under was a precursor to commercial radio stations licensed by the incoming Radio Authority. The Broadcasting Act 1990 provided for the abolition of the IBA and its replacement by the Independent Television Commission . The IBA continued to regulate radio under
2537-506: The name in January 2006, bringing it to the Channel Islands . As national continuity is often used on Channel Television, ITV1 national branding had been seen on the station for several years previously. The licensees that use the ITV1 brand are: ITV Anglia , ITV Border , ITV Central , ITV Channel Television , ITV Cymru Wales , ITV Granada , ITV London (weekday) , ITV London (weekend) , ITV Meridian , ITV Tyne Tees , ITV West Country , ITV Yorkshire , and UTV . ITV Wales & West
2596-411: The name was in common public use. Independent Television, shortened to ITV , was the collective and generic name for the companies which held commercial television franchises. The name referred to the initial regulator the Independent Television Authority (ITA). It was keen to use this name for its franchisees to highlight the fact they were also public services and not simply commercial broadcasters. In
2655-734: The new name of the Radio Authority, but with a different remit. As a "light-touch" regulator (although heavier than the ITC), the Radio Authority was to issue licences to the highest bidder and promote the development of commercial radio choice. This led to the awarding of three national contracts, known as Independent National Radio to Classic FM , Virgin 1215 (later Virgin Radio and then rebranded Absolute Radio ) and Talk Radio (later Talksport ). The Radio Authority also began to license Restricted Service Licence (RSL) stations – low-power temporary radio stations for special events, operating for up to 28 days
2714-716: The new service, placing advertisements encouraging interested groups to apply for medium-term contracts to provide programmes in given areas. The first major areas to be advertised were London and Glasgow , with two contracts available in London, one for "news and information", one for "general and entertainment". The London news contract was awarded to London Broadcasting Company (LBC) and they began broadcasting on 8 October 1973. The London general contract went to Capital Radio , who began broadcasting on 16 October 1973. In total, 19 contracts were awarded between 1973 and 1976. Due to government limits on capital expenditure and turbulence in
2773-455: The regional broadcaster. However, only half of the regional broadcasters opted to use the package, which had completely failed by 1997. In 1998, another second ITV common presentation (once again using dual-branding with the ITV name) was launched, under the theme, "TV from the Heart". By 2001, all eleven franchises of England and Wales were owned by either Granada plc or Carlton Communications, and
2832-474: The sole on-air identity in October 2002 when the two companies decided to create a single unified playout of the channel, with regional references used only prior to regional programming, such as local news and weather. Carlton and Granada went on to merge in 2004, creating ITV plc , which now owns thirteen of the fifteen regional ITV licences. The ITV1 name was only used in England, Wales, Southern Scotland , and Isle of Man , until Channel Television adopted
2891-656: The station with Heart Milton Keynes , Heart Northants and Heart Bedford as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 16. The new station, Heart Home Counties , began broadcasting from Dunstable on 16 July 2010. Past presenters included Mark Smith, Philippa Collins, Conrad Alexander, Paul McKenna , Graham Torrington , Dale Winton , NJ Williams , Martin Collins , Jeremy Beadle and Chris Moyles . 51°53′25″N 0°31′47″W / 51.8903°N 0.5298°W / 51.8903; -0.5298 Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio
2950-492: The two companies. By 1981, due to regulation, the company was forced to de-merge; however, they resumed their alliance in 1993 as Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television , which therefore owned the two franchises, and integrated the two companies' assets more than its predecessor. The intense race to own a larger share of the ITV network began in 1994, when Carlton Communications , the owner of London weekday broadcaster Carlton Television, took control of Central Independent Television in
3009-401: Was Ravi Deepres . UTV continued with its 2013-era idents until it adopted ITV continuity and trials in 2020. However, it used the new on-air presentation on trails with a tweaked version to accommodate the UTV logo. On 15 November 2022, ITV renamed the channel back from ITV to ITV1 which was used as the name on the channel between 2001 and 2013. ITV1 also received another rebrand, as part of
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#17328525936153068-556: Was forced to sell HTV to Carlton. By this time, all of the franchises in England and Wales were owned by either Carlton or Granada. On 2 February 2004, Granada plc officially merged with Carlton Communications, creating ITV plc , although it was in effect, a takeover by Granada. In 2011, ITV plc acquired Channel Television from its private owners Yattendon Group plc . On 19 October 2015, ITV announced they were to buy UTV for £100 million subject to regulatory approval. The deal also included UTV Ireland , UTV's Irish channel. Initially,
3127-533: Was formally split in two by Ofcom from 1 January 2014, when the West region merged with the Westcountry region to form the West Country franchise). Channel Television adopted the ITV1 brand on-air prior to the 2011 ITV plc takeover of the channel. UTV was purchased by ITV plc in 2016, but did not adopt national continuity until April 2020 (see above). Areas with full ITV1 channel branding and continuity: * ITV1 +1
3186-402: Was formed by the unification of eleven of the ITV licences. The United Kingdom Broadcasting Act 1990 changed many of the rules regulating the ITV network, which most notably relaxed separate franchise ownership, and hours of production. However, as far back as 1974, Yorkshire Television and its North East neighbour, Tyne Tees Television, formally created Trident Television , a merged entity of
3245-469: Was merged with ITV Tyne Tees ' North East Tonight programme, ITV Westcountry's Westcountry Live merged with ITV West 's The West Tonight programme, and ITV Meridian 's Meridian Tonight south and south east editions merged with ITV Thames Valley 's Thames Valley Tonight . On 16 September 2013, ITV reverted to a more localised system, as was the case prior to a shake-up in 2009, with 14 news regions (rather than eight). This meant people in
3304-529: Was one national DAB multiplex (Digital One) and 47 regional DAB multiplexes, owned by 10 and operated by nine companies (each multiplex carrying multiple services). The first licensed commercial radio station in the United Kingdom is often stated to be Manx Radio , which launched in June 1964. However, since the Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom, Manx Radio is not considered to be an ILR station and launched with
3363-634: Was the only exception, using the name ITV1 Wales at all times for the Welsh part of its broadcast area, as it has a higher regional commitment. Latterly, the ITV1 Wales name was only used on break-bumpers and regionally advertised programmes until 2013. Non ITV plc-owned licensees on the ITV network, nowadays only STV Group , generally did not refer to the ITV name. The network production arms of nowadays ITV plc-owned licensees have been gradually combined since 1993, to eventually form ITV Studios . The ITV1 channel
3422-428: Was to remain under the BBC. Upon the election of Edward Heath 's government in 1970, this policy changed. It is possible that Heath's victory was partly due to younger voters upset by the UK government closing down the popular pirate radio stations. The new Minister of Post and Telecommunications and former ITN newscaster, Christopher Chataway , announced a bill to allow for the introduction of commercial radio in
3481-530: Was very heavily regulated until the early 1990s. The regulator, the ITA (and later the IBA) operated the transmitters, awarded franchises and had a great influence over schedules, content and technical standards. Legally the regulator was the broadcaster – the companies were contracted to provide an "independent television service" to compete with the BBC. The ITV network existed in a region-heavy form from its inception through to
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