ITV: Difference between revisions
m
no edit summary
m (replaced TVTropes' raster image with the Wikimedia Commons vector image that it had been taken from) |
mNo edit summary |
||
Line 1:
{{creator}}
[[File:ITV_logo.svg|thumb|200px]]
ITV, or '''Independent Television''', is the British commercial television service which started broadcasting in 1955 as a rival to [[The BBC]]. The broadcaster's main channel (now known as [[ITV 1]], but see below) broadcasts on Channel 3 across the England, Wales and the Isle of Man, since the late 1990s ITV have launched further national channels on the British digital television platforms. Scotland, Northern Ireland and the [[Four Little Tax Havens|Channel Islands]] still have independent channels, but these show mostly the same programmes as
ITV historically consisted of 15 regional TV companies which served "franchise areas", which began at various times from 1955 onwards before virtually the whole UK had its own station by the mid-1960s:
Line 30:
In 1998 Granada and Carlton established the ill-fated ONdigital (later ITV Digital), a subscription-based digital terrestrial broadcast system. This went bust in 2002 because of technical problems and competition from satellite and cable, in what was seen by some industry critics as a re-run of British Satellite Broadcasting's defeat by Sky Television - the only thing that really survived was the knitted monkey used in the adverts. (To prevent digital terrestrial from becoming extinct a new consortium relaunched the system as Freeview, with compatible, though more robust, signals, and no subscriptions. A limited number of subscription channels, called Top-Up TV, were added later.)
Regional branding is very rarely seen on screen, apart from
ITV gets its news programmes from ITN (Independent Television News), who have provided news bulletins for the network since Day One and which was originally controlled by all of the ITV companies. The station's flagship news bulletin, ''[[News at Ten]]'', was first broadcast in 1967 and has continued on and off since (also, nowadays most ITV news bulletins still use a variation on the original ''[[News at Ten]]'' theme tune). ITN also provides [[Channel 4]] with its news programme, as well as celebrity/entertainment news coverage for [[Channel 4]]'s flagship music channel, 4Music. They used to do the news for [[Channel Five]], as well, until they lost the contract to [[Rupert Murdoch|Sky]]- although they do still do a short-form entertainment news show for one of their digital channels.
Line 46:
Broadcasts on five main channels:
* '''
* '''ITV2''': Mostly aimed at younger viewers. Airs the behind-the-scenes spinoffs of [[Britain's Got Talent|Cowell-based]] [[The X Factor|talent contests]], as well as celebrity documentaries and, er, ''[[The Only Way Is Essex]]''. Also does midweek repeats of
* '''ITV3''': Aimed at older viewers. Mostly broadcasts British crime dramas, like ''[[Poirot|Agatha Christie's Poirot]]'', ''[[A Touch of Frost]]'' and ''[[Midsomer Murders]]'', as well as older comedies like ''[[On the Buses]]'' and ''[[Mr. Bean]]''.
* '''ITV4''': Something a 'miscellaneous' channel; the programming is mostly aimed at men. A lot of it's cop shows (real and fictional) and sports.
* '''CITV''': Kids' channel. For a few hours on Saturdays and Sundays, its programming is broadcast on ITV1.
* '''ITVBe''': Aimed at young female viewers. Airs [[The Only Way Is Essex|reality]] [[The Bachelor|shows]], international versions of Love Island and has a preschool block called "LittleBe".
Defunct ITV channels include ''ITV Encore,'' a channel that aired ITV drama, the ''ITV News Channel''- operated by ITN- and the ''ITV Sport Channel'', a failed venture into the early terrestial Pay-TV market, the collapse of which nearly bankrupted the British Basketball League, and left a lot of other niche British sports leagues in financial trouble.
{{reflist}}
| |||