ITV plc owns all the current 'Channel 3' television franchises in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Scottish borders. It does not own STV (label), which owns the franchises in central and north Scotland, although there remains sharing of programmes. The company was created by the merger of Carlton and Granada, who had between them acquired all the English and Welsh franchise operators since deregulation of the broadcasting market in 1993. The merged company later acquired Channel Television and UTV.
Through Carlton's acquisition of Polygram Television, ITV plc also owns the ATV and ITC archives (notable programmes including The Prisoner and Thunderbirds). Carlton also acquired the Rank film archive, and Central Independent Television, before itself being acquired by Carlton, acquired the Alexander Korda film archive.
ITV franchisees acquired by ITV plc:
Anglia Television
London Weekend Television/LWT
HTV
Central Independent Television/Carlton Central
ATV
Border
Tyne Tees
Granada
Carlton
UTV/Ulster Television
CTV/Channel Television
'ITV' franchisees not owned by ITV plc include:
Thames Television (now owned by Fremantle Media)
TVS/Television South (now owned by Disney but the paperwork has gone missing, making rights issues impossible to resolve)
Southern Television (now owned by Renown Pictures/Talking Pictures TV, except Worzel Gummidge and some other programmes)
TSW (now held by South West Film and Television Archive)
STV (STV plc)
Scottish Television (STV plc)
Grampian Television (STV plc)
Westward Television (now held by South West Film and Television Archive)
Rediffusion/Associated Rediffusion (mostly held by Archbuild)
ABC Television (StudioCanal)
UK Company number: 04967001
Incorporated: 18 November 2003 as '2232nd Single Member Shelf Investment Company Limited'
Name change: 3 December 2003 - this page
Status: Active