Associated Television
Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and to the Midlands all week from 1968 to 1982. It was one of the "Big Four" until 1968, and the "Big Five" after 1968, that between them produced the majority of ITV networked programmes. In 1982, ATV was restructured and rebranded as Central Independent Television, under which name it continued to provide the service for the Midlands.
This article is about the British commercial broadcaster. For the American production and distribution company, see Associated Television International.Type
Region of television network
ATV
24 September 1955, in London
17 February 1956 in the Midlands
All week in the Midlands from 29 July 1968
- Associated Communications Corporation
- ITC Entertainment
- ABC (Associated Broadcasting Company) before 8 October 1955
- Associated Television (1955–1966)
English
ABC Weekend TV in the Midlands on weekends from 1968
- Central Independent Television in the Midlands from 1982
- London Weekend Television in London from 1968
ATV was awarded its first franchise by the Independent Television Authority (ITA) to provide the Independent Television service at weekends for the London region. This service started on Saturday, 24 September 1955, the second ITA franchise to go on air, and was extended until Sunday, 28 July 1968. ATV was also awarded the franchise to provide the weekdays Independent Television service for the Midlands region. This service started on Friday, 17 February 1956, the third ITA franchisee to go on air, and was extended until Monday, 29 July 1968.
Subsequent to the changes made by the ITA to the regional structure of the Independent Television service, ATV lost its London franchise, but was awarded the franchise to provide a seven-day service for the Midlands region which started on Tuesday, 30 July 1968 and was finally extended until 00:34 on Friday, 1 January 1982.
The majority of ITC programmes were first broadcast by ATV and distributed in the UK by them. Similarly, ATV's productions were distributed by ITC outside of the UK, with most ATV idents replaced with those for ITC.
Other ventures[edit]
ATV Music[edit]
As a side note to ATV's television activities, the company also set up a music publishing division. This was known as ATV Music and existed initially to publish TV-related music, such as theme tunes, composed by its in-house composers. It was formed after ATV acquired a substantial share of Pye Records.[31] This company was eventually split away from the parent company and went through numerous different owners as well as buying into other established music publishers including Northern Songs, which was the Beatles' publishing company. ATV Music eventually settled into the hands of Michael Jackson before being merged into Sony/ATV Music Publishing.