ITV Wales & West - History

History

Initially the station used the name Harlech Television (after the head of the company, Lord Harlech), but from the introduction of colour in 1970 this was dropped in favour of HTV, which was simpler and removed concerns that the name Harlech was only associated with the Welsh part of the dual region.

The company was awarded its contract by the Independent Television Authority which apparently felt that the incumbent TWW, being corporately-based in London, was too distant from the area it served and that Harlech, jointly based in Bristol and Cardiff, would serve the area better. TWW were bitterly disappointed to lose the franchise and declined an opportunity created by the ITA to purchase shares in the winning company. Subsequently, TWW pulled out of its franchise five months early, selling the remaining air-time to Harlech which provided an unbranded emergency service prior to their formal launch.

HTV served two quite different regions: Wales and the West of England. In Wales there was an additional requirement to provide a quota of programmes in the medium of Welsh. HTV West was successful in producing high quality children's TV series, often sold internationally. It established the 'HTV junior drama workshop' that auditioned and trained young actors and from which it cast roles for both its own productions, and other companies seeking young talent. Arthur Of The Britons (a historic adventure series), Children of the Stones (a supernatural thriller shot amid the famous stone circle at Avebury in Wiltshire) and Robin Of Sherwood were all very popular wherever they were shown. In addition to network and locally produced programming, HTV also broadcast imported output and was the first British broadcaster to air Sesame Street as part of an IBA pilot in 1971 (the programme had been rejected by the BBC). HTV Wales produced far less drama output, though they were contracted to make the ten-part Return to Treasure Island for The Disney Channel in 1985.

In October 1995, United News and Media agreed to buy Scottish Television's 20% stake in the company, ending Carlton's interest about a buyout. HTV and United began talks shortly after the sale aimed at sharing production services and facilities. United was quoted at the time to have "no intention of bidding for the whole company" but within 6 months, on 28 June 1997, HTV was taken over fully by United News and Media plc (now United Business Media plc) for £370 million.

In 2000, Granada PLC bought United's television interests, but at the time competition regulations limited the extent to which one company could control the ITV network, and were consequently forced to give up one of its ITV franchises. This resulted in a break-up of HTV, whereby its broadcast facilities and Channel 3 broadcast licence (and hence its advertising revenues) were sold to Carlton Communications plc, owners of Carlton Television, whilst the majority of production facilities were retained by Granada. Unlike Carlton's other ITV acquisitions, which were rebranded to use the Carlton name on screen, HTV's identity was retained on-air until 27 October 2002 when the 'ITV1' brand was introduced to most of the network.

Granada and Carlton were subsequently permitted to merge in 2004 to form the single company ITV plc, which now owns all of the ITV franchises in England and Wales. HTV Ltd was renamed ITV Wales & West Ltd on 29 December 2006, alongside HTV Group Ltd, which was renamed ITV Wales & West Group Ltd. On 11 December 2008, the broadcast licence was transferred from ITV Wales & West Group Ltd to ITV Broadcasting Limited, the company now responsible for all the regional francises.

In 2009, as part of plans to reduce ITV's regional news service to save costs, ITV West's regional news service was merged with that of Westcountry Television to form ITV West & Westcountry. The new programme, The West Country Tonight is broadcast from Bristol.