Southern Television

Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life. However, in 1966 during the application process for contracts running from 1968 the company renamed itself Southern Independent Television Limited, a title which was used until 1980, when the company reverted to its original corporate name. Southern Television ceased broadcasting on the night of 31 December 1981 at 12.43am, after a review by the 1980 franchise round gave the contract to Television South and set Southern's expiry at 9.30am.

• Note: Southern's coverage area coincided only partly with that of the present-day South East England government region, as it did not include the Oxford transmitter region (Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire), which was instead covered by the ITV Midlands licensee. Prior to 1 November 1970 Southern's coverage did not include all of the Hannington transmitter region (Berkshire and northern Hampshire) either, or the county of Surrey. These areas were served by either the London franchise area or the Midlands franchise area (from the Membury transmitter in Berkshire). Southern's area also included large swathes of Dorset and southern Wiltshire.