Channel Television

The ITV franchise for the Channel Islands was granted in 1960 and began broadcasting on September 1st, 1962. Channel received its ITV programming via a microwave relay station located in Alderney, initially from Westward (later TSW in 1982) until 1986, when the feed was switched to TVS (later rebranded as Meridian in 1993). Channel was the last franchise to transition to colour broadcasting, which occurred in 1976. During a network-wide strike by ITV, Channel remained on air due to the concern that industrial action would result in the station’s bankruptcy. Channel was also utilised by ITV for handling phone voting, which led to controversy due to a series of high-profile errors. In 2017, Channel’s ownership was transferred to ITV plc.