ITV Network

Independent Television (ITV) launched on 22 September 1955, under control of the Independent Television Authority (ITA), to provide direct competition to BBC Television, which had been established in 1932.

Regional stations began to appear over the course of the late 1950’s but by 2001 it had merged into one single channel and was renamed ITV1. Although the branding became generic, regional opt-outs continued for news and political shows.

ITV slowly expanded it’s portfolio of channels as technology developed and, at the time of writing, consists of a family of six main channels (most of which have timeshift and HD versions).