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Channel 3 (UK)

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Channel 3 is the collective name given to the group of United Kingdom television broadcasters that are normally available on the third analogue terrestrial TV frequency, comprising fifteen regional Channel 3 broadcasters (known almost universally as ITV or the ITV Network), the national breakfast franchise (currently GMTV), and the national teletext provider (currently Teletext Ltd). The Channel 3 companies (normally only referred to as such by official bodies such as the regulator, Ofcom) are the oldest and most watched commercial broadcasters in the UK and are universally available; as such they are obliged by the terms of their licences to fulfil various public service commitments.

The term Channel 3 was first introduced for the Channel 3 Licences granted under the Broadcasting Act 1990. Prior to this, the channel had no legal overall name, but was usually collectively referred to, both by the contractors themselves, as well as their regulator - the Independent Broadcasting Authority - as Independent Television (hence the name ITV) - the licence was prior to this issued by the Government to the IBA and the various companies were issued programme contracts by the IBA.

For the majority of viewers, Channel 3 programming is collectively known either as simply ITV, by the name of their regional station (for example Yorkshire, Granada, STV etc.), or as ITV1, which is now the on-screen name of the eleven regional stations owned by ITV plc. (Breakfast station GMTV, while technically a separate entity, is for the casual viewer simply a programme on ITV1.) Nevertheless, the ITV Network as a whole should not be confused with ITV plc; the latter is one shareholder-owned company which decided to adopt the ITV name as they owned most of the franchises, whilst the former is the body set up to control network programming comprising not only ITV plc (England and Wales), but also the other regional companies SMG plc (Scotland), UTV (Northern Ireland) and Channel Television (the Channel Islands).

Contents

Regional Providers: the ITV Network

The ITV Network broadcasts every day from 9.25am, until 6am the following morning. It is made up of fifteen television stations, each broadcasting to one region of the United Kingdom. Originally, all the stations were independently-owned; today, however, eleven of the fifteen franchises are owned by one company, ITV plc, which was formed over many years as a result of the gradual merging of the regional stations (the last being the Carlton-Granada merger, which finally formed a united ITV for England and Wales in 2004). In London, a special situation exists whereby there are two separate licensees: one for weekdays, and one for the weekend. Since the current licensees are both owned by ITV plc, however, there is no longer any on-screen distinction.

The regional licences, granted by the government regulator Ofcom, are currently distributed as follows:

Each of the above stations is represented at ITV Network Centre, where national network programming is scheduled (though in practice this process is now dominated by ITV plc). Networked programmes are mostly contributed by the regional companies although some are commissioned by the Network from independents. In addition, the entire network is obliged to broadcast national news sourced by a common contractor (currently ITN). While minimal obligatory regional programming still exists (most notably the 6pm half-hour regional news slot), for the majority of the time all the above stations simulcast network programming. All stations have the right to opt out of national programming (except for the national news) but generally do not, since most are owned by the one company and the others have limited resources for non-networked independent programme-making. STV and UTV are more likely to opt out of network programming for nations-based output, including sporting events and special news items.

National Breakfast Provider

In 1983 it was decided that a commercial breakfast service should be provided to rival that of the BBC, and the IBA (the then regulator of Independent Television) created a new, national breakfast broadcasting contract that would be contested in the same way as the regional licences of the ITV Network. The breakfast station (originally TV-am) broadcasts between the hours of 6am and 9.25am every morning. The somewhat obscure 9.25 closetime came about in order to allow time to switch transmitters from the breakfast broadcaster over to the regional ITV stations; today this transition is seamless, though the anomaly remains for legal reasons.

The current breakfast provider is GMTV, a company 75% owned by ITV plc, and 25% by The Walt Disney Company. Like its regional sister stations, GMTV is obliged to provide significant news, current affairs and children's output. Its presence on Channel 3 is thought to be somewhat of an obstacle for ITV plc, who would prefer to own the company outright and thus control Channel 3 round the clock in England and Wales. Disney, however, has declined to sell its shares so far.

National Teletext Provider

The Public Teletext Licence [link] allows the holder to broadcast a text-based information service around the clock on Channel 3 (as well as Channel 4 and S4C) frequencies. Originally held from 1974 by ORACLE, the service is now provided by Teletext Ltd, whose news, sport and TV listings pages rival that of the BBC's television offering, Ceefax. Teletext Ltd also provides digital teletext for the Channel 3 services, as well as the text output for both Channel 4 and S4C (which is covered under the same licence) and Five (under a separate licence).

Digital Channel 3

Partly as an incentive to continue with public service broadcasting once the switch-off of the UK analogue signal, the regulator granted the various Channel 3 services free space on the digital terrestrial platform, Freeview. Channel 3 shares its space with Channel 4 on Multiplex 2, and the increase in space has allowed the launch of various new channels. Granada plc and Carlton Communications launched ITV2 in 1998, and the other regional companies had the right to launch their own second channels in its place - notably Scottish TV's S2 and UTV's TVYou (later called UTV2). The latter two ventures were unsuccessful, however, and closed down, replaced with ITV2 across the UK. Similarly, the rest of the Network allowed ITV plc to broadcast ITV3, ITV4 and the CITV Channel across the country rather than trying to introduce their own regional variants. Breakfast provider GMTV also makes use of its digital space, broadcasting in the usual 6am-9.25am slot alongside ITV2 with GMTV2, and as part of a joint venture with ITV plc in the same slot of the CITV Channel.

Public Service Broadcasting

The right granted by Ofcom of Channel 3's nationally-available status on both analogue and digital television comes with responsibility, in the form of public service broadcasting. Alongside the BBC, Channel 4 and Five, the members of the ITV Network and GMTV all have a responsibility to broadcast various programming of public importance on their analogue stations. This includes quotas for news, current affairs, independent and European programming, children's and religious programming, and output containing subtitles, signing and audio description. In addition, Channel 3 stations are legally obliged to screen party election broadcasts on behalf of all the major political parties, and also other political events such as the Budget.

 

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