Independent Television Commission

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The ITC has been superseded as the British commercial television regulator by Ofcom (the Office of Communications). For recent information on the regulation of commercial television in the UK (from 2004 onwards), please see the Ofcom article.

For the British television production company Incorporated Television Company - also known as ITC - see ITC Entertainment.

The Independent Television Commission (ITC) licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom (except S4C in Wales) between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003.

In this context, 'independent' indicates freedom from the BBC, rather than the government, as the latter is taken as being read.

The ITC was formed by the [Broadcasting Act 1990] to replace the television regulation functions of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (formed by the Broadcasting Act 1954) and Cable Authority. From January 1 1991 it regulated the existing ITV network.

The 1990 Act also established the Channel Four Television Corporation to run Channel 4, regulated by the ITC. There was no fan-fare, as control was passed from Channel Four Television Company Limited.

The establishing Act required the auction of Channel 3 licences for the [fifteen ITV regions] and nationwide breakfast time. Most of the Channel 3 licences were awarded to the incumbent ITV companies; however there were some controversial decisions:

Carlton Television outbid Thames Television for the London Weekday licence.

GMTV (changed to Good Morning Television as the bid name 'Sunrise Television' was already used by Sky News) outbid TV-am for the Breakfast Time licence.

Television South and Television South West were deemed to have overbid for their licences, and hence their franchises were awarded to lower bidders Meridian Broadcasting and Westcountry Television, respectively.

On January 1, 1993 these new arrangements came into force, and the ITC began its job of 'light touch regulation'. During this time, the ITC regulated the Channel 3 system as well as Channel 4. It issued licences to new satellite broadcasters and awarded the Channel 5 licence in the late 1990s. It also regulated cable TV.

However, the British government, in a White Paper, declared its intention to merge the ITC with the Radio Authority, Office of Telecommunications, and Radiocommunications Agency. This merger, under the Communications Act 2003, took effect on December 29, 2003. Most powers of the ITC are now exercised by the Office of Communications (Ofcom), making some powers - and the ITC itself - defunct.

The ITC's co-regulators and origins

Alongside the ITC, two other independent bodies also dealt with complaints: the Broadcasting Complaints Commission dealt with injustices against individuals, whereas the Broadcasting Standards Council dealt with complaints about the moral content of programs, with no redress for individuals.

Historically, all of independent television (from 22 Sep 1955) and radio (from 8th Oct 1973) was governed by the IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority) - joined by the Cable Authority in 1984. On 1 July 1985, the Home Secretary asked the IBA to review prospects for commercial DBS ('direct broadcast by satellite').

In 1988, the Broadcasting Standards Council was set up to monitor 'taste and decency' on television. In 1990, large-scale changes brought about the Radio Authority, the privatization of the IBA's engineering division as NTL, and formation of the Independent Television Commission.

The BBC has governed itself since it was formed in 1922.

Regions North Scotland: Grampian Television | Central Scotland: Scottish Television | Scottish/English Border: Border
North and North West England: ABC, Granada | North East England: Tyne Tees | Yorkshire: Yorkshire | Northern Ireland: UTV
Wales and the West of England: TWW, WWN, ITSWW, HTV | Midlands: ATV, ABC, Central | East Anglia: Anglia
London: Rediffusion, ATV, Thames, LWT, Carlton | Southern England: Southern, TVS, Meridian
South West England: Westward, TSW, Westcountry | Channel Islands: Channel Television

Breakfast: TV-am, GMTV | Teletext: ORACLE, Teletext Ltd.
News: ITN, ITV News Sport: ITV Sport

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Independent Television Commission

The ITC's co-regulators and origins

See also