Talk:ITV (TV network)/Archive 1

Things still to add

Things to add: Inderpendent Television Authority, Independent Broadcasting Authority. Clarify that the ABC Television here isn't the American one!

Arwel 10:17 Feb 3, 2003 (UTC)

ITA and ABC entries now completed, IBA still to do (I'm only familiar with the TV side of its activities, so anyone knowledgable about the radio side please chip in!). Arwel 12:16 Feb 6, 2003 (UTC)

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No more LWT

the LWT and other "brands" has been dropped in favour of ITV-1 as part of the drive to create a unified ITV

PMelvilleAustin 18:03 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC)

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The name "Channel 3", and who uses it

"Channel 3 as it was officially renamed in the early 1990s" - Was it? I can't find any reference to this, although I can find several webpages talking about ITV being renamed to ITV1, which suggests that it was ITV until it became ITV1, doesn't it? In fact, this page[1] says, "ITV has now been renamed ITV1 on Channel 3", which suggests that ITV was something that was on Channel 3, but it turns out that the website is about digital television anyway, which isn't relevant, is it? Or have I just missed something? -- Oliver P. 18:17 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC)

I do seem to recall some promotion once regards channel 3 but it wasn't what I'd call renaming. There were some continuity stunts and ident cards made up, with threes in them when they went with the collective ITV identity as opposed to the regions. For a while the 3s made it look like the channel was called ITV3. Most people tune ITV as their third channel, and it is sometimes colloquially referred to as channel 3 as a consequence. They did a big collective rebranding as ITV in the 90s, and currently they're ITV1, ITV2, and ITV News. But I don't THINK there was ever any offical branding aspect to the 3 thing. -Nommo

Ah, if it wasn't an official renaming, then maybe the article should be changed. I won't do it myself, just in case I'm wrong. I hardly ever watch ITV1 anyway; <POV>they always have such rubbish on, I think...</POV> :) -- Oliver P. 19:06 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC)

I do quite like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, though. :) -- Oliver P. 19:08 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC)

If I remember correctly, it was announced that it would be renamed Channel 3. But with Channel 4 and a planned new station called 'Channel 5', it seemed that whatever dork was thinking names had a fixation with the word 'channel' so they went back to the drawing board. I don't if the change to Channel 3 ever went through but if it did, it never caught on and the station returned to be called ITV1 (though I have never heard anyone other than people on ITV call it ITV1, but then that may be because I have yet to meet anyone who has ever seen ITV2. (Of anyone who has ever seen '5' without cringling with embarassment. JTD 19:44 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC)

Oh, I never call it ITV1 really; I only did so above to be "technically correct". Channel 5 has improved slightly, though, you must admit! They have documentaries about science and history things now sometimes... Shhh, if anyone asks, I am discussing this article, and not just rambling on about the state of British television... -- Oliver P. 19:55 Feb 12, 2003 (UTC)

According to an ITC note on the subject, the term "Channel 3" is used in legislation and legal documents to refer to what is branded as ITV. --rbrwr

I suspect they once planned to rebrand the entire station as Channel 3, and the legal name was just the first step. But like the ludicrous renaming of the Post Office as Consignia, it was soon recognised as monumentally stupid, because like the Post Office, for all its negative image, there was a strong name recognition factor which would have been lost with a name change. (But at least I can't watch Channel 5: we are lucky enough not to have it in Ireland. Though we do have Sky One :( JTD 23:04 Feb 13, 2003 (UTC)

I think it was planned that all the franchises would be renamed, but only Tyne Tees actually went as far as to rename itself "Channel 3 North East" for a couple of years, until they saw sense and went back to being TTTV. Arwel 20:28 Feb 18, 2003 (UTC)

Allocation of channel buttons is arbitrary, but of course most people just put BBC ONE one button number 1 and BBC TWO on 2, so in the days when there were only three channels, where did they put ITV? You got it. Lee M 02:13, 22 Aug 2003 (UTC)

To explain this, the term was introduced in the Broadcasting Act 1990, to distingish the new system established under that Act from the old system (described in that Act, for possibly the first time in legislation, as "ITV"). It was only used in legislation. Apart from two instances: the well documented mentioned above case of Yorkshire Tyne Tees Television (which adopted dual branding - "Yorkshire Television on Channel 3" for YTV, and "Channel 3 North East - Tyne Tees Television" on TTV"), and the "ITV (3) - Britain's" (replace with "Scotland's" for SMG, "Your" for UTV) Favourite TV Button" campaign in the mid-1990s, ITV itself never used it. AFAIK there were never plans to rename all the franchises C3.

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