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1955-1989
Commercial television was established in the United Kingdom on September 22, 1955 when two companies started broadcasting on a channel in the London area by franchise of the Independent Televison Authority. The network would expand to the rest of the country during the following years and was available in all designated regions by 1962.
Together these television services were called Independent Television, although the individual franchises chose present themselves with their local brands and names.
The term Independent Television, also shortened to ITV, was used to signify commercial television in the United Kingdom, to distinguish it from the BBC and for several shared operations. Some uses of Independent Televison or ITV prior to 1989 include:
- Promos were often produced for use by all contractors and included references to ITV.
- The mandated educational service was called Independent Television for Schools and Colleges"
- The national news service, broadcast by all contractors, was called Independent Television News, or ITN for short.
- The governments agencies that regulated commercial television had "Independent Television" in their names until the creation of Ofcom in late 2003.
1989–1999
On September 4, 1989, various ITV companies are started using a new common identity. The identity was designed by English Markell Pockett and the ident featured music composed by David Dundas.
The ident started out with the logo of the local ITV franchisee, followed by various images and ended with the ITV logo. The "V" in ITV contained a triangle which would include a simplified version of the local franchisee's logo.
However, the new identity wasn't mandatory and many ITV companies chose not to use it at all. Many only adopted some elements or dropped the common identity rather quickly:
- TSW, Ulster TV, Anglia TV, Channel Television, TVS and Granada TV didn't adopt the new identity at all.
- Scottish TV used the ident for a short period.
- Tyne Tees TV used the ident until 1991, but continued using the music for its next ident.
- LWT and Thames TV used the ident until 1992.
- HTV used the ident until 1993.
- Border TV used the ident until 1993, but continued using the music for its next ident.
- Yorkshire TV used the ident until 1995.
- Grampian TV continued using the ident up until the launch of the new ITV network logo in 1998.
1999–2001
In 1999, ITV started rebranding itself to improve on its image. This included the new slogan "TV From The Heart", created by HHCL & Partners. A new ITV logo which was created by English & Pockett, was introduced on October 5, 1999.
Most ITV franchises inititally continued using their own distinct regional identities, although some added the new logo to their idents.
New common idents for the ITV network were launched on November 8, 1999. The new idents had a common design, but were adapted for different regions. However, many franchises decided not to use the new identity. The franchises owned by Granada Media (Granada TV, LWT, Yorkshire TV and Tyne Tees TV) and United News and Media (Meridian, Anglia TV and HTV) as well as Border TV and Channel TV chose to adopt the new idents. The franchises owned by Carlton Communications (Carlton TV, Central TV and Westcountry TV) were all renamed "Carlton" a month earlier, but used the new ITV logo. Scottish TV, Grampian TV and UTV didn't adopt the new ITV logo at all.
The idents themselves consisted of a short filmed sequence, which ended with a heart-shape appearing, before fading to the franchise logo on top of a blue background made up of spinning hearts. In total, sixteen different sequences were shot.
2001–2002
By 2001, all ITV franchises in England and Wales were owned by Carlton or Granada and they chose to rename the network "ITV1". The idents were adapted accordingly and the regional names continued to be used alongside the ITV1 logo. ITV was renamed ITV1 on August 11, 2001.
2002–2004
A new look for ITV1 was launched on October 28, 2002. With the launch of a new look, playout for all English regions was centralised to London and all regional names and identifications were dropped for national programmes. Regional identification still occured ahead of regional programmes.
The new look was designed was created by Bruce Dunlop and Associates, ending ITV's relationship with English&Pockett. The idents featured presenters from programmes on ITV1.
2004–2006
With the launch of ITV3 on November 1, 2004, ITV1 got a new look. The logo was modified so the letters would be in separate boxes. Since the 2002 relaunch, it had been common for the ITV1 logo the animate on screen as four separate squares that were joined to form the ITV1 logo. With the new look, the boxes would remain separated, as had been the case with ITV2's new look the previous year.
January-November
A new look for ITV1, ITV2 and ITV3 launched on January 16, 2006. It was created by Red Bee Media.
This ended ITV's yellow and blue era, giving each channel a primary colour - yellow for ITV1, limegreen for ITV2, maroon for ITV3 and teal for ITV4.
The new idents for ITV1 were based on emotions, with each ident showing four scenes associated with pride, joy, embarrassment, surprise or love.
- "ITV is capable of provoking reactions from everyone, reaching over 80% of the UK population each week. Its programming captures a range of human emotions and viewers feel connected as a result. The creative idea for the idents explores the richness of these emotions and how they can mean different things to different people. If you were to ask the ITV1 audience what made them happy, sad or embarrassed you’d get wonderfully different responses. The ITV1 logo opens out at the start of each ident to encapsulate the emotion in each scene and demonstrate that ITV1 brings you all these emotions in its programming. This logo device is also taken through into the on-screen design elements for the channel in a bold and clear design that ensures that the programming shines as hero." ITV plc press release
- Press release: ITV unveils new channel identities across its portfolio of channelswebcite
- ITV's multichannel challenge
- ITV launches on-screen branding by Red Bee Media
- The Ident Gallery
2006–2010
The identity was updated and the idents were replaced by new ones on November 13, 2006. The logo was changed slightly with the "ITV" lettering changing colour from white to black.
The new idents shows various scenes were yellow 3D objects, such as humming bird, fishes and moths, move around on the screen. The new idents were directed by Blink Production and Pleix with special effects by The Mill.[1] There were initially four idents, with two further idents added by the end of the year.
- "The six idents capture the atmosphere in a variety of locations which evoke different moods - from a serene lake, to a vibrant marketplace, and an urban basketball court. The ITV1 'yellow' colour is then picked out within these locations in various forms. Scenes from these locations have also been used to create six break bumpers that help to punctuate the ITV1 junctions." - Press release
Four more idents were added on September 3, 2007, bringing the total number of idents to ten.[2]
2010–present
After the launch of ITV1 HD, an updated ITV1 logo and [3] was introduced on April 9, 2010, created in-house by ITV Creative. The new logo is launched with four new idents, directed by Blink Productions and Pleix:
Made By Red Bee Media And ITV Creative
