How the ITV regions came about
Last looked over: 14 October 2026 · BritCast TV team
ITV was designed in the 1950s as a federation of regional companies rather than one national broadcaster. London went on air in 1955, the rest of the country followed by 1962, and the licences were reshuffled several times. Today ITV plc runs almost all of it, STV runs most of Scotland, and each region still has its own evening news.
- Regional companies made programmes for the whole network as well as for home.
- Licences changed hands in 1968, 1982 and after the 1991 auction.
- Carlton and Granada merged into ITV plc in 2004.
A federation, not a network
When commercial television arrived in 1955, Parliament wanted to avoid one company dominating. The country was carved into regions, each licensed to a separate company that sold its own advertising, made its own local programmes and contributed shows to the national schedule. London was split between a weekday and a weekend company.
Musical chairs
The regulator re-awarded licences in rounds. In 1968 Yorkshire got its own company and London’s contracts were redrawn. In 1982 new names such as Central and TVS arrived. The Broadcasting Act 1990 then put licences up for auction, and from 1993 Carlton, Meridian and Westcountry replaced Thames, TVS and TSW.
Becoming one ITV
Through the 1990s and 2000s the English and Welsh companies bought each other up until Granada and Carlton merged in 2004 to form ITV plc. UTV in Northern Ireland joined the group in 2016. STV, serving central and northern Scotland, remains independent.
What is left of the regions
Regional idents and accents have mostly gone, but every region still has its own early-evening and late news. Explore each one, from Granadaland to the Channel Islands, in our ITV regions section.