The Newsroom

If ITV plc takes over ITN.

(January 2017)

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NW
nwtv2003
Out of all of the things to do with the 1990 Broadcasting Act, I don't know why to this day ITN couldn't be owned by ITV outright, granted some of the smaller companies didn't want to own part of ITN, but I'm surprised the bigger companies, notably Carlton (I think they had the biggest share of ITN in 1993/4) and Granada didn't take full control.

Saying that nowadays unless we see a repeat of what happened to UTV, I can't see ITV wanting to or having to buy ITN. As a company they are in robust health in comparison to 8/9 years ago.
BR
Brekkie
ITN itself though seemingly much healthier than a decade ago.
ST
Stuart
I don't see why ITV plc would want to rebrand ITN, even if they did buy out the rest of the company.

Whilst I appreciate that C5 contracted Sky News for a while to provide their service, I don't see ITV News sitting well with either them or C4 as a supplier's brand identity. ITV is a rival PSB, unlike Sky.
JA
JAS84
newsman1 posted:
noggin posted:
At one point ITV were specifically precluded, in law, from owning ITN entirely. Is this no longer the case ? (I have a feeling it isn't)


The ban on ITV owning all of ITN was removed by the Communications Act of 2003.
The same act that allowed the Granada/Carlton merger to form ITV plc, right? Makes sense.
GO
gottago
Stuart posted:
I don't see why ITV plc would want to rebrand ITN, even if they did buy out the rest of the company.

Indeed, they wouldn't. It would be no different to when they've bought other indies and they've kept their own branding.
NE
newsman1
nwtv2003 posted:
Out of all of the things to do with the 1990 Broadcasting Act, I don't know why to this day ITN couldn't be owned by ITV outright , granted some of the smaller companies didn't want to own part of ITN, but I'm surprised the bigger companies, notably Carlton (I think they had the biggest share of ITN in 1993/4) and Granada didn't take full control.

Saying that nowadays unless we see a repeat of what happened to UTV, I can't see ITV wanting to or having to buy ITN. As a company they are in robust health in comparison to 8/9 years ago.


Former ITN editor Stewart Purvis might have the answer to your question.

https://profpurvis.com/2016/07/29/how-one-of-the-uks-top-news-providers-got-margaret-thatcher-to-tell-its-owners-youre-fired/
LS
Lou Scannon
newsman1 posted:
If ITV plc, which owns 40% of Independent Television News Ltd (ITN), buys the other 60%, it'll probably rename the organisation ITV News Ltd (and yes, I do know that ITV stands for Independent Television ).


<pedant mode> (apologies)

The registered company name since its formation in 2004 is just "ITV plc". Therefore, legally/technically (whatever) the three letters don't stand for any words whatsoever - albeit that they nevertheless were chosen deriving from the legacy "Independent Television" name. Smile

</pedant mode>

The phenomenon of such "orphan initials" in registered company names is increasingly commonplace. Hence, the current "TSB Bank plc" actually isn't the tautology that it might ostensibly appear to be - The registered company name doesn't feature the full words "Trustee" or "Savings", nor a repeated use of the full word "Bank".

newsman1 posted:
In that event, would the ITV plc regional news operations outside the London region still be legally separate from ITV News Ltd, e.g. ITV Yorkshire Ltd, ITV Granada Ltd, ITV Meridian Ltd?


Most/all of ITV plc's wholly-owned broadcaster subsidiaries with names like ITV Central Ltd etc are now officially "dormant companies", with most/all of ITV plc's various "Channel 3" broadcasting licences/franchises now all owned by the singular ITV Broadcasting subsidiary instead. ITV Channel Television is certainly an exception to this. Not sure about ITV Breakfast and/or UTV though.

I may be getting this a bit wrong (please correct me, anyone?), but...

I believe that there simply isn't any ITV Anglia Ltd in existence at all now (dormant or otherwise), as that is the particular ITV plc-owned thingumybob that was turned into the abovementioned multiple-franchise-operating ITV Broadcasting . Or something.
NE
newsman1
Austin Tatious posted:
newsman1 posted:
If ITV plc, which owns 40% of Independent Television News Ltd (ITN), buys the other 60%, it'll probably rename the organisation ITV News Ltd (and yes, I do know that ITV stands for Independent Television ).


<pedant mode> (apologies)

The registered company name since its formation in 2004 is just "ITV plc". Therefore, legally/technically (whatever) the three letters don't stand for any words whatsoever - albeit that they nevertheless were chosen deriving from the legacy "Independent Television" name. Smile

</pedant mode>

The phenomenon of such "orphan initials" in registered company names is increasingly commonplace. Hence, the current "TSB Bank plc" actually isn't the tautology that it might ostensibly appear to be - The registered company name doesn't feature the full words "Trustee" or "Savings", nor a repeated use of the full word "Bank".

newsman1 posted:
In that event, would the ITV plc regional news operations outside the London region still be legally separate from ITV News Ltd, e.g. ITV Yorkshire Ltd, ITV Granada Ltd, ITV Meridian Ltd?


Most/all of ITV plc's wholly-owned broadcaster subsidiaries with names like ITV Central Ltd etc are now officially "dormant companies", with most/all of ITV plc's various "Channel 3" broadcasting licences/franchises now all owned by the singular ITV Broadcasting subsidiary instead. ITV Channel Television is certainly an exception to this. Not sure about ITV Breakfast and/or UTV though.

I may be getting this a bit wrong (please correct me, anyone?), but...

I believe that there simply isn't any ITV Anglia Ltd in existence at all now (dormant or otherwise), as that is the particular ITV plc-owned thingumybob that was turned into the abovementioned multiple-franchise-operating ITV Broadcasting . Or something.


I appreciate that.

Honestly, I wasn't aware of the term "orphan initials" until now.

Legally, about ITV plc's name, you are correct. I was referring to the origin of the ITV initials.
KE
kernow
Austin Tatious posted:

I believe that there simply isn't any ITV Anglia Ltd in existence at all now (dormant or otherwise), as that is the particular ITV plc-owned thingumybob that was turned into the abovementioned multiple-franchise-operating ITV Broadcasting . Or something.

According to Companies House, it only reverted to ITV Broadcasting Limited for a few months in 2006.

It looks like it's now reverted back to "Anglia Television Limited":

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/05959958

There's actually a document on there from 10/01/17 which gives notice for the company to be dissolved, so it looks like "Anglia Television Limited" will cease to exist in a few weeks. I don't know if anything similar is planned for the other regional companies.
DO
dosxuk
That was the company that took over the original Anglia name. The current ITV Broadcasting Limited was formed in 1969, and until 29/12/2006 was called Anglia Television Limited - https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00955957
RD
rdd Founding member
There was never any company just called "Independent Television" (Limited/Plc) - the words were always used in connection with something (News/Publications/Authority).
KE
kernow
rdd posted:
There was never any company just called "Independent Television" (Limited/Plc) - the words were always used in connection with something (News/Publications/Authority).


ITV Network Limited has actually had 2 previous names which included "Independent Television" in the company name:

INDEPENDENT TELEVISION ASSOCIATION LIMITED 25 Sep 1987 - 05 Oct 1998
INDEPENDENT TELEVISION COMPANIES ASSOCIATION LIMITED 01 May 1958 - 25 Sep 1987

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00603893

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