HTV Group Ltd became ITV Wales and West Ltd
Meridian Broadcasting Ltd became ITV Meridian Ltd.
I'm not sure how literally (or not, as the case may be) I should be reading your sentence about HTV. Are you saying that the two HTV's are still a joint thing (i.e. "
ITV Wales & West Ltd
")? Or are they now individually "
ITV West Ltd
" and "
ITV Wales Ltd
", (and therefore finally separate entities)?
No, HTV Group Ltd was the full thing. To the viewers, it was two operations. Still one business though. It doesn't make financial sense to be in charge of two limited companies doing similar things.
Work of Artifice posted:
PS, surely everything (both old and new names) should end with "plc", rather than "Ltd"?? I'm almost certain that
Central
was "
Central Independent Television
plc
"??
Central was, yes, but I'm not sure you understand the difference between a plc and a limited company.
PLCs can own LTDs. Not the other way round.
A PLC can turn back to a LTD (the board must buy the shares back from the public/companies who bought them).
A LTD can turn into a PLC (has to meet certain financial requirements, such as, ooh, a massive turnover) if the board want it to happen.
There's pros and cons in running a PLC or a LTD. With a LTD, you (and your board) have total control (theoretically), but must rely on your turnover and loans for capital. With a PLC, well, your shareholders provide lots of money. Of course, they'll want it back one day, and they expect more than what they've provided - they see you as a 'bank'. Certain types of shareholder get to have a say in the company's direction.
Actually, there is nothing to stop a private limited company owning a shareholding or even 100% of the issued share capital of a public limited company, just as a private individual can. A company can remain a public limited company without being listed on a stock exchange. It isn't really a "public" company as such then, but its legal form of ownership remains as a plc and it retains the suffix.
Per Companies' House, Central Independent Television plc was re-registered as a private limited company, Central Independent Television Limited, on 11/6/02. CON to ITV Central Limited took place 29/12/06. Note that ITV haven't consistantly done this to all their subsidaries, Yorkshire and Granada for instance still retain their old legal names.
As for ITCA...Independent Television Contractor's Association originally yes, when it originally represented the network companies, but for much of its history (after its merger with the association for The Ten, the British Regional Television Association) was the Independent Television Companies' Association. Became simply Independent Television Association (so it could call itself
ITV
A ) in 1987 and changed to its current name ITV Network Limited in 1998.
