SMG prepared to fight for ITV name

Actually, ITV is a company.

ITV Limited was incorporated on 22 August 2003.

It has 2 directors, both limited companies.

Both of the directors and ITV Limited appear to share the same offices in London.

Hmm.... I have to dispute this. From what I can see, this isn't a company as such, but rather a company name which has been recently registered.

According to Companies House, the previous name for the company now known as ITV Limited was "2226TH SINGLE MEMBER SHELF INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED". This doesn't appear immediately associable with Independent Television as we know it. Additionally, all other companies which we know to be directly related to Independent Television - ITV Sport Channel Limited, ITV News Channel Limited, ITV Network Limited etc - all give clear pointers to their links to Independent Television: company address registered at 200 Grays Inn Road, nature of business listed as 'radio and television activities' etc.

The information given for the company registered as ITV Limited is far more spartan. As mentioned above, the company was incorporated on 22 August 2003 as "2226TH SINGLE MEMBER SHELF INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED" until the name change on 19 November 2003 to "ITV Limited". Beyond this, no further information is given, contrasting sharply with the greater preponderance of detail from known ITV companies.

Yes, ITV Limited does exist, but it is NOT a part of ITV, it is just a company with ITV in the name. Incidentally, it only took on it's present name on the 19th November and is registered to 21 Holborn Viaduct, London, EC1A 2DY. Does anyone know what it's for and what this address is?

The only bonafide use of the ITV brand in a company name is ITV Network Limited which is a restructured version of the old ITCA.

Incidentally, most of the 'ITV' companies are registered to an address of 90 Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1PT. Where is this?

21 Holborn Viaduct is the address of Lovell White Durrant, an international law firm who have been advising Granada on the merger with Carlton.

Whilst some of the ITV companies are registered at 90 Fetter Lane (the offices of Bird & Bird - another international law firm) many are registered at 200 Grays Inn Road.

The fact that ITV Limited only took on its new name in November and has no discernable directors doesn't necessarially mean it has nothing to do with ITV. Many new companies are "off the shelf" companies already set up by lawyers that their clients can easily change the name of.

You're missing the basic point of what i've been saying. It is NOTHING to do with ITV, it is something to do with Carlton and Granada. They are NOT ITV, they are simply the major players in it. This is the whole basis of SMG's argument, that the ITV brand is NOT Carlton and Granada's to take.

If it has the word "Limited" after its name and is included on the Companies House register then it is most definitely a company.

The fact there is very little information available is due to the fact that, unless the name or directors change, no information needs to be sent to Companies House until sometime next year.



And what about all the other ITV companies? ITV Gold, ITV Cinema, ITV Sport?

Ultimately, a company can have any name it wants, within certain restrictions providing that it does not lead to the public being mislead about the company's business. As all these companies have ITV in the name, someone must have agreed that they wouldn't mislead the public. As SMG are part of the ITV franchise I would be amazed if they hadn't had some say in agreeing the names of these companies

Perhaps my fault for being ambiguous - I realise that it has been registed as a company, and incorporated. What I meant was that it does not appear to be trading as a company. It is perfectly legal to pre-register a company name, and incorporate a company, without actually trading under that registered name.

It may simply be that this name has been pre-registered by the Granada/Carlton consultancy in anticipation of the imminent merger. You will note that although the word 'Limited' is in there, and it is included on the Companies House register, there is no trading or indeed any kind of operation under that name, and therefore - under my own, perhaps flawed, definition - I fail to see how this is a company beyond the existence of its name.

All of this is fairly academic anyway; the issue is of course the ownership of the ITV name, and as cwathen pointed out, the legitimacy of Carlton and Granada's assumption of that ownership without any real justification beyond majority stakes in collective ITV interests.

There are so many "ITV" companies out there, can they really argue that 'ITV' is solely reflective of the relatively recent renaming of 'Channel 3'?

Indeed SMG - as with all the franchise holders - have a say. Except that Carlton and Granada between them hold 11 franchises, whilst SMG hold only 2, and there are only 2 more independents. The Carlton/Granada franchises are of course just puppets who will vote with what Carlton/Granada want, meaning that it is impossible for them to loose. Any votes taken about Carlton/Granada's use of the ITV brand are therefore completely meaningless and not fair - the pair have just decided to hijack it. I hope SMG are succesful in putting a stop to it.


They are just Carlton/Granada companies which have ITV in the name.

And what grounds are SMG going to fight this on?

That the 'ITV' name is the collective property of all of the franchise areas, and that just because Carlton and Granada own the majority of those franchises, it does not automatically entitle them to assume full ownership of the name, and that at the very least Carlton and Granada should be forced to compensate the other franchise holders; at most, SMG could succeed in attaining a ruling that the ITV name must remain the collective property of all franchise holders, until such time that all franchise holders decide to merge every franchise into a single 'ITV'.

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I hope SMG do hold on to their station names,however i think they just want some more money out of Carlton and Granada. I think that SMG will eventually sell out to Carlton and Granada as they did with S2 . SMG will eventually be part of ITV 1 and take their continuity from the network after all they have a scottish voice on the ITV 1 team and it would save them money .