In the 1960s and 1970s, an envisioned fourth UK television service was popularly referred to as ITV2, before the launch of Channel 4 (and its Welsh counterpart, S4C) in November 1982.
During the established 1954 Act, plans for "independent television" to consist of two or more channels in a given area were discussed its first inception, where ways of allowing the component companies to compete directly with one another were considered. When the first broadcasts went on the air in September 1955, there was not enough frequency space allocated for television, leading to the approach whereby each company was allotted a part of the country (or in the larger areas a period of the seven-day week, weekdays or weekend):
| Franchise awarded | Regional area | Programme company | Service date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 October 1954 | London (Mondays to Fridays) | Associated-Rediffusion | 22 September 1955 | |
| London (Saturdays and Sundays) | Associated Television (ATV) | 24 September 1955 | ||
| Midlands (Mondays to Fridays) | 17 February 1956 | |||
| 21 September 1955 | Midlands (Saturdays and Sundays) | ABC Weekend TV | 18 February 1956 | |
| 26 October 1954 | North of England (Mondays to Fridays) | Granada Television | 3 May 1956 | |
| 21 September 1955 | North of England (Saturdays and Sundays) | ABC Weekend TV | 5 May 1956 | |
| 30 May 1956 | Central Scotland | Scottish Television (STV) | 31 August 1957 | |
| 26 October 1956 | South Wales and West of England | Television Wales and the West (TWW) | 14 January 1958 | |
| 22 July 1957 | South of England (includes South East England from 31 January 1960) | Southern Television | 30 August 1958 | |
| 13 December 1957 | North East England | Tyne Tees Television | 15 January 1959 | |
| 25 June 1958 | East of England (includes Lincolnshire, East Riding of Yorkshire and northern parts of Norfolk from 20 December 1965) | Anglia Television | 27 October 1959 | |
| 10 November 1958 | Northern Ireland (includes Londonderry, Tyrone and Fermanagh from 18 February 1963) | Ulster Television (UTV) | 31 October 1959 | |
| 16 December 1959 | South West England | Westward Television | 29 April 1961 | |
| 5 May 1960 | English-Scottish Border (includes Isle of Man from 26 March 1965) | Border Television | 1 September 1961 | |
| 2 August 1960 | North East Scotland | Grampian Television | 30 September 1961 | |
| 28 March 1960 | Channel Islands | Channel Television (CTV) | 1 September 1962 | |
| 6 June 1961 | West and North Wales | Wales (West and North) Television/Teledu Cymru | 14 September 1962 |
This arrangement had not seen as ideal and the Independent Television Authority (was also admitted as an active member of the European Broadcasting Union on 1 January 1960) along with the regional companies continually pushed the government for capacity to license a second set of franchises.[1]
When transmissions began on 625-line ultra high frequency in the early 1960s, the General Post Office were afforded the task of allocating each transmitter region with a set of frequencies that would provide maximum coverage and minimal interference; this provided capacity for four television channels, allowing one each for the existing BBC (later became BBC1) and ITV services already carried on 405-line very high frequency, one for the new BBC2 (from 20 April 1964) and a fourth for future allocations. By 1968, the ITA considered this sufficiently likely that the new franchises were awarded for the next ten-year period they included a clause that allowed the licence to be revoked and reconsidered if a fourth UHF network became a reality.
Subsequently the potential fourth channel was often referred to as "ITV2". In anticipation of the second commercial network, it was common for television sets with push-button controls manufactured during the 1960s and 1970s to have buttons labelled "BBC1", "BBC2", "ITV1" and "ITV2".
During late 1969, the ITA started broadcasting in colour using the PAL system, and by the end of 1971 colour was available across the entire network, except in the Channel Islands where colour broadcasts began in 1976:
| Regional area | Programme company | Colour service date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midlands | Associated Television (ATV) | 15 November 1969 | |
| North West England (includes much of North East Wales and Isle of Man) | Granada Television | ||
| Yorkshire (includes Lincolnshire and northern parts of Norfolk from 30 July 1974) | Yorkshire Television | ||
| London (Fridays from 7.00pm to Sundays) | London Weekend Television (LWT) | ||
| London (Mondays to Fridays until 7.00pm) | Thames Television | 17 November 1969 | |
| South and South East England | Southern Television | 13 December 1969 | |
| Central Scotland | Scottish Television (STV) | ||
| Wales and West of England | Harlech Television (HTV) | 4 April 1970 | |
| North East England (includes much of North Yorkshire from 1 January 1974) | Tyne Tees Television | 17 July 1970 | |
| Northern Ireland | Ulster Television (UTV) | 14 September 1970 | |
| East of England (includes Lincolnshire, East Riding of Yorkshire and northern parts of Norfolk until 30 July 1974) | Anglia Television | 1 October 1970 | |
| South West England | Westward Television | 22 May 1971 | |
| Borders and Isle of Man | Border Television | 1 September 1971 | |
| North East Scotland | Grampian Television | 30 September 1971 | |
| Channel Islands | Channel Television (CTV) | 26 July 1976 |
The issue was a sensitive political point: the Labour Party of the 1950s and 1960s had traditionally been against commercial television and many on the left of the party wanted to see all commercial television abolished, advocating instead for an expansion of the BBC (which was not acted upon, most likely due to cost). The following Conservative government, and advocates of commercial broadcasting were also slow to act in implementing a new network after Edward Heath's victory in the general election on 18 June 1970, instead concentrating on Independent Local Radio when the Sound Broadcasting Act received royal assent on 12 July 1972, and the Independent Television Authority accordingly changed its name to the Independent Broadcasting Authority on the same day.
On 3 February 1977, the Annan Committee on the Future of Broadcasting made its recommendations including the establishment of a fourth independent television channel, the establishment of the Broadcasting Complaints Commission and an increase in independent production.[2] With the approach of the 1979 general election on 3 May, both the Conservatives and Labour included plans for a fourth channel in their election manifestos. Labour favoured an Open Broadcasting Authority community service aimed at minority groups, while the Conservatives' plan was for the channel to be given to ITV.[3] Both main parties also pledged to launch a separate Welsh language television service for Wales,[4] but when the Conservatives were elected, the new Home Secretary William Whitelaw decided against the idea and suggested, except for an occasional opt-out, that the service should be the same as offered in the rest of the United Kingdom. This led to acts of civil disobedience including refusals to pay the television licence fee, and sit-ins used for both the BBC and HTV studios with some attacks on various transmitters for the Welsh-speaking areas.
On 17 September 1980, the government reversed its position on a separate Welsh language service for Wales as following opposition from the public and politicians including a threat from the former president of Plaid Cymru, Gwynfor Evans to go on hunger strike and the idea was given the green light,[5] this led to the establishment of the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority. Later on 13 November of that year, the Broadcasting Act paves its way for leading process to create the new fourth television service as a subsidiary, with its subscription will be levied on the ITV regional companies to pay for this channel whether they selling airtime in return.
On 1 January 1981, the Channel Four Television Company was established to providing the service – for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland – led by Edmund Dell appointed as chairman and Jeremy Isaacs also became its chief executive, as well as the Welsh language channel will be although it will broadcast some English programmes during off-peak hours. From 2 August 1982, the trade test transmissions commenced, mainly consisting of the IBA's ETP-1 broadcasts between 9.00am and 8.00pm every day.
The two resultant services began in November 1982. It could be said that this was the long-awaited "ITV2" in all but name as it was operated and regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority. It was funded by ITV and then had a substantial amount of content produced by the major companies until 31 December 1992:
| Service name | Advertising managed by ITV companies | Launch date and time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| S4C | HTV Wales (includes several Welsh advertisements) | Monday 1 November 1982 (at 6.00pm) | |
| Channel 4 | Tuesday 2 November 1982 (at 4.45pm) |
On 1 January 1993, Channel 4 became an independent statutory corporation and under the terms of the Broadcasting Act 1990 was now also allowed to sell its own airtime. Under the Act, ITV agreed to fund Channel 4 if total advertising revenue fell below 14%. The network also made a payment of £38 million to ITV under terms of its funding formula.[6]
It was not until 7 December 1998 – 16 years after the launch of Channel 4 and S4C – that the name ITV2 was used for a new digital network in England and Wales to operate a single service with no regional content. On 11 August 2001, the ITV channel was renamed ITV1, a name that had been used on labelled push-buttons on many British television sets during the 1960s and 1970s.