ITV Channel Television

ITV Channel Television, previously Channel Television, is a British television station which has served as the ITV contractor for the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey and broadcasts regional programmes for insertion into the network ITV schedule. Until November 2011, Channel Television was one of four ITV companies independent from ITV plc alongside the two STV regions in Scotland and UTV in Northern Ireland. The station has been owned by ITV plc since 2012.

Until the takeover by ITV plc, Channel Television also had a responsibility to ensure independent productions for ITV complied with the regulator Ofcom's broadcasting rules. Until the regulations changed, Ofcom could only impose a maximum fine of 5% of the revenue of the company responsible for compliance, and as Channel was by far the smallest ITV contractor, this minimised the potential fines to which ITV as a whole would be exposed. Channel handled compliance for programmes including The X Factor, Midsomer Murders and the British Comedy Awards.

The station's main competitor is the BBC, which operates an opt-out of the South West England news programme BBC Spotlight.

History

Launch

Channel Television was awarded the licence for the islands in 1960 by the then regulator the Independent Television Authority (ITA). However, the ITA pointed out that the Television Act 1954 (2 & 3 Eliz. 2. c. 55) that established ITV did not include provision for the Channel Islands and as a result, if the ITA was to operate an ITV service there, it would have to be permitted by means of extending the act to the islands with an Order in Council, which was granted as the Television Act 1954 (Channel Islands) Order 1961 (SI 1961/2039). In addition, the new station faced difficulties connecting to the rest of the ITV network. The solution was the construction of a microwave relay station on the northern island of Alderney that would connect with another ITV station, initially Westward Television. At first, the station received difficulties in getting permission for the new mast, but these were overcome in September 1961.

1960s and 1970s

The size of Channel's audience made the station initially vulnerable to any disputes and disturbances to the ITV network as a whole. When technicians went on strike in the summer of 1968, Channel was the only station not to be affected. This process was further complicated by a quality threshold, in which a higher bidder could be disqualified for having a poor business plan or if its high bid would result in a lack of funds for the programmes themselves. Channel had won the right to continue broadcasting beyond 1993. As another consequence of the franchise round, Channel began local news broadcasts during breakfast time as part of GMTV's new service. The buy-out occurred at the same time as the full scale amalgamation of ITV with many of the regional franchises becoming owned by one of four consortia: Carlton, Granada, United News and Media and Scottish Media Group. Channel subsequently remained one of two franchises to be not part of a consortium (the other being UTV). When Carlton and Granada (which by then also included the United News and Media franchises) merged to form ITV plc in 2004, Channel remained separate from this new merger. Channel's independence from ITV plc also saw it retain its regional non-news programmes when other regions saw this type of programming dropped.

thumb|right|200px|One of ITV Channel Television's vehicles as seen in 2011.

Despite being a small station, Channel took on a role in ensuring that ITV's independently produced programmes complied with the UK's guidelines and laws. On 18 May 2008, The Sunday Times newspaper reported that ITV plc was using Channel's compliance role as a loophole, enabling it to lessen a possible fine for breaching Ofcom regulations during the 2005 British Comedy Awards. During the programme Robbie Williams presented an award to Ant and Dec which should have gone to Catherine Tate who had received a greater number of phone-in votes. For this breach, Ofcom fined the broadcaster, which was worked out as a maximum of 5% of the offending broadcaster's advertising revenue. However, as the programme was independently produced Channel is seen as the offending broadcaster for not ensuring compliance, despite Channel having no role in commissioning the programme. Therefore, any fines received are minimal as Channel's advertising income was by far the smallest of all the ITV companies.

In early 2008, Channel began broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen, approximately a decade after the rest of the network became widescreen capable with the launch of digital terrestrial television. The Channel Islands also completed the switchover from analogue to digital television signals in November 2010.

In 2011, Channel Television was bought from the Yattendon Group by ITV plc. The deal was announced on 18 October, subject to approval from the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority, and was completed on 23 November. Although not announced, the deal was thought to have been worth at least £10 million. Following ITV's 2013 rebrand, Channel's presentation and the title of its news programme have been brought into line with the other ITV regions, although sporadic non-news programming remains.

Studios

Channel Television operates two studios: the Jersey headquarters at Castle Quay on the St Helier waterfront and a Guernsey studio at Television House in Bulwer Avenue in St. Sampson, a building shared with BBC Radio Guernsey.

In Jersey, Channel's first headquarters were a purpose-built centre at the corner of Rouge Bouillon and Val Plaisant, housing one main 1,000 sq.ft. studio for all local productions and a continuity suite. As the company expanded, Channel moved into larger facilities in 1988 at La Pouquelaye, converted from the former offices of Rediffusion's Jersey operation. Initially, the La Pouquelaye centre housed two production studios (the smaller studio B was latterly converted into offices) and a continuity studio, later used exclusively for Puffin's Pla(i)ce. Channel moved to its current, smaller premises at Castle Quay in June 2015.

Channel's Guernsey operation was founded upon the station's launch in a hotel in Saint Peter Port, moving to Market Square in 1967, from where a microwave link with the Jersey headquarters was established in 1971, allowing live studio contributions from the island to be broadcast for the first time. In 1983, Channel in Guernsey moved again to larger facilities at St George's Esplanade, from where Channel Report was presented on a regular basis. The current Guernsey base in St. Sampson, including a small multi-camera studio, was opened in 1997.

The first colour ident used by Channel involved a striped CTV, which would serve as the station logo until 1999. The first ident featured this static logo made of orange stripes on a white outline against a blue background with a soundtrack of a brass fanfare titled "Superstar Fanfare", composed by Keith Mansfield. This same fanfare was later used when Channel launched its next ident, featuring the lines of the CTV logo spinning into place, coloured gold against a black background. This was introduced around 1985 and was utilised for the station's 25th anniversary in 1987, when each line of the CTV logo was drawn out before spinning back to be joined by a striped 25.

On 14 January 2013, the station's on-air identity was changed to ITV, along with all other ITV plc-owned franchises. There are no specific idents stating Channel Television but the name is instead verbally referred to at the 6pm junctions before ITV News Channel TV and for a time it was used overnight.

Programmes

Local shows

ITV News Channel TV
Puffin's Pla(i)ce
Channel Islands Sports Awards

Contributions to network and multi-region series

Although Channel made little for the ITV network it did contribute to a number of roadshow and anthology series which were collaboratively produced in a number of the smaller TV regions, such as Highway.

Other programmes

The Lonely Man (1963)
The Bitter Years (1970; about the occupation of the Channel Islands during the Second World War)
Jambo: The Gentle Giant (one-off documentary, 1986)
Gallery (1986–92)
The Dodo Club (1987–89)
Cyril Fletcher's TV Garden (1990–92)
Bertie the Bat (1990)
Island (1996–97)
The Story of the Battle of Flowers (two-part documentary, 2002)
Simply the Best (2004)