Anglia Television launched on 27 October 1959 as an independent company serving the East of England, the eleventh
ITA station to go on air. At its launch, Anglia broadcast from the Mendlesham Transmitter and was soon joined by Sandy Heath and then Belmont. Under the chairmanship of
Aubrey Buxton the station soon established a reputation for producing excellent drama, through a deal with the then-franchise holder for London,
Associated-Rediffusion. Anglia also established the long-running nature documentary series
Survival. During the early 1960s, it looked towards the unserved portion of south-east England, which was to be served by a transmitter at Dover, as a logical extension to its eastern bailiwick – however, the ITA decided to hand this part of the country to
Southern Television instead. In 1973, the
IBA planned to transfer the
Belmont transmitter, which served Lincolnshire, eastern Yorkshire, northern Norfolk and eastern Nottinghamshire, away from Anglia to
Yorkshire Television. The public protested against such a move, especially in parts of north Norfolk. Anglia decided not to publicly fight the IBA plans, after a board member had agreed to produce a film for the IBA explaining why Anglia should be allowed to keep hold of the Belmont transmitter. On 30 July 1974, the transmitter was transferred; due to this change, Anglia's profits were reduced from £2.2 million to £1.29 million. However, by 1976 Anglia had managed to improve its operations, posting results of £1.47 million. Anglia described the improvement as "satisfactory", and its prospects were considered "encouraging". In 1975, the technicians' union
(ACTT) criticised Anglia over the amount of regional programming being produced at the station, stating it had been dramatically decreasing since 1970 to just five hours per week. The concerns were raised to the IBA, who they believed would be able to construe the rapid decline in programming as the failure of Anglia to not fully commit to its obligations for the franchise area. In December 1976, Anglia dropped the
Thames children's series ''
Pauline's Quirkes'' as it believed it was insufficiently entertaining for its young audience. The company denied the move was due to the high volume of complaints about the content of the series. Thames said it was "surprised" at the decision, as the programme had rated well. In the autumn of 1977, a commercial Dutch television company was recording Anglia television signals and transmitting its English programmes, including
Granada's
Coronation Street and its own
Survival, to its viewers in
Amsterdam. The Dutch government did not believe it was a violation of Dutch copyright law –
EBU legal advisers held discussions about to how resolve the matter. In 1979, a survey carried out by the IBA highlighted Anglia as one of the best-known ITV companies – Anglia claimed that this was a testament to the strength of its commitment to a prominent local and national identity.
1980s In 1980, Anglia successfully retained the franchise after defeating a challenge from East of England TV, who wished to operate from Cambridge. In addition, the IBA bowed to public pressure from 70,000 viewers in northern parts of Norfolk who were served by Yorkshire Television via the Belmont Transmitter; many of the viewers had gone to "considerable trouble and expense" to receive Anglia Television. Three new low powered relay stations were built, allowing easier access to Anglia transmissions. Anglia was one of the first ITV companies to begin 24-hour transmission, launching a full overnight service in August 1987.
1990s to present On 9 July 1990,
About Anglia was replaced by a new dual news service, with both editions of
Anglia News broadcast from Norwich (long before this became standard practice in other ITV regions). Journalists were also based at seven regional newsrooms and a Westminster bureau. Anglia began providing separate news services for the East and West of the Anglia region. The two services were replaced with a single pan-regional service in February 2009 as part of major cutbacks to ITV's regional news output but have latterly been restored as
ITV News Anglia. Anglia retained its franchise at the
1991 ITV franchise auctions. In 1993, Anglia forged a partnership with American pay-TV network
HBO, owned by
Time Warner (now
Warner Bros. Discovery). Under this arrangement, Anglia acquired half-ownership in Citadel, an HBO production subsidiary; Time Warner subsequently acquired 50 percent of ITEL (International Television Enterprises Limited), Anglia's distribution unit. In addition, a new company was formed: Anglia Television Entertainment, 51% owned by Anglia and 49% owned by HBO. On 15 November, ATE entered into a joint-venture with
Brian Cosgrove and
Mark Hall to form
Cosgrove Hall Films, a restructuring of their previous studio Cosgrove Hall Productions which went dormant following owners
Thames Television's loss of their ITV franchise. ATE would handle 75% ownership while ITEL would handle the international distribution, while animation production would remain at the studio's longtime home of Manchester. In early 1994, Anglia Television was bought by MAI (owners of
Meridian Broadcasting), who merged with United Newspapers to form
United News and Media, eventually being joined by
HTV in 1996. In November 1999, UN&M purchased out HBO's stake in ITEL, making it a fully owned subsidiary. Following United's aborted merger attempt with
Carlton Communications,
Granada plc bought Anglia and Meridian, whilst selling off HTV (not including its studios) to Carlton. After the sale was complete, ITEL's assets were merged and folded into Granada Media's distribution arm. In 2004, Granada finally merged with Carlton to form
ITV plc, which ended Anglia Television's existence as a separate brand. During its period of UBM ownership, a 'youth' channel was launched to cable and satellite from Anglia Television's facilities,
Rapture TV; some productions for the ITV network were also shared with Rapture, which was retained by UBM after the sale to Granada, but later closed down and its assets sold. Many early programmes for the newly launched
Channel 5 were made at Anglia Television, as UBM also owned a stake in the channel (later sold to
RTL Group). Anglia Television no longer makes a significant content contribution to ITV nationally (the last major programme being
Trisha, before it moved to Channel 5) and the semi-independent Anglia Factual brand, which supplied content for
Discovery Channel in the USA,
Channel 4 and
Channel 5 in the UK and other broadcasters worldwide, was closed in January 2012 with any returning series re-allocated to either the London or Manchester factual departments. Notable series included
Animal Precinct and
Animal Cops for
Animal Planet,
Monkey Kingdom for
Channel 5 and
Real Crime and
Survival with Ray Mears for
ITV (credited as ITV Studios). Commercial Breaks, the now-defunct commercial production agency owned by ITV's sales division, was also based in Norwich. In 2006, ITV plc swapped subsidiaries, which involved renaming
Anglia Television Limited as ITV Broadcasting Limited and vice versa. However, due to Ofcom licensing regulation, the new Anglia Television Limited could not take up the franchise, which meant that the East Anglia franchise was effectively transferred to
ITV Broadcasting Limited. All other franchises then owned by
ITV plc were transferred to ITV Broadcasting Limited in December 2008. Thus, technically the former Anglia Television Limited (as ITV Broadcasting Limited) now holds all eleven regional ITV licences in England, Wales and southern Scotland; the other three ITV plc-owned licensees,
Channel Television Limited,
ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited and
UTV Limited, were acquired after 2008. Until 28 March 2017, Anglia Television Limited was listed on www.companieshouse.gov.uk as a private owned company. ==Studios==