Development During the drafting of the
Television Act 1954, proposals were considered to allow “independent television” to comprise two or more channels within a single region, and to establish mechanisms through which the companies could compete with one another. When the first broadcasts went on the air in September 1955, there was not enough frequency space allocated for multiple independent television channels, 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). The
Independent Television Authority, the agency created to supervise independent television, along with the regional companies continually pushed the government for capacity to license a second set of franchises.
Proposals When transmissions began on
625-line ultra high frequency in the early 1960s, the
General Post Office was afforded the task of allocating each
transmitter region with a set of frequencies that would provide maximum coverage and minimal interference. This had the potential to provide capacity for four television channels, allowing one for existing
BBC (which later became
BBC1), one for
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". 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 – though this was not acted upon, most likely due to cost. The following
Conservative government, along with advocates of commercial broadcasting, were similarly slow to act in implementing a new network following
Edward Heath's victory in the
general election on 18 June 1970. They instead concentrated on
Independent Local Radio when the
Sound Broadcasting Act 1972 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, albeit controlled by a new Open Broadcasting Authority; the establishment of the
Broadcasting Complaints Commission; and an increase in independent production. ITV companies continued to hope for ITV2. With the approach of the
1979 general election on 3 May, both the Conservative Party and Labour Party 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. Both parties also pledged to launch a separate
Welsh language television service for
Wales, 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, sit-ins at both the
BBC and
HTV studios, and attacks on various transmitters for the Welsh-speaking areas. On 17 September 1980, following opposition from the public and politicians – including a threat from the former president of
Plaid Cymru,
Gwynfor Evans to go on
hunger strike – the government reversed its position on a separate Welsh language service for Wales. The idea was given the green light, which led to the establishment of the
Welsh Fourth Channel Authority. Later, on 13 November of that year, the
Broadcasting Act 1980 paved the way to create the new fourth television service as a subsidiary of the
IBA, with a subscription to be levied on the
ITV regional companies to pay for the channel, ITV companies able to sell commercial advert airtime in return.
Result On 1 January 1981, the
Channel Four Television Company was established to provide service for
England,
Scotland and
Northern Ireland, led by
Edmund Dell as chairman and
Jeremy Isaacs as chief executive, and the Welsh language channel
S4C was established to provide service for
Wales (although it broadcast some
English programmes during off-peak hours). On 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 services began in November 1982. It was funded by ITV and then had a substantial amount of content produced by the
regional companies until 31 December 1992. The ITV companies initially operating on Channel 4 were: On 1 January 1993, Channel 4 became an independent
statutory corporation, and under the terms of the
Broadcasting Act 1990 was 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 the terms of its funding formula. 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. ==See also==