Fourth UK television service

This article is about proposals in the 1960s and 1970s for a second UK commercial television network, sometimes referred to as "ITV2". For the digital television channel, see ITV2.

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.

History

Development

Plans for independent television to consist of two or more channels in a given area were first discussed during its inception, where ways of allowing the component companies to compete directly with one another were considered. When the first broadcasts went on the air on 22 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):

Channel	Regional area
BBC Television Service	London (2 November 1936) Midlands (17 December 1949) North of England (12 October 1951) Scotland (14 March 1952) West of England (15 August 1952 – including Wales until 1964) Northern Ireland (1 May 1953) Wales (9 February 1964)
Independent Television	Associated-Rediffusion/ATV (22–24 September 1955) ATV/ABC (17–18 February 1956) Granada/ABC (3–5 May 1956) STV (31 August 1957) TWW (14 January 1958) Southern (30 August 1958) Tyne Tees (15 January 1959) Anglia (27 October 1959) Ulster (31 October 1959) Westward (29 April 1961) Border (1 September 1961) Grampian (30 September 1961) Channel TV (1 September 1962) WWN/Teledu Cymru (14 September 1962 – later absorbed by TWW on 26 January 1964)

This arrangement was not seen as ideal and the Independent Television Authority 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 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 (such as Harlech, Yorkshire, Thames and LWT) were awarded for the next ten-year period they included a clause that allowed the licence to be revoked and reconsidered if "ITV2" became a reality.

The term "ITV2" became popular as "ITV" itself grew in popularity for the commercial network which had previously been referred to as "Independent Television" or "Commercial Television". In anticipation of the second network, it was common for television sets with push-button controls manufactured during the 1960s and 1970s with these channels 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 BBC Television (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. 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. Both main parties also pledged to launch a separate Welsh language television service for Wales, 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 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. This led to the establishment of the Welsh Fourth Channel Authority.

Legacy

The two resultant services – Channel 4 and S4C – began in November 1982, it could be said that this service was long-awaited "ITV2" in all but name, as it was operated and regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (which later became the Independent Television Commission in 1991). It was funded by ITV and then had a substantial amount of content produced by the major companies until the end of 1992:

Service name	Advertising managed by ITV regional companies	Launch date
S4C	HTV Cymru Wales (includes Welsh advertisements)	1 November 1982
Channel 4	Thames/LWT Anglia TVS Channel TV TSW HTV West Central Granada Yorkshire Tyne Tees Border STV Grampian Ulster (with Irish-related content)	2 November 1982

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 channel also made a payment of £38 million to ITV under terms of its funding formula.

It was not until 16 years after the launch of Channel 4 (and S4C) that the name "ITV2" was used for a new digital channel on 7 December 1998.

See also

• Television Act 1954
• Toddlers' Truce
• Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting
• Broadcasting Act 1980
• Timeline of Channel 4
• Timeline of television in Wales