I

The Independent Television network came about as a result of the Television Act 1954, which paved the way for the establishment of a commercial television service in the United Kingdom and created the Independent Television Authority (ITA).

Upon the creation of the network in 1955 and 1956, six franchises were awarded for London, the Midlands and the North of England with separate franchises for weekdays and the weekends. The companies in these regions were known as 'The Big Four' and consisted of Associated-Rediffusion (London weekday), ATV (Midlands weekday and London weekend), Granada Television (North of England weekday) and ABC (North of England and Midlands weekend). These companies were generally the best known and provided the most network output.

In 1957, Grampian Television began broadcast to Central Scotland. In 1958, television services were launched in South Wales & the West of England by TWW, and Southern Television launched in the South of England.

Tyne Tees Television (North East England), Anglia Television (East of England) and Ulster Television (Northern Ireland) each launched in 1959.

In 1961, television services launched in South West England (Westward Television), on the English-Scottish Border (Border Television), and in North East Scotland (Grampian Television).

Two regions launched in 1962: Channel Islands (Channel Television) and West & North Wales (WWN/Teledu Cymru). WWN collapsed financially and the region was taken over by TWW in 1964.

The 1967 franchise review saw the services in London handed over to Thames Television (weekdays) and LWT (weekends), and ATV take on a seven-day licence in the Midlands. The North of England was split into two, with Granada given a seven-day licence in North West England, and the new Yorkshire region awarded to Yorkshire Television. TWW lost the Wales & West of England to HTV.

Colour television was rolled out across most ITV regions between 1969 and 1971, with ATV, Granada, Yorkshire and LWT receiving it first, and the Channel Islands were the last to adopt the technology in 1976.

Another review in 1980 awarded new licences starting in 1982 to Central (the new name for ATV) in the Midlands, TVS in the South of England, and TSW in South West England. A new breakfast time service was given to TV-am.

In 1991 an auction for franchises led to Carlton earning the weekday services in London, Meridian taking over from TVS, and TSW were succeeded by Westcountry. The breakfast time franchise went to GMTV.

From 1997, changes began that led to a reduction in franchisees over the regions that remained unchanged. Ultimately, ITV became a single entity.