What is ITV?
{{unreferenced|date=August 2010}} '''ITV''' (first known as '''Independent Television''') is a [[public broadcasting|public television broadcasting]] service in the [[United Kingdom]]. It was set up in 1954 by the [[Television Act 1954]] provide [[competition (economics)|competition]] to the [[BBC]]. ==History== The Television Act 1954 outlined the service that Independent Television would produce. It also created the Independent Television Authority to manage the ITV network and its [[Transmitter|transmitters]] that would be used by the ITV companies to produce a regional service. In 1969, color television started in some areas of the ITV network and by 1975, the entire ITV network was in color. In 1998, [[ITV2]] launched as a channel. It was mainly promoted with ONdigital (renamed [[ITV Digital]] in 2001) and it's subscription service even though ITV2 was [[Free-to-air|free to air]]. In 2002, all franchises in [[England]] and [[Wales]] started using the [[ITV1]] name. In 2004, [[ITV plc]] launched [[ITV3]] as a free to air channel, replacing Plus (originally Granada Plus before Granada and Carlton merged into ITV plc.). In 2005, ITV plc launched [[ITV4]]. The channel was supposed to replace [[Men & Motors]], the last channel of the [[Granada Sky Broadcasting]] deal that was finalised in 1996, but it would end up replacing the ITV News channel. In 2009, ITV1 HD launched as a high definition channel on [[Freeview|Freeview HD]] and 5 months later on other platforms. ==Current ITV regions== Listed as they were originally named and as they are known now: *Anglia Television (now known as 'ITV Anglia', broadcasting to the [[East of England]]) *Carlton Central (now known as 'ITV Central', broadcasting to the [[Midlands|English Midlands]]) *Carlton / London Weekend Television (now known as 'ITV London', broadcasting to [[London]]) *Meridian Broadcasting (now known as 'ITV Meridian', broadcasting to [[South West England]]) *Tyne Tees Television (now known as 'ITV Tyne Tees', broadcasting to [[North East England]