Carlton Television

Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchise ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Television as a single entity (ITV London), but the two companies are still separately licensed. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited. Carlton has been branded on air as 'ITV1' since 28 October 2002, and as 'ITV' since 14 January 2013. Carlton legally exists as Carlton Television Ltd. This company is, along with most other regional companies owned by ITV plc, listed on www.companieshouse.gov.uk as a "Dormant company". As Carlton's name has no relation to its region, its on-screen identity has been completely removed (along with those of HTV, LWT and GMTV). Other regions have kept their original company name as a region name and in their local news name.

Formation

Carlton Television was originally set up by Michael Green's Carlton Communications to bid for an ITV franchise after Green failed to buy into Thames Television, the London franchise, in 1985. On 16 October 1991, Carlton won the 'Channel 3' franchise to broadcast to London during weekdays from January 1993 as a result of winning the silent auction used to renegotiate the new ITV franchises. Thames bid £32.5M while Carlton Television placed a bid of £43.2M, since both Thames and Carlton were deemed to have passed the quality threshold, the franchise was awarded to Carlton for having submitted the higher cash bid. Some commentators consequently speculated that Thames had fallen victim to a 'government vendetta', whilst others felt that the auction had been won fairly.