Night Network
Encyclopedia
Night Network, Night Time and Night Shift were names given to the overnight (usually between 12 and 6am) schedule of the ITV
network in the United Kingdom. The first ITV company began 24 hour broadcasting in 1986, with all of the companies broadcasting through the night by 1988. At first individual companies began to create their own services, however before too long, many of the smaller ITV station began simulcasting or networking services from others.
From this, numerous services began each offering their own distinct take on programmes, with regions taking one of the services on offer. As each franchise was taken over however, the services became fewer in number. Today, all of the ITV plc
regions show repeats of daytime programming and the ITV Nightscreen
service, STV broadcasts its own strand The Nightshift
and UTV
and Channel Television
air their own programmes.
It was during this time that Channel 4
also extended late night broadcasting hours - at which point, transmission staff for the ITV regional companies were required to playout the network's commercial breaks, even if the main ITV station had already closed down. There was also speculation of a threat from the Independent Broadcasting Authority to franchise overnight hours to a new company as had been done with breakfast television (TV-am
) in 1983.
Within just over two years of ITV's first overnight experiment (at Yorkshire Television in 1986), the entire network had commenced 24 hour transmission.
became the first ITV company and the first British terrestrial television station to offer 24-hour broadcasting. This was achieved by simulcasting the satellite station Music Box. This arrangement lasted for around five months until Music Box closed down on 30 January 1987. Thereafter, Yorkshire ran a teletext-based Jobfinder service for one hour after closedown with a Through Till 3 strand on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights introduced a few months later.
Starting from 25 April 1987, Central Independent Television
began extending its programming hours to 3am on weeknights and 4am at weekends, airing its own schedule of films, series and hourly Central News bulletins entitled More Central. The station's Jobfinder service (launched a year beforehand) aired for the remainder of the night until 6am. Meanwhile, Granada Television
took a more restrictive approach - during 1987, the station introduced a Nightlife strand, which saw programming hours extended until around 3am on Friday and Saturday nights only. A short-lived joint schedule was introduced by Central, Granada and Scottish Television when the companies began full 24-hour transmission on 13 February 1988, but abandoned within a few months. During this time, all three stations provided local presentation. Central continued to air its own overnight service until 1995 (with opt-outs for regional programming until circa 2003).
By September 1987, Anglia Television
, Thames Television
and LWT began 24-hour broadcasting - Anglia originally opted to air Night Network on weekends alongside its own overnight schedule on weeknights while LWT filled the post-Night Network slot with a short-lived Thru to 6 strand. Thames's Into the Night strand began during the summer of 1987 with broadcasts originally running until around 4am. Tyne Tees Television
also experimented with 24-hour transmission when in November 1987, it began airing its own teletext Jobfinder service between closedown and 6am. This continued until Granada's Night Time service launched the following September.
TVS
started its own Late Night Late strand in September 1987, gradually extending its broadcast hours until a full 24-hour service began on 20 June 1988 - the strand was the first to be simulcast on another ITV station (Channel Television
). HTV Wales and HTV West began broadcasting its own Night Club service on 22 August 1988. Both Late Night Late and Night Club took on a different approach to the practice of in-vision continuity - incorporating viewers' letters, competitions and live studio guests.
and Anglia
, before expanding to other regions during the summer of 1988. Whereas overnight broadcasts are commonplace today, back in the late 1980s, ITV decided it would take a more cautious approach with Night Network only initially broadcasting between 1am and 4am in the Friday and Saturday night schedules, and between 1am and 3am in the Sunday night schedule.
The show was produced for Night Network Productions and LWT by Jill Sinclair who had been the producer of BBC1's Pop Quiz and Channel 4's The Tube
at Tyne Tees Television
, aiming for a similar audience to that of these two shows. The format of Night Network was similar to Channel 4's Network 7
, or even a late night adult version of Saturday morning kids TV, as it was a mixture of quizzes, celebrity guests, imported serials and bands.
Feature segments included Street Cred with Paul Thompson
, Video View with Steve Allen and Kate Davies, Rowland Rivron
in The Bunker Show, Tim Westwood
's N-Sign Radio, Emma Freud
's chat segment Pillow Talk, Geoffrey Cantor
's video segment The Axeman, Barbie Wilde
's video review for The Small Screen, and quiz show The Alphabet Game hosted by Nicholas Parsons
, whilst cult TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
and Batman
were also frequently seen. Originally, on Sunday nights, classic movies were shown but this was only until the programme was expanded to other ITV regions on Friday 2 September 1988.
Although it proved a success, Night Network was never broadcast nationally - companies such as Central opted out of the entire programme from the start to provide its own schedule. With more programmes (be it imports, repeats or original output) competing for the overnight slots, the Sunday edition was eventually dropped during late 1988. By 1989, the first hour of Night Network became a London-only segment for LWT while the remaining two hours continued to air across other regions, albeit in differing timeslots depending on the stations' preferred schedules.
Night Network was broadcast for the last time on Friday 31 March 1989.
This new late night line up consisted mainly of films, cheap American syndicated shows such as America's Top Ten (presented by Casey Kasem
), American Gladiators
, WCW Worldwide
(which would later be promoted to a Saturday afternoon slot) and Donahue
. There were also a limited number of home-produced programming such as Granada's Nightbeat, The Other Side of Midnight, The Hitman and Her
, Quiz Night, Stand Up and LWT's Cue the Music.
in 1992, a new overnight service for both stations was launched entitled Night Shift, broadcast across both regions from YTV's transmission centre in Leeds with pre-recorded continuity from the station's announcing staff. Separate overnight presentation for the YTV and Tyne Tees areas was introduced two years later.
Both regions aired the same schedule of imports, films, local programming and Bollywood movies although for a short while, YTV refused to air more adult programming such as The Good Sex Guide and God's Gift - while such output continued to air on Tyne Tees. The service remained locally originated (despite the introduction of networked idents in 1997) until May 1998. YTV continued to opt out of the network for its regular Jobfinder programme at 5am until around 2005.
Around this time, original programming for the network included LWT's Cue the Music, Dial Midnight, ...in Profile, The Big E, Noisy Mothers, One to One, In Bed With Medinner
, Night Shift
and Thames's Video Fashion., albeit airing in differing timeslots depending on each strand's schedule. Imported output increased with featured shows including Night Heat
, Soap
, Three's Company
, The Time Tunnel
, Too Close for Comfort
, The Equalizer
and American sporting programmes.
Following the loss of Thames' franchise on 31 December 1992, Anglia and HTV began taking Granada's Night Time, leaving LWT with its own overnight presentation (branded for a time as 3 Nights).
introduced a new Nightime [sic
] service, airing from Monday - Thursday night and simulcast by Meridian and Channel Television.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, LWT aired its own overnight service while Meridian & Channel broadcast its own version of Nightime, presented in-vision from Southampton by ex-Late Night Late presenter Graham Rogers. Both Carlton and Meridian/Channel services utilised the same on-screen branding and presentation throughout the week. Around this time, programming largely consisted of output airing on the other services as well as imports including French soap Riviera and in the case of Meridian, regional programming including Freescreen, an experimental series featuring viewers' videos and social action features.
The 'Nightime' strand was dropped by Carlton in January 1995 in favour of LNN's ITV Night Time service while the Meridian/Channel version ended in December 1995, prior to the launch of a joint all-week service for the Meridian, Channel and Anglia regions.
(a subsidiary of Carlton & LWT) launched a revamped overnight service featuring new neon-themed presentation (without any station-specific branding) and a year later, a brand slogan - Television with Attitude. Initially broadcast on Carlton only, LWT began taking the new service a month later, followed in July by most of the regions formerly served by Granada's version of Night Time (which had been following the same schedule as LNN's service since the start of the year). Within a year of its launch, HTV and Westcountry opted to run its own joint overnight service from Cardiff with locally branded presentation and programming carried from Meridian.
Meridian launched a separate service in January 1996, which was simulcast in the Channel and Anglia regions. This service consisted of just a generic ITV logo without any continuity announcements or any additional presentation. The service used exactly the same schedule provided by LNN with some regional opt-outs.
New original programming was also produced for the network including Bushell on the Box, Carnal Knowledge, Club @vision, Cyber Cafe, Cybernet
, Curtis Calls, Hotel Babylon, God's Gift
and Pyjama Party. Although less reliant on imports than before, shows including Coach and Box Office America continued to feature within the schedules.
starting to take up timeslots (particularly towards the end of the night). From 2001 onwards, many of the former overnight programmes associated with the old Night Network and Night Time services were replaced with repeats of networked daytime shows (many of these including on-screen BSL
signing for the deaf). By 2005, the only original Night Time programme still airing was the offbeat cookery show Get Stuffed
. STV continued to run its own overnight schedule until around late 2004.
Quiz programming in the form of Quizmania
and later, ITV Play
output such as The Mint and Make Your Play aired overnight between December 2005 and December 2007.
and Loose Women
, sport reviews, teleshopping, documentaries such as Nightwatch with Steve Scott
, films and ITV Nightscreen
. STV in Northern & Central Scotland, UTV in Northern Ireland and Channel Television opt-out of the overnight schedule regularly for teleshopping, repeats, films and quiz programming.
STV also continues to provide its own localised presentation overnight - in April 2010, the station introduced The Nightshift
, a nightly strand consisting of interactive viewers' chat, local & national news and extracts from current and archived STV programming, linked by live out-of-vision announcers in Glasgow. Initially launched as a pilot in the Central Scotland region, the programme began airing a separate edition for Northern Scotland and later, separate editions for each of STV's four sub-regions. A single pan-regional programme is now broadcast across the STV North and STV Central regions with opt-outs for local news.
Channel Television
also opts out of ITV Nightscreen for a local Channel Nightscreen text news service.
By the 1990s, commercials for premium-rate phone chat lines and edited versions of infomercials for firms such as Teledisc and Time–Life became more prominent. Overnight commercial breaks on the ITV network now usually consist of programme trails and promos.
Part-networked services
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
network in the United Kingdom. The first ITV company began 24 hour broadcasting in 1986, with all of the companies broadcasting through the night by 1988. At first individual companies began to create their own services, however before too long, many of the smaller ITV station began simulcasting or networking services from others.
From this, numerous services began each offering their own distinct take on programmes, with regions taking one of the services on offer. As each franchise was taken over however, the services became fewer in number. Today, all of the ITV plc
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that operates 12 of the 15 regional television broadcasters that make up the ITV Network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom...
regions show repeats of daytime programming and the ITV Nightscreen
ITV Nightscreen
ITV Nightscreen is a scheduled programme on the United Kingdom's ITV television network, consisting of a sequence of animated pages of information about ITV's upcoming programmes, features and special events, with an easy listening music soundtrack. The programme is used to fill the station's...
service, STV broadcasts its own strand The Nightshift
The Nightshift
The Nightshift is an overnight regional television programme broadcast on STV in Northern and Central Scotland.The service, broadcast live from STV's transmission control centre at Pacific Quay in Glasgow, features highlights of archived STV programmes, STV News & ITV News bulletins, showbiz news...
and UTV
UTV
UTV is a television channel based in the UK region of Northern Ireland. The channel is the Channel 3 or Independent Television licensee for Northern Ireland and is operated by UTV Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of UTV Media.- Terrestrial :* Analogue: Normally tuned to 3 * Freeview : 3...
and Channel Television
Channel Television
Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey...
air their own programmes.
History
Up until the mid 1980s, all British television stations closed down for the night at around 12:30am to 1am. Some of the ITV companies wanted to expand their broadcasting hours in the belief there was an untapped market for television through the night. As early as 1983, London Weekend Television (LWT) was experimenting with extra hours on Friday and Saturday nights during its Nightlife strand, which pushed back closedown until around 2am.It was during this time that Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
also extended late night broadcasting hours - at which point, transmission staff for the ITV regional companies were required to playout the network's commercial breaks, even if the main ITV station had already closed down. There was also speculation of a threat from the Independent Broadcasting Authority to franchise overnight hours to a new company as had been done with breakfast television (TV-am
TV-am
TV-am was a breakfast television station that broadcast to the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 to 31 December 1992. It made history by being the first national operator of a commercial television franchise at breakfast-time , and broadcast every day of the week for most or all of the period...
) in 1983.
Within just over two years of ITV's first overnight experiment (at Yorkshire Television in 1986), the entire network had commenced 24 hour transmission.
Early experiments
On 9 August 1986, Yorkshire TelevisionYorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
became the first ITV company and the first British terrestrial television station to offer 24-hour broadcasting. This was achieved by simulcasting the satellite station Music Box. This arrangement lasted for around five months until Music Box closed down on 30 January 1987. Thereafter, Yorkshire ran a teletext-based Jobfinder service for one hour after closedown with a Through Till 3 strand on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights introduced a few months later.
Starting from 25 April 1987, Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
began extending its programming hours to 3am on weeknights and 4am at weekends, airing its own schedule of films, series and hourly Central News bulletins entitled More Central. The station's Jobfinder service (launched a year beforehand) aired for the remainder of the night until 6am. Meanwhile, Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
took a more restrictive approach - during 1987, the station introduced a Nightlife strand, which saw programming hours extended until around 3am on Friday and Saturday nights only. A short-lived joint schedule was introduced by Central, Granada and Scottish Television when the companies began full 24-hour transmission on 13 February 1988, but abandoned within a few months. During this time, all three stations provided local presentation. Central continued to air its own overnight service until 1995 (with opt-outs for regional programming until circa 2003).
By September 1987, Anglia Television
Anglia Television
Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
, Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....
and LWT began 24-hour broadcasting - Anglia originally opted to air Night Network on weekends alongside its own overnight schedule on weeknights while LWT filled the post-Night Network slot with a short-lived Thru to 6 strand. Thames's Into the Night strand began during the summer of 1987 with broadcasts originally running until around 4am. Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...
also experimented with 24-hour transmission when in November 1987, it began airing its own teletext Jobfinder service between closedown and 6am. This continued until Granada's Night Time service launched the following September.
TVS
Television South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
started its own Late Night Late strand in September 1987, gradually extending its broadcast hours until a full 24-hour service began on 20 June 1988 - the strand was the first to be simulcast on another ITV station (Channel Television
Channel Television
Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey...
). HTV Wales and HTV West began broadcasting its own Night Club service on 22 August 1988. Both Late Night Late and Night Club took on a different approach to the practice of in-vision continuity - incorporating viewers' letters, competitions and live studio guests.
Night Network
Night Network was ITV's first major experiment into the area of overnight broadcasting beginning on Friday 28 August 1987, originally for the ITV regions covered by LWT, TVSTelevision South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
and Anglia
Anglia Television
Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional...
, before expanding to other regions during the summer of 1988. Whereas overnight broadcasts are commonplace today, back in the late 1980s, ITV decided it would take a more cautious approach with Night Network only initially broadcasting between 1am and 4am in the Friday and Saturday night schedules, and between 1am and 3am in the Sunday night schedule.
The show was produced for Night Network Productions and LWT by Jill Sinclair who had been the producer of BBC1's Pop Quiz and Channel 4's The Tube
The Tube (TV series)
The Tube was an innovative United Kingdom pop/rock music television programme, which ran for five seasons, from 5 November 1982 until 1987...
at Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...
, aiming for a similar audience to that of these two shows. The format of Night Network was similar to Channel 4's Network 7
Network 7 (TV series)
Network 7 was a short-lived but influential youth music and current affairs programme screened on Channel 4 over two series in 1987 and 1988...
, or even a late night adult version of Saturday morning kids TV, as it was a mixture of quizzes, celebrity guests, imported serials and bands.
Feature segments included Street Cred with Paul Thompson
Paul Thompson
Paul Thompson may refer to:*Paul Thompson , quarterback for the University of Oklahoma Sooners*Paul Thompson , former basketball player...
, Video View with Steve Allen and Kate Davies, Rowland Rivron
Rowland Rivron
Rowland J. Rivron is a British comedian, musician, writer and television presenter.-Early life: Rivron was brought up in Hillingdon, West London and attended Abbotsfield Secondary School...
in The Bunker Show, Tim Westwood
Tim Westwood
Timothy Westwood is an English DJ and presenter of radio and television. He also presents the UK version of the MTV show Pimp My Ride...
's N-Sign Radio, Emma Freud
Emma Freud
Emma Vallencey Freud OBE is an English broadcaster and cultural commentator.-Early life:Emma Freud was born on 25 January 1962 and is the daughter of politician and broadcaster Sir Clement Freud and June Flewett. She is the great-granddaughter of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud...
's chat segment Pillow Talk, Geoffrey Cantor
Geoffrey Cantor
Geoffrey N. Cantor is emeritus professor of history and philosophy of science at the University of Leeds and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Science & Technology Studies at University College, London....
's video segment The Axeman, Barbie Wilde
Barbie Wilde
Barbie Wilde is a Canadian actress and writer, perhaps best known for appearing as the Female Cenobite in Hellbound: Hellraiser II - the second of eight Hellraiser films based on Clive Barker's novella, The Hellbound Heart...
's video review for The Small Screen, and quiz show The Alphabet Game hosted by Nicholas Parsons
Nicholas Parsons
Nicholas Parsons OBE is a British actor and radio and television presenter.-Early life:...
, whilst cult TV series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, often referred to as Captain Scarlet, is a 1960s British science-fiction television series produced by the Century 21 Productions company of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, John Read and Reg Hill...
and Batman
Batman (TV series)
Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
were also frequently seen. Originally, on Sunday nights, classic movies were shown but this was only until the programme was expanded to other ITV regions on Friday 2 September 1988.
Although it proved a success, Night Network was never broadcast nationally - companies such as Central opted out of the entire programme from the start to provide its own schedule. With more programmes (be it imports, repeats or original output) competing for the overnight slots, the Sunday edition was eventually dropped during late 1988. By 1989, the first hour of Night Network became a London-only segment for LWT while the remaining two hours continued to air across other regions, albeit in differing timeslots depending on the stations' preferred schedules.
Night Network was broadcast for the last time on Friday 31 March 1989.
Night Time from Granada
On 2 September 1988, four of the smaller ITV companies (Border, Grampian, Tyne Tees and TSW - joined a month later by Ulster) began 24 hour broadcasting with the introduction of Night Time, a part-networked service provided by Granada Television's presentation department in Manchester and intended to help the smaller ITV stations who were unable to provide a service of their own.This new late night line up consisted mainly of films, cheap American syndicated shows such as America's Top Ten (presented by Casey Kasem
Casey Kasem
Kemal Amin "Casey" Kasem is an American radio personality and voice actor who is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown show American Top 40, and for voicing Shaggy in the popular Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.Kasem, along with Don Bustany and...
), American Gladiators
American Gladiators
American Gladiators is an American competition television program that aired in syndication from September 1989 to May 1996. The series matched a cast of amateur athletes against each other, as well as against the show's own gladiators, in contests of strength and agility.The concept was created by...
, WCW Worldwide
WCW WorldWide
WCW WorldWide was a syndicated TV show produced by World Championship Wrestling.-Wide World Wrestling:The show began in 1975 , a syndicated one-hour program produced by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions...
(which would later be promoted to a Saturday afternoon slot) and Donahue
The Phil Donahue Show
The Phil Donahue Show, also known as Donahue, is an American television talk show that ran for 26 years on national television. Its run was preceded by three years of local broadcast in Dayton, Ohio, and it was broadcast nationwide between 1967 and 1996.In 2002, Donahue was ranked #29 on TV Guide's...
. There were also a limited number of home-produced programming such as Granada's Nightbeat, The Other Side of Midnight, The Hitman and Her
The Hitman and Her
The Hit Man And Her was a British television dance music show hosted by Pete Waterman and Michaela Strachan. The programme was produced by Granada Television in Manchester, Clear Idea Productions and Music Box and it ran almost continuously for over four years and three months September 1988 until...
, Quiz Night, Stand Up and LWT's Cue the Music.
Night Shift from Yorkshire
On 29 May 1988, Yorkshire Television reintroduced a full through-the-night service, this time consisting of films, imports, series and networked original programming including YTV's The James Whale Radio Show, simulcast locally with Radio Aire. Following Yorkshire's buyout of Tyne Tees TelevisionTyne Tees Television
Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region...
in 1992, a new overnight service for both stations was launched entitled Night Shift, broadcast across both regions from YTV's transmission centre in Leeds with pre-recorded continuity from the station's announcing staff. Separate overnight presentation for the YTV and Tyne Tees areas was introduced two years later.
Both regions aired the same schedule of imports, films, local programming and Bollywood movies although for a short while, YTV refused to air more adult programming such as The Good Sex Guide and God's Gift - while such output continued to air on Tyne Tees. The service remained locally originated (despite the introduction of networked idents in 1997) until May 1998. YTV continued to opt out of the network for its regular Jobfinder programme at 5am until around 2005.
ITV Night Time from Thames/LWT
During 1991, Anglia, HTV and TVS discontinued their own overnight strands and began carrying a new ITV Night Time service from London, provided by Thames from Monday to Thursday and LWT from Friday to Sunday. For the first time, both London companies utilised the same on-screen branding throughout the week - the only notable difference being LWT's near non-use of a continuity announcer at the weekend.Around this time, original programming for the network included LWT's Cue the Music, Dial Midnight, ...in Profile, The Big E, Noisy Mothers, One to One, In Bed With Medinner
In Bed with Medinner
In Bed with Medinner was a 1990s late-night British TV programme starring Bob Mills. It is a precursor to both the contemporary Harry Hill's TV Burp and Russell Brand's Ponderland....
, Night Shift
Night Shift (TV series)
Night Shift was a late-twentieth-century television series that portrayed people who work the night shift .Night Shift was made by a small independent production company called Addictive TV for the ITV network in the UK. Each episode of Night Shift lasted only five to ten minutes...
and Thames's Video Fashion., albeit airing in differing timeslots depending on each strand's schedule. Imported output increased with featured shows including Night Heat
Night Heat
Night Heat is a Canadian police drama series, which aired on CTV from 1985 to 1991. The show also aired on CBS in the United States from 1987 to 1993 and was the first Canadian-produced drama series to air on an American network...
, Soap
Soap (TV series)
Soap is an American sitcom that originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.The show was created as a parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such...
, Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
, The Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel
The Time Tunnel is a 1966–1967 U.S. color science fiction TV series. The show was created and produced by Irwin Allen, his third science fiction television series. The show's main theme was Time Travel Adventure. The Time Tunnel was released by 20th Century Fox and broadcast on ABC. The show ran...
, Too Close for Comfort
Too Close for Comfort (TV series)
Too Close for Comfort is an American television sitcom which ran on the ABC network and later in first-run syndication from November 11, 1980 to September 27, 1986. It was modeled after the British series Keep It in the Family, which debuted nine months before Too Close for Comfort debuted in the U.S...
, The Equalizer
The Equalizer
The Equalizer is an American television series that ran for four seasons, initially on CBS, between 1985 and 1989. It starred Edward Woodward as an aging New York vigilante with a mysterious past...
and American sporting programmes.
Following the loss of Thames' franchise on 31 December 1992, Anglia and HTV began taking Granada's Night Time, leaving LWT with its own overnight presentation (branded for a time as 3 Nights).
Nightime
In January 1993, the new ITV franchise holder for London weekdays, CarltonCarlton Television
Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
introduced a new Nightime [sic
Sic
Sic—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, —when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source...
] service, airing from Monday - Thursday night and simulcast by Meridian and Channel Television.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, LWT aired its own overnight service while Meridian & Channel broadcast its own version of Nightime, presented in-vision from Southampton by ex-Late Night Late presenter Graham Rogers. Both Carlton and Meridian/Channel services utilised the same on-screen branding and presentation throughout the week. Around this time, programming largely consisted of output airing on the other services as well as imports including French soap Riviera and in the case of Meridian, regional programming including Freescreen, an experimental series featuring viewers' videos and social action features.
The 'Nightime' strand was dropped by Carlton in January 1995 in favour of LNN's ITV Night Time service while the Meridian/Channel version ended in December 1995, prior to the launch of a joint all-week service for the Meridian, Channel and Anglia regions.
ITV Night Time from LNN
In January 1995, London News NetworkLondon News Network
London News Network was a television news and facilities organisation in London. It was created in 1992 as a joint operation between London's two ITV contractors, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television, with each company holding a 50% stake...
(a subsidiary of Carlton & LWT) launched a revamped overnight service featuring new neon-themed presentation (without any station-specific branding) and a year later, a brand slogan - Television with Attitude. Initially broadcast on Carlton only, LWT began taking the new service a month later, followed in July by most of the regions formerly served by Granada's version of Night Time (which had been following the same schedule as LNN's service since the start of the year). Within a year of its launch, HTV and Westcountry opted to run its own joint overnight service from Cardiff with locally branded presentation and programming carried from Meridian.
Meridian launched a separate service in January 1996, which was simulcast in the Channel and Anglia regions. This service consisted of just a generic ITV logo without any continuity announcements or any additional presentation. The service used exactly the same schedule provided by LNN with some regional opt-outs.
New original programming was also produced for the network including Bushell on the Box, Carnal Knowledge, Club @vision, Cyber Cafe, Cybernet
Cybernet
Cybernet was a weekly video gaming magazine programme, originally broadcast overnight on the ITV network in the United Kingdom. The programme was commissioned by Yorkshire Television and produced by Capricorn Programmes and also aired on GBC TV in Gibraltar...
, Curtis Calls, Hotel Babylon, God's Gift
God's Gift (TV series)
God's Gift was a British television game show broadcast for 2 series . It was produced by Granada Television and presented from the studio floor by Davina McCall and Claudia Winkleman . Stuart Hall provided the voiceover for both series...
and Pyjama Party. Although less reliant on imports than before, shows including Coach and Box Office America continued to feature within the schedules.
1999 - 2000s
With 24-hour programming becoming the norm on British television, ITV phased out the Night Time logos and presentation on overnight shows by late 1999 with generic network branding taking its place in most regions (Meridian's night time service remained in use until mid-2000 when it then adopted the generic branding. Channel and Anglia adopted the look at the same time.) and ITV NightscreenITV Nightscreen
ITV Nightscreen is a scheduled programme on the United Kingdom's ITV television network, consisting of a sequence of animated pages of information about ITV's upcoming programmes, features and special events, with an easy listening music soundtrack. The programme is used to fill the station's...
starting to take up timeslots (particularly towards the end of the night). From 2001 onwards, many of the former overnight programmes associated with the old Night Network and Night Time services were replaced with repeats of networked daytime shows (many of these including on-screen BSL
British Sign Language
British Sign Language is the sign language used in the United Kingdom , and is the first or preferred language of some deaf people in the UK; there are 125,000 deaf adults in the UK who use BSL plus an estimated 20,000 children. The language makes use of space and involves movement of the hands,...
signing for the deaf). By 2005, the only original Night Time programme still airing was the offbeat cookery show Get Stuffed
Get Stuffed
Get Stuffed is a British Television series of cookery shorts in which young members of the public demonstrate cooking their favorite dishes in their own kitchens.-Production:...
. STV continued to run its own overnight schedule until around late 2004.
Quiz programming in the form of Quizmania
Quizmania
Quizmania was a popular British interactive gameshow. The show was devised by Chuck Thomas, Debbie King, and Simone Thorogood and produced by Fremantle Media for Information TV and ITV . Currently, the online revival is produced by Screen Pop Ltd. in association with Illumina Digital...
and later, ITV Play
ITV Play
ITV Play was a 24/7 participation television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV plc. The ITV Play name continued on the ITV Network until December 2007....
output such as The Mint and Make Your Play aired overnight between December 2005 and December 2007.
Present
All ITV1 regions now carry the same schedule from London. ITV's current overnight schedule consists mainly of repeats of talk and lifestyle shows such as The Jeremy Kyle ShowThe Jeremy Kyle Show
The Jeremy Kyle Show is an award-winning British daytime television tabloid talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle that has been broadcast on ITV since 4 July 2005. The show is recorded and produced by Granada Television at the Granada Studios on Quay Street in Manchester city centre and broadcast each...
and Loose Women
Loose Women
Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...
, sport reviews, teleshopping, documentaries such as Nightwatch with Steve Scott
Nightwatch with Steve Scott
Nightwatch with Steve Scott is a weekday late-night documentary series on ITV, first broadcast on 8 January 2008. The series is presented by ITV News presenter Steve Scott and is produced by ITV Central. Nightwatch features various regional ITV programmes focusing on crime and emergency services....
, films and ITV Nightscreen
ITV Nightscreen
ITV Nightscreen is a scheduled programme on the United Kingdom's ITV television network, consisting of a sequence of animated pages of information about ITV's upcoming programmes, features and special events, with an easy listening music soundtrack. The programme is used to fill the station's...
. STV in Northern & Central Scotland, UTV in Northern Ireland and Channel Television opt-out of the overnight schedule regularly for teleshopping, repeats, films and quiz programming.
STV also continues to provide its own localised presentation overnight - in April 2010, the station introduced The Nightshift
The Nightshift
The Nightshift is an overnight regional television programme broadcast on STV in Northern and Central Scotland.The service, broadcast live from STV's transmission control centre at Pacific Quay in Glasgow, features highlights of archived STV programmes, STV News & ITV News bulletins, showbiz news...
, a nightly strand consisting of interactive viewers' chat, local & national news and extracts from current and archived STV programming, linked by live out-of-vision announcers in Glasgow. Initially launched as a pilot in the Central Scotland region, the programme began airing a separate edition for Northern Scotland and later, separate editions for each of STV's four sub-regions. A single pan-regional programme is now broadcast across the STV North and STV Central regions with opt-outs for local news.
Channel Television
Channel Television
Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey...
also opts out of ITV Nightscreen for a local Channel Nightscreen text news service.
Advertising
Most of the ITV stations experienced great difficulty in selling advertising slots for the overnight schedules - many companies were not convinced that the low viewing audiences were enough to justify buying airtime. In most cases, stations who were unable to sell advertising overnight simply replaced commercial breaks with public information films or interval captions. Notably, LWT's Thru To 6 service placed animated captions on-screen with music from the week's charts playing in the background.By the 1990s, commercials for premium-rate phone chat lines and edited versions of infomercials for firms such as Teledisc and Time–Life became more prominent. Overnight commercial breaks on the ITV network now usually consist of programme trails and promos.
Regional variations
Regional services| Service | Producer | Years in operation |
|---|---|---|
| Thames Into the Night | Thames Thames Television Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992.... |
August 1987 - c.1990 |
| Thru to 6 | LWT | 28 August 1987 - Early 1988 |
| Anglia Through the Night | Anglia Television Anglia Television Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional... |
August 1987 - 1 September 1991 |
| More Central | Central Central Independent Television Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting... |
25 April 1987 - 1995 |
| Through the Night/Scottish Night Time | Scottish Scottish Television Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active... |
13 February 1988 - 1998 |
| Through The Night | Yorkshire Yorkshire Television Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network... |
29 May 1988 - 5 October 1992 |
| Night Club | HTV Wales/ HTV West |
22 August 1988 - 28 April 1991 |
| 3 Nights | LWT | 1993 - 12 February 1995 |
Part-networked services
| Service | Producer | Years in operation !! Regions | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late Night Late | TVS Television South Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK... |
September 1987 - August 1991 |
|
| Night Network | LWT London Weekend Television London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and... |
28 August 1987 - 31 March 1989 (weekends only) |
London Weekend Television London Weekend Television was the name of the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties including south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire, Warwickshire, east Dorset and... Channel Television Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey... (In conjunction with Late Night Late) Television South Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK... (In conjunction with Late Night Late) Anglia Television Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional... (In conjunction with Anglia Through The Night)These are the only stations that can be confirmed, using video evidence from TVARK and YouTube, diffinitely used the service. Many others used the service in conjunction with their own services. |
| Night Time | Granada Granada Television Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful.... |
2 September 1988 - July 1995 |
Granada Television Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful.... Border Television Border Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria... Grampian Television Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife... Television South West Television South West was the ITV franchise holder for the South West England region from 1 January 1982 until 31 December 1992, broadcasting from the former Westward Television studios in Plymouth, Devon.-Origins and Launch:... (partly locally-branded, until 31 December 1992) Tyne Tees Television Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region... (until 4 October 1992) Anglia Television Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional... (from January 1993) Westcountry Television Westcountry Television, is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW , from the 1 January 1993... (from 1 January 1993) |
| ITV Night Time | Thames Thames Television Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992.... /LWT |
c.1990 - December 1992 |
Thames Television Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992.... /LWT Anglia Television Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional... (1991-) Television South Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK... (1991-) Channel Television Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey... (1991-) |
| Night Shift | Yorkshire Yorkshire Television Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network... |
5 October 1992 - May 1998 |
Yorkshire Television Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network... (locally branded, from 1994) Tyne Tees Television Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region... (locally branded, from 1994) |
| Nightime | Carlton Carlton Television Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,... /Meridian Meridian Broadcasting Meridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited.... |
1 January 1993 - December 1995 |
Carlton Television Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,... (until December 1994) Meridian Broadcasting Meridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited.... Channel Television Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey... |
| ITV Night Time | London News Network London News Network London News Network was a television news and facilities organisation in London. It was created in 1992 as a joint operation between London's two ITV contractors, Carlton Television and London Weekend Television, with each company holding a 50% stake... (for Carlton Carlton Television Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,... /LWT) |
January 1995 - 1999 |
Carlton Television Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,... Central Independent Television Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting... (opt-outs until circa 2003) Border Television Border Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria... (from July 1995) Granada Television Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful.... (from July 1995) Grampian Television Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife... (July 1995 - 1998) Westcountry Television Westcountry Television, is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW , from the 1 January 1993... (July - December 1995) Tyne Tees Television Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region... (from May 1998) Yorkshire Television Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network... (from May 1998) |
| ITV Night Time | Meridian Meridian Broadcasting Meridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited.... |
January 1996 - 2000 |
Meridian Broadcasting Meridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited.... Channel Television Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey... Anglia Television Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional... Westcountry Television Westcountry Television, is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW , from the 1 January 1993... (locally branded, from January 1996) |
| Night Time TV | Scottish Scottish Television Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active... |
Late 1998 - 30 May 2006 |
Scottish Television Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active... Grampian Television Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife... |
| ITV Night Time | Carlton Carlton Television Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,... /Granada Granada Television Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful.... |
2000–2002 |
Anglia Television Anglia Television is the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region. Although Anglia Television takes its name from East Anglia, its transmission coverage extends beyond the generally accepted boundaries of that region. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional... Channel Television Channel Television is a British television station which has served as an Independent Television contractor to the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey... Border Television Border Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria... Carlton Television Carlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,... /LWT Central Independent Television Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting... (opt-outs until circa 2003) Granada Television Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful.... Grampian Television Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife... Meridian Broadcasting Meridian Broadcasting is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting Limited.... Tyne Tees Television Tyne Tees Television is the ITV television franchise for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. As of 2009, it forms part of a non-franchise ITV Tyne Tees & Border region, shared with the ITV Border region... Westcountry Television Westcountry Television, is the ITV franchise holder in the South West of England, replacing its predecessor, TSW , from the 1 January 1993... Yorkshire Television Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network... |