Timeline of Granada Television

This is a timeline of the history of Granada Television (now known as ITV Granada).

1950s
  • 1955
    • No events.
  • 1956
    • 3 May – Granada Television launches, originally just broadcasting in the north west.
    • 3 November – Granada, and weekend contractor ABC, begin transmitting across most of Yorkshire from the newly built Emley Moor transmitting station.
  • 1957
    • No events.
  • 1959
    • No events.

1960s
  • 1961
    • No events.
  • 1962
    • 21 September – The first episode of quiz programme University Challenge is broadcast and is one of the very few non-news/current affairs programmes on ITV to be transmitted without a commercial break. The programme continues to be shown on ITV for the next 25 years before being revived in 1994 as an independent commission for the BBC where it continues to this day.
  • 1963
    • 7 January – The first edition of Granada's flagship current affairs programme World in Action is broadcast.
  • 1964
    • 24 February – Granada broadcasts after midnight for the first time when it shows coverage of Henry Cooper's title fight at Manchester's Belle Vue Zoological Gardens.
    • 5 May – World in Action broadcasts a film called Seven Up which followed the lives of 14 British children aged seven. It continued to track their lives at seven-year intervals and its latest instalment, 63 Up, premiered in 2019.
    • Granada is given a three-year extension to its licence. This is later extended by a further year.
  • 1965
    • No events.
  • 1966
    • No events.
  • 1968
    • 29 July – From today, Granada only broadcasts to the north west although it now operates seven days a week.
    • August – A technicians strike forces ITV off the air for several weeks although management manage to launch a temporary ITV Emergency National Service with no regional variations.
    • Granada launches its famous pointed ‘G’ logo, replacing the “From the North” tagline. The new ident is not animated and consists purely of a static caption.[5]
  • 1969
    • 15 November – Granada starts broadcasting in colour.

1970s
  • 1970
    • No events.
  • 1971
    • No events.
  • 1972
    • 16 October – Following the lifting of restrictions on broadcasting hours, Granada launches an afternoon service.
  • 1973
    • Granada's nightly news programme is relaunched as Granada Reports. The nightly news programme had previously had various titles, including Northern Newscast, Scene at Six Thirty, Newsview and People and Places.
  • 1974
    • The 1974 franchise round sees no changes in ITV's contractors as it is felt that the huge cost in switching to colour television would have made the companies unable to compete against rivals in a franchise battle.
  • 1975
    • No events.
  • 1976
    • No events.
  • 1977
    • No events.
  • 1978
    • 10 April – Granada opens a news base in Liverpool.
  • 1979
    • 10 August – The ten week ITV strike forces Granada Television off the air. The strike ends on 24 October.

1980s
  • 1980
    • 28 December – The Independent Broadcasting Authority announces the new contractors to commence on 1 January 1982 and Granada is re-awarded its licence although its coverage area is to be slightly reduced with several transmitters along its border being transferred to other companies.
  • 1981
    • No events.
  • 1983
    • 1 February – ITV's breakfast television service TV-am launches. Consequently, Granada's broadcast day now begins at 9:25 am.
    • 14 February – Granada goes off air because of an industrial dispute staged by electricians at their Manchester studios that is sparked by discord when a foreman receives a pay rise without union knowledge. Members of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU) hold a meeting to discuss the situation, scheduling it to coincide with the evening's broadcast of Coronation Street. As a result, the Monday evening schedule is heavily disrupted, while Coronation Street is scheduled as a one-off omnibus edition along with the week's Wednesday episode later in the week, and is also aired on Channel 4 the following Sunday.
  • 1984
    • No events.
  • 1985
    • 3 January – The last day of transmission using the 405-lines system.
  • 1986
    • April – Most of Granada's regional news operation is relocated from Manchester to a computerised news centre at the former Traffic Office building in Liverpool's Albert Dock.
  • 1987
    • 7 September – Following the transfer of ITV Schools to Channel 4, ITV provides a full morning programme schedule, with advertising, for the first time. The new service includes regular five-minute national and regional news bulletins.
  • 1988
    • 13 February – Granada launches 24-hour broadcasting.[8]
    • 2 September – Granada launches an overnight service called Night Time to make it easier for the smaller companies to introduce 24-hour broadcasting. The service is networked to Tyne Tees, TSW, Grampian and Border with Ulster taking the service from 3 October.[9]
    • 3 October – Having been awarded the contract to produce ITV's new flagship daytime programme, This Morning makes its debut. Granada had fought off bids from four other ITV companies to produce the show.
  • 1989
    • 5 June – Granada launches a look featuring a translucent pointed G, which rotated into place in time to the music against a natural scene.[5]
    • 1 September – ITV introduces its first official logo as part of an attempt to unify the network under one image whilst retaining regional identity. However Granada refused to adopt it, because the Granada Television logo was incorrectly inserted into the 'V' segment of the logo. The company used a version with its translucent logo shown at the beginning, before continuing with the generic ident and ending with the generic ITV logo.[5]

1990s
  • 1990
    • 2 January – Granada Television's nightly news programme Granada Reports is rebranded as Granada Tonight and the shorter bulletins are rebranded as Granada News.
    • May – What the Papers Say, which had been broadcast on ITV and Channel 4 since 1956, becomes the first Granada commission for the BBC when the show transfers from ITV to the Corporation.
    • 25 May – Granada starts broadcasting in NICAM digital stereo.[10]
    • 4 June – Granada Television, in the run-up to the 1990 franchise round, relaunches its on-screen branding to a blue stripe descending from the top of the screen, containing the pointed 'G', against a plain white background accompanied by the same music as previously. Variations are seen from which the stripe formed from a falling feather or was backlit.[5]
  • 1992
  • 1993
    • No events.
  • 1994
    • The BBC commissions Granada to produce a revival of University Challenge. The programme had last been seen on ITV screens in 1987. It continues to this day.
  • 1995
    • 4 June – Granada closes its Night Time service and instead carries the new national overnight service from London.
  • 1996
    • Granada-produced daytime show This Morning is moved from Liverpool's Albert Dock to the London Studios on the grounds that it was difficult to get celebrity guests to travel from London to Liverpool.[12]
    • 1 October – Granada Sky Broadcasting launches. It is a joint venture between Granada and BSkyB. The four-channel service consists of Granada Plus, showing entertainment programmes from the archives of Granada and its subsidiaries; Granada Good Life is a lifestyle channel split into four segments: Granada Food & Wine, Granada Health & Beauty, Granada TV High Street and Granada Home & Garden; Granada Men & Motors is a channel aimed at men and broadcasts for three hours each night, after Granada Plus; and Granada Talk TV is a daytime-only debate channel.
  • 1998
    • 1 May – Granada Good Life is relaunched as a single channel called Granada Breeze in order to improve ratings.
    • 15 November – OnDigital launches and the three remaining Granada Sky Broadcasting channels form part of the service.
    • 7 December – After more than 35 years on air, the final edition of Granada's current affairs programme World in Action is broadcast. It is replaced by Tonight.

2000s
  • 2000
    • No events.
  • 2002
    • 27 March – ITV Digital goes into administration.[14]
    • 30 April – Granada Breeze closes.
    • 1 May – ITV Digital stops broadcasting.[15]
    • 28 October – On-air regional identities are dropped apart from when introducing regional programmes and Granada is renamed ITV1 Granada. This leads to sweeping cuts in the organisation, including cutting budgets for programmes[16] and a loss of jobs at Granada's Manchester headquarters.[16]
  • 2003
    • No events.
  • 2007
    • No events.
  • 2008
    • What the Papers Say is broadcast on television for the final time following a decision by the BBC not to renew the programme.[18] The programme had been produced by Granada since 1956.
    • December – All non-news local programming ends after Ofcom gives ITV permission to drastically cut back its regional programming.[19] From 2009 the only regional programme is the monthly political discussion show.
  • 2009
    • February – ITV makes major cutbacks to its regional broadcasts in England. Granada News is unaffected by the changes.[20]
    • 16 July – ITV Granada take over coverage of the Isle of Man from ITV Border.
    • 2 December – The Granada region completes digital switchover.

2010s
  • 2010
    • 1 April – Men & Motors stops broadcasting.
    • September – The iconic sign "Granada TV" sign on the roof and entrance of Granada Studios is removed after a safety check revealed the signs, that had been in place since the 1950s, were severely corroded and unsafe.[21]
    • December – ITV announces that it will move its north west production facilities from the Granada Studios on Quay Street in central Manchester to MediaCityUK.
  • 2011
    • No events.
  • 2012
    • No events.
  • 2013

See also

References
  1. "Manchester on TV: Ghosts of Winter Hill". BBC. 30 October 2009. Retrieved 5 July 2011. 1958: Rochdale by-election is first British election to be televised
  2. "The 1950s – TV election – yet another first for pioneering town". Manchester Evening News. 11 June 2003. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  3. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
  4. Baren, Maurice (2000). How It All Began in Yorkshire, Volume 2. Dalesman Publishing. ISBN 1-85568-183-8.
  5. TV Live: Granada
  6. ITV's framework for survival in the eighties: Expectations of a harsh ... The Guardian (1959–2003); 25 January 1980;
  7. £5m for staff who seek TV franchise. By Kenneth Gosling. The Times, Monday, 12 May 1980;
  8. Ident Central ITV Night Time
  9. Ident Central” Night Time Granada 1988–1995
  10. IBA Engineering Announcements 20 March 1990
  11. "David Plowright". The Times. 28 August 2004.
  12. "Opinion: Alex Connock". Manchester Evening News. 16 July 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  13. MAM unlikely to back Granada's YTTV offer.Eric Reguly. The Times (London, England), Thursday, 26 June 1997; p. 27
  14. "ITV Digital goes broke". 27 March 2002 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  15. "ITV Digital RIP".
  16. Trefgarne, George (14 June 2001). "Granada turns job axe on management". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
  17. Litterick, David (8 October 2003). "ITV cleared for a united kingdom". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  18. "BBC cancels What the Papers Say". BBC News Online. 29 May 2008.
  19. "ITV 'can cut' regional programming". BBC News. 25 September 2008. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
  20. Fitzsimmons, Caitlin (17 February 2009). "Seventeen regions into nine: How the updated ITV local news services will run". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  21. "Doubts over future of Granada TV sign in Manchester". BBC Manchester. 28 September 2010. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
  22. ITV News Granada Reports to start broadcasting from MediaCityUK Prolific North, 18 March 2013
  23. "ITV completes phase one migration to MediaCityUK", The Peel Group, retrieved 24 April 2013
  24. "MediaCityUK – ITV". MediaCityUK. Retrieved 2018-08-08.
  25. "Granada TV Building, Manchester". February 2005.
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