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This article refers to the UK-based television company. HTV is also an abbreviation for How-to-vote cards, used in the Australian electoral system.
HTV Group plc is a television company, the ITV contractor of Wales and the West of England, owned by ITV plc. It took over from TWW in 1968. Initially the station was known as Harlech Television (after the head of the company, Lord Harlech), but from the introduction of colour in 1970 became HTV.
Services
HTV operates two separate services - ITV1 Wales (formerly HTV Cymru Wales) in Wales, and ITV1 West (previously ITV1 West of England, prior to that HTV West) in the West of England area.
Since 28 October 2002, the full name has been seen before local programming on ITV1 West. At all other times the station is simply called ITV1. The ITV1 Wales name is seen before all programmes however.
While ITV1 West has shared a team of announcers with the other ITV1 regions in England since 28 October 2002, ITV1 Wales continued to have its own team of continuity announcers until 16 January 2006, when Welsh continuity was transferred to the main ITV1 announcer team in London. Although only being verbally referred to as "ITV1 Wales" before regional programming the channel continues to be visually identified as "ITV1 Wales".
The HTV name has not disappeared completely. It continues to be seen on programmes made for S4C. Some off-air branding also remains under the HTV name. Following the change to the single ITV1 branding, the HTV name was kept for its news programming, but this was dropped in favour on 2 February 2004 of ITV Wales News/ITV West News.
Programming
Main programmes include Wales Tonight (ITV1 Wales), The West Tonight (ITV1 West), The Ferret, and Nuts and Bolts. HTV does not now produce much in the way of regular network programming, although it did continue commission Movies, Games and Videos for some time. Previously, there have been some major HTV commissions including Robin of Sherwood, Wycliffe and much children's programming including Rubbish, King of the Jumble, The Slow Norris, Captain Starr, and Dog & Duck.
Since 1982, HTV has provided Welsh language programming to S4C, although this is now commissioned rather than produced in-house. Prior to S4C's introduction, HTV's evening news had to be split into two fifteen-minute bulletins presented from the same studio and separated by an advertising break, one in Welsh, called Y Dydd (The Day) and the other in English, called Report Wales .
Ownership
In 1996, HTV was taken over by United News and Media plc (now United Business Media plc). In 2001, Granada Media plc bought United's television interests, but were forced to sell off HTV by the regulator. They sold it to Carlton Communications plc, owners of Carlton Television, though the HTV name was retained on-air until 27 October 2002.
Reception
HTV Wales can be received across the British Isles and further afield via satellite on Sky Digital. Its terrestrial signal can also can be received in southeastern parts of Ireland, where it is retransmitted on UHF by so-called 'deflectors', although this is because cable or MMDS (which carries UTV from Northern Ireland) is often not available in those areas.
Presenters
ITV Wales News
Its flagship programme is known as Wales Tonight. All other news bulletins are known as ITV Wales News- Jonathon Hill
- Lucy Owen (nee Cohen)
- Ruth Wignall (weather)
- James Wright (weather)
ITV West News
Its flagship programme is known as The West Tonight. All other news bulletins are known as The West Today/Tonight, dependent on the time of day.- Liza Aziz
- Steve Scott
- Bob Crampton (now doing the weather)
- Alex Beresford (weather)
- Tony O'Shaughnessy
Logos and Idents
Image:Generic HTV.jpg|HTV West Generic logo (1989-1993) Image:Blue HTV.jpg|HTV logo (1993-1995) Image:HTV_Logo.jpg|HTV logo (1995-1999)
Image:Wales.jpg|ITV1 Wales logo (2002-2006)
External links
- itv.com - ITV Wales
- itv.com - ITV West
- Harlech House of Graphics (unofficial history site)
- Original HTV animated logo, 1968, from 625.uk.com (Requires Macromedia Flash version 3 or later)
- Animated HTV logo, 1970-1982, from 625.uk.com
- Animated HTV West logo, 1982-1986, from 625.uk.com
- HTV Wales & West with TWW at TV Ark
ITV franchisees | Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange | Welsh television
"HTV"