ITC Entertainment

The Incorporated Television Company (ITC) was founded by television mogul Lew Grade in 1954.

Originally designed to be a contractor for the UK's new ITV under the self-explanatory name Incorporated Television Programme Company, the company failed to win a contract when the Independent Television Authority felt that doing so would give too much control in the entertainment business to the Grade family's companies (which included large talent agencies and theatre interests).

However, the winner of one of the contracts, the Associated Broadcasting Development Company had insufficient funds to start broadcasting, so ITC was brought into the consortium and Lew Grade came to dominate it.

ITC continued as a subsidiary of the new company - soon renamed Associated TeleVision (ATV) - and produced its own programmes for syndication in the United States. It also distributed ATV material outside of the UK.

The initials 'ITC' stood for two different things - Independent Television Corporation for sales to North and Latin America, and Incorporated Television Company for sales to the rest of the world.

The large foreign sales achieved by ITC during the British government's exports drives of the 1960s and 1970s led to ATV (and its successor company from 1966, Associated Communications Corporation) receiving the Queen's Award for Export numerous times.

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Productions

ITC is best known for being the company behind many successful British cult TV programmes during the 1960s and 1970s, and was also the production company for The Muppet Show which was made at ATV's London studio and distributed in the UK by ATV and in the US by ITC. In 1964 Gerry Anderson's AP Films became part of ACC and produced the hugely successful Thunderbirds and, under its successor company Century 21 Productions, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. ITC also funded other future Anderson-created programs, including 1999. It was at ITC's request that FANDERSON - the Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society - was founded.

As well as television programming ITC also produced several films - including On Golden Pond, Capricorn One and a number of Jim Henson Company productions: The Dark Crystal and the first three Muppet films - The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, and The Muppets Take Manhattan.

ITC also distributed The Return of the Pink Panther in the UK, as well as being world-wide distributor for Thames Television's The Benny Hill Show.

Logo and animated idents

The production logo featured three diamonds, with the letters of the company placed in each one. For international markets, an animated opening logo was added - featuring the logo followed by the word "PRESENTS", and accompanied by a fanfare. There were several variations on this animation. One included a compass which gave way to a large diamond with a world map, which - in turn - gave way to the three diamonds of the logo. Another logo featured three spinning diamonds (nicknamed the "Space Diamonds" or the "Rainbow Spinning Top") in red, green and blue. The ITC logo appeared in white on top of the coloured diamonds, and the lettering "FROM (ITC logo) ENTERTAINMENT" appeared. This logo was used after showings of The Muppet Show in the US. In Britain, The Muppet Show had an animated ATV logo at the start. The final ITC animation featured a variation on the logo, actually spinning within itself, in gold.

Ownership

When the Associated Communications Corporation was broken up after losing control of the ATV franchise (it became Central Independent Television when ACC was forced to divest itself of 49% of the company), the rights to the ITC archive were acquired by Polygram, and subsequently by Carlton Television. Today, the underlying rights are owned by Granada International, although Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (via Sony Pictures Entertainment) now owns theatrical distribution rights. Carlton released the most popular ITC programs on DVD both in Europe and North America. There were however a few exceptions: The Adventures of Robin Hood and the other swashbuckling adventure series of the late 1950s and early 1960s were released on DVD by Network Video, as was Strange Report. Man in a Suitcase is due to be released by Network in the near future as a limited edition box set. The rights to The Muppet Show, however, are held by The Muppets Holding Company LLC, with North American home video rights controlled by Disney.

List of ITC Entertainment programs

For a list of ITC produced and distributed programs, visit ITC Distributions.

Studios

ITC had no studios of its own. Programmes were made in several facilities but most notably at ATV's own studio in Elstree. However, the MGM-British Studios complex at Borehamwood, the Rank Organisation's Pinewood and Shepperton Studios were also used.

Associated Communications Corporation companies

APF
ATV Network
Central Independent Television
ITC Films - created to distribute several TV programs and films worldwide
Independent Television Corporation
Incorporated Television Company

External links

ITC Entertainment production credits on the IMDb