ITV 50
ITV 50 was a special event around September 2005, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the ITV terrestrial television network's launch; the official anniversary was stated as being 22 September, the anniversary of the first ITV region, Associated-Rediffusion, beginning broadcasts.
Other regions, though not launched in 1955, were also involved in the celebrations, broadcasting network and local ITV50 celebration programming. All ITV plc regions received ITV50 presentational material including branded graphics and station idents. STV (then Scottish and Grampian) and UTV screened much of the networked ITV 50 content, using some of the ITV 50 presentation.
Contents
Introduction
In September 2005, the ITV network celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a season of ITV 50 programming that was run on the network, including a run down of ITV's 50 top programmes, a World of Sport retrospective, a seven-week Gameshow Marathon presented by Ant & Dec, the launch of an "Avenue Of The Stars", and most notably a five-part documentary series made by Melvyn Bragg, which chronicled ITV's history. The regional companies owned by ITV plc also aired special regional retrospectives (even though none of them were themselves fifty years old), as well as using special ITV 50 station identification. While Scottish Television, Grampian Television, and UTV aired the network ITV 50 programming, they did not themselves air regional programmes of this sort, nor did they use the special identification. ITN also celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with special features in its programming.
Special products
There were a number of special products released to mark the anniversary. The Post Office issued special ITV 50 postage stamps. A book, 'ITV: The People's Channel', was published. Two CD compilations of music from ITV programmes were released.
Associated releases
Books
- ITV: The People's Channel
- ITV Culture: Independent Television Over Fifty Years
- Fifty Years of ITV (Piano solo book)
Albums
- ITV 50: The Album
- ITV 50 Cult Themes
DVDs
- 50 Years of Entertaining the Nation
See also
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