The

ITV network ITV, legally known as Channel 3, is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It is branded as ITV1 in most of the UK except for central and northern Scotland, where it is b ...

of the United Kingdom began in 1955 as a network of independent broadcasters, each responsible for its own advertising. In 1982, when the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

network launched, the regional ITV companies also began providing the advertising content for the new network, with each company covering the same transmitter area for Channel 4 as they did for ITV. Each station had a monopoly over TV advertising within its own broadcast area, thus enabling many stations to charge high prices for slots. Over the course of the 1980s an increase in competition from cable and satellite systems and from Channel 4 (when it became independent of ITV in January 1993), caused a decrease in advertising revenue for many ITV stations. In 1989, two ITV companies,

Central Independent Television ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the ITV (TV network), Independent Television franchisee in Midlands, the English Midlands ...

and

Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...

, became the first to have a joint sales team via a single organisation to deal with advertising, which allowed for reduced operational costs and a larger number of potential customers. By 1992, areas with "sales houses" were reported as having the highest rates of advertising revenue. From January to July 1993, the remaining ITV companies (

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

, HTV,

Grampian Television Grampian Television was the original name of the Channel 3 service for the north of Scotland founded in 1961 and which, decades later, was merged with the Central Belt channel STV. The northern region's coverage area includes the Northern Isle ...

and

Westcountry Television ITV Westcountry, formerly known as Westcountry Television and Carlton Westcountry, was the ITV franchise holder for the South West of England, covering Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, southern and western Somerset and western Dorset. The co ...

as well as

) which were not initially part of "sales houses" created their own joint operations to help improve their sales operations, before moving to other more established sales groups within ITV.

Television Sales and Marketing Services Ltd

In 1989, Central Independent Television's sales managing director, Dick Emery, and Anglia Television's sales managing director, Tim Wooton, established ''Television Sales and Marketing Services Ltd'' (TSMS), the first joint venture (sales house) which provided airtime sales and programme sponsorships. The company was created to coordinate advertising sales for the two companies and to provide better resources to reduce problems and overcome other problems. In 1991, TSMS acquired the airtime sales operation of

Ulster Television UTV (formerly Ulster Television, branded on air as ITV1 since 2020) is the ITV (TV network), ITV region covering Northern Ireland, ITV subsidiary and the former on-air name of the free-to-air public broadcast television channel serving the ar ...

and

Border Television ITV Border, previously Border Television and commonly referred to as simply Border, is the Channel 3 service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the England/Scotland border region, covering most of Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway, the ...

. Dick Emery then left the company to join the board of

ITN Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based media production and broadcast journalism company. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, New York City, New York, Paris, Sydney and Washin ...

as its first commercial director. In September 1992, the advertising share and revenue of Central (5%) and Anglia (1.4%) both increased, which drew praise from the advertising sector and from broadcast companies. In July 1993, a new joint advertising company, Merlin, was created by

Meridian Broadcasting ITV Meridian (previously Meridian Broadcasting) is the holder of the ITV franchise for the South and South East of England. The station was launched at midnight on 1 January 1993, replacing previous broadcaster Television South, and is owned ...

, HTV, Westcountry Television,

Channel Television ITV Channel Television, previously Channel Television, is a British television station which has served as the ITV (TV network), ITV contractor for the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey and broadcasts regional programmes for i ...

, and S4C, mainly run by Meridian and HTV. In March 1994, at TSMS, Anglia acquired Central's 43% stake and Tim Wooton's 14% stake in the company to take full control of operations. Central left TSMS and was purchased by

Carlton Communications Carlton Communications plc was a British media company. It was led by Michael P. Green and listed on the London Stock Exchange from 1983 until 2 February 2004, when it was bought by Granada plc in a corporate takeover to form ITV plc. Carlton s ...

, while TSMS merged with Merlin, which had started publicly trading at the beginning of the year. In October 1994, TSMS took over sales operations for Scottish Television and Grampian Television. TSMS also acted as a consultant to international broadcasters such as

BBC Select BBC Select may refer to two services run by the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC: *BBC Select (1992–1995) BBC Select was an overnight television service run by the BBC during the hours when BBC1 or BBC2 had closed down, usually bet ...

and

Nederland 1 NPO 1 (known as Nederland 1 until 2014) is the first national television station in the Netherlands. It launched on 2 October 1951. It provides public broadcasting and currently exists next to sister channels NPO 2 and NPO 3. Several broadcastin ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In January 1997, Tim Wooton become chief executive of TSMS, before leaving in April 1997 to join media buying agency

ZenithOptimedia Publicis Groupe S.A. is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. As of 2024, the company is the largest advertising company in the world by revenue. Based in Paris, it is one of the 'Big Four' advertising commpanies, al ...

. In early 1997, HTV reported reduced profits as compared to the year before, and HTV entered into a new contract with TSMS, with penalties attached if TSMS did not meet its goal of raising HTV's share. In 2000,

Granada Media Granada plc (previously called Granada Ltd., Granada Group plc, and Granada Media plc) was a British conglomerate best known as the parent from 1954 to 2004 of the Manchester-based Granada Television. The company agreed a corporate takeover of ...

purchased United News & Media (owners of TSMS) and it was merged with Laser Sales on 1 October 2000. HTV, Grampian TV, Scottish TV and

left the company to join up with Carlton's sales house.

Laser Sales

Laser Sales was set up by

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...

in 1990, and the sales team also handled sales for

Television South Television South (TVS) was the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise holder in the South East England, South and South East of England between 1 January 1982 at 9.25 am and 31 December 1992 at 11.59 pm. The company operated under various names, init ...

. In October 1993, MAS, the company handling sales for

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

and

Tyne Tees Television ITV Tyne Tees, previously known as Tyne Tees, Channel 3 North East and Tyne Tees Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV television franchisee for North East England and parts of North Yorkshire. Tyne Tees launched on 15 January 1959 from stu ...

, became part of Laser Sales. In 1993, Granada Media and Scottish Television created an advertising sales company called The Time Exchange, which also handled sales for Border and Grampian. In January 1994, Granada took over LWT, but the deal was in breach of regulation due to the amount of airtime being controlled by one company, which resulted in Scottish and Grampian leaving Laser Sales to join TSMS. By autumn 1994, Laser Sales was handling sales for LWT, Granada, Yorkshire, and Tyne Tees. On 4 September 1996,

Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television was a British broadcasting company, which is now part of ITV plc. History The company was created in June 1992 from the merger of the Independent Television broadcasters Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Televisio ...

suggested it might terminate its contract with Laser Sales due to a continuing decline in advertising revenue, which was in part due to speculation that Granada was planning to buy Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television, which happened nine months later.

Carlton UK Sales

In January 1994, Carlton Communications took over Central Independent Television. After restructuring the two companies, the sales operations were merged into one on 1 September 1994. In late 2000, after the merger of Laser Sales and TSMS, SMG (which by now owned

Scottish TV Scottish Television (now legally known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchisee for Central Belt, Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation si ...

and Grampian TV), HTV, and

switched their sales contracts to Carlton on 1 January 2001.Carlton captures SMG airtime sales: 100 job losses to go at TSMS after latest ITV skirmish Deans, Jason The Guardian (1959–2003); 26 October 2000

References

External links

ITV Media
{{ITV 1989 establishments in the United Kingdom ITV (TV network) Mass media companies of the United Kingdom Advertising in the United Kingdom

Television Sales and Marketing Services Ltd

Laser Sales

Carlton UK Sales

See also

References

External links