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Granada plc
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 to a corporate takeover of Carlton Communications in 2004 and Granada plc subsequently became ITV plc on 2 February 2004. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Granada has its origins in Sidney Bernstein's Granada Theatres Ltd, a cinema company founded in Dover in 1930. The company was incorporated as Granada Ltd in 1934, with Granada Theatres Ltd turned into a subsidiary. Granada has been listed on the London Stock Exchange in one form or another since 1935. It was awarded the North of England ITV franchise in 1954, broadcasting as Granada Television. The company also established a chain of television rental shops from 1959 onwards, expanding in 1968 by purchasing Robinson Rentals for £8 million from David Robinson, giving the group 660,000 subscribers and becoming the third largest television rental group in Great Britain behind Radio Rentals and Thorn.
Granada entered the publishing business in the 1960s: it bought Mayflower Books from their founding U.S. publisher, Dell Publishing, and Panther Books (including Paladin Books, founded 1966 by Sonny Mehta) by 1968, which imprints continued to be run separately editorially, and added Rupert Hart-Davis and MacGibbon and Kee which it combined to form Hart-Davis, MacGibbon in 1972. Eventually the various publishing companies were combined as Granada Publishing. William Collins, Sons acquired Granada Publishing in 1983, renaming it Grafton Books after the editorial offices' address.
During the 1980s, Granada became involved in the British Satellite Broadcasting satellite television company. This went on air in March 1990, but merged with Sky Television in November 1990 to form British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), in which Granada had a minority shareholding for some time. In 1991, Granada Theatres Ltd was sold to Bass. In 1994, Granada acquired London Weekend Television. Two years later, Granada, LWT and a British consortium of cable channels formed Granada Media Group plc, which a year later acquired Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television plc. In 1997, Granada expanded onto the North American market by launching Granada Entertainment USA.
In March 1998, Granada announced their plans to launch a home video unit, eventually signing a five-year deal with Video Collection International to launch Granada Video in September.
Granada also bid together with Carlton Communications and BSkyB for one of the UK digital terrestrial television licences. They won the licence, though BSkyB was excluded from the company, ONdigital, on competition grounds. It went on air in 1998, was rebranded to ITV Digital in 2001, then entered voluntary liquidation before closing in 2002.
In 2000, Granada purchased United News & Media's television interests, namely Meridian Broadcasting and Anglia Television; Granada was forced to sell the HTV broadcasting business (to Carlton) for competition reasons, though it held onto HTV's network production business. It also acquired Border Television in 2001, from Capital Radio plc.
Granada plc
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 to a corporate takeover of Carlton Communications in 2004 and Granada plc subsequently became ITV plc on 2 February 2004. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Granada has its origins in Sidney Bernstein's Granada Theatres Ltd, a cinema company founded in Dover in 1930. The company was incorporated as Granada Ltd in 1934, with Granada Theatres Ltd turned into a subsidiary. Granada has been listed on the London Stock Exchange in one form or another since 1935. It was awarded the North of England ITV franchise in 1954, broadcasting as Granada Television. The company also established a chain of television rental shops from 1959 onwards, expanding in 1968 by purchasing Robinson Rentals for £8 million from David Robinson, giving the group 660,000 subscribers and becoming the third largest television rental group in Great Britain behind Radio Rentals and Thorn.
Granada entered the publishing business in the 1960s: it bought Mayflower Books from their founding U.S. publisher, Dell Publishing, and Panther Books (including Paladin Books, founded 1966 by Sonny Mehta) by 1968, which imprints continued to be run separately editorially, and added Rupert Hart-Davis and MacGibbon and Kee which it combined to form Hart-Davis, MacGibbon in 1972. Eventually the various publishing companies were combined as Granada Publishing. William Collins, Sons acquired Granada Publishing in 1983, renaming it Grafton Books after the editorial offices' address.
During the 1980s, Granada became involved in the British Satellite Broadcasting satellite television company. This went on air in March 1990, but merged with Sky Television in November 1990 to form British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), in which Granada had a minority shareholding for some time. In 1991, Granada Theatres Ltd was sold to Bass. In 1994, Granada acquired London Weekend Television. Two years later, Granada, LWT and a British consortium of cable channels formed Granada Media Group plc, which a year later acquired Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television plc. In 1997, Granada expanded onto the North American market by launching Granada Entertainment USA.
In March 1998, Granada announced their plans to launch a home video unit, eventually signing a five-year deal with Video Collection International to launch Granada Video in September.
Granada also bid together with Carlton Communications and BSkyB for one of the UK digital terrestrial television licences. They won the licence, though BSkyB was excluded from the company, ONdigital, on competition grounds. It went on air in 1998, was rebranded to ITV Digital in 2001, then entered voluntary liquidation before closing in 2002.
In 2000, Granada purchased United News & Media's television interests, namely Meridian Broadcasting and Anglia Television; Granada was forced to sell the HTV broadcasting business (to Carlton) for competition reasons, though it held onto HTV's network production business. It also acquired Border Television in 2001, from Capital Radio plc.