Television South (TVS) was the ITV franchise holder in the 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, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with UK broadcasting activities undertaken by subsidiary TVS Television Ltd.

During its 11-year history, TVS produced a number of notable programmes for the ITV network especially in the fields of drama, light entertainment and children's programming. It was also a significant regional broadcaster producing a wide range of programmes for its area with the flagship being the nightly award-winning news programme Coast to Coast produced as two separate editions for the South and South East.

TVS ceased broadcasting on 31 December 1992 after losing its franchise to Meridian Broadcasting during the review of franchise holders in 1991. The company was sold to the US firm International Family Entertainment in 1993.

The trademarks of Television South are now owned by an independent production company, while a majority of the company's back catalogue is now owned by The Walt Disney Company.^{[citation needed]} TVS Television Ltd itself was in existence until 2018, and was ultimately a non-trading subsidiary of Virgin Media.

Television South was formed following discussions between television producer James Gatward, television executive Bob Southgate, who had previously worked at ITN, Thames Television, and journalist Martin Jackson to apply for the new south and south-east of England ITV franchise in 1980. Finance was provided by Barclays Bank and Charterhouse investment bank. This area was the most hotly contested, with seven other applicants besides TVS and the incumbent Southern Television.

The Independent Broadcasting Authority had decided to increase the area covered by the south to now include the south east. This meant switching the main Bluebell Hill transmitter, and associated relays (including the important relay at Tunbridge Wells) to broadcast Television South (TVS) instead of ITV London. To reflect this, the contract area served by Southern Television, which was previously titled the south of England area, was renamed south and south-east of England'. To serve the new region better, the IBA expected the successful applicant to operate separate facilities for both the south and the south-east, known as a 'dual-region', with new additional facilities to be built in the south east.

Following the submission of its application, TVS was anticipating that it would be forced into a shotgun marriage with Southern, but in the end, TVS won outright against the seven other contenders since its plans for a better mix of programmes and greater investment were considered good enough to operate the franchise alone. This was the official line given by the IBA, but it was also considered that Southern's non-local ownership (the majority shareholders were Associated Newspapers, based in London, and D.C. Thomson, based in Dundee) and its very conservative nature led to it being dropped in favour of the more interesting proposals made by TVS in its franchise application.

By the start of 1981 a number of high-profile personalities had joined the station in preparation for the start of the new franchise: