Incorporated Television Company
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| Industry | Media |
|---|---|
| Fate | Folded into Universal Studios. Assets sold to Carlton Communications in 1999. |
| Founded | 10 September 1954 |
| Founders |
|
| Defunct | 11 October 1998 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
|
Key people
|
Lord Grade |
| Products | films TV shows |
| Services | distribution |
| Parent | |
| Divisions |
|
Incorporated Television Company (ITC, or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the US) was a British television company involved in production and distribution.
Incorporated Television Programme Company (ITP) was founded by television mogul Lew Grade with Prince Littler and Val Parnell in 1954 as the Incorporated Television Programme Company. Originally designed to be a contractor for the UK's new ITV, 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) although the ITA said that ITPC were free to make their own programmes which they could sell to the new network companies. ITP put most of the production budget into producing one show, The Adventures of Robin Hood (ITV, 1955-59).
However, the winner of one of the contracts, the Associated Broadcasting Development Company, had insufficient funds to start broadcasting, so the ITP owners were brought into the consortium and Lew Grade came to dominate it.
In 1957 now known as Incorporated Television Company (ITC), the company became a subsidiary of the Associated Broadcasting Company (ABC)–which soon changed its name to Associated Television (ATV) after threats of legal action from fellow ITV company Associated British Corporation–and produced its own programmes for ATV and for syndication in the United States. It also distributed ATV material outside of the UK. From 1966 to 1982 it was a subsidiary of Associated Communications Corporation after the acquisition of ATV.
The initials 'ITC' stood for two different things: Independent Television Corporation for sales to the Americas, and Incorporated Television Company for sales to the rest of the world. The American Independent Television Corporation was formed as a joint venture with Jack Wrather in 1958. In September 1958 it purchased Television Programs of America (TPA) for $11,350,000. Wrather sold his shares to Lew Grade at the end of the decade.
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