From 1936 to 1955 there was only one television channel in the UK (and nothing at all during World War 2), then the ITV (Independent Television) network came along which unlike the BBC was funded entirely using revenue from advertisments shown between programmes. Another key difference was that ITV consisted of several different companies, each one serving a different part of the British Isles and producing programmes which were either shown locally or nationally across the entire network. This caption from Tyne Tees (North-East England) gives the VHF channel number.

ITN (Independent Television News) provided news programmes for the ITV network and the organisation still does so today. The first bulletin was transmitted at 10 p.m. on 22 September 1955 on ITV's opening night, and introduced a less formal style of news broadcasting to the UK imported from America, which was in direct contrast to the cinema newsreels and still pictures that the BBC used. The appropriately-named Christopher Chataway presented the first programme, and him, along with Robin Day and Ludovic Kennedy, became household names.

The news was not the only thing different about the new service. ITV, in contrast to the licence fee funded BBC, was more 'downmarket' in its approach, showing quiz games and popular light entertainment shows in order to attract viewers to the new service. The caption shown is the start of the title sequence for Sunday Night at the London Palladium, presented by Jack Parnell, and produced for the ITV network by Associated Television (ATV), the company that served the Midlands (and London at weekends for a while) until 1982.

Another early feature of ITV which survived until 1963 (when it was outlawed) was the 'ad mag' or advertising magazine, another idea borrowed from Amreica. Instead of featuring advertisments in clearly defined breaks before and during a programme, the advertisments were incorporated into the content of the programme, so (for example) a 'housewife' talking to her friend would casually mention that she uses Persil washing powder for 'a whiter wash'. The most popular of these was called "Jim's Inn".

Granada Television (which serves the North-West of England) is the longest surviving of the ITV companies, having been one of the original franchise holders in 1956. It is famous for several programmes, especially Coronation Street (a long-running soap opera) and World in Action.

Here's a rather infamous example of an 'ident' shown circa the late 1960's, ie. a still caption or short animation played before the start of a tv programme that identified the ITV region that produced it, often with accompanying music. Very occassionally (as with the ATV example above) they were incorporated into the programme titles. Harlech Television (now generally known as HTV), serving Wales and parts of the West of England, still has the franchise but is now part of the MAI group of companies (who also own Meridian and Anglia Television). Idents (as such) were scrapped around the mid 1980's.

Commercial television often uses what is known as a 'break bumper' between commercials which usually is a very short (typically less than 2 second) animation with no music. The picture is taken from the one currently used by Meridian Television which serves the South and South-East of England. The 'bumper' doesn't have to include the company logo; the one used by Westward Television featured a rotating hexagon !

Unlike the BBC, the ITV companies only hold a franchise to broadcast in a particular region, and these franchises are reviewed every couple of years. Licence renewal is not automatic, as many companies have found to their cost. The first two reviews occured in 1968 and in 1982; the latter (among other changes) had TVS replacing Southern as the contractor serving the South and South East of England. However TVS then later lost the franchise as a result of the controversial franchise auction that took place in 1991, so on the 1st January 1993...

...Meridian Television took over the franchise, which it holds to this day. It is fairly unlikely that the franchise auction fiasco of 1991 will ever be repeated, whereby companies had to bid for a franchise, but due to special rules (which appeared to change at one point almost daily), there were other considerations such as a 'quality threshold' to be met. So the highest bidder in the closed auction did not automatically win the franchise.