London Weekend Television

London Weekend Television (LWT) was the ITV franchise holder for London at weekends from 2 August 1968 until it lost its on-air identity on 27 October 2002. Founded by a consortium led by the broadcaster David Frost, it began as a troubled highbrow venture that nearly collapsed in its first years, reinvented itself as one of ITV's most successful entertainment producers, survived the 1991 franchise auction that killed its weekday rival, was taken over by Granada in a hostile bid in 1994, and ended its days as the weekend half of ITV London. It was famous for its "river" ident, one of the most recognisable station symbols in British television.

The consortium that won the weekend

In the 1967 franchise round, the Independent Television Authority decided that London would remain the only region with separate weekday and weekend contractors. The leading contender for the weekend licence was the London Television Consortium, created and led by the television presenter David Frost, then working for the London weekday station Rediffusion. The consortium included a number of former senior BBC staff, which impressed the ITA, and its application promised a mix of highbrow arts and drama productions, directly addressing the criticisms of commercial television made in the 1962 Pilkington Report. In the summer of 1967 the ITA announced that the consortium had won the weekend franchise. The new company soon renamed itself London Weekend Television, having decided against using the name Thames Television, a name that was then picked up by ABC TV for its new London weekday operation. The new franchise included Friday evenings, so LWT would broadcast from 7pm on Fridays as well as on Saturdays and Sundays.

A disastrous start

LWT went on air on 2 August 1968, but its first day was little more than symbolic: it broadcast for just fifteen seconds before a technicians' strike forced ITV off the air for several weeks, with management managing to put out only a temporary ITV Emergency National Service with no regional variations. When normal service resumed, LWT's highbrow ambitions quickly ran into commercial reality. The company's expensive arts and drama programming drew small audiences, advertising revenue fell short of expectations, and by 1969 the company was in serious financial trouble. There were fears it might collapse. A boardroom upheaval followed, and the company was effectively rescued by a change of management that shifted its emphasis towards popular entertainment. The crisis of 1969–70 nearly ended LWT in its infancy; instead it became the making of the company, forcing the reinvention that would define it for the next three decades.

Reinvention as an entertainment powerhouse

From the early 1970s, LWT rebuilt itself as what was arguably ITV's first true television "brand". The cumbersome on-screen name London Weekend Television was shortened to LWT, the famous "river" ident was modified into three letters, the strapline "The weekend starts here" was introduced, and the company made prominent use of its distinctive black-and-white layered tower block studios at Kent House on the South Bank, later renamed The London Television Centre. The building, a well-known London landmark, cemented LWT's place in the life of the capital and helped distinguish it from its weekday rival Thames across the river. Competition with Thames's sales force was fierce, since London was the only region where two ITV companies competed for advertising, and Thames had wealthier shareholders, bigger facilities and a longer pedigree. LWT's response was to out-entertain its rival.

Hit programmes

LWT became responsible for some of the biggest entertainment shows on the ITV network. It was credited with bringing reality television to Britain with the audience participation show Game For A Laugh. Long-running hits included Play Your Cards Right and Blind Date, which drew audiences of millions and ran for many years. The company also had a strong drama and comedy slate, and it co-ordinated the network's sport production and presentation, including the regional football highlights programme The Big Match, whose first edition aired on 25 August 1968. By the 1980s, LWT had a reputation across many genres and was one of the "Big Five" ITV companies that dominated network production, a remarkable turnaround from the near-bankruptcy of 1970.

The river ident

LWT's on-screen identity was one of the most celebrated in British broadcasting. The original "river" ident, introduced in the early 1970s, featured the letters LWT flowing like a river, a visual pun on the company's name and its position on the Thames. There were two main variants between 1973 and 1986: in the first the letters remained joined, while in the second, introduced in 1978, the letters separated at the end of the animation. The ident became so associated with the company that the three-letter abbreviation LWT replaced the full name in almost all on-screen usage from 1978. In November 1999 LWT unveiled what would be its last logo and ident set, and in March 2000 it became the only ITV region to drop the 1999 generic ITV look, replacing it with a video-wall theme. The river ident remains one of the most fondly remembered symbols of the regional ITV era.

Surviving the 1991 auction

The 1982 franchise round had been the first in which LWT had to reapply for its licence; the 1968 contract had originally run only to 1974 but the ITA extended all contracts to 1981 because of the cost of introducing colour television. By 1982 LWT was in good health and easily beat off weak competition to secure a second contract, although it lost the Bluebell Hill transmitter near Maidstone to TVS as part of a reorganisation of the South and South East regions. In the controversial 1991 franchise auction, LWT survived while its weekday counterpart Thames lost its licence to Carlton. LWT's bid was successful, and the company took up its new franchise from 1 January 1993, continuing to broadcast from Fridays at 5.15pm to Monday mornings at 6am for Greater London and the Home Counties.

The Granada takeover

Barely a year into the new franchise, LWT was the target of a hostile takeover by Granada Television as part of Granada's expansion drive across ITV. The bid succeeded in early 1994, leaving the London weekday and weekend franchises in the hands of Carlton and Granada respectively. Under Granada's ownership, LWT continued to operate as a distinct company, but the takeover was a further step in the consolidation of ITV that would eventually bring all the English franchises under single ownership. From 1993, the on-screen handover between the weekday and weekend services, which in the Thames era had been marked by continuity announcements at each end of the weekend, became invisible, occurring during a commercial break as Carlton and LWT shared studio and transmission facilities at the London Television Centre.

The final years

LWT's last day on air as a separate on-screen brand was 27 October 2002, marked by a series of tributes to its past, with long-serving continuity announcers Glen Thompsett and Trish Bertram appearing in vision live from LWT's playout centre. When GMTV handed over to the weekday franchise the following morning, 28 October, the national ITV1 brand was on air at all times, and a unified ITV London region was formally created, operating as a seven-day service. The LWT name survived a little longer as a production endcap on programmes made at the South Bank, but that practice was phased out over the following years; the LWT logo was seen by viewers for the final time on 31 October 2004. The London Studios on the South Bank, LWT's home since 1972, remained the base of ITV plc until the complex closed in 2018 for redevelopment.

Legacy

London Weekend Television's 34 years on air made it one of the defining companies of the ITV network. It proved that a weekend-only contractor could become a dominant force in British entertainment, pioneered the idea of the television channel as a brand, and produced programmes that drew some of the largest audiences in ITV history. Its river ident is remembered as a classic of television design. The company also played a central role in the story of ITV consolidation: its takeover by Granada in 1994 was one of the key moves that led, via the Carlton–Granada merger of February 2004, to the creation of ITV plc. The London weekend franchise is still separately licensed, but it is no longer distinguished on air in any way; LWT is managed with Carlton Television as the single entity ITV London, and London Weekend Television Ltd is listed at Companies House as a dormant company, along with most of the other former regional companies owned by ITV plc.

Broadcast details

London Weekend Television broadcast on the ITV network to Greater London and parts of South East England at weekends, from Friday evenings (7pm until 1982, then 5.15pm) to Monday mornings at 6am, between 2 August 1968 and 27 October 2002. Its headquarters were at The London Television Centre (formerly Kent House) on London's South Bank. It was an ITV affiliate throughout, owned from 1994 by Granada plc and after February 2004 by ITV plc. It replaced ATV's London weekend service and Rediffusion's Friday evening service, and was succeeded by ITV London. Transmissions came from the Crystal Palace transmitter, formerly also from Bluebell Hill and Croydon. Broadcasts were in English, in 405-line black and white until 1984 and 625-line PAL colour from 1969.