[interestednovice]

Yes, it does indeed!

I had read about that before but forgot the detail of Caldbeck until your post just reminded me.

From the average viewer’s perspective, the variations in things such as BBC Scotland would be more significant than even the ITV/STV split, probably.

[justhere991]

One thing I have always wondered about ITV region branding is why ITV hasn't considered licensing the ITV1 brand to STV/UTV to make it a national brand. Surely, it wouldn't be too difficult to have a voiceover say something like "This is ITV1 via STV" or "This is ITV1 via UTV" on idents, etc., would it?

[gottago]

One thing I have always wondered about ITV region branding is why ITV hasn't considered licensing the ITV1 brand to STV/UTV to make it a national brand. Surely, it wouldn't be too difficult to have a voiceover say something like "This is ITV1 via STV" or "This is ITV1 via UTV" on idents, etc., would it?

Why would STV want to do that?

[Spencer]

One thing I have always wondered about ITV region branding is why ITV hasn't considered licensing the ITV1 brand to STV/UTV to make it a national brand. Surely, it wouldn't be too difficult to have a voiceover say something like "This is ITV1 via STV" or "This is ITV1 via UTV" on idents, etc., would it?

ITV own UTV, so if they wanted to completely drop the UTV brand, they could. It’s mostly gone from presentation already as I understand it.

As for STV, if they wanted to rebrand as ITV1, I’m sure ITV could accommodate that (maybe for a price). But I suspect they’ve no desire to. And it’s up STV them how they brand themselves ultimately.

---

Why would STV want to do that?

In fairness, I can see some benefits. In terms of promotion of programmes on other national platforms (including ITV Breakfast) it would mean viewers in Scotland wouldn’t be getting ads and trails for a channel they don’t receive.

There would also be more brand consistency with things like ITV News, Sport, Weather and the other ITV channels which *are* available in Scotland.

There could also be savings to be made for STV if they took national presentation and didn’t have to make their own trails and pres.

But clearly they value their independence more than any of these potential benefits.

[gottago]

In fairness, I can see some benefits. In terms of promotion of programmes on other national platforms (including ITV Breakfast) it would mean viewers in Scotland wouldn’t be getting ads and trails for a channel they don’t receive.

There would also be more brand consistency with things like ITV News, Sport, Weather and the other ITV channels which *are* available in Scotland.

There could also be savings to be made for STV if they took national presentation and didn’t have to make their own trails and pres.

But clearly they value their independence more than any of these potential benefits.

But then viewers have understood the link between shows being advertised as "ITV1" and known they will be on at (likely) exactly the same time on STV for years. I don't know the figures but if it's any like ITV1 in the rest of the UK, STV itself will have much bigger reach than ITV's digital channels in Scotland so more people will be watching STV branded trails anyway.

They want to make STV Player a success and an important part of their business; calling your channel ITV1 and pushing people to STV Player is much more confusing than the current set up, especially when ITVX already exists in Scotland without the ITV1 content. I expect it wouldn't be in their financial interests at all to become ITV1.

[nwtv2003]

One thing I have always wondered about ITV region branding is why ITV hasn't considered licensing the ITV1 brand to STV/UTV to make it a national brand. Surely, it wouldn't be too difficult to have a voiceover say something like "This is ITV1 via STV" or "This is ITV1 via UTV" on idents, etc., would it?

As stated I think STV value their own brand and independence over ITV. However when Channel TV wasn’t owned by ITV plc, it still adopted ITV1 and ITV News branding for several years. But in Channel’s case it was probably a matter of cost saving, certainly on the ITV1 branding front. 

The closest there’s been to a true network identity was the 2002 celebrity idents which were adopted by UTV and Scottish and Grampian as they were. In UTV’s case they didn’t last long.

[justhere991]

I wasn't suggesting a total rebrand of either UTV or STV more of an Australian-style scenario where ITV would allow STV and UTV to ITV1 while maintaining their respective news branding.

[Rdd]

That’s exactly what’s happened with UTV under ITV ownership really, it’s ITV1 branding except for news and on trailers for local programmes. (And UTV Life).

At least under the old networking arrangements UTV and STV were as entitled to use the ITV brand as any other Channel 3 licensee, they simply chose not to. ITV branded promos did air on UTV up to June 1993 when they were banished when the station rebranded from Ulster Television. I suspect the settlement which brought about the affiliation arrangements probably involved vesting ITV plc with ultimate ownership of the brand. The argument is moot in UTV’s case now anyways, since they are owned by ITV plc.

[Brekkie]

Is the celeb era when ITV1 launched the only time STV/Grampian used an ITV package?

[WillPS]

Is the celeb era when ITV1 launched the only time STV/Grampian used an ITV package?

Grampian took the 1989 identity wholesale, and were the last individual station using the idents (right up to the point the brand was dropped I believe).