06-01-2024, 12:46 PM
I'd say prior to the final merger there were probably two or three key acquisitions which led to the inevitable creation of ITV PLC - Granada buying LWT and Yorkshire and Carlton buying Central. I'm guessing the London licences at the time still blocked Carlton from buying LWT, but was there much resistance at the time to these acquisitions and were there other viable bidders.
The only issue I recall of the consolodation process of the late 90s/early 00s was when the UBM suite of channels (including Meridian and Anglia) was sold to Granada but HTV had to be separated off and was sold to Carlton for the deal to go through - but I'm sure it was all much more controversial than that. Even in the late 90s I'm quite surprised the big 5 were permitted to buy each other.
The only issue I recall of the consolodation process of the late 90s/early 00s was when the UBM suite of channels (including Meridian and Anglia) was sold to Granada but HTV had to be separated off and was sold to Carlton for the deal to go through - but I'm sure it was all much more controversial than that. Even in the late 90s I'm quite surprised the big 5 were permitted to buy each other.