Broadcasting Change:
The Rise of Commercial Television
In 1954, the Television Act heralded in a landmark shift in British broadcasting.
A year later, ITV’s inaugural broadcast aired in London on 22nd September.
This online exhibition, curated by BA History students at Anglia Ruskin University, explores this transformative moment in British broadcasting history.
The exhibition, drawing on our collections here at the Archives Centre, reflects the students’ original research and interpretation of this pivotal moment in modern British history.
The 1954 Television Act. Source: The Papers of Percy James Grigg, PJGG 10/4, 1954.
The 1954 Television Act established independent broadcasting in Britain for the first time. Up until this point, viewers could only watch programmes broadcast by the BBC. The Television Act created the first commercial television network, overseen by the Independent Television Authority (ITA).
The Act led to the birth of independent television, known as ITV, which was made up of a network of private companies. ITV’s first broadcast took place in London on 22nd September at 7:15pm. It featured an introductory film followed by an evening of entertainment live from the London Palladium.
This document establishes the terms of being the new chairman of the ITA. It shows the new chairperson’s briefing and key goals. The document reflects the necessity of growth during this early period of ITA’s history. It shows that 73% of the population had access to commercial television by October 1957, indicating rapid expansion and growth. The first chairman was Sir Kenneth Clark, who took up the post from 1954–1957.
Source: The Papers of Percy James Grigg, PJGG 10/4
A photograph of the control desk and transmitter hall at Croydon Station, which was used to broadcast the London ITV signal.
Source: Papers of Percy James Grigg, PJGG 10/4.
Advertising and Market Research
Screen Time:
A Nation Tuned In?
This is draft of a newspaper article for the Financial Times, written by the sociologist and market researcher Mark Abrams. The article, published on 5th May 1956, talks about the coverage and expansion of ITA and how 2 million families will be able to receive commercial programmes once the Yorkshire ITA transmitter opened in October. The article discusses and analyses viewer buying habits, noting how ‘ITA adults tend to be relatively heavy consumers of all forms of advertising media’. It is interesting to read how the article speculates upon the effectiveness of advertising and what factors of commercial advertising make it effective. This article provides a insight into the thoughts of commentators of the time regarding the expansion and growth of commercial television and the effects on new audiences.
Source: The Papers of Mark Abrams, ABMS 6/2/3. The published newspaper article can be found in ABMS 5/43.
The article goes on to report that adult homes were slightly more likely to have ITA. 9% of adult homes had an ITA television. The research focuses on the number of ITA televisions in dense urban areas: London, Birmingham, and Manchester. Unlike the BBC, ITA had to be strategic with their advertising, being unable to cater to every possible audience. Knowing their audience, therefore, was important.
Source: The Papers of Mark Abrams, ABMS 6/2/3, 1955
Mark Abrams, pictured in 1957. Abrams was Managing Director of Research Services Ltd., c. 1957 (ABMS 8/1/23).
Reproduced with permission of Dominic Abrams.
This is the report from an investigation, held in December 1958, which explored whether viewers of ITV could remember and recall the advertisements that were shown during the time they watched television. This research was conducted by Research Services Ltd, whose Managing Director was Mark Abrams. This research was looking to see if viewers remembered the brand name or just by the type of product in advertisements, and also explored when different adverts were broadcasted. The findings show that the audience could recall the products, though not necessarily the branding. The use of televised advertising was still a new concept, as ITV had only launched 3 years before. This method of investigation was useful for seeing if advertisements were remembered and therefore could influence consumers in a short amount of time.
Source: The Papers of Mark Abrams, ABMS 3/73 pt 3, 1958
The control room at Winter Hill station in Lancashire, which was used to broadcast Granada television and ABC Weekend TV.
Source: Papers of Percy James Grigg, PJGG 10/4.
Programming and Production
‘we’re thinking of making a half hour film on what is happening to the working class’
Is there a working class? This transcript is for a short film exploring this very question, with the help of the historian E.P Thompson book who had just published his now famous work, on the history of the working class. The programme considers the nature of class differences between manual and non-manual workers. The aim of this production was to try and show a wider audience in the Britain and the world, that class should not define the world as much as it should do; trying to de-stigmatise classism. It would be the start of this type of documentaries produced for commercial television.
Source: The Papers of Mark Abrams, ABMS 5/6
‘the following colours and materials are unsuitable for television’
This letter from the Independent Television for South Wales and the West of England, discusses which clothing colours were suitable for Randolph Churchill (Winston Churchill’s only son) to wear on television. This letter was written 24th February 1960, which was 9 years before colour television came to ITV and the BBC. This shows how there was a lot of thinking behind the scenes of how to make sure people knew how to make their shows look aesthetically pleasing and show dimension on screen while not being in colour. The average person would not realise that actually wearing black or white would actually be a hinderance to the production, they even offer advice to call the Director for help to make sure filming goes smoothly.
Meurig Jones, the author of the letter, was Production Executive at Independent Television for South Wales and the West of England. Before working for commercial television, Jones worked for BBC Wales in Cardiff.
Source: The Papers of Randolph Churchill, RDCH 4/46, 160
A photograph of the Lichfield Station building, used to broadcast the ITV signal in the Midlands.
Source: Papers of Percy James Grigg, PJGG 10/4.
Audience Responses
‘Now that we have grandchildren my wife watches children’s TV quite often’
This source explores the competitive aspects of both the ITV and the BBC and how they attempted the appeal to people. In this letter, Geoffrey Jackson writes to a the Managing Director of Television, Alasdair Milne, about how the ‘Newsround Weekly’ television show produced by the BBC, has appealed to his wife, Patricia and their grandchildren. He particularly praised Newsround’s coverage on the Troubles in Northern Ireland, noting how it was ‘honestly, discreetly, fairly and without condescension’. Jackson specifically commended Monica Sims, who was the Head of Children’s Programmes at the BBC from 1967. Sims was also behind the launch of a news programme for children, Newsround, which was first broadcast in 1972.
This personal account gives an insight into what the general public’s opinions were on TV at the time, rather than hearing the more political side of national television. It is important for us to read both history of the main figures included in the creation of the ITV, but also history from below as it reveals how ITV faced competition in viewership from the BBC. This letter offers a personal story, showing the opinions of different generations on national television.
Source: The Papers of Geoffrey Jackson, JAKN 6/1
You can listen to an interview with Monica Sims on the Connected Histories of the BBC website here.
‘I’m no good for judging such things – my taste is evidently poles away from that of the lower classes’
From 1952 to 1957, Alexander Cadogan was Chairman of the BBC. In this diary entry for 28th January 1956, he writes about how he sat down to watch television after dinner. He watched one programme broadcast by the BBC and another by ITV – neither of which he enjoyed. He reflected how:
‘I’m no good for judging such things – my taste is evidently poles away from that of the lower classes. But ITMA was very popular, so it would seem that the plebs know a good thing when they see it (or hear it). I wish we could have more of that’.
Source: The Papers of Alexander Cadogan, ACAD 1/27, 1956. Photograph from ACAD 1/19.
Find out more
The documents shared in this online exhibition are available to view in Churchill Archive Centre’s reading room, or through our free, limited, digital copying service.
This exhibition shows only a small selection of the material that we hold related to the history of commercial television. You can find more archive material relating by searching terms in our catalogue ArchiveSearch.
Thank you to ARU students Boris Beechey, Chloe McArthur-Russell, Naomi Penwright, and Lou Pope, for their contributions to this online exhibition.