ITC Entertainment

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The ITC Entertainment logo

The Incorporated Television Company (ITC) was founded by television mogul Lew Grade in 1954.

1 History
2 Productions
3 Logo and animated idents
4 Ownership
5 List of ITC Entertainment programs
6 Studios
7 Associated Communications Corporation companies
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] History

Originally designed to be a contractor for the UK's new ITV under the self-explanatory name Incorporated Television Programme Company, the company failed to win a contract when the Independent Television Authority felt that doing so would give too much control in the entertainment business to the Grade family's companies (which included large talent agencies and theatre interests).

However, the winner of one of the contracts, the Associated Broadcasting Development Company had insufficient funds to start broadcasting, so ITC was brought into the consortium and Lew Grade came to dominate it.

ITC continued as a subsidiary of the new company - soon renamed Associated TeleVision (ATV) - and produced its own programmes for syndication in the United States. It also distributed ATV material outside of the UK.

The initials 'ITC' stood for two different things - Independent Television Corporation for sales to North and Latin America, and Incorporated Television Company for sales to the rest of the world. The American Independent Television Corporation was formed as a joint venture with Jack Wrather in about 1955. In September 1958, the Independent Television Corporation purchased Television Programs of America (TPA) for $11,350,000. Wrather sold his shares of Independent Television Corporation to Lew Grade about 1959-60.

The large foreign sales achieved by ITC during the British government's exports drives of the 1960s and 1970s led to ATV (and its parent company from 1966, Associated Communications Corporation) receiving the Queen's Award for Export numerous times.

[edit] Productions

ITC is best known for being the company behind many successful British cult TV programmes during the 1960s and 1970s, such as The Saint, Danger Man, The Baron, The Champions, The Prisoner, Man in a Suitcase, Strange Report, Department S, The Persuaders!, Jason King, The Adventurer, The Protectors and Return of the Saint. It was also the production company for The Muppet Show which was made at ATV's London studio and distributed in the UK by ATV and in the US by ITC.

ITC got its start as a production company when former American producer Hannah Weinstein approached Lew Grade. Weinstein wanted to make a programme called "The Adventures of Robin Hood". Weinstein proposed making the series for ITV and simultaneously marketing it in the United States through an American TV distribution company, Official Films. The series was a big success in both countries, running from 1955 until 1960.

Although most of the ITC series were produced in Britain, ITC often worked with Television Programs of America (TPA) and several series were filmed in America. Possibly the earliest ITC series produced in the US was Fury a Saturday morning live action series starring Peter Graves about a beloved ranch horse which ran on NBC in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

In 1964 Gerry Anderson's AP Films became part of ACC and produced the hugely successful children's series Thunderbirds and, under its successor company Century 21 Productions, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. ITC also funded Anderson-created programs aimed at the adult market, including UFO and Space: 1999. It was at ITC's request that FANDERSON - the Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society - was founded. Another ITC children's series was The Adventures of Rupert Bear, the first television outing for the Daily Express cartoon character.

As well as television programming ITC also produced several films - including On Golden Pond, Capricorn One, The Eagle Has Landed, The Boys from Brazil, The Return of the Pink Panther and a number of Jim Henson Company productions: The Dark Crystal and the first two Muppet films - The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper. It was also behind Franco Zeffirelli's Biblical mini-series Jesus of Nazareth and the Gregory Peck TV movie The Scarlet and the Black.

The company's most notorious production was the 1980 film Raise the Titanic which almost sunk the production company as costs escalated, principally around the extensive Titanic scale model. The film recouped only a fraction of its costs, and ITC's profile never recovered. Grade himself retired from active film production.

ITC was also the world-wide distributor for Thames Television's The Benny Hill Show.

ITC also produced the 1990 Tic-Tac-Dough revival.

[edit] Logo and animated idents

A still from the 1974 ITC Entertainment logo ident

The production logo featured three diamonds, with the letters of the company placed in each one. For international markets, an animated opening logo was added - featuring the logo followed by the word "PRESENTS", and accompanied by a fanfare. This music was composed by Jack Parnell, initially appointed ATV's musical director in 1956. There were several variations on this animation. One included a compass which gave way to a large diamond with a world map, which - in turn - gave way to the three diamonds of the logo. Another logo featured three spinning diamonds (nicknamed the "Space Diamonds" or the "Rainbow Spinning Top") in red, green and blue. The ITC logo appeared in white on top of the coloured diamonds, and the lettering "FROM (ITC logo) ENTERTAINMENT" appeared. This logo was used after showings of The Muppet Show in the US. In Britain, The Muppet Show had an animated ATV logo at the start. The final ITC animation featured a variation on the logo, actually spinning within itself, in gold.

[edit] Ownership

When the Associated Communications Corporation was broken up after losing control of the ATV franchise (it became Central Independent Television when ACC was forced to divest itself of 49% of the company), the rights to the ITC archive were acquired by Polygram, and subsequently by Carlton Television. Today, the underlying rights are owned by Granada International, although Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer now owns theatrical distribution rights. Carlton released the most popular ITC programs on DVD both in Europe and North America. There were however a few exceptions: The Adventures of Robin Hood and the other swashbuckling adventure series of the late 1950s and early 1960s were released on DVD by Network Video, as was Strange Report. Man in a Suitcase is due to be released by Network in the near future as a limited edition box set. The rights to The Muppet Show, however, are held by The Muppets Studio LLC (formerly The Muppets Holding Company), a wholly owned part of The Walt Disney Company, with North American and UK home video rights controlled by Disney.

[edit] List of ITC Entertainment programs

For a list of ITC produced and distributed programs, visit this page.

[edit] Studios

ITC had no studios of its own. Programmes were made in several facilities but most notably at ATV's own studio in Elstree. However, the MGM-British Studios complex at Borehamwood, the Rank Organisation's Pinewood and Shepperton Studios were also used.