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ABC Television (UK)
| ABC Television (UK) | |
| |
| Founded | February 18, 1956 |
| Closed | July 28, 1968 (merged with Rediffusion London to become Thames Television) |
| Company | Associated British Picture Corporation |
| Notable Series | The Avengers |
For the American television network, see ABC.
For the public television network in Australia, see ABC Television (Australia).
ABC Television (known officially as Associated British Corporation) was a television station in the United Kingdom.
History
ABC was one of the original contractors for the British ITV Network, serving as the weekend ITV contractor for the network's North of England and Midlands regions beginning on February 18, 1956 in the Midlands (serviced by ATV on weekdays) and on May 5, 1956 in the North region (whose weekday contractor was Granada Television). ABC, a division of film company Associated British Picture Corporation, had been asked by the Independent Television Authority (the original regulator of commercial TV in the United Kingdom at the time) to take over the North/Midlands contracts when Kelmsley–Winnick, a consortium which had originally been awarded the contracts, collapsed.
ABC lost the weekend franchises for its regions during the 1967 ITV franchise renewal period when all weekend contracts outside of the London area were discontinued. It originally applied for either the London weekend contract (which ended up going to London Weekend Television) or for the new seven-day Midlands contract (which was retained by ATV), but was awarded the weekday franchise for London, on the condition that it combine its resources with existing London weekday station Rediffusion London to form a new company. The two stations' parent companies created new London weekday station Thames Television, which began broadcasting on July 30, 1968.
Notable programs
- The Avengers
- The Human Jungle
- Police Surgeon
- Redcap
- Callan (continued by Thames from 1968)
- Public Eye (continued by Thames from 1968)
- World of Sport (continued by London Weekend from 1968)
External links
- ABC Weekend TV history site
- 1960 animated ABC logo from 625.uk.com (requires Adobe Flash Player version 6 or later)
- 1964 animated ABC logo from 625.uk.com
