ITV Studios

ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is based in 12 countries across 60 production labels, with local production offices in the UK, US, Belgium, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Israel, France, Spain and Scandinavia. ITV Studios not only makes programmes primarily for its parent company ITV plc, but also for other networks such as the BBC and Channel 4. It was formed from a gradual amalgamation of the production divisions of all ITV plc owned 'Channel 3' licensees which occurred from 1994 to 2004, and for a number of years thereafter following the creation of ITV plc. The division is also responsible for ITV's production facilities The London Studios, 3SixtyMedia (based at ITV Granada, and co-owned with BBC Studioworks), and location hire company ProVision (based at ITV Yorkshire, with sales offices at ITV Granada and The London Studios). ITV Studios Global Entertainment (formerly Granada International and Granada Ventures) is responsible for sales of finished programmes, formats and commercial licensing deals. ITV Studios Limited's history can be traced back to Granada Productions, which was founded in 1954 as Granada Television's in-house production arm. Central Television Enterprises, Central Independent Television's international sales operations founded in 1987. Central Television Enterprises was later acquired by Carlton Communications in 1994 when they purchased Central, renaming the company as CTE (Carlton) Limited. In March 1998, CTE was renamed as Carlton International Media Limited. During the merger of Granada Media and Carlton Communications to form ITV plc in 2004, the international division of Granada Media was folded into Carlton International, which assumed the name of Granada International. Meanwhile, Carlton's TV unit was folded into Granada's but retained the "Granada Media Group" name.