Editing ITV Granada (section)

===Origins===
[[File:Granada Television until 1968 coverage map.svg|thumb|upright|The Granada region before franchise changes in 1968]]
Granada originated as Granada Theatres Ltd, which owned [[movie theatre|cinemas]] in the south of England. It was founded in [[Dover]] in 1930 by Sidney Bernstein and his brother Cecil; it was named after the Spanish city of [[Granada]], which Sidney had visited on a holiday.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Feddy|first=Kevin|date=15 February 2007|title=Sidney Bernstein|newspaper=Manchester Evening News|url=https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/business/s/210383_sidney_bernstein|access-date=3 December 2020|quote=...&nbsp;named after the Spanish city where he had been on holiday.}}</ref> The company was incorporated as Granada Ltd in 1934 and listed on the [[London Stock Exchange]] in 1935; Granada Theatres Ltd became a subsidiary of the new company.<ref name=history>{{cite web|url=http://www.itvplc.com/about/history/|title=About ITV: History: March 2017|website=itvplc.com|access-date=29 June 2011|archive-date=19 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170319194544/http://www.itvplc.com/about/history|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the 1950s, the Bernsteins became involved in commercial television, a competitor to the cinema chains, through the launch of [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]. Bernstein bid for the North of England franchise, which he believed would not affect the company's largely southern-based cinema chain. In 1954, the [[Independent Television Authority]] (ITA) awarded Granada the North of England contract for Monday to Friday, with [[ABC Weekend TV]] serving the same area on weekends. The companies used the ITA's [[Winter Hill transmitting station|Winter Hill]] and [[Emley Moor transmitting station|Emley Moor]] [[transmitters]], covering [[Lancashire]] and the [[West Riding of Yorkshire|West]] and [[East Riding of Yorkshire|East Ridings of Yorkshire]], including the major conurbations around [[Liverpool]], Manchester, [[Leeds]], [[Bradford]], [[Sheffield]], [[York]] and [[Doncaster]].

{{Blockquote|text=The north and London were the two biggest regions. Granada preferred the north because of its tradition of home-grown culture, and because it offered a chance to start a new creative industry away from the metropolitan atmosphere of London&nbsp;… the north is a closely knit, indigenous, industrial society; a homogeneous cultural group with a good record for music, theatre, literature and newspapers, not found elsewhere in this island, except perhaps in Scotland. Compare this with London and its suburbs — full of displaced persons. And, of course, if you look at a map of the concentration of population in the north and a rainfall map, you will see that the north is an ideal place for television".|sign=[[Sidney Bernstein, Baron Bernstein|Sidney Bernstein]] on why he decided to form Granada Television in Manchester in 1954<ref name="sidneyb"/>}}

Bernstein selected a base from Leeds and Manchester. Granada executive Victor Peers believed Manchester was the preferred choice even before executives toured the region to find a suitable site. [[Granada Studios]], designed by architect [[Ralph Tubbs]], was built on a site on [[Quay Street]] in [[Manchester city centre]] belonging to [[Manchester City Council]], which the company bought for £82,000.<ref name="founder">{{Cite news|title=Granada's Founding Father |url=http://www.teletronic.co.uk/bernstein.htm |work=teletronic.co.uk |access-date=27 July 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728065646/http://www.teletronic.co.uk/bernstein.htm |archive-date=28 July 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

The opening night featured ''Meet The People'' hosted by [[Quentin Reynolds]] and comedian [[Arthur Askey]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=Meet The People – Launch Night from 1956 |url=http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/mivana/mediaplayer.php?id=75472a8f888434fb0ddd1b3abd8b84b1&media=granada_open&type=mp4 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927004132/http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/mivana/mediaplayer.php?id=75472a8f888434fb0ddd1b3abd8b84b1&media=granada_open&type=mp4 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=27 September 2011 |work=tv-ark.org.uk |access-date=27 July 2011 }}</ref> Reynolds became inebriated before the broadcast and had to sober up.<ref name="founder"/>

Granada Television was broadcast by the ITA on VHF Channel 9 (405 lines, monochrome) from the Winter Hill transmitter starting on 3 May 1956, and from 3 November 1956 on VHF channel 10 (405 lines, monochrome) from the Emley Moor transmitter. The weekend programme service was provided by ABC Television covering both the North and Midlands regions. Following the 1968 franchise awards, Granada Television provided the programme service from Winter Hill for all seven days of the week but lost the seven-day service from Emley Moor to [[ITV Yorkshire|Yorkshire Television]]. With the national launch of the UHF 625 line colour television service for both BBC1 and ITV on 15 November 1969, the ITA commenced broadcasts of Granada Television on UHF channel 59 from Winter Hill, with high power relays subsequently put into service at Pendle Forest (channel 25 on 2 August 1971, the first UHF relay service to be operated by the ITA), Lancaster (channel 24 on 26 June 1972), Storeton (channel 25 in September 1979), and Saddleworth (channel 49 on 28 June 1984).