Grampian (1961-2006)

Grampian Television was, and technically still is, the ITV contractor for northern Scotland, based in Aberdeen. Its area was originally defined as "north-east Scotland" when it began broadcasting in 1961, as one of the last original ITV franchises, but was later redefined as its signal reached certain areas which had previously gone without ITV (and sometimes without the BBC as well). It eventually covered the largest geographical area in ITV, but with one of the smallest populations, and certainly the most thinly spread out.

Despite this, the company would in fact, in one of ITV's great ironies, reflect a more cosmopolitan view of Scotland than that reflected by the more conservative Scottish Television despite the latter serving a much more urban area with a highly-concentrated population, which was probably more cosmopolitan and less conservative than the North in practice. Grampian was noted for its eye-catching idents and livelier startup music than the unchanging medley of traditional Scottish tunes heard in the Central belt. It produced much light entertainment material, though most of this was only shown locally.

It did not make a major contribution to the network, but it did produce the cinema programme 'The Electric Theatre Show' and, for many years, the sex education schools programme 'Living and Growing'. It also produced the animated series 'James the Cat', which was shown on Children's ITV in the 1980s and would be rerun on Channel 5 in the early 2000s.

In 1997 the company was acquired by Scottish Television's parent company, the Scottish Media Group, and as time went on it would lose most of its identity, with continuity moving to Glasgow and the original Aberdeen studios being closed, with the remaining regional news from Aberdeen moving to much smaller premises. Eventually, in 2006, both Grampian and Scottish were rebranded as "STV", with Grampian being officially referred to as "STV North" while Scottish became "STV Central". The only programme now broadcast specifically for the Grampian region is regional news, although advertising time is still sold separately from that in the former Scottish region. SMG has remained separate from ITV plc.