The various companies involved in the ITV network began coalescing in 1992, when the rules regarding ownership were relaxed.
The first move was the acquisition of Tyne Tees TV by Yorkshire TV. Other takeovers followed, and by the end of that decade there were three dominant companies: Carlton, Granada, and United News and Media. The last of these then decided to pull out of ITV, and its franchises were acquired by Granada (except for HTV, which was sold on to Carlton in order to comply with the new ownership rules).
The merger of Carlton and Granada in 2004 created a single company that controlled all of the ITV franchises in England and Wales. Ulster was added in 2016 and the Channel Islands in 2017, and ITV plc now holds 13 of the 15 UK regional licences. (The two exceptions are Central Scotland and North of Scotland.)
ITV plc also owns the national licence for ITV Breakfast television, which it bought from The Walt Disney Company in 2009.
© Haydn Thompson 2021