Associated Television/Television Idents

Credits

Descriptions by
Matt Williams

Captures by
Eric S., Mr. Logo Lord, and others

Editions by
mr3urious, Mr. Logo Lord and PerryLuv2001

Video captures courtesy of
Paul Hatfield and bbctim123

Background

Originally formed as "ABC" (not to be confused with the American or Australian "ABC") by impresario Lew Grade, Associated Television Ltd. was the parent company of ITC Entertainment until 1981, when ATV re-branded itself to Central Independent Television.

1st Logo (September-October 1955)

Logo: We see a gray "eye" (inspired by the CBS logo) with a striped (or "shadowed") eye below it. The letters "A", "B", and "C" are shown in the spaces of the intersecting logo.

FX/SFX: Possibly still.

Music/Sounds: Possibly none, or the three ATV chimes.

Availability: Long extinct. This was withdrawn after threats of legal action by Associated British Corporation, which was about to launch its own TV channel, causing the network's renaming. There is also no known recording of this logo, likely due to its short lifespan.

Editor's Note: None.

2nd Logo (October 1955-1958)

Nicknames: "Sound and Vision", "The Zooming Eyes", "Zooming A-T-V", "The Eyes II"

Logo: On a black background, we see the eye from before, except wider, zooming toward us. It then moves upward, revealing a striped (or "shadowed") eye logo below it. It then stops at a point where both circles intersect. The letters "A", "T", and "V" appear in the spaces of the intersecting logo in sequence accompanied by three chimes. "ASSOCIATED TELEVISION LTD." then appears below.

FX/SFX: The eye logo animation, the appearance of the letters, and the "wiping" on of the full company name.

Music/Sounds: The three "chimes" used as the letters appear, which increase in pitch. Composed by Wally Stott (later known as Angela Morley).

Availability: Extinct. This would continue to be used at the end of sign-ons until colour broadcasts began.

Editor's Note: The reason the logo is somewhat misproportioned is because due to the company's renaming forcing the draftsman to redraw it in a hurry.

3rd Logo (1956-1958)

Nickname: "The Schedule"

Logo: On a gray background, a rectangle protruding from the top right lists "MIDLANDS: Monday to Friday", a small ATV eye logo, and then "LONDON: Saturday and Sunday". 3 rectangles drop down beside it and a rectangle slides in from the right below the three rectangles. The letters "A", "T", and "V" appear in the rectangles with "PRESENTS" being wiped in on the rectangle below.

FX/SFX: The sliding in of the rectangles.

Music/Sounds: The same three chimes.

Availability: Extinct. This was seen in both areas ATV broadcast to (as seen in this ident) and even on programmes. 

Editor's Note: None.

4th Logo (1958-July 1964)

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  Nicknames: "ATV Zoom 2", "ATV Zoom in Color/Colour", "ATV IN COLOUR", "Colored Circles"

Logo: On a gray or light blue background, 3 circles, colored red, green, and blue, grow in one after the other, intersecting each other and forming different colors. The caption "IN COLOUR" fades in underneath. The 3 circles then slide towards each other, forming one white circle as the background fades to blue. The white circle grows out into an eye shape and bands of color sweep across it, cutting out the circle part and adding in the striped "shadow" underneath. The logo turns yellow and the letters "A", "T", and "V" appear in the spaces.

Variants:

• 1969-75 black-and-white variant: the logo is shortened to just the ATV eyes appearance following a growing circle, and no gradients.
• A still variant at the end of shows, which was sometimes in-credit, was used, which read "AN ATV COLOUR PRODUCTION" on a blue background (the shade of blue may vary).
• Another variant where the logo is white on a red background also exists.
• Sometimes the eye might be in white instead of yellow.
• A version of the endcap with a black background was used on earlier color productions.
• Another version of the endcap has the text in white.
• On Crossroads episodes from 1984 & 1986 the endcap is in black and white, this is due to the fact that both episodes were originally broadcast in color, but the videotapes that they were stored on were wiped by ATV shortly after broadcast, and those shows only survived via 16mm telerecordings.
• On an Elstree Christmas promo tape from 1982, after the logo forms, there are no letters that appear in the spaces.

FX/SFX: The appearance of the colored circles, the "rainbow" effects.

Music/Sounds: A loud, proud, and bombastic orchestral theme composed by Jack Parnell, arranged by Wally Stott (later Angela Morley). The second part of this, the chimes, almost sound similar to the famous NBC chimes theme. For the black-and-white variant, in the beginning growing circle there are just three drums to accompany it. In its early years (?), the music was lower in pitch and sounded more low-budget.

Availability: Can be seen on any British program produced by ATV during this time. A good source on which to find this on home video is the 1981 Magnetic Video release of the Rudolf Nureyev version of Giselle. This has a Flash remake of both the more low-budget sounding one and the more familiar one at 625.uk.com. The logo is preserved on Challenge airings of the first series of Bullseye. Can also be found on DVD's of Crossroads released by Network DVD. The black-and-white version is extinct. Could be seen on any black & white ATV program during this time. Again, a Flash remake exists at 625.uk.com.

Editor's Note: This is a popular logo and probably one of the most fondly remembered logos in ITV's history.