Channel Television

Credits

Editions by
Michael Kenchington

This article is about the TV idents. For the production logos, see ITV Channel Television Productions.

Contents 1st Ident (1 September 1962-1982) 2nd Ident (1982-1985) 3rd Ident (1985-1989) 4th Ident (1987) 5th Ident (1989-1993) 6th Ident (1993-31 May 1999)   7th Ident (1998-31 May 1999) 8th Ident (1 June 1999-31 May 2006) 9th Ident (2002-2004) 10th Ident (2004-31 May 2006) 11th Ident (1 June 2006-November 2011) 12th Ident (November 2011-14 January 2013)

Unused Idents

Contents 1st Unused Ident (1989) 2nd Unused Ident (1999)

1st Ident (1 September 1962-1982)

• 
• 
• 

Visuals: A white hexagon containing a leopard's head appears on a black background, then zooms out to the top right corner of the screen as, one at a time, five plain white hexagons appear below (representing the five main Channel Islands: Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark and Herm). Finally, the words "CHANNEL" and "TELEVISION" appear above and below these five hexagons respectively.

Variants:

• When the channel introduced colour broadcasting in 1976, the logo became light yellow while the background became blue.
• There exists a variant that just has "CHANNEL".

Technique: Motion controlled animation.

Audio: A seven-note horn fanfare, with each note in sync with the animation.

2nd Ident (1982-1985)

• 

Visuals:

• Station ID: On a blue background, there is a "CTV" made of 9 orange stripes, with the last 2 letters conjoined and the logo being surrounded by a white outline. Below it is a white rectangle with the blue text "Channel Television" in it.
• Accompanying clock ident: On a blue background, a standard clock design from the 70s is seen, chroma-keyed in white. Below is "CHANNEL" in a white Microgramma font surrounded by a rounded white rectangle border, along with 2 lines connected to the sides of it. A New Years variant exists where the clock is yellow and the background is silver wrapping paper, and "NEW YEAR ON CHANNEL" is seen below. This would be used throughout the 3rd and 4th ident's usage as well.

Variant: A rare, 21st anniversary variant was made was made in 1983, which had the text below in a white Microgramma font and no box, as well as the logo sporting a light blue "21", also made of 9 lines.

Technique: A still, computerized graphic.

Audio: Superstar Fanfare (D) by Keith Mansfield, or none.

3rd Ident (1985-1989)

• 

Visuals: On a black background, 2 sets of orange lines slide into place to form the same logo as before, but without the white outline, spinning around as they do. The words "Channel Television", in glowing blue, then appear below.

Variants:

• An early variant has no spinning effect for the stripes.
• A local variant has the logo shrunk down to a small square in the center of the screen. From it, a montage of 4 different clips, all showing different scenes around the Channel Islands, zoom in and fill up the rest of the screen. "for the Channel Islands" in a typewriter font with a thick black outline, wipes in below.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Same as the 2nd logo. The early variant has no music, and the local ident has a different horn fanfare.

4th Ident (1987)

• 

Visuals: One by one, nine orange lights move quickly from left to right across a black background, tracing the CTV logo. When the logo is completed, it moves to the top left of the screen, rotating once as it does so, and to its right, a silver "25" in the same style flashes into place, and sparkles three times. Finally, in the lower half of the screen, the text "CHANNEL TELEVISION" is written in by a white flash, along with white border lines above and below, and then a second white flash writes in "25 YEARS OF BROADCASTING" underneath, also with a white border line below.

Technique: Backlit cel animation.

Audio: A series of synthesised notes as the CTV logo is being traced, culminating in a celebratory fanfare.

5th Ident (1989-1993)

• 

Visuals:

• Station ID: On a blue gradient background, a 3D version of the CTV logo in silver zooms out, shining once as it does so. Two pairs of rainbow-coloured stripes suddenly come in from both sides of the screen and move quickly across the still-moving CTV logo, turning it orange. The CTV logo comes to a rest just below the middle of the screen, and the words "Channel Television", in silver, rotate into view below.
• Accompanying clock ident: The clock is the same as the 2nd ident, but is larger and pushed up to the upper left

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A rather portentous synthesised tune featuring a series of 3 horn notes increasing in pitch and volume, ending with a loud drum roll; there is also a "swish" sound as the rainbow flashes move across the screen.

6th Ident (1993-31 May 1999)

• 

Visuals:

• Station ID: On a dark blue background, a large 3D version of the CTV logo goes from the front of the screen, with the rainbow lines already scanning through it. When it rests, the logo shines and shrinks into a comfortable position as "Channel Television" fades in below.
• Accompanying clock ident: The background is the same, albeit a bit brighter, and now there's a different clock with an inverted gradient, smaller blocks for the hours, and the CTV logo above the center point. Below it is the bold text "Channel Television". Much like the previous clocks, it's a board with an analogue clock on it.

Variants:

• Starting in 1996, the end logo has been given a brighter look to it, giving better clarity to the edges.
• This was also incorporated into the 1996-1999 intro of Channel Report, where after the logo was finished, the text fades out and the CTV logo swings to the left, beginning the intro. It also has smoother animation and sometimes a much clearer image for the reflection inside of the logo.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A simple synthesised fanfare.

7th Ident (1998-31 May 1999)

• 

Visuals: Against a shining blue and purple background, many instances of the word "Channel" are seen, all coloured dark blue and either in all small letters or all capitals. Some of the instances move up or down, others left or right, and the rest form rings that rotate clockwise or counterclockwise.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A calming guitar jingle.

Availability: It was rather short lived.

8th Ident (1 June 1999-31 May 2006)

• 

Visuals:

• Station ID: Over the same "spinning hearts" background as in the second ITV generic ident, there is a rotating blue globe containing the five main Channel Islands in yellow, and two yellow comets orbiting the globe, perpendicular to each other. After a while, the globe and comets zoom out to the top half of the screen, and the word "Channel", in yellow and in the Optima font, moves in below from the bottom. The words "HEART OF THE ISLANDS" in white then fade in below "Channel". Finally, the globe and comets become static in such a way that all five Channel Islands can be seen on the globe, while the comets form a heart shape.
• Accompanying clock ident: Uniquely, from 1999-2002, they had a clock consisting of a glowing pink analogue clock embellished onto a floating cube among the generic "spinning hearts" background at the time. This was shown before Channel Report, the local news programme.

Variants:

• Sometimes, the Channel's URL of the time would also fade in, immediately below "HEART OF THE ISLANDS".
• There was also a variant with a cloudy blue and purple BG.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: An extended version of the guitar jingle from the 8th logo, together with the inclusion of a piano.

9th Ident (2002-2004)

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Visuals: Same as the ITV1 Celebrities logo, but the ITV1 logo is replaced with the same Channel TV logo and animation on the left.

Technique: Same as the ITV1 logo, but with the inclusion of the Channel Television logo animation.

Audio: Same as the ITV1 logo.

10th Ident (2004-31 May 2006)

• 

Visuals: The camera pans through views of the Channel Islands, while the 9th Channel TV logo animates on the right.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: Depends.

11th Ident (1 June 2006-November 2011)

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Visuals: Same as the short-lived ITV1 "Emotions" idents, but once the logo is formed, the text "Channel Television" fades in under the logo. Instead of using the clips from the Emotions idents, various shots of landmarks and places around the Channel Islands can be seen.

Technique: Live action and chyron effects.

Audio: Same as the music from the 'Pride' Emotions ident.

12th Ident (November 2011-14 January 2013)

• 
• 
• 

Visuals: As a clip plays in the background, the refreshed 2011 ITV1 logo fades in one by one, with the text "Channel Television" fading in underneath.

Technique: Live action and chyron effects.

Audio: A new 8-note piano jingle plays, which is synchronised to the ITV1 logo fading in on-screen.

Final Note

ITV plc acquired Channel Television from Yattendon Group in 2011, and when ITV rebranded in 2013, Channel Television started using the standard ITV idents.

Unused Idents

1st Unused Ident (1989)

• 

Visuals: On a black background, a dark blue "river" is seen. On top of the river, is the "CTV" logo in orange and below it "CHANNEL TELEVISION" in the Palatino font. The logo then wavers and disperses into the river, and in its place, various images of ITV shows fly by from the right to the left, such as the Elizabeth Tower, a white bird, a basketball player, etc. As these images fly by, the letters "I" and "T", followed by half of the letter "V", fade in one by one. Finally, a vertical triangle appears in place of the other half of the "V", containing part of the "C" from the "CTV stripes" against a blue background. The river fades out.

Technique: A mix of live-action and computer animation effects, designed by English Markell Pockett.

Audio: A rather airy synthesised flute theme that culminates in a 5-note trumpet fanfare, sometimes with the flute echoing at the end. Composed by David Dundas as an ITV jingle. The jingle was adopted from the full theme.

Availability: This was not used on-air, as Channel Television opted to go for their own IDs.

Legacy: This logo is a favourite of many UK logo enthusiasts.

2nd Unused Ident (1999)

• 

Visuals: A short film plays, which culminates in the appearance of a heart. The heart flashes, which transitions to a blue background with spinning heart panels segmented in three. The 1999 "heart and globe" symbol appears with the yellow word "Channel" below, set in Optima, with a blue border surrounding them, and at the bottom of the border in a blue square are the letters "itv".

Technique: A combination of live-action and computer animation, designed by English & Pockett.

Audio: A tense orchestrated fanfare during the initial short film/logo animation culminating in a 5-note piano fanfare and a dramatic synth fanfare, the ladder plays when the logo is fully formed.

Availability: This was not used on-air, as Channel Television opted to go for their own ID.

Legacy: This was an unpopular logo among many, due to the consolidation of the unique visual identities of ITV into one.

External Links

• Channel Television on TVARK