ITC Entertainment Group

Background

The Incorporated Television Company (ITC) was a British television distribution company founded by television mogul Lew Grade in 1954 as the distribution unit of ATV (Associated TeleVision), one of the ITV franchises; it later branched out into TV series and feature film production. In 1995, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment acquired ITC Entertainment Group. PolyGram was later acquired by Seagram and Sons on December 10, 1998. In January 1999, Carlton Communications acquired the ITC library. Most of the ITC library, with certain exceptions (The Dark Crystal is held by Universal with Sony Pictures Entertainment handling video rights, and non-US rights of The Evil That Men Do is owned by co-distributor Tri-Star Pictures through Sony Pictures Entertainment, US rights are still with Shout! Factory/ITV), is now owned by ITV Studios Global Entertainment, a subsidiary of ITV plc.

1st Logo (1956-1960)

Nicknames: "Early Diamonds", "Horizontal Diamonds", "An ITC Release"

Logo: On a black background, we see the letters "ITC" each appear inside three rounded diamonds shapes horizontally. The word "AN" appears above it and "RELEASE" appears below it.

Variant: On Fury, the logo appears in-credit and the word "RELEASE" is replaced with "PRODUCTIONS". Numerous other variants also exist.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None or the closing theme.

Availability: Seen on early ITC shows like Ding Dong School, Fury and Interpol Calling.

Editor's Note: Uniquely, this is the only logo where the diamonds are arranged horizontally, rather than the more familiar vertical formation.

2nd Logo (1956-1961?)

Nicknames: "Vertical Diamonds", "An ITC Release II"

Logo: On a gray background, the letters "ITC" each appear in three rounded diamond shapes vertically, connected with a line in the middle. The word "AN" appears above it and "RELEASE" appears beneath it. In other cases, it's superimposed.

FX/SFX: None.

Music/Sounds: None.

Availability: Extremely rare. It's mostly common on U.S. syndication prints of the first Lassie TV series, re-titled Jeff's Collie (1954-1957). Some Alpha Video DVD releases might retain this logo, however.

Editor's Note: The more familiar vertical design debuts here, but wouldn't be until a bit later where it becomes more notable.

3rd Logo (1959-May 21, 1975)

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Nicknames: "Diamond Top IV", "The Gold Diamonds", "Golden Top", "Golden Diamonds", "Golden Diamond Top", "THUD!", "Optical Illusion Diamond"

Logo: On a black background, we see three gold interlocked ITC diamonds but with no letters in them, spinning around. They now appear to be made with a single "ribbon" of metal facing at an upwards angle, appearing that they overlap each other. As they spin around, the letters "ITC", in gold, slide out from the right of it one-by-one, and then shine as the diamonds stop spinning.

Variants:

This comes with or without a registered trademark "®" symbol next to the "C".
There is a rare opening variant that features "Presents" underneath. This was seen at the beginning of some ITC productions/releases.
The closing variant of this logo is bylineless.
There is a variation of the logo that appears at the end of some CBS Theatrical Films releases when they are shown on television, and many ITC releases from Avid Home Entertainment as well as an Australian airing of Danger Man. In it, the logo is sped up, the three notes accompanying the ITC letters sliding out are not heard, the letters do not shine, there is no shimmering sound heard, "Entertainment Group" appears under "ITC" once the diamonds stop spinning, and a different "THUD!" sound is heard at the end. The music for that logo has also been heard on the standard version as well.
The late version of this logo, has a byline reading "A PolyGram Filmed Entertainment Company", which is seen on the Artisan DVDs of Sophie's Choice, The Boys from Brazil, some TV airings of Volunteers, and a 1997 syndicated print of Halloween (1978).
On the 1996-98 USA Network series The Big Easy, the ITC Entertainment Group version is seen sped up (after the Grosso-Jacobson Productions logo) and cuts away to the PolyGram Filmed Entertainment logo (joined in progress; the final part of that logo is seen).
Sometimes, it is superimposed over the ending credits.

FX/SFX: The spinning diamonds and sliding letters; pretty good animation.

Music/Sounds: A dramatic bass sounder, followed by a three-note synth tune that corresponds to the sliding out of the letters, a shimmering sound accompanying the letters shining, and a "THUD!" synth sound.

Music/Sounds Variants:

A modified version of the tune can be found on Deadlock.
A low-pitched version of the tune can be found on the Scorpion Releasing DVD of Whispers (1990).
Sometimes the music for the ITC Entertainment Group logo can be heard over the standard logo.
There is a variant on the ITC Entertainment Group logo where the three notes play (although faster than usual) and a "THUD"/drum roll sound effect plays. *This music variant is very rare. There's a variant without the "THUD" on this version.
Sometimes, the logo is silent, or it can have the opening theme of the movie play over it.
The mini-series People Like Us has a three-note harp theme.
The standard logo's music has been known to play over the ITC Entertainment Group logo.
Some TV movies and most episodes of Space: 1999 have the 1959 logo theme playing over the logo.
The 1990 revival of Tic-Tac-Dough has the theme playing under as Larry Van Nuys announces (following the Barry & Enright Productions logo) "... distributed by ITC!"

Availability: Rare.

This logo was the norm for plastering older ITC logos (including the ITC Film Distributors logos) on prints of its television and film library.
In recent years, this has fallen to removal or plastering by other companies (under Carlton and Granada/ITV ownership for example), but can still be seen on a number of titles released by IVE, Live Entertainment, or Artisan Entertainment, as well as older TV prints of ITC material.
This appears on Artisan DVD releases of films such as The Last Unicorn, The Boys from Brazil, and The Eagle Has Landed, among others. This logo was also spotted various episodes of The Saint on ITV4 in the UK and at the start and end of one episode of the aforementioned show on Me-TV titled "The Best Laid Schemes".
The "Entertainment Group" variant appears at the end of most ITC material released on DVD by Artisan Entertainment, such as The Eagle Has Landed and Jesus of Nazareth among many others as well as an Australian airing of Danger Man.
This logo is also intact on some ITC films released by different companies, such as the Columbia/TriStar DVD release and a Netflix print of Fear of a Black Hat, the Scorpion Releasing DVD of Whispers, and the Synapse Films DVD of Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy. It was also recently seen on Amazon Prime Video viewings of Dogpound Shuffle, Doppelganger, and Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael (the latter in place of the 1986 Paramount logo, which suggests the international master was used). On Blu-Ray, this appears on the Scorpion release of Trouble Bound, and the Network UK release (including the SE DVD) of The Last Seduction over the film's opening theme, though the US Artisan DVD had it plastered with the Barnholtz Productions logo.
This is also seen on ITC catalog releases by Avid Home Entertainment, where it usually (if not always) plasters earlier ITC logos or those of the films' distributors (e.g. Associated Film Distribution, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Avco Embassy Pictures Corporation); on the Avid release of The Tamarind Seed, it plasters the Avco Embassy logo but retains the in-credit ITC opening logo.
This logo also appeared at the beginning of the original UK release of The Brave Little Toaster, as well as other international VHS releases when the company held the distribution rights at the time.
Recent prints of some of these replace this with ether Carlton, Granada, or ITV Global logos.
This logo made an appearance on recent Australian airings of the Thunderbirds episodes "Lord Parker's Holiday" and "Path of Destruction" (and can be seen on 9Now's prints of those episodes).
The superimposed variant was only seen on the 1990 revival of Tic-Tac-Dough, and was last seen when it was rerun on the USA Network more than 20 years ago.
It is unknown if this was seen on late 1980s/early 1990s prints of The Buccaneers.

Editor's Note: It's a lot tamer compared to the 3rd and 4th logos, but the "THUD" sound can surprise a few people. Another fan favorite and a nice way to end a legendary company.