London Weekend Television
London Weekend Television (
LWT; now part of the non-franchised
ITV London region) was the
ITV network franchise holder for
Greater London and the
home counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5:15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 until 1982) to Monday mornings at 6:00. From 1968 until 1992, when LWT's weekday counterpart was
Thames Television, there was an on-screen handover to LWT on Friday nights (there was no handover back to Thames on Mondays, as from 1968 to 1982 there was no programming in the very early morning, and from 1983, when a national breakfast franchise was created, LWT would hand over to
TV-am at 6:00am, which would then hand over to Thames at 9:25am). From 1993 to 2002, when LWT's weekday counterpart was
Carlton Television, the transfer usually occurred invisibly during a commercial break, for Carlton and LWT shared studio and transmission facilities (although occasionally a Thames-to-LWT-style handover would appear).
Like most ITV regional franchises, including Carlton's, the London weekend franchise is now operated by
ITV plc. The "London Weekend" franchise was renewed by
Ofcom in 2015 for ten years and is still separately licensed, but is no longer distinguished on air. LWT is now managed with
Carlton Television as a single entity (ITV London), although the name for the London Weekend licence on the Ofcom site is still "LWT". London Weekend Television Ltd is now (along with most other former regional companies owned by ITV plc) listed at
Companies House as a "
dormant company".
Provided by Wikipedia