ITC Entertainment

The Incorporated Television Company (ITC) was founded by television mogul Lew Grade in 1954. Originally creating television content for syndication, Grade was granted a franchise to operate as the ITV programme provider for the Midlands region on Monday to Friday, and the London region on Saturday and Sunday through ATV - a subsidiary of ITC. It was through ATV which Grade released almost all of his future ITC content. Ironically, it was Grade's ITC productions (which were based in London) which caused him to lose the ITV Midlands franchise.

Logo and Animated Idents

The production logo featured three diamonds, with the letters of the company placed in each one. For international markets, an animated opening logo was added - featuring the logo followed by the word "Presents", and accompanied by a fanfare. There were several variations on this animation. One included a compass which gave way to a large diamond with a world map, which - in turn - gave way to the three diamonds of the logo. Another logo featured three spinning diamonds (nicknamed the "Space Diamonds" or the "Rainbow Spinning Top") in red, green and blue. The ITC logo appeared in white on top of the coloured diamonds, and the lettering "From (ITC logo) Entertainment" appeared. This logo was used after showings of The Muppet Show in the US, and apparently some considered it rather scary. (In Britain The Muppet Show had an animated ATV logo at the start.) The final ITC animation featured a variation on the logo, actually spinning within itself, in gold.

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