London Weekend Television

London Weekend Television
	Version of logo introduced in 1978
	The LWT region when it lost its identity in 2002
Type	Region of television network
Branding	LWT (1978–2002); London Weekend (1969–1978); London Weekend Television (1968–1969);
Country	United Kingdom
First air date	2 August 1968
Motto	Across the capital, across the weekend, this is LWT
TV transmitters	Crystal Palace; (formerly Bluebell Hill, Croydon)
Headquarters	The London Studios, London
Broadcast area	London and parts of South East England
Owner	Granada plc
Dissolved	Lost on-air identity on 27 October 2002 (now known as ITV1 at all times)
Picture format	16:9 576i
Affiliation(s)	ITV
Official website	itv.com/london
Language	English
Replaced	ATV London on Saturdays and Sundays; Rediffusion, London on Friday evenings
Replaced by	ITV London

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.^[1] 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".^[2]

^ "London Weekend Television". Ofcom. Archived from the original on 25 January 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
^ "Companies House". companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2014.

[1] "London Weekend Television". Ofcom. Archived from the original on 25 January 2009. Retrieved 21 July 2009.

[2] "Companies House". companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 May 2014.

[1]

[2]