This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcasterCentral Independent Television (now known asITV Central). It has provided theITV service for the Midlands since 1982.

• 1980
  • 28 December – TheIndependent Broadcasting Authority announces the new contractors to commence on 1 January 1982. Midlands licenseeAssociated TeleVision Ltd. (ATV) is allowed to retain its licence on the condition that 49% of the company is owned locally.^[1] Another condition is that the company is renamed to demonstrate that it is effectively a new business.

• 1981
  • Central Independent Television is the name chosen for the new dual-regionMidlands franchise.

• 1982
  • 1 January – At 9:25am, Central Independent Television goes on the air.^[2]

• 1983
  • 1 February – ITV's breakfast television serviceTV-am launches. Consequently, Central's broadcast day now begins at 9:25am.
  • 7 May – ATV (now Associated Communications Corp.) sells its stake in Central and Sears Holdings purchases a 20% stake^[3] whileLadbrokes andDC Thomson also increase their stakes to 20% each andPergamon takes its ownership to 12.5% with 27.5% being held by single stakeholders.^[4]
  • July – Central usesATV Elstree Studios for the final time. It does so in order to comply with a condition of the licence renewal which requires the company to stop using any London-centric facilities.
  • September
    • Central'sNottingham studios begin operating^[5] and they are officially opened byPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 2 February 1984.^[6]
    • Central finally launches itsEast Midlands service. An industrial dispute was the reason why the new service had been delayed by more than 18 months.

• 1984
  • TheElstree Studios are sold to theBBC.^[7]
  • Central establishes a subsidiary companyZenith Productions to produce programming for the UK and the USA.^[8]

• 1985
  • 3 January – Central's last day of transmission using the405-lines system.
  • 30 August – A new presentation package is launched at 7pm. The sphere is replaced by a ‘cake’.^[9]
  • Mid-November – A new closedown screen sequence makes its debut. It depicts villages ofMidlanders turning their lights off, with the Central Cake logo being animated. A shorter version is also made, but was only used for a brief period of time.

• 1986
  • 17 January – The first edition of Friday night debate programmeCentral Weekend is broadcast. The 90-minute programme proves to be popular, quickly establishing a 40% audience share.
  • 2 April – Central becomes the first ITV company to broadcast in-vision teletext when it launches aJobfinder service, which broadcasts for one hour after the end of the day's programming.^[10]

• 1987
  • 6 January
    • Central acquires the European division of the American production companyFilmfair for £1.5million.^[11] Filmfair goes on to produce several of the station's networked children's series before being sold onto the Storm Group (Caspian) in 1991.^[12][13]
    • Central acquires a 22% stake in Starstream, which operatesThe Children's Channel.^[14]
  • 16 March –Carlton Communications acquires 20 per cent of Central from Ladbrokes for £30 million.^[15]
  • 25 April – Central becomes the first station in the UK to keep its transmitters on air all night when it launchesMore Central. Programmes are shown until around 3am on weekdays and 4am at the weekend, with the rest of the night filled by itsJobfinder service.^[16]
  • 7 September – Following the transfer ofITV Schools toChannel 4, ITV provides a full morning programme schedule, with advertising, for the first time. The new service includes regular five-minute national and regional news bulletins.

• 1988
  • 13 February –Central launches a full 24-hour service.^[17]
  • 4 April – After nearly 24 years on the air, the final episode ofCrossroads is broadcast. Central had taken over production of the programme fromATV. It would be revived in 2001 and would end again in 2003.

• 1989
  • 9 January –Central launches a third sub-region – Central South. It coversOxfordshire,Gloucestershire,Herefordshire and parts ofNorthamptonshire,Buckinghamshire andWiltshire. These areas were previously served by the Central West sub-region.^[18]
  • 1 September – ITV introduces its first official logo as part of an attempt to unify the network under one image whilst retaining regional identity. Central adopts its version of the ident.^[19]

• 1990
  • 4 March – Central forms a partnership withThe Observer newspaper to create Central Observer, making environmental themed films forBritish Satellite Broadcasting and terrestrial channels, with funding from the charity Television Trust for the Environment.^[20]

• 1991
  • 16 October – TheIndependent Television Commission announces the results of the franchise round. Central is unopposed for the Midlands licence and retains it with a token bid of only £2,000 per year, plus 11% of their annual advertising revenue.
  • November
    • Having previously rented its Birmingham studio complex, Central now owns these studios.^[21]
    • Central sells its stake in Starstream to United Artists Cable International.

• 1992
  • No events.

• 1993
  • No events.

• 1994
  • January –Carlton Communications takes full ownership of Central.^[22][23]

• 1995
  • February – Central ends its own night-time programming and carries the London overnight service although opt-outs forJobfinder and other regional programming continues.

• 1996
  • No events.

• 1997
  • June – Central opens thenew smaller studios.

• 1998
  • 15 November – The public launch of digital terrestrial TV in the UK takes place.

• 1999
  • 8 March –Central News' teatime programme is renamedCentral News at Six to coincide with the programme being rescheduled from 6:25pm to 6pm.
  • 6 September –Carlton Television drops the Central Independent Television name and brands the region as Carlton Central.^[24]
  • 8 November – Anew, hearts-based on-air look is introduced.

• 2000
  • No events.

• 2001
  • 11 August – ITV's main channel is rebranded as ITV1.
  • 7 September – After more than 15 years, the final edition ofCentral Weekend is broadcast.

• 2002
  • 28 October – Central's on-air regional identity is dropped, apart from when introducing regional programmes.

• 2003
  • All remaining overnight regional programming, includingJobfinder, ends.

• 2004
  • January – The final two remaining English ITV companies,Carlton andGranada, merge to createITV plc.

• 2005
  • 5 February – Following the closure of theCarlton Studios inNottingham, production ofCentral News East moves to the Birmingham studios.^[25]

• 2006
  • 24 July –Central News at Six is renamedCentral Tonight.
  • 13 November – The ITV1 Central branding, seen before some regional programming, is dropped.
  • 4 December – The South Midlands sub-region is disbanded. The parts ofGloucestershire served by Central South joins the majority of the county already covered byITV West and begins receivingThe West Tonight and Herefordshire is now covered by the West Midlands edition. In the rest of the area, news operations are merged withMeridian West, to form the non-franchiseITV Thames Valley service, broadcastingThames Valley Today/Tonight from the Meridian West studio inWhiteley,Hampshire. The new programme, which also coversBerkshire,Hampshire and parts ofSurrey andWiltshire retained Central's Abingdon newsroom as the main newsgathering base for the new region but the studio was closed.

• 2007
  • No events.

• 2008
  • December – All non-news local programming ends afterOfcom gives ITV permission to drastically cut back its regional programming.^[26] From 2009 the only regional programme is the monthly political discussion show.

• 2009
  • February – ITV makes major cutbacks to its regional broadcasts in England. Central's separate sub-regional news programmes are merged into a pan-regional programme although more localised news continues to be broadcast as a brief opt-out during the early evening programme.^[27]

• 2010
  • No events.

• 2011
  • 28 September –Digital switchover is completed in theMidlands.

• 2012
  • No events.

• 2013
  • 14 January – ITV's Midlands news service is relaunched and rebranded asITV News Central.^[28]
  • 16 September – Sub-regional news coverage is reintroduced and the weekday daytime, late evening and weekend bulletins as well as 20 minutes of the 6pm programme are once again more localised.

• 2014
  • TheOxford transmitter is transferred from the Central to the Meridian region.

• History of ITV
• History of ITV television idents
• Timeline of ITV
• Timeline of ATV – Central's predecessor

• Television in the United Kingdom by year
• ITV timelines

• Articles with short description
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