Watch ITV1

ITV1 is the biggest commercial channel in Britain, and it has a record of fierce rivalry with BBC One for the largest segment of audience.

ITV1 owns the official rights to broadcast important sport events and niche competitions. Some of the famous tournaments available for viewing are the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championships.

ITV1 was gradually formed through 2002-2004, when 11 regional channels of the ITV network were consolidated into a national broadcaster with unified programming and dedicated regional slots.

When the Covid-19 social distancing requirements were imposed, the channel took them very seriously, and one of the episodes of ‘I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!’ was filmed in an isolated Welsh castle.

ITV1 once launched the show that made it to the Buzzfeed list of the top 25 weirdest British shows: Flockstars. In it, celebrities had to compete in herding sheep. The show was closed after just one brief season, but its funny catchphrase lives even today: ‘It’s time… to release the sheep!’

The channel changed its name from ITV1 to ITV and then back to ITV1 several times, in an attempt to rebrand itself as a popular national broadcaster.

ITV1 is home to the very saucy-slash-funny-slash-awareness-razing show The Real Full Monty. Male and female celebrity teams do the full stripping while skating on ice in the name of a noble cause: raising awareness of cancer that can be invisible till it’s too late and encouraging people to have screenings regularly. The show was launched in 2017 with male stars only and had several renewals and redesigns since then.

Through 2006-2013, ITV1 introduced a series of video idents that were miniature works of art – richly colored short visuals with separate themes, like ‘Sunflowers,’ ‘Lanterns,’ ‘Pavement Art’ and ‘Market,’ appreciated by viewers and TV critics.

For lovers of technological advances and HD video, ITV1 has its branch ITV1 HD that broadcasts the same set of programs but in HD format (available on Freeview HD platform).

Throughout its history and several rounds of rebranding, ITV1 retained the initial name Independent Television to show that they not only aim to make profit but also perform important public functions.