This is a timeline of the history of the British broadcaster Central Independent Television (now known as ITV Central). It has provided the ITV service for the Midlands since 1982.
1980s
1980
28 December – The Independent Broadcasting Authority announces the new contractors to commence on 1 January 1982. Midlands licensee ATV is allowed to retain its licence on the condition that 49% of the company is owned locally. 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-region Midlands franchise.
1982
1 January – At 9:25am, Central Independent Television goes on the air.
1983
1 February – ITV's breakfast television service TV-am launches. Consequently, Central's broadcast day now begins at 9:25am. 7 May – ACC sells its stake in Central and Sears Holdings purchases a 20% stake while Ladbrokes and DC Thomson also increase their stakes to 20% each and Pergamon takes its ownership to 12.5% with 27.5% being held by single stakeholders. July – Central uses ATV 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. 29 August – Debut of the long-running game show Blockbusters, presented by Bob Holness. September Central's Nottingham studios begin operating and they are officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on 2 February 1984. Central finally launches its East Midlands service. An industrial dispute was the reason why the new service had been delayed by more than 18 months.
1984
The Elstree Studios are sold to the BBC. Central establishes a subsidiary company Zenith Productions to produce programming for the UK and the USA.
1985
3 January – The last day of transmission using the 405-lines system. 27 August – A new presentation package is launched. The sphere is replaced by a ‘cake’. Mid-November – The newer closedown bumper makes its debut, surrounding with the villages of Midlands turning their lights off, with the Central Cake logo being animated, the shorter version were also made but it was short-lived.
1986
17 January – The first edition of Friday night debate programme Central Weekend is broadcast. The 90-minute programme proves to be popular, quickly establishing a 40% audience share. 2 April – The first in-vision teletext service is seen on ITV when Central launches its Jobfinder service which broadcasts for one hour after the end of the day's programming.
1987
6 January
Central acquires the European division of the American production company Filmfair for £1.5million. Filmfair goes on to produce several of the station's networked children's series before being sold onto the Storm Group (Caspian) in 1991. Central acquires a 22% stake in Starstream, which operates The Children's Channel. Inspector Morse, based on the books by Colin Dexter first airs with John Thaw in the title role. The series would run until the year 2000. 16 March – Carlton Communications acquires 20 per cent of Central from Ladbrokes for £30 million. 25 April – Central becomes the first station in the UK to keep its transmitters on air all night when it launches More Central. Programmes are shown until around 3am on weekdays and 4am at the weekend, with the rest of the night filled by its Jobfinder service. 7 September – Following the transfer of ITV Schools to Channel 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. 4 April – After nearly 24 years on the air, the final episode of Crossroads is broadcast. Central had taken over production of the programme from ATV. It would be revived in 2001 and would end again in 2003.
1989
9 January – Central launches a third sub-region – Central South. It covers Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and parts of Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Wiltshire. These areas were previously served by the Central West sub-region. 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.
1990s
1990
4 March – Central forms a partnership with The Observer newspaper to create Central Observer, making environmental themed films for British Satellite Broadcasting and terrestrial channels, with funding from the charity Television Trust for the Environment.