HTV Group plc is the ITV contractor of Wales and the West of England. It took over from Television Wales and West Limited in 1968. Initially the station was known as Harlech (after the head of the company, Lord Harlech), but from the introduction of colour in 1970 became HTV.
HTV operates two separate services - "ITV1 Wales" (formerly HTV Wales) in Wales, and "ITV1 West of England" (formerly HTV West) in the West of England area. Since 28 October 2002, on ITV1 West of England, the full name is seen only before local programmes - at all other times the station is simply called ITV1. The ITV1 Wales name is seen before all programmes (except overnights) on that service however. In addition, ITV1 Wales has its own team of announcers, while ITV1 West of England shares a team with the other ITV1 regions in England.
The HTV name has not disappeared completely however. It continues to be seen on news bulletins and weather forecasts, and on programmes made for S4C. All off-air branding also remains HTV.
Main programmes include "HTV News" (separate editions for ITV1 Wales and ITV1 West of England), "The Ferret", and "Nuts and Bolts". HTV does not now produce much in the way of regular network programming, although it does commission "Movies, Games and Videos". Previously, there have been some major HTV commissions including "Robin of Sherwood" and much children's programming.
In 1996, HTV was taken over by United News and Media plc (now United Business Media plc). In 2001, it was sold to Carlton Communications plc, owners of Carlton Television, though the HTV name was retained on-air until 27 October 2002.