ABC Television

This article is about the defunct British weekend broadcaster. For the American commercial TV network, see American Broadcasting Company. For other uses, see ABC (disambiguation).

Associated British Corporation, owned by cinema chain ABPC, was the third ITV station to take to the air (after Associated-Rediffusion and ATV). It broadcast to the English Midlands and the North of England on weekends, commencing in the Midlands on 18 February 1956, and in the North of England on 5 May of the same year. After a slow start, the company became renowned for having a strong corporate identity and a large range of popular programmes, including The Avengers, Armchair Theatre, World of Sport and Britain's first teenage music show, Oh Boy!.

In the 1967 franchise round, the weekday/weekend splits in the Midlands and North of England were removed, with ATV and Granada Television going seven days in the Midlands and the North West of England respectively and the Yorkshire area passing to the new Yorkshire Television, and ABC's hopes of obtaining the London weekend franchise were dashed by David Frost's London Television Consortium, which became London Weekend Television. The Independent Television Authority however, did not want ABC to disappear from the scene, and thus arranged a "shotgun marriage" between it and Rediffusion - creating a new London weekday station, Thames Television. ABC's final day of broadcasting was 28 July 1968, with Thames commencing two days later.

ABC's in-house programme library is now owned by French media company StudioCanal, although the copyrights to them are shared with ITV.

Television IdentsProduction Logos

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1st ID (18 February 1956-13 September 1958)

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Visuals: On a black background, there is a downward-pointing triangle containing "ABC" at the top, and a bar with slanted ends across the middle of the triangle with "TELEVISION" inside it. There is also the word "presents" below the triangle.

Variant: Starting in 1957, the "presents" text would be in a Mistral font and is on the bottom tip of the triangle. The logo is also bigger.

Technique: A drawing done on a cel.

Audio: Three "chimes" based, perhaps unsurprisingly, on the musical notes A, B and C, followed by three drumbeats. Composed by Bob Sharples.

2nd ID (14 September 1958-1964)

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Visuals: On a black background, three triangles drop down one-by-one at a fast pace, leaving line trails as they drop. The first triangle reveals an serif “A”, the second reveals a serif “B”, and the last one reveals a serif “C”. They join together to form a large white triangle with what looks like a black propeller inside. “PRESENTS” or “NETWORK” quickly unfolds below, letter-by-letter.

Accompanying clock idents: For it serving three regions at once, it had three unique clocks used during its lifetime.

• London: A grey background with a white analog clock and kite-shaped hands. Blocks represent the hours and the ABC logo can be seen in the top left. The second hand moves smoothly here.
• Midlands: Similar to the London clock, but with a black background, a rounder-looking appearance, and numbers displayed on the cardinal directions. The second hand moves with a jitter motion here.
• North: A black background, but with a completely different clock with dots to represent the minute points, and no logo in sight.

Variants:

• One opening variant had "NETWORK" appearing first when the Propeller Triangle was forming before the film splicing to the completed logo with "PRESENTS" under it.
• A still version exists, in both B&W and colour. The coloured version has a white propeller, which appears to be in 3D judging from the shadows, and (starting clockwise) the triangles were yellow, red, and blue respectively.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: Same as the 1st logo, with the "chimes" sounding as the letters are revealed after the triangles drop. There are three different variations on the chimes. They're nicknamed "Twinkling" (had the chimes in a high pitch and lacked the drums at the end), "Clunky" (the most familiar version), and "Definitive" (which was a variation of "Clunky").

Availability: Aside from being used as a station ID, this was also used by ABC to introduce certain productions in their theatres, so it can also be seen on Halas & Batchelor shorts.

3rd ID (1964-28 July 1968)

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Visuals: On a black background, the same triangle from before zooms in towards the camera and disappears. One by one, three triangles drop at a fast pace (this time, not forming trails like before). The first one reveals an bolded “A”, the second reveals a bolded “B”, and the last one reveals a bolded “C” (all in a different font). They join together to form the same shape, then “presents” or “Television” (also in a different font) quickly zooms-in.

Variants:

• In some cases, this logo appeared without "presents" zooming-in.
• A variant with "Television" replacing "presents" has also existed.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: Same as the 1st logo. Again, the "chimes" sound as the letters are revealed. The only difference is there is a shorter pause between the chimes and the drums.

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1st Logo (February 18, 1956-1958)

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Visuals: Same as the 1956 production logo, except "presents" would be replaced with "Network Production" with "An" above the logo.

Variants:

• Sometimes, this text would be in capitals.
• An in-credit version with "Filmed Production" also exists for the above variant.

Technique: A still, printed image.

Audio: None or the end theme of the programme.

Availability: It was seen on very old episodes of Armchair Theatre.

2nd Logo (September 14, 1958-1964)

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Visuals: This is a still version of the 1958 logo, except that "an" is above the triangle and "PRODUCTION" below the "ABC".

Variant: "NETWORK" may also be below "ABC" as well.

Technique: A still, printed image.

Audio: None or the end theme of the programme.

Availability:

• This logo can be found on the DVD releases of The Avengers (the 1962 and 1963 seasons).
• Also seen on episodes of Armchair Theatre at that time.

3rd Logo (1964-1968)

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Visuals: This is a still version of the 1964 logo, except that "production" replaces "presents".

Technique: A still, printed image.

Audio: None or the ending theme of the programme.

Availability:

• This logo can be seen on The Avengers from the 1964 (last Catherine Gale) and 1965 (B&W Emma Peel) seasons.
• It was also seen on the ABC run of Callahan.

4th Logo (1966-1968)

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Visuals: On a black background, the words "ABC production" in the centre of the screen, with "ABC" in red. The letter "C" in "ABC" slides onto the "A" and "B" and the word "production" wipes out from the right, then the logo dramatically zooms out, then the letters "B" and "C" slide downwards and then reveal the words "Associated British Corporation". The logo then fades out.

Variant: Beginning in 1968, the red letters are changed to yellow and the font is also a different, smaller one.

Technique: Traditional cel animation.

Audio: The closing theme of the TV show.

Availability: This logo can be seen at the end of every colour episode of The Avengers.

External Links

• ABC Television on TVARK

ABC Television

Thames Television