Granada Group: chronology

Chronology

This chronology is indicative only. It covers -

• antecedents
• beginnings as broadcaster (1956)
• move out of cinemas (1991)
• Forte takeover (1996)
• increased media presence (1999)
• Granada splits, ITV plc established (2001)

Context is provided by the broader communications and media timeline on this site.

Antecedents

1930 Sidney & Cecil Bernstein open Granada Cinema in Dover

1934 Granada incorporated to acquire theatre and cinema operations of Bernstein Theatres

1935 company floated on the London Stock Exchange

1947 Transatlantic Pictures partnership between Sidney Bernstein and Alfred Hitchcock results in Rope (1948) and Under Capricorn (1949)

1954 Granada awarded UK commercial television licences (for northern England weekday broadcasting)

1951 buys Variety Theatres Company

Beginnings as broadcaster

1956 Granada starts broadcasting

1957 'Theatres' dropped from corporate name

1959 launches television rental shops

1961 move into television rental

1961 Granada publishing established

1963 buys Rupert Hart-Davis publishing house

1965 launch of first motorway service area

1968 buys MacGibbon & Kee publishing

1975 buys 75% of Nathan Joseph's Transatlantic Records

1978 sells Transatlantic to Logo Records

1983 sells Granada publishing to William Collins

1984 buys Rediffusion rentals group

1985 buys Telebank for £12m

1986 takes stake in British Satellite Broadcasting (BSBH) with Pearson and Seydoux-controlled Chargeurs

1987 buys Electronic Rentals Group

1988 buys 15 Essoldo bingo clubs for £16.5m

1989 sells Laskys whitegoods chain for £8.9m

1989 Steve Vizard and Andrew Knight form Artist Services production house

1990 BSkyB formed through merger of Murdoch-controlled Sky Television and BSBH (in which Pearson, Seydoux-controlled Chargeurs and Granada had stakes)

Move out of cinemas

1991 Granada cinemas sold to Bass

1991 sells its 74 bingo clubs to Bass for £147m

1993 buys 20% stake in trouble London Weekend Television (LWT)

1994 buys rest of LWT for £670m

1995 buys Pavilion Services highway food outlet chain for £125m

1995 buys Direct Video Rentals for £22.6m

1995 sells 19 tenpin bowling alleys for £19.8m

1995 establishes British Independent Television Enterprises (BRITE) through merger of sales arms of Granada TV, LWT and Yorkshire Tyne Tees TV

1996 sells 10% stake in Independent Television News to DMG for £20.5m

Forte takeover

1996 buys Forte hotels and catering group for £3.6bn

1996 sells White Hart hotel chain for £121.7m

1996 sells George V Hotel in Paris to Prince al-Waleed bin Talal for £104m

1996 sells Hyde Park Hotel for £86m

1996 sells 25% stake in Alpha Airports catering to Mohamed al Fayed for £52.3m

1997 sells Brown's Hotel for £45m

1997 closes 100 of Granada's 562 high street stores

1997 sells 21-strong Welcome Break service station chain to Investcorp of Bahrain for £476m

1997 Granada Media Group formed after acquisition of Yorkshire-Tyne Tees Television for £711m

1997 sells Westbury hotels for £90m

1997 sells American Adventure theme park in Ilkeston, Derbyshire for £3.5m

1997 sells National Sporting Club for £1m

1997 buys AJ's Family Restaurants for £3m

1997 buys Baxter & Platts contract catering for £15m

1997 Granada, News-controlled BSkyB and Carlton Communications announce British Digital Broadcasting consortium

1998 BSkyB withdraws, Granada and Carlton launch ON Digital

1998 Granada sells 9.5% stake in Granada Sky Broadcasting to BSkyB, retaining 50.5% holding

1998 buys Post Office's 49% stake in Quadrant catering for £20m

1998 sells Camelot theme park for £16m

1998 sells Cavendish, The Russell, and The Saint-George's hotels in London for £140m

1998 sells Granada Vending Services for £35m

1998 Artist Services acquired by Granada for est $28m

1999 buys 9.9% stake in Liverpool Football Club for £22m

1999 buys Letts Educational publishing

1999 buys Black Cat software

1999 establishes Box Clever as joint venture with Rental Holdings. Box Clever pays £600m for Granada Technology Group

Increased media presence

1999 buys Mirror's 18.6% holding in Scottish Media Group (newspapers and television) for £110.3m

1999 buys television interests of United News & Media for £1.75bn

1999 buys Harry Ramsden's Fish & Chip Shop chain for £20.2m

2000 Granada Group and Compass Group merge in £17.5bn deal to form Granada Compass

2000 Granada Compass sells 20% of Granada Media for £1.3bn

2000 buys NFER-NELSON test services

2000 Granada Media pays £47m for 5% stake in Arsenal football club

2000 pays £20m for 50% stake in AFC Broadband

2000 forms Red Heart joint venture tv production house (inc Artist Services) with Seven

2000 announces plans for 45% stake in CanWest-controlled TV3 Ireland

2000 buys television interests of United News & Media. Granada now owns the ITV regional franchises of Anglia TV and Meridian Broadcasting

2000 sells HTV to Carlton Communications for £360m, gains 20% of Southampton Meridian TV

2000 buys 23.5% stake in PowerChannel for £13.5m

Granada splits, ITV plc established

2001 Granada Compass splits, with creation of Granada plc media group and Compass Group plc foodservice and hotels group

2001 Granada completes purchase of Border Television after exercising option to acquire it from Capital Radio

2001 ON Digital renamed ITV Digital

2001 Red Heart joint venture unwound

2003 UK government approves merger of Carlton and Granada as ITV plc