ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by ITV plc. It provides the Channel 3 public broadcast service across all of the United Kingdom except for central and northern Scotland where STV provides the service.
ITV1 as a consistent national channel (with dedicated slots for regional news and other regional programmes) evolved out of the old ITV network – a federation of separately owned regional companies which had significantly different local schedules and branding. During the 1990s, the differences between the schedules in each region gradually reduced – partly through the consolidation of ownership and partly through the standardisation in the volume and scheduling of regional programmes.