Editing Lew Grade (section)

===Television: 1954–1962===
In 1954, Grade was contacted by the manager of singer [[Jo Stafford]], Mike Nidorf,<ref name="Ellis1">Carl Ellis: [http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/tvheroes/lewgrade/index3.php Lew Grade, Part 3: the War and After] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905211110/http://www.transdiffusion.org/emc/tvheroes/lewgrade/index3.php |date=5 September 2008 }}, TV Heroes, Transdiffusion.</ref> who notified him of an advertisement in ''[[The Times]]'' inviting franchise bids for the new, commercial [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] network.

Assembling a consortium that included impresarios Val Parnell and Prince Littler, the Incorporated Television Programme Company (ITP), which soon changed its name to [[ITC Entertainment|Incorporated Television Company]] (ITC; also known as ITC Entertainment), was formed. ITC's bid to the [[Independent Television Authority]] (ITA) was rejected on the grounds of its conflict of interest from its prominence and involvement in artist management.<ref name="ATV1">{{cite web  |title =ATV  |publisher =[[British Film Institute|BFI]]  |url =http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/459509/  |access-date =15 April 2008 |quote =the ITA felt that the enormous amount of talent ITC controlled could easily lead it to monopolise the fledgling network  |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090211140307/http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/459509/  |archive-date =11 February 2009 |url-status =live  |df =dmy-all  }}</ref> 

The Associated Broadcasting Development Company (ABD) had gained ITA approval for both the London weekend and [[English Midlands|Midlands]] weekday contracts, but was undercapitalised; Grade's consortium joined with the ABD to form what became [[Associated Television]] (ATV). Reflecting his background in variety, Grade's favourite show<ref name="Palmer112">Michael Palmer and Jeremy Tunstal [https://books.google.com/books?id=XliIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA112 ''Media Moguls''], Routledge, 1991, p. 112<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> and a success for the new company was ''[[Sunday Night at the London Palladium]]'' (1955–1967, 1973–1974), one of the most popular programmes on British television in its day. Grade did not avoid the other end of the cultural spectrum and in 1958 [[Kenneth Clark|Sir Kenneth Clark]]<!-- Not a peer until 1969. --> began to talk about the history of art on television.<ref>Jonathan Bignell ""And the Rest is History: Lew Grade, Creation Narratives and Television Historiography", in Catherine Johnson and Rob Turnock (eds.) [https://books.google.com/books?id=vbLlAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 ''Itv Cultures: Independent Television Over Fifty Years''], Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2005, p. 50<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref>

Meanwhile, Grade committed the funds for what would become the first trans-Atlantic success of the ITP subsidiary: ''[[The Adventures of Robin Hood (TV series)|The Adventures of Robin Hood]]'' (1955–1960), commissioned by UK-based American producer [[Hannah Weinstein]]. ITC became a wholly owned ATV subsidiary in 1957,<ref name="AngeliniITC">Sergio Angelini: [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/563524/index.html ITC], BFI screenonline.</ref> That same year ATV established a music publishing division with [[Sony/ATV Music Publishing|ATV Music]] and gained a half interest in [[Pye Records]] in 1959;<ref>Louis Barfe [https://books.google.com/books?id=AhLwEqh8xlkC&pg=PT134 ''Where Have All the Good Times Gone? The Rise and Fall of the Record Industry''], London: Atlantic Books, 2005, p. 134<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> later Pye became a wholly owned subsidiary.