STVis a Scottish free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the STV Group. It is made up of the Central Scotland and Northern Scotland Channel 3 public broadcaster licences, formerly known as Scottish Television (now legally STV Central Ltd) and Grampian Television (now legally STV North Ltd) respectively.
The STV brand refers to the on-air name used by Scottish Television for much of its history - notably in the 1970s and early 1980s. This brand remained in conversational use amongst the local public afterwards.
The modern STV brand was adopted on Tuesday 30 May 2006 replacing both franchises' previous identities. The sense of continuity in the name was demonstrated when STV celebrated its 60th birthday in 2017, with special programmes broadcast on STV itself and the now defunct STV2.
STV is now the only part of the Channel 3 network which is not owned by ITV plc. The station does not carry ITV1 branding or show ITV1's network presentation except between 6am and 9.25am, when it is replaced by the ITV-owned-and-branded national franchise ITV Breakfast.
