London Weekend Television

London Weekend Television (LWT) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm until 1982) to Monday mornings at 6:00 am. From 1968 until 1992, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Thames Television, there was an on-screen handover to LWT on Friday nights (there was no handover back to Thames on Mondays, as from 1968 to 1982 there was no programming in the very early morning, and from 1983, when a national breakfast franchise was created, LWT would hand over to TV-am at 6:00am, who would then hand over to Thames at 9:25am). From 1993 to 2002, when LWT's weekday counterpart was Carlton Television, the transfer usually occurred invisibly during a commercial break, as Carlton and LWT shared studio and transmission facilities (although occasionally a Thames to LWT-style handover would appear).

Like most ITV regional franchises, including Carlton's, the London weekend franchise is now operated by ITV plc. The “London Weekend” franchise was renewed by Ofcom in 2015 for a further ten years and is still separately licensed, but it is no longer distinguished on air in any way at all. LWT is now managed with Carlton Television as a single entity (ITV London), and the legal name for LWT is now ITV London (Weekends). London Weekend Television Ltd is now (along with most other former regional companies owned by ITV plc) listed at Companies House as a "dormant company".