World of Sport (UK TV programme) Greaves, featuring football news, action and live chat was introduced by ITV on Saturday lunchtimes from 1985 to replace the "On The Ball" segment of "World of Sport", enjoying a successful run that ended in 1992 when Sky Sports gained exclusive rights to broadcast English top-flight football. From 1985, "Wrestling" with Kent Walton would follow immediately after "Saint & Greavsie", before being dropped in December 1988, only shortly prior to the popularity of the US World Wrestling Federation promotion (now World Wrestling Entertainment) gaining momentum in the UK in that era via coverage on Sky Television plc from early 1989.
Associated Television awarded the franchise to provide a seven-day Independent Television service for the Midlands region which started on Tuesday, 30 July 1968 and was finally extended until 00:34 on Friday, 1 January 1982. The company was formed from the merger of the "Associated Broadcasting Development Company" (ABDC) under the control of Norman Collins, and the "Incorporated Television Programme Company" (ITC) under the control of Prince Littler and Lew Grade, two showbusiness agents. Both companies had applied for a contract to become one of the new ITV stations. ABDC won the contract but had insufficient money to operate it; ITC failed to