Granada plc another since 1935. It was awarded the North of England ITV franchise in 1954, broadcasting as Granada Television. The company also established a chain of television rental shops from 1959 onwards. Granada entered the publishing business in the 1960s: it combined its operations into the publisher Hart-Davis, MacGibbon in 1972. William Collins, Sons acquired Granada Publishing in 1983. During the 1980s, Granada became involved in the British Satellite Broadcasting satellite television company. This went on air in March 1990, but merged with Sky Television plc in November 1990, to form British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), in which Granada had a minority
Alpha Repertory Television Service scripted drama series. Alpha Repertory Television Service The Alpha Repertory Television Service (ARTS) is a defunct American cable television network that was owned by Hearst/ABC Video Services, a joint venture between the Hearst Corporation and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). The network, which operated nightly on the channel space of Nickelodeon, focused mainly on fine arts programming. It merged with The Entertainment Channel in 1984 to become the Arts and Entertainment Network (A&E). By the early 1980s, cable television had reached millions of American households and was starting to draw significant audiences away from the "Big Three" broadcast television networks.