ITV plc is a British media company that holds 12 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the
ITV network, the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom. The network, which is branded
ITV by ITV plc, has vied with the
British Broadcasting Corporation's
BBC One for the status of the UK's most watched channel since the 1950s (a crown it lost in 2005).