ITC Entertainment Group
Written and Compiled by Matt Williams
INDEPENDENT TELEVISION COMPANY
(1959-1973)
Nickname: "The Compass"
Logo: On a gray background, a compass appears. It zooms up really close, and then "flips" to reveal a black diamond-like shape. A map of the world is wiped into the diamond, as a white outline appears. The diamond's interior once again turns black as it zooms out, background going to black. When it reaches the top, a line is drawn through the middle as an "I" appears in the middle as well. Two more diamonds appear below the "I" diamond, reading "T" and "C", and appearing as the line "connects" them. The word "presents" appears below.
Variations: Sometimes "Distribution" replaces "presents," and something, there is no text under the logo. Also, in the color version of the logo, the background is red, and turns to green during the map part, the compass is silver, and the map's continents are green.
FX: The compass, the map appearing, lots of animation in this logo
Cheesy Factor: It appears kind of rough in some spots (i.e., where the letters appear)
Music: A bombastic brass score.
Availability: Most likely extinct, as it hasn't been seen anywhere in ages.
Scare Factor: Most likely high, not seen widely in America if all, but the music would be likely to set off some people. However, the logo would get much worse in its next incarnation.
ITC ENTERTAINMENT
(1973-1975 logo to be described soon)
(1975-1989)
Nicknames: "Rainbow Top," "Rainbow Diamond Top"
Logo: On a dark blue space background, three diamonds appear, red, green, and blue respectively, "interlocked" within each other and spinning around like a top. From the center of the screen, the ITC logo, designed much like last time but now turned on its side, zooms out and quickly moves to the left side, as the word "ENTERTAINMENT" appears alongside. At the end of the logo, the ITC logo fades out to make room for the word "Presents".
On "Space: 1999," a version of the animated logo is seen at the end of the program, with "From" to the left of the ITC logo, and no "Presents." On all other ITC programs of the era, a still logo appears in the show's end credits. This still in-credits logo has either no byline, an ATV byline, or an ACC [Associated Communications Corporation] byline.
FX: The spinning diamond thingie, the zooming out of ITC
Cheesy Factor: The zoom-out is rough, and the diamond thing is really hard to decipher a meaning from.
Music: The same as in the previous logo
Availability: Not sure, the ITC library is now in the hands of Carlton Television, a company not known for preserving logos or even other corporate identities (it renamed two of its UK Television Stations, Central [the former ATV] and Westcountry into Carlton last year), and some shows which had the logo have been updated with the third ITC logo or other company logos (for instance, The Muppet Show, originally ITC, has had Henson logos plastered over the in-credits ITC logo recently)
Scare Factor: Nightmare, probably about as scary as you can get without causing fatal injury. This logo, even though it is not talked about as much as the other well-known scary logos (such as the S From Hell and V Of Doom), is probably one of the scariest logos ever made, thanks to "in-your-face" animation, a dark mood, and that MUSIC.
ITC ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
(1989-1997)
Nicknames: "Gold Top," "Gold Diamonds"
Logo: On a black background, we see three gold interlocked diamonds, the Logo 2 ITC diamonds but with no letters in them, spinning around. As they spin around, the letters "ITC", in gold, slide out from under it, one-by-one, and then shine, as the diamonds stop spinning.
(Note: There is a variation of the logo that appears at the end of some CBS Theatrical Films releases when they are shown on television. In it, the logo is sped up, the three notes accompanying the ITC letters sliding out are not heard, the letters do not shine, there is no shimmering sound heard, "Entertainment Group" appears under "ITC" once the diamonds stop spinning, and a different "THUD!" sound is heard at the end.)
(Note: There is a version seen on British ITC video releases which is the same as the normal logo, except that "Home Video" is wiped in under "ITC" at the end)
FX: The spinning diamond and sliding letters, pretty good animation
Music: A three-note synth tune, corresponding to the sliding out of the letters, a shimmering sound, accompanying the letters shining, and a "THUD!" synth sound.
Availability: Can be seen on a number of movies on the Encore movie channel-- however, ITC-produced movies have been showing up on video under the Carlton name, so this logo may vanish soon...
Scare Factor: None, much more mellower than the previous logos.