Granada plc

Granada Group PLC is a leading U.K. player in media and hospitality. The company's media operations include broadcast licenses in London and northern England for the Independent Television Network; a television production unit that is the largest commercial television production company in the United Kingdom (the state-owned British Broadcasting Corporation is number one overall); various channels available through satellite and digital broadcasting; and part ownership of pay television joint ventures Granada Sky Broadcasting and British Sky Broadcasting (both satellite-based) and British Digital Broadcasting, a digital terrestrial television operation. Through its hospitality operations, Granada maintains 42 motorway service areas offering fuel, catering, retail, and budget accommodations; a chain of 400 Little Chef roadside family restaurants; the second largest contract catering business in the United Kingdom; and the U.K. market-leading hotel group, consisting of 162 Travelodge budget hotels throughout the country, 18 hotels in London, 147 Posthouse and Heritage hotels outside of London, and 88 hotels overseas. In addition to its two core areas, Granada owns nearly 500 shops that rent and sell consumer electronics and maintains a commercial rental operation that supplies television and communications products. Granada traces its roots to the early 1900s when, shortly after the turn of the century, Alexander Bernstein opened the Edmonton Empire music hall. During the 1920s his sons Sidney and Cecil started up a chain of movie theaters. The Bernstein brothers approached their business with an innovative spirit and a desire to bring their deep appreciation of cinema to larger audiences. They actively promoted many kinds of films, conducted surveys to determine the kinds of films people most wanted to see, and initiated children's matinees. The theater chain adopted the name Granada in 1930. The name was chosen by the well-traveled Sidney Bernstein, who felt that its exotic connotation fit with the image he wanted for the theaters. Following the formation of Granada Theatres Limited in 1934, which consolidated all activities into one group, the company made its first public stock offering in 1935 on the London Stock Exchange. Over the next three years, Granada opened a new theater almost every three months, including "super cinemas" with seating capacity for as many as 3,000 patrons. Created by leading architects, artists, and theatrical designers of the period, the super cinemas offered live programming as well as films in elegantly appointed surroundings. As theatergoing habits changed with the times, however, Granada gradually phased out this concept in favor of theaters with either single or multiple screens and converted others into bingo and social clubs. The firm moved cautiously into bingo, even though it was lucrative, maintaining a low profile until the 1968 Gaming Act legalized bingo and permitted the company to feel more comfortable about its business involvement and the longevity of the game's consumer appeal. By the late 1940s, Granada's attention gradually had turned away from theatrical entertainment toward the fledgling television industry. After requesting a license to operate an independent television station in 1948, the company finally received the contract in 1954 to broadcast five days a week in all of northern England, becoming one of the four founders of Britain's Independent Television Network. Granada subsequently made its first black-and-white transmission on May 3, 1956, with a program called "Meet the People." This development was particularly well-timed, since it offered Granada a new growth area to offset continuing declines in its theatrical operation. In November 1956 the company introduced a new show, "What the Papers Say," which later became the country's longest-running weekly program on current events. Two years later, Granada became the first network to provide live coverage of a loca