United Kingdom Independent Broadcasting

United Kingdom Independent Broadcasting (UKIB) is an affiliation of three British independent television production companies and broadcasters. The primary function of its predecessor, the Independent Television Companies Association (ITCA), was to represent independent British television interests as a member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The current members of UKIB are the ITV network centre, the 4 ITV licence holders, Channel 4, and S4C.

History
UKIB was formed in 1981, when the Association of Independent Radio Contractors (AIRC) was admitted as an active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). It replaced the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), formerly the Independent Television Authority (ITA) as the second British EBU member. Once ITCA was admitted as a fully active EBU member, the AIRC joined with UKIB to form the Commercial Radio Companies Association (CRCA) in June 1996. In July 2006, it merged with the Radio Advertising Bureau to form Radiocentre, the industry body for UK commercial radio. Following the merger, CRCA cancelled its EBU membership.

The IBA continued to exist until it was disbanded by the Broadcasting Act 1990, which replaced it with the Independent Television Commission (ITC) and the Radio Authority.

Digital channels
Besides the main ITV, Channel 4, and S4C channels, there are several digital-only channels (ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, CITV and ITVBe) owned by ITV plc and E4, More4, Film4, 4seven and 4Music operated by Channel 4.

Eurovision Song Contest
The 's entries in the Eurovision Song Contest have been entered by the BBC each time. However, the 's Junior Eurovision Song Contest entries were broadcast and selected by ITV from to, before ITV withdrew in  due to low viewing figures. ITV were also set to host the contest in Manchester, but pulled out of hosting due to financial and scheduling issues, as well as the previous years poor viewing figures. The contest was eventually held in Lillehammer, Norway.

S4C announced on 9 May 2018 that would debut at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018 held in Minsk, Belarus. However, S4C withdrew from the contest in, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for their withdrawal, and have not returned since. On 25 August 2022, it was confirmed that the United Kingdom would return to the contest in in Yerevan, Armenia, with the BBC replacing ITV as the country's broadcaster.