[1] As well as being the parent company of Carlton Television Limited it was also involved in several other media and broadcasting businesses and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

In 1967 Michael Green established a printing and photo-processing company, Tangent Industries, with his brother-in-law and his father-in-law (the future Lord Wolfson).

The deal was blocked by both Richard Dunn, chief executive of Thames, and by the IBA, which concluded "the proposal would lead to a major change in the nature and characteristic of a viable ITV programme company".

Michael Green, chairman of Carlton, was quoted as saying, "I can't possibly comment", but a Thames spokesperson said: "It does seem quite likely; however, no one shareholder can own more than 10% of our equity, so it's difficult to see what they might have in mind".

[9] It has been said that Green talked to the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on the matter, which in turn may have helped to shape the Broadcasting Act 1990 which replaced the IBA with the Independent Television Commission and the change in franchise allocation procedures.

A year later, Carlton bought United Engineering Industries (UEI) plc for £580m, incorporating Quantel and Solid State Logic, which designed and manufactured professional video and sound products.

[7] The acquisition of Central made Carlton one of the largest television producers in the UK, when Action Time and Planet 24 were added to the company's holding.

[14] The future Prime Minister, David Cameron was director of corporate affairs at Carlton from July 1994 to February 2001, his only venture into employment outside of the political world.

In 1997, along with Granada and British Sky Broadcasting, Carlton bid successfully for the UK national digital terrestrial television licence.

Sky was excluded from the eventual company, ONdigital, for competition reasons, and this marked the start of Granada and Carlton working more closely together.

[7] In 1999, Technicolor continued expansion with the acquisitions of wholly owned businesses in Canada and Australia and started the development of digital cinema within two years.