William Collins, Sons acquired Granada Publishing in 1983,[5] renaming it Grafton Books after the editorial offices' address.

[11] Granada also bid together with Carlton Communications and BSkyB for one of the UK digital terrestrial television licences.

[13] In 2000, Granada purchased United News & Media's television interests, namely Meridian Broadcasting and Anglia Television;[2] Granada was forced to sell the HTV broadcasting business (to Carlton) for competition reasons, though it held onto HTV's network production business.

[15] Until 2000, there was a widespread high street chain called Granada TV Rental in the UK, Canada and in the US.

In 1978, the company expanded its operations into the domestic videocassette recorder (VCR) rental market.

This new household item was also a high-cost purchase: for example, a JVC HR-3300 VHS recorder cost £680 in 1978,[citation needed] equivalent to £4,900 in 2023.

[16] In the 1980s, the rental of satellite TV reception equipment became another opportunity for the company to supplement its declining income.

As electronic product prices fell and their reliability improved, consumer behaviour changed from renting to buying electrical goods.

[citation needed] It expanded into other areas of catering, including most notably the acquisition in 1996 of Forte Group.

[19] The demerger took place in early 2001, with the media business becoming Granada Ltd.[20] The motorway service stations were soon rebranded as Moto.

At the time of the merger with Carlton Communications, Granada was mainly involved in the television business.

ITV plc has since taken full control of GSB and closed down archive channel Plus in favour of ITV3.