In May 1960, the Independent Television Authority (ITA) invited applicants to provide the ITV service for the Borders region – an area that covered the English counties of Westmorland and Cumberland, the south of Scotland and later, the Isle of Man.

Border were chosen on the basis of their plans and management which was considered local but still featured names from large business (the then chairman of Reuters for example) and from the world of education.

As this led into the summer holiday period, Border asked for a launch delay as the break would affect advertising revenue.

Derek Batey, Border TV's Assistant Controller of Programmes, became the frontman for one of ITV's most popular daytime quiz shows of the 1970s and early 1980s, Mr. and Mrs.. (A separate version of Mr. and Mrs. was also produced by HTV at the same time.)

Financial and industrial problems began to hit the company during the 1970s – a fall in net profits to just £13,587, led to job losses and a cut in programme production in September 1975.

By 1980, Border was again in severe financial trouble owing to a national economic downturn which affected advertising revenue on the whole ITV network, with the station losing £70,000 before tax in October 1981.

The situation was deemed so serious that at one point the company considered not re-applying for its licence when it expired in December 1981 – though it would prove successful, as it did in July 1967 and October 1991.

[7] Border had lobbied the IBA for over a decade to serve the southern Lake District – a move backed by Cumbria County Council – while on the Isle of Man, officials voiced a preference to switch signals to Granada, citing inclusion in regional news coverage would benefit the tourism industry, with direct ferry links from Liverpool and Heysham.

Graham and Corley began to transform Border by targeting a greater presence on the ITV network, despite the company's weak financial position.

The launch of Channel 4 in 1982 also bolstered Border's network portfolio – providing extra finance for many of the new programmes being produced from the Carlisle studios (themselves being expanded) and commissioning to make a number of programmes, most notably Land of the Lakes (presented by Melvyn Bragg), a music show entitled Bliss (hosted by Muriel Gray) and Border's very first sitcom, The Groovy Fellers with Jools Holland and Rowland Rivron.

In April 1999, the opt-out was extended to cover Dumfries and Galloway and a dedicated Scottish news bulletin was introduced on weekday lunchtimes.

[13] The following August, Border began to use the opt-out service to provide split coverage of sports and occasional political programming.

[18] By April, Capital Radio had purchased the company[19] and the following year sold Border's television assets to Granada Media Group for £50.5 million.

In September 2013, Lookaround was restored as a full half-hour programme on weekdays with shorter daytime and weekend bulletins reintroduced during the month.

[29] The programme continues to be broadcast from Gateshead with extra journalists recruited for newsgathering in the Border region, including a Scottish political editor in Edinburgh, a sports correspondent and district reporters.

ITV Border was also required to reopen its former opt-out service for southern Scotland, previously used to broadcast split news bulletins and select STV programming.

A minimum of 90 minutes a week of bespoke local programming is broadcast on ITV Border Scotland while viewers in Cumbria continue to receive network output.

The opt-out service was launched on Monday 6 January 2014 and initially broadcast over Freeview only, with programmes also available on the ITV Border website.

[30] Unlike some of the new ITV stations at the time, Border constructed a purpose-built studio centre, located in Brunel Way, Carlisle.

ITV Border also maintains a bureau for Scottish Parliament coverage in Edinburgh with district news reporters and camera crews based locally in Dumfries, Galloway, Kendal and Whitehaven.