Granada Media International

Background

Granada Media International was the distribution arm of the Granada Media Group, formed in April 1998 as a rebranding of British Independent Television Enterprises (BRITE) and sister arm Granada-LWT International.

With the merger of the Granada Media Group and Carlton Communications into ITV plc in February 2004, Granada Media International folded into Carlton International, which was renamed as Granada International in July 2004.

1st Logo (1999-2004)

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Visuals: On a light blue steel background, there is a globe rotating. Then the "G" circle piece appears and a light blue arrow is drawn through the logo. The arrow then connects to the "G", forming an abstract "G" in blue. The globe disappears and zooms out, then there is the black word "GRANADA" appear below the logo, along with the blue word "MEDIA".

Technique: CGI.

Audio: None.

Availability: So far, it is only seen on international prints of season 1 of Rosemary & Thyme.

2nd Logo (2001-2004)

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Visuals: On a purple background, the silver word "GRΛNΛDΛ" in a custom 3D semi-serif font zooms in. It settles in the centre of the screen and becomes flat, as a light spot travels through it.

Variants:

• Two widescreen variants exist:
  • One has the logo cropped to the ratio.
  • The other has the logo simply stretched to the ratio. This appears on Poirot Season 9 releases, alongside Hornblower: Duty.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: Four whooshes, one by one after split seconds, or the closing theme of the show.

Audio Variants:

• A short version of the theme exists.
• High tone and low tone variants of the theme both also exist.
• Sometimes, the logo is silent.
• On the 2003 remastered prints of the Sherlock Holmes episode "The Golden Pince-Nez", the remaining seconds of the closing tune are heard before the last part of the whooshing noise.

Availability: Seen on international prints of Granada-owned shows during the time-period until 2004, often used as an plastering method. Nowadays, it's presence has decreased due to it either being plastered over by newer logos or deleted altogether.

• This was used for international distribution and so appears plastering older logos on some airings of Granada-owned content.
• It also plasters older Granada logos (and the 1986 and 1996 LWT logos) on shows like Cold Feet and Poirot, both on DVD releases and local broadcasting stations.
• It is also retained on both the reprint of Collection 1-4 of Poirot and Sky Arts airings of Tales of the Unexpected.
• It is also seen as a de-facto home video logo on Granada Video releases (distributed through VCI) as well as on international home video releases. Look for the then-current Granada logo on the spine.
  • • However, some very early releases with the logo include the 1999 Granada Video logo on-screen.
  • VHS and DVD releases that include this logo include The Forsyte Saga, The Attic, I'm a Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here!, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Brideshead Revisited: The Complete Series, various Arsenal and Liverpool FC releases, later Cold Feet, Hornblower, The Royale Family, Poirot releases and the 2002 UK DVD release of Popstars: The Rivals, among others.
  • Children's releases that feature this logo include early Engie Benjy releases, Preston Pig: Goal and Other Stories, and some Cinema Club DVD releases such as Oakie Doke, Rocky and the Dodos, The Animal Shelf, The Fox-Busters, Fantomcat and Fetch the Vet, among others.
    • It does not appear at the beginning of Tom and Vicky DVD releases, however, it does appear at the end.
  • It is also seen on a Russian DVD boxset of Poirot before the Carmen Video logo and after each episode.

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