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Central Independent Television, or to give it its familiar name, Central Television, is a British Independent Television company that took over from ATV in 1982. Despite a new logo and on-air image, the company was a continuation of ATV in many respects, having originally applied for the franchise as ATV Midlands Limited - the IBA forced it to change its name to reflect more fully its Midlands base. In 1993 the company was bought by Carlton Television and in 1999 changed its on-air name to Carlton (Central Region). In 2002, it became ITV1 Carlton (Central England) on-air, though the registered company name remains Central Independent Television Limited. With the merger of Carlton and Granada on 2 February 2004, the brand name has reverted to ITV1 Central. Central Independent Television is now owned by ITV plc, the company created from the merger of Granada Television and Carlton Television.
Notable programmes made by Central include Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (series 1 and 2), Sharpe, Spitting Image, Cadfael and Inspector Morse.
There is (or was) also an Australian commercial station called Central Independent Television, but two companies are not affiliated.