London Independent

London Independent Television (shown on screen as Trafalgar) is the Channel 7 service serving Greater London. It launched in 1953 as the Independent Television for London & South East.

Launch
London Independent launched at 7:31pm on May 3, 1953. Originally serving London and the South East region of England, the channels remit was to provide an independent television service for the previously vacant television region. Being a relatively small station, it took some heckling for the ITA to offer them a transmitter to broadcast the service. Eventually, after a lengthy battle, the ITA offered to transmit the service on the Crystal Palace transmitter.

Size reduction
In 1957, the Independent Television Company (ITC) was preparing to launch its independent TV service for the South and South East of England: Southern Counties. As a result, London Independent was relieved of the South East region.