Book excerpt: Despite the growing body of work on the media in Wales, very little exists on the history of commercial television in Wales. This book seeks to address this imbalance by tracing the growth and development of ITV in Wales and assessing its contribution to the life of the nation. ITV has been a powerful force in British broadcasting since its inception in 1955. When commercial television came to Wales for the first time in 1958, it immediately got caught up in with matters of national identity, language and geography. Compared with the BBC, it is a relative newcomer; its growth was slower than that of the BBC and it took until 1962 to complete the network across the UK. Once it had arrived, however, its impact was considerable. The book will provide an historical narrative and critical analysis of independent television (ITV) in Wales from 1958 up until the present day.