Short answers, pulled from the story.
Associated Television began broadcasting on Saturday the 24th of September 1955, making it the second ITA franchise to go on air. It initially provided a weekend service for the London region, with its Midlands weekday service following on the 17th of February 1956.
The Associated Broadcasting Company was forced to rename itself after the Associated British Picture Corporation, which operated a cinema chain under the initials ABC, successfully sued for prior ownership of the name. After just three weeks on air the broadcaster became Associated TeleVision Limited.
ATV was formed from a merger of two companies: the Associated Broadcasting Development Company under Norman Collins, and the Incorporated Television Programme Company under showbusiness agents Prince Littler and Lew Grade. When ABDC ran into financial difficulties, Grade and Littler were invited in by the ITA, taking effective control and sidelining Collins.
ATV ceased broadcasting at 12.34am on the morning of Friday the 1st of January 1982. Central Independent Television began broadcasting in its place that same morning at 9.25am.
Zoom 2 was ATV's on-screen identity launched in 1969 to herald colour broadcasting to the Midlands. It opened with three lightspots in red, blue, and green that merged to form the ATV shadowed eye in yellow, accompanied by a twelve-beat fanfare composed by ATV's musical director Jack Parnell and arranged by Angela Morley.
The ATV archive was split at closure: Central Independent Television retained news and regional material, while the rest was sold by ACC. Carlton Communications eventually acquired the national archive, and in early January 1999 purchased ITC's television and film library for £91 million, giving Carlton International a total of 15,000 hours of programming. Regional material is now held at the Media Archive for Central England at the University of Lincoln.