Sidney Bernstein

Who was Sidney Bernstein?

Sidney Lewis Bernstein, Baron Bernstein was a British media baron who was known as the founding chairman of the London-based Granada Group and the founder of the Manchester-based Granada Television in 1954.

In 1954 he founded Granada Television, which was one of the original four ITA franchisees. He believed the North's media industry had potential to be cultivated. Granada Television eventually became one of the most successful British production companies in history and still produces programmes in 2011 under the ITV Studios moniker.

Although born in Essex, Bernstein became an adopted northerner, building Granada Television, which created a proud heritage of television broadcasting in Manchester - a legacy which continues to this day.