ITV Wales and West, previously known as HTV, refers to the Independent Television franchise area until 31 December 2013, licensed to a broadcaster by the regulator Ofcom. There is no channel, past or present, named "ITV Wales and West". The licence relates to a 'dual region', meaning that the franchise area was divided into two regions, each of which must be served by distinct and separate ITV programme services as more fully defined within the licence. Today, those services are known as ITV Cymru Wales and ITV West Country (since ITV West and ITV Westcountry merged into a single region). They are provided by ITV plc which owns and operates the two services through its subsidiary ITV Broadcasting Ltd.