Quest Red

Quest Red
Launched 15 March 2017
Owned by Discovery Networks Northern Europe
Audience share 0.39%
0.03% (+1) (January 2018 (2018-01), BARB)
Country United Kingdom
Sister channel(s) Animal Planet
Discovery Channel
Discovery History
Discovery Home & Health
Discovery Science
Discovery Shed
Discovery Turbo
DMAX
Investigation Discovery
Quest
TLC
Website www.questod.co.uk/live/quest-red
Availability
Terrestrial
Freeview Channel 38
Channel 84 (+1)
Satellite
Freesat Channel 169
Channel 170 (+1)
Sky Channel 149
Channel 249 (+1)
Astra 2F (28.2°E) 12382 H 27500 5/6
12382 H 27500 5/6 (+1)
Cable
Virgin Media Channel 215
Virgin Media Ireland Channel 159
IPTV
Eir Vision Channel 155

Quest Red is a digital television channel in the United Kingdom broadcasting factual, lifestyle, crime and reality programming aimed at a female audience. The channel, operated by Discovery Networks Northern Europe, will run as a sibling to Discovery's established Freeview channel Quest, launched in 2009.

History

In mid-February 2017, shortly after the completion of an eleventh-hour carriage deal with Sky to retain a presence on the satellite platform for its current and future channels, Discovery Communications head David Zaslav told a corporate conference call that a second Freeview channel, to sit alongside Quest, would launch during 2017.[1]

The following day, more details of the channel were confirmed, including its name and branding (which will include a red version of the Quest 'Q' channel symbol), content (some of which will be shared with sibling channels such as ID and TLC), and launch date of 15 March.[2]

The station will be available as a free-to-air channel on the Freeview platform (and, by extension, to users of the BT and TalkTalk YouView platforms), and on the subscription satellite and cable platforms operated by Sky and Virgin Media UK.

At launch, the channel was, like Quest, encrypted on satellite and thus not available on Freesat. Quest and Quest Red removed their encryption and began broadcasting free-to-air over satellite in June 2017, and were added to the Freesat guide early in July.

A full one-hour timeshifted variant of Quest Red was launched on the Sky platform in tandem with the launch of the principal channel. From 14 June 2017, Quest Red +1 was made available to Freeview users for three hours a day in the early morning, taking over the capacity vacated by the earlier relocation of Quest +1 to a different, longer slot.[3] On 28 November 2017, Quest Red +1 launched on Freesat.

At launch, Quest Red wasn't available to Sky Ireland and Northern Ireland viewers due to a carriage agreement with Raidió Teilifís Éireann that allowed RTÉ One and RTÉ2 to be available on the EPG in Northern Ireland and also that the channel was channel 162 in the British guide. As part of Sky's major EPG reshuffle on 1 May 2018, Quest Red (and +1) became available to both Ireland and Northern Ireland customers, in addition to moving to 149 for Great Britain customers, a slot they acquired from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, who previously had ITVBe on that slot apart from regions where STV is on channel 103.

Launch

Advance listings information indicated that the first programme screened on the channel would be an episode of Homes Under the Hammer. Ahead of broadcast, this was changed: Extreme Couponing, which had initially been due to follow HUtH in the schedule, was brought forward to 10 am, with HUtH following at 11 am.

A placeholder for Quest Red was made available on the Virgin Media platform early in the morning of 15 March, ahead of the channel's launch; the new channel was added to the Sky programme guide at approximately 10:45 am on launch day, and to Freeview from noon. A number of other changes to services on the Freeview platform were made simultaneously with the addition of Quest Red, including a reduction in the broadcast hours of Quest +1, which also moved down the programme guide to release LCN 38 to Quest Red. (Quest +1 would later move again, into space created by the reduction of Hochanda's Freeview hours, in turn allowing the three-hour slot vacated by Quest +1 to be taken up by Quest Red's +1 timeshift channel.)

Programming

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Second Discovery Freeview channel in the works".
  2. ↑ "Discovery UK launches Quest Red".
  3. ↑ "Freeview Mini-Reshuffle: Quest Red +1 and more Red Button streams".
  4. ↑ "Say Hello to Quest Red".
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