Timeline of UKTV

This is a timeline of UKTV, a television company that broadcasts ten television channels in the UK.

1990s

  • 1994
    • January – TCI acquires a 60.4% stake in Flextech.[2] This gives the company a 25% stake in UK Gold.[3]
  • 1995
    • No events.
  • 1996
    • Flextech and the BBC hold talks about a partnership to launch a new range of channels. Rival company BSkyB also holds talks with the Corporation but the BBC is against BSkyB involvement.[4]
  • 1997
    • March – The BBC and Flextech agree on a deal to provide BBC-branded channels – BBC Showcase, for entertainment; BBC Horizon, for documentaries; BBC Style, for lifestyle; BBC Learning, for schools, and BBC Arena, for the arts – plus three other channels: BBC Catch-Up, for repeats of popular programmes within days of their original transmission, a dedicated BBC Sport channel and a TV version of Radio 1.[5]
    • 1 November – UK Horizons, UK Style and UK Arena launch. However they are only available full-time on cable as on the Astra satellite they share a single transponder and each channel is only available at certain times of the day. The channels use the ‘UK’ prefix because Flextech wanted these channels to carry adverts but the BBC did not. BBC Showcase/Catch-Up and BBC Learning are removed from the venture, and launch the following year as BBC Choice and BBC Knowledge respectively.
  • 1998
    • 1 October – Sky Digital launches, allowing all four channels to broadcast full-time, and UKTV sets up an additional spin-off channel for the platform – UK Gold Classics.
    • 10 October – UK Play launches. This channel is the proposed TV version of Radio 1 and whilst music videos and other music programming is a mainstay of the channel, it has no tie-up with Radio 1.
    • 15 November – Digital terrestrial service OnDigital launches and UKTV provides three channels – UK Play, UK Gold and a third channel where UK Horizons and UK Style share. UKTV was eventually given a fourth slot, allowing Horizons and Style to broadcast full-time.
  • 1999
    • April – UK Gold Classics is renamed UK Gold 2. It operates as a time shift service of UK Gold by broadcasting the channel's daytime output during the evening.

2000s

  • 2001
    • 5 November – UK Food launches. Consequently, UK Style focusses on programming to do with the home.
  • 2002
    • 1 May – ITV Digital stops broadcasting, resulting in UKTV's channels disappearing from terrestrial television.
    • 30 September – Play UK closes due to low ratings following the closure of ITV Digital.[6]
    • 30 October – Freeview launches and UKTV launches UK History for the new terrestrial platform.
  • 2003
    • 15 January – UK Bright Ideas launches as a lifestyle channel for Freeview. The channel shows content from UK Style and UK Food (and later UKTV Gardens) and is used as a showcase for the channels on pay-tv platforms.
    • 12 November – UK Gold 2 is renamed UK G2. It broadcasts its own schedule and is no longer a time shift of UK Gold.
  • 2004
    • 8 March –
    • March – A new digital terrestrial pay service, Top Up TV, launches and three of UKTV's channels – UK Good, UK Style and UK Food – form part of the service of ten channels, each broadcasting on a part-time basis.
    • November – UKTV launches its first +1 channel – for UKG2.
  • 2006
    • No events.
  • 2007
    • UKTV Style Gardens is renamed UKTV Gardens.
    • 15 October – Dave launches as "the home of witty banter". It replaces UKTV G2.[7] The channel also launches on Freeview, replacing UKTV Bright Ideas. It also launches with a +1 channel. The channel is available form day one on Freeview, replacing UKTV Bright Ideas which closes down to make way for Dave.
  • 2008
    • 11 June – UKTV announces that, following the successful launch of Dave, it will rebrand all of its channels from generic, UKTV-prefixed names to individual and separate brands.[8][9]
    • 7 October –
      • Watch launches as UKTV’s flagship entertainment channel. It replaces UKTV Bright Ideas.[10]
      • Alibi launches as a crime drama channel, replacing UKTV Drama.
      • UKTV Gold becomes a comedy-only channel but retains the GOLD branding which officially stands for Go On Laugh Daily.
  • 2009
    • 26 January – Eden launches as a natural history channel, replacing UKTV Documentary.
    • 17 February – Blighty replaces UKTV People.[11]
    • 2 March – UKTV History is renamed Yesterday.
    • 30 April – UKTV Style is renamed Home and the channel once again incorporates gardening programming.[12]
    • 19 May – Really launches as a female-orientated lifestyle channel. It replaces UKTV Gardens.[13]. UKTV Gardens is closed to make way for the new channel and its content moves to Home.
    • 22 June – UK Food is renamed Good Food.[14] It launches a HD version in August.

2010s

  • 2010
    • October – UKTV launches its second HD channel – for Eden.
  • 2012
    • July – Alibi HD launches.
  • 2013
    • 8 July – Drama launches, replacing Blighty. The channel also launches on free-to-air platform Freeview. However it does not launch on Virgin Media until August.
  • 2015
    • No events.
  • 2017
    • October – Gold HD launches.
  • 2018
    • 22 July – The UKTV channels stop broadcasting on Virgin Media following a breakdown of discussions in which Virgin Media had demanded a huge drop in the amount of money it pays UKTV for its channels due to the lack of UKTV’s ability to offer on-demand BBC programming.[21] The dispute receives considerable media attention.[22]
    • 11 August – The UKTV channels return to Virgin Media.[23]

References

  1. ↑ "Flextech Set To Acquire TCI Programming". Telecompaper. 21 December 1993. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "Merger Plans For Flextech". The New York Times. 3 January 1994. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  3. ↑ "Flextech Set To Acquire TCI Programming". Telecompaper. 21 December 1993. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  4. ↑ Horsman, Mathew (1 October 1996). "Sky aims for stake in BBC pay-TV". The Independent. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  5. ↑ Willcock, John (4 March 1997). "Flextech to inject £20m into BBC deal". The Independent. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  6. ↑ "PlayUK to be axed". The Guardian. 11 June 2002. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  7. ↑ "UKTV to launch a channel called Dave". The Guardian. 20 September 2007. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  8. ↑ "UKTV to rebrand channels". Broadcast. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
  9. ↑ "UKTV unveils new channel brands". UKTV. 10 July 2008. Archived from the original on 12 July 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2008.
  10. ↑ "UKTV rolls out new channel Watch". The Guardian. 7 October 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  11. ↑ "UKTV flies the flag with Blighty channel". The Guardian. 26 January 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  12. ↑ "UKTV unveils next stage in channel rebrands". The Guardian. 24 March 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  13. ↑ "UKTV unveils next stage in channel rebrands". The Guardian. 24 March 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  14. ↑ "UKTV channel to rebrand as Good Food". The Guardian. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  15. ↑ "UKTV secures free to air slot for Really, its cutting edge lifestyle channel". UKTV. 14 June 2011. Archived from the original on 18 June 2011.
  16. ↑ "Virgin Media sells £239m stake in UKTV". Financial Times. 15 August 2011.
  17. ↑ Finbow, Katy (31 March 2015). "Drama channel launches on UKTV Play on-demand service". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  18. ↑ Whaling, James. "When is the David Haye vs Mark De Mori fight? TV channel information here". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  19. ↑ "UKTV snaps up EastEnders re-runs from BBC3 as part of Watch relaunch". The Guardian. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  20. ↑ "Home to join Freeview". a516digital.
  21. ↑ Four million Virgin Media customers lose UKTV channels
  22. ↑ Virgin Media Television and UKTV bosses go head-to-head live on BBC Breakfast
  23. ↑ UKTV channels return to Virgin TV
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