Timeline of cable television in the United Kingdom

This is a timeline of cable television in the United Kingdom.

The first part of the timeline covers the development of cable across the country, including details of the cable-exclusive channels which launched in the 1990s as part of cable television's attempt to compete with BSkyB's satellite television.

The merger of NTL and Telewest effectively resulted in a single national network, covering just over half the country. The second part of the timeline covers Virgin Media.

Pre-Virgin Media

  • 1928
    • The foundations for cable television were laid in Swindon when a company called Radio Relay transmitted two audio channels on a wire that ran around the town to a relatively small number of homes.[1]
  • 1950
    • A cable network was launched in Gloucester, to provide better television reception than was possible at the time via a roof-top aerial.[2] Further such systems were built in other cities over the next three decades and by the late 1970s, 2.5 million British homes received their television service via cable.[3]
  • 1961
    • A new cable network launches in Swindon to transmit television signals. As reception was poor, take-up was high and by the end of the decade around 15,000 homes were paying to receive their pictures via cable television. However, only those channels available in the area are allowed to be carried on the system.
  • 1972
    • The UK’s Minister for Posts and Telecommunications authorises five experimental community cable television channels.[4]
  • 1974
    • No events.
  • 1976
    • 2 January – Sheffield Cablevision closes when the funds run out.[6]
    • Swindon Viewpoint’s experimental phase ends when EMI decided to pull out of funding the service. However, the channel continues after it was sold to the public of Swindon for £1.
  • 1977
    • No events.
  • 1978
    • No events.
  • 1979
    • No events.
  • 1980
    • April – Regular programming on Swindon Viewpoint ends when funding dries up.[7] but continues intermittently with programmes made by volunteers over the next decade.
  • 1981
    • Radio Rental Cable Television launches the UK's first pay-per-view movie channel, 'Cinematel' for cable viewers in Swindon. The channel later expands to Chatham in Kent.
    • 9 September – Following the Home Office granting several experimental licenses to broadcast subscription television. Rediffusion wins five of these licenses and one of the services it launches is a movie channel called Starview.[8]
  • 1982
    • Proposals to liberalise cable television in the UK are drawn up. Previously, apart from the 1981 experiments, the cable networks were only allowed to relay the over-the-air channels.[9] This led to the Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984 which allowed cable companies to offer as many channels as they liked and also allowed cable companies to offer a telephone service in competition with British Telecom.
  • 1983
    • Ahead of the enacting of the forthcoming liberalisation, the Government licence eleven interim franchises for broadband systems. Each covers an individual town or city of around 100,000 homes.
    • 16 October – Satellite Television Ltd launches in the UK on Swindon Cable and is renamed Sky Channel. The channel initially broadcasts for five hours each night and as more operators start to carry the channel, its broadcast hours slowly expand.[10][11]
  • 1984
    • Thorn EMI, which operates Swindon Cable, launches three channels – movie channel Premiere, Music Box and The Children's Channel. Delivered by satellite, they are created with the planned roll-out of cable across the UK in mind.
    • 1 December – The Cable Authority comes into existence and on 1 January 1985 it takes on the functions granted to it by the Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984, paving the way for fully commercial cable franchise to be awarded on a city-by-city basis.
  • 1985
    • The Performance Channel launches. It broadcasts arts programming each night from 7pm until the early hours. It remained as a cable-exclusive channel until 2003 and ended broadcasting in July 2008.[12]
    • September – HVC launches. Showing movies, the channel is created by Ealing Cable and is subsequently rolled out to other cable operators by sending them tapes of the programmes and a copy of the programme schedule so that HVC could be played out locally.[13]
    • 31 December – United Artists Programming launches Bravo.[14] It shows mainly black & white B-movies from the 1950s and 1960s. The channel remains a cable-exclusive service until it launches on satellite in July 1993.
  • 1986
    • No events.
  • 1987
    • No events.
  • 1988
    • United Cable of Denver purchases Croydon Cable and subsequently merges with United Artists Cable International.
  • 1989
    • 5 February – Satellite television service Sky Television launches. The new channels – Sky News, Sky Movies and Eurosport – are carried on cable.
    • 31 July – Hampered by the very slow roll-out of cable television and the increased competition from the launch of Sky Movies, Premiere closes.
  • 1990
    • 25 March – BSB launches its five-channel service. As well as launching on satellite, the channels are carried by cable providers.
    • 2 November – Sky TV and BSB merge. The new company is called BSkyB; a month later, two of the five BSB channels are closed down.
    • In its final annual report, published at its demise, the Cable Authority stated that by the end of 1990, even though almost 15 million homes had been included in franchised areas, only 828,000 of these had been passed by broadband cable and only 149,000 were actually subscribing.[15]
  • 1992
    • The major cable companies join together to form 'Cable Programme Partners One (CPP1)', to try to provide alternative content to the satellite-dominated multi-channel environment of the time.
    • 13 January – United Artists Cable launches The Parliamentary Channel.[17]
    • April – On-demand music video channel The Box launches. Initially launched in four cable areas, it slowly rolls out on a regional basis across the entire cable network before getting its first berth on satellite in 1998.
    • May – Wire TV launches. Branding itself as 'The Cable Channel', this is the flagship channel of CPP1. The channel broadcasts a mix of entertainment, lifestyle and sport from 1pm until 11pm and includes two hours each day of regional programming.
    • October – Country music channel CMT Europe launches on cable. The following year it also starts part-time broadcasts on Astra and it doesn't get a full-time berth on satellite until later in the 1990s.
    • Following the merger of TCI and United Artists, they launch a joint venture called Telewest Communications.
  • 1993
    • Barclay Knapp and George Blumenthal, the founders of the cellular network company Cellular Communications, Inc. (sold to Airtouch in 1996), establish International CableTel.
  • 1994
    • January – TCI acquires a 60.4% stake in Flextech[18] and Flextech acquires 100% of Bravo, 25% of UK Gold, 31% of UK Living, and 25% of The Children's Channel.[19]
    • February – Travel launches exclusively on cable, broadcasting daily between midday and midnight.
    • 2 March – Wire TV’s backers outbid BSkyB to the rights for the 1996 Cricket World Cup as part of a plan to set up a sports channel to take on Sky Sports.[20] Wire TV’s evening programming is by now devoted to sport under the name Sportswire with the daytime entertainment programming called LiveWire.[21]
    • November – Associated Newspapers launches Channel One, a network of city news channels. The first to launch is in London.
  • 1995
    • 16 January – Mirror Group plc launches Mirror Television by purchasing Wire TV. It plans to launch Sportswire as a full-time channel and replace Wire TV with a new channel called L!VE TV.
    • May – Ahead of the planned launch of Sportswire as a full-time channel, Wire TV closes.[22]
    • 1 June – SelecTV launches. It is a general entertainment channel which broadcasts each night from 5pm until midnight.
    • June – TCI (owners of Telewest) and NYNEX, two of the main players of CPP1, do a deal with BSkyB which includes a clause that the cable operators do not launch any rival channels to those already operated by Sky. This marks the end of CPP1 and causes the collapse of sports channel Sportswire, days before its launch.
    • 12 June – L!VE TV launches as Mirror Television’s sole television channel.
    • June – Telewest merges with SBC Communications, adding franchises in the Midlands and North West serving 1.3 million homes.
    • 1 October – The Sci Fi Channel launches in the UK but its full-time hours (8am to 4am) are only broadcast on cable due to a lack of space on satellite. It broadcasts on satellite for only three hours each evening, and viewers have to wait until the launch of Sky Digital to see the channel's full-time hours.
    • Bell Cablemedia is formed when a number of cable companies, including Jones Cable UK, merge.
  • 1997
    • 14 February – SelecTV is rebranded Carlton Select following Carlton Television’s purchase of Pearson Television.
    • Bell Cablemedia, NYNEX and Videotron merge to become Cable & Wireless Communications.[23]
    • 9 November – As part of its foray into digital television, the BBC launches BBC News 24. However, the channel launches almost a year prior to the launch of digital television in the UK and therefore is only available 24 hours a day on cable, with other viewers only able to watch the channel overnight on BBC One.
    • Front Row is created to provide a near on-demand pay-per-view movies service for cable television. However, Cable and Wireless chooses not to carry the service, instead opting for Sky Box Office.
  • 1998
    • March – Telewest and General Cable merge.[24]
    • Telewest also acquires the outstanding interest in Birmingham Cable, adding a further 1.7 million franchise homes in Yorkshire, west London and Birmingham.
    • 19 May – CableTel adopts NTL as its new name.
    • 23 September – The BBC purchases The Parliamentary Channel and relaunches it as BBC Parliament.
    • 25 September – Channel One closes at 6pm.[25]
    • 1 October – Sky Digital launches, becoming the UK's first digital television service. Consequently, a number of channels which had only been available full-time on cable are now able to broadcast their full schedule on satellite.
    • 15 November – Rival digital television service OnDigital launches. Two of its channels are channels which had been exclusive to cable – Carlton Food Network and Carlton Select.
  • 2000
    • 19 April – Telewest and Flextech merge.[27]
    • 1 August – The ITN News Channel launches. It is a joint venture between ITN and NTL.
    • November – Telewest acquires Eurobell, taking the total number of homes passed to 4.9 million.
    • NTL acquires the domestic cable business of Cable & Wireless Communications.
    • Telewest and NTL launch their digital television services.
  • 2005
    • January – NTL rolls out its first video-on-demand services. Telewest also launches its first on demand services in 2005.
    • CLS Holdings sells the assets of Wightcable to private investors in 2005, who formed WightCable (2005) Ltd and in 2012 WightCable was rebranded as WightFibre.
    • 1 December – Telewest launches its first personal video recorder TV Drive.
  • 2006
    • At the start of 2006, Telewest becomes the first company in the UK to launch a high-definition service.[33] It provides between 10 and 30 hours of on-demand content in HD, and that summer it provides HD access to some 2006 FIFA World Cup matches to customers who have the TV Drive box.
    • January – CLS Holdings sells WightCable North, at a loss of £2.1 million, to Netfonics[34][35] Just over a year later WightCable North is rebranded as Smallworld Media, then to Smallworld Cable (2009) and to Smallworld Fibre in 2013.[36]
    • March – NTL and Telewest merge.

Virgin Media

  • 2006
    • 8 November – Virgin Media comes into being when NTL Telewest does a deal to licence the Virgin name.[37]
  • 2008
  • 2009
    • 23 June – Setanta Sports stops broadcasting.[47]
    • 3 August –
      • ESPN launches its UK television sports channel and is made available to all of Virgin's XL TV customers.[48]
      • ESPN Classic launches on Virgin Media.
    • 24 November – Virgin Media enters into a strategic partnership with TiVo.[49] Under the mutually exclusive agreement, TiVo will develop a converged television and broadband interactive interface to power Virgin Media's next generation, high definition set top boxes. TiVo becomes the exclusive provider of middleware and user interface software for Virgin Media's next generation set top boxes. Virgin Media will be the exclusive distributor of TiVo services and technology in the United Kingdom.
  • 2010
    • 4 June – British Sky Broadcasting and Virgin Media announce that they have reached an agreement for the acquisition by Sky of Virgin Media Television.[50][51] The take-over is completed on 13 July.[52]
    • 20 July – Film4 HD launches exclusively on Virgin Media[53][54] and remains exclusive to the platform until it launches on Sky in 2013.
    • 3 September – Virgin’s general entertainment channel Virgin 1 is rebranded as Channel One because the Virgin name was not licensed to Sky.
    • December – Virgin Media releases its first TiVo co-branded product.[55] On 17 March 2011, Virgin Media enabled access to a third tuner.[56]
  • 2012
    • January – Virgin Media shuts down its analogue service in Westminster. Due to a dispute with BT, which owns the cables, Virgin was not able to obtain the access required to launch its digital service in the area.[61]
    • February – The V+ box stops being available to new customers as it starts to be phased out in favour of TiVo boxes.
    • 8 February – For the first time, a UK cable company moves into profit when Virgin Media announces a small profit for 2011.[62]
    • 13 September – Movies-on-demand service FilmFlex is renamed Virgin Movies.[63]
  • 2013
    • 6 February – Virgin Media is bought by Liberty Global at a cost of £15 billion.[64]
    • 2 April – Vintage TV launches on channel 343.[65]
    • 15 August – BT Sport starts broadcasting on Virgin Media, a month after the channel’s launch. Virgin makes the channel available in its XL package as had been the case with Setanta Sports and with ESPN.[66]
    • 25 October – Four years after launching, Premier Sports finally becomes available on Virgin Media. It launches one day prior to the start of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup and is available to all viewers until early 2014.[67]
    • 28 November – Virgin Media shuts down its analogue service in Milton Keynes. As was the case in Westminster, BT and Virgin Media were not able to reach an agreement allowing Virgin the physical access needed to launch its digital service.
  • 2014
    • 3 February – Virgin Media acquires Smallworld Fibre.[68] The deal saw Smallworld's network merged into Virgin Media's during 2014.
    • 12 May – Virgin Media signs a new five-year deal with Sky but the deal still does not allow for the carriage of Sky Atlantic.[69]
  • 2016
    • 12 January –
      • Virgin Media launches four music channels but they are only available as an app to TiVo customers by pressing the red button on channel 345. This is the first time that Virgin Media has launched channels in this way. Later in 2016, one of the channels – Clubland TV – launches as a linear channel meaning that it can be viewed by non-Tivo customers with the other channels accessible by pressing red.[71]
      • Virgin Media also adds the Vevo streaming music service, again only for Tivo customers.[72]
    • 24 August – Sky Sports Mix launches and is available from day one on Virgin Media. Also launching on the platform at around the same time are a number of channels already available on Freeview, including Spike, truTV and Movie Mix.[73]
  • 2017
    • 10 April – Virgin TV Kids launches, replacing Tiddlers TV.[74]
    • 1 June – Talking Pictures TV launches on channel 445, two years after it launched on other platforms.[75]
    • 18 July – Sky Sports is revamped with the numbered channels being replaced by sports-specific channels. These include two channels dedicated to football, a cricket channel and a golf channel. Other sports are moved to two new channels – Action and Arena – and a showcase channel called Sky Sports Main Event is launched which features simulcasts of the top events being show on Sky Sports that day. Whilst Sky sells them as individual channels, Virgin Media customers have to take all the channels or none at all.
  • 2018
    • 8 February – Virgin Media signs its first deal with a US streaming service when it announces a partnership with Amazon to cofound a sci-fi series The Feed.[76]
    • 21 July – A number of channels launch on Virgin Media. They include FreeSports, Paramount Network HD, YourTV, Vice, Horse & Country TV and Now 80s, which had previously only been available behind the red button of Clubland TV. Also, two channel from Canadian company Blue Ant Media – children's channel ZooMoo and Love Nature – launch. Both are exclusive to Virgin Media in the UK.[77]
    • 22 July – The UKTV channels stop broadcasting on Virgin Media.[78] The dispute receives considerable media attention.[79]
    • 27 July – Virgin Media agrees a new three-year deal with ITV after more than a year of discussions.[80]
    • 30 July – BT Sport’s 4K HD channel launches for Virgin Media customers.[81]
    • 11 August – The UKTV channels return to Virgin Media. The long term deal sees the HD versions of Dave and Gold launch on Virgin Media.[82]
    • 17 September – Virgin Media launches a linear UHD channel. This will be Virgin's first linear television channel since it sold its linear channels to Sky in 2010 and it will broadcast a mix of drama, documentaries and music to customers who have its premium set-top box.[83]
    • 25 September – Virgin Media replaces two standard definition channels with their high definition version - the channels in question are Gold and Freesports. Previously when VM had launched high definition channels it had continued to make their SD version available.

References

  1. ↑ Writer Russ J Graham. "A short history of Rediffusion by Russ J Graham". Transdiffusion.org. Retrieved 2012-02-12.
  2. ↑ "The Michael Aldrich Archive - Cable Systems". Aldricharchive.com. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  3. ↑ 1982 Aldrich MJ co-author Cable Systems p18 HMSO London ISBN 0-11-630821-4
  4. ↑ Henwood, Flis; Miller, Nod; Senker, Peter; Wyatt, Sally (2002). Technology and In/equality: Questioning the Information Society. Routledge. pp. 52–53. ISBN 9780203134504.
  5. ↑ Fiddick, Peter (24 March 1975). "The truth implicit in Rediffusion's pull-out". The Guardian. p. 8.
  6. ↑ "Lack of funds closes local TV". The Guardian. 2 January 1976. p. 6.
  7. ↑ "Mixed or matched". The Guardian. 13 May 1980. p. 12.
  8. ↑ "Subscription tv by cable". Wireless World. November 1981.
  9. ↑ "The Michael Aldrich Archive - The Cable Story". Aldricharchive.com. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
  10. ↑ SKY Television launch in Swindon - News reports
  11. ↑ Sky Channel Swindon launch
  12. ↑ Broadcasting - News - Performance Channel to end after 23 years - Digital Spy
  13. ↑ From Tony Currie Controller of Programmes at the Cable Authority from 1987 – 1991
  14. ↑ Clover, Julian (16 September 2010). "Sky shuts Bravo after 25 years". Broadband TV News. Retrieved 25 July 2013.
  15. ↑ Cable Authority, Final Report and Accounts 1990
  16. ↑ "United Artists deal". The New York Times. 8 June 1991.
  17. ↑ "Broadcasting Select Committee Minutes of Evidence, 1997".
  18. ↑ "Merger Plans For Flextech". The New York Times. 3 January 1994. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  19. ↑ "Flextech Set To Acquire TCI Programming". Telecompaper. 21 December 1993. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  20. ↑ A cricket coup for UK cable Variety, 2 March 1994
  21. ↑ Sporting push for UK cable-only channel Screen Digest, 1 March 1994
  22. ↑ Mirror Group buys cable TV channel The Independent, 16 February 1995
  23. ↑ Mercury's pounds 5bn merger with cable firms heralds huge telecoms indu stry shake-up The Independent {London}, Chris Godsmark and Mathew Horsman, 23 October 1996
  24. ↑ "Telewest in £649m merger". Retrieved 1 January 2009.
  25. ↑ The last hour of Channel One London
  26. ↑ "Telewest buys Cable London". BBC News. 26 August 1999. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
  27. ↑ McIntosh, Bill (7 December 1999). "Telewest merger with Flextech would challenge Murdoch grip". The Independent. London. Retrieved 1 January 2009.
  28. ↑ Wilkes, Neil (29 September 2000). "Universal and ntl to launch film channel". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  29. ↑ Satchell, Luke (4 December 2001). "OMNE Communications set to launch local TV networks". Broadcast. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  30. ↑ "Presentation to the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of NTL Europe, Inc". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 30 September 2003. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
  31. ↑ Smith, Mark (1 February 2003). "Buy-out deal secures future of Omne Communications". The Herald. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  32. ↑ "'Super-regulator' Ofcom launches". BBC News. 29 December 2003.
  33. ↑ "Telewest beats Sky to HD launch". Broadcast Now.
  34. ↑ "CLS Holdings Plc Preliminary Financial Results 2006" (PDF). CLS Holdings. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  35. ↑ "Wight Cable North – Operator Profile". Point Topic. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  36. ↑ Ferguson, Andrew (15 March 2007). "Wight Cable North re-branding to Smallworld". ThinkBroadband. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  37. ↑ NTL rebrands as Virgin Media
  38. ↑ Virgin Central launches without ITV
  39. ↑ Virgin customers wake up to no Sky channels
  40. ↑ "Virgin Media sleighs price of V+". Virgin Media. 2007-11-27.
  41. ↑ "V+ bundles". Virgin Media. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
  42. ↑ Setanta signs Virgin Media sports deal
  43. ↑ Virgin to launch Sky One rival
  44. ↑ Setanta plans sports news channel
  45. ↑ BBC IPlayer launched on Virgin Media
  46. ↑ Sky and Virgin Media resolve distribution row
  47. ↑ Setanta goes off air with loss of more than 200 jobs
  48. ↑ ESPN football to be free for first month on cable
  49. ↑ "Virgin Media Selects Tivo For Next Generation Tv Platform". Virgin Media. 24 November 2009.
  50. ↑ "BSkyB and Virgin Media reach agreements on sale of VMtv and channel distribution". Virgin Media. 4 June 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  51. ↑ "BSkyB and Virgin Media Reach Agreements on Sale of VMtv and Channel Distribution". BSkyB. 4 June 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  52. ↑ BSkyB completes Virgin Media Television take-over
  53. ↑ "Film4 HD to launch exclusively on Virgin Media". Virgin Media. 2010-03-08. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
  54. ↑ "Film4 HD". Film4. Retrieved 2010-07-07.
  55. ↑ "Virgin Media's TiVo platform to go live". Digital Spy. 1 December 2010.
  56. ↑ "Virgin Media unlocks third TiVo tuner". Digital Spy. 17 March 2011.
  57. ↑ "ESPN Classic VOD coming to Virgin Media". Digital Spy. 2011-02-11.
  58. ↑ "Sky Anytime on Virgin Media TV". Virgin Media. 11 October 2011.
  59. ↑ "Virgin Media sells £239m stake in UKTV". Financial Times. 15 August 2011.
  60. ↑ VM signs BBC sports coverage deal
  61. ↑ http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2011/04/04/bt-and-virgin-media-dispute-holds-back-faster-broadband-and-tv-in-milton-keynes-uk.html ISPreview – BT and Virgin Media Dispute Holds Back Faster Broadband and TV in Milton Keynes
  62. ↑ Virgin Media posts first ever profit
  63. ↑ "New look on demand movies unveiled by Virgin Media". 13 September 2012.
  64. ↑ Virgin Media bought by Liberty Global for £15 billion
  65. ↑ "Virgin Media Changelog page 57". Cable Forum. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  66. ↑ BT sport channels to be made available to VM TV customers
  67. ↑ "Premier Sports launches on Virgin Media". Virgin Media. 25 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  68. ↑ "Virgin Media acquires Smallworld Fibre". Virgin Media. 3 February 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  69. ↑ VM extends BSkyB channels deal
  70. ↑ "Virgin Media Changelog page 68". Cable Forum. 5 January 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  71. ↑ "Virgin Media Changelog page 73". Cable Forum. 9 October 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  72. ↑ "Virgin Media Changelog page 71". Cable Forum. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  73. ↑ "Virgin Media Changelog page 73". Cable Forum. 24 August 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  74. ↑ "Virgin Media Changelog page 74". Cable Forum. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  75. ↑ "Virgin Media Changelog page 74". Cable Forum. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
  76. ↑ VM signs deal to make sci-fi series with Amazon
  77. ↑ New Channel Line-up
  78. ↑ Four million Virgin Media customers lose UKTV channels
  79. ↑ Virgin Media Television and UKTV bosses go head-to-head live on BBC Breakfast
  80. ↑ Virgin Media reaches deal with ITV to retain access to its channels
  81. ↑ BT and Virgin Media deal: BT UHD channel coming to cable TV
  82. ↑ UKTV channels return to Virgin Media
  83. ↑ Virgin launches linear UHD TV channel
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