Timeline of UKTV

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

1990s

• 1991
  • 16 October – Thames Television loses its ITV franchise.

• 1992
  • 1 November – UK Gold launches. The channel shows archive programming from the BBC and Thames Television archives.

• 1993
  • Tele-Communications Inc. takes a stake in UK Gold.
  • 1 September – Sky Multichannels launches, resulting in UK Gold becoming a pay channel.
  • Flextech purchases TCI’s stake in UK Gold.[1]

• 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 a deal to launch a series of 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 broadcasting 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. UK Gold had recently moved towards showing newer programmes so the new channel was used to broadcast the older programming which been displaced from the main channel. The channel is a part-time service, broadcasting from Friday to Sunday between 6.00 pm to 2.00 am.
  • 10 October – UK Play launches as a music and comedy channel. This channel is the proposed TV version of Radio 1 but in the end there it has no tie-up with Radio 1.
  • 15 November – Digital terrestrial service OnDigital launches and UK Play, UK Gold, UK Horizons and UK Style are carried on the platform although Horizons and Style share a single channel slot. UKTV is later given an additional 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

• 2000
  • 30 March – UK Arena closes and is replaced by UK Drama.
  • November – UK Play is renamed Play UK.

• 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 –
    • The UKTV prefix is added to all channels, e.g. UK Gold becomes UKTV Gold.
    • UKTV People launches.
    • UKTV Documentary replaces UK Horizons.
  • March – A new digital terrestrial pay service, Top Up TV, launches and three of UKTV's channels – UK Gold, 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.

• 2005
  • 23 February – UKTV Style Gardens launches as a gardening spin-off from UKTV Style.

• 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 from 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.[12]. 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.[13]

2010s

• 2010
  • 31 August – UKTV launches its first high definition channel – Good Food HD.[14]
  • 4 October – UKTV launches its second HD channel – for Eden.

• 2011
  • 2 August – Really launches on Freeview.[15]
  • 15 August – Virgin Media agrees to sell its 50% stake in UKTV to Scripps Networks Interactive in a deal worth £339m.[16]
  • October – High definition versions of Dave and Watch launch.

• 2012
  • 3 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 14 August.

• 2014
  • 4 August – UKTV launches its video on demand service UKTV Play.[17]

• 2015
  • No events.

• 2016
  • 6 January – UKTV announces that Dave will show its first live sporting event – a boxing match between David Haye and Mark de Mori at the O2 Arena on 16 January 2016.[18] Later in the year Dave broadcasts the 2016 BDO World Trophy darts tournament and cricket's Caribbean Premier League.
  • 15 January – UKTV signs a deal with the BBC to provide a same-day repeat of EastEnders. The deal will also see the return of the weekend omnibus edition.[19]
  • 15 February – Watch is renamed W.
  • 1 March – Home becomes UKTV’s fifth channel to launch on Freeview.[20]

• 2017
  • 2 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]

• 2019
  • 1 April – Discovery Inc. announces that it will acquire BBC Studios' stakes in Good Food, Home and Really, while BBC Studios will acquire Discovery's stakes in the seven remaining UKTV networks for £173 million.[24].
  • 11 June –
    • Discovery Inc. takes full control of Good Food, Home and Really.
    • BBC Studios takes full control of UKTV and of its remaining seven channels.[25]

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 channel to rebrand as Good Food". The Guardian. 13 May 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
14. "UKTV announces Good Food and Eden HD channel rollout". UKTV. 9 August 2010. Archived from the original on 28 August 2010.
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. Butler, Sarah (22 July 2018). "Four million Virgin Media customers lose UKTV channels". Retrieved 14 June 2019 – via www.theguardian.com.
22. BhamUrbanNewsUK (22 July 2018). "Virgin Media loses UKTV channels". Retrieved 14 June 2019 – via YouTube.
23. "UKTV channels return to Virgin TV - News - UKTV Corporate Site". corporate.uktv.co.uk. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
24. "BBC to take control of UKTV in £180m deal with Discovery". The Guardian. 2019-04-01. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
25. Ago, 2 Days (12 June 2019). "UKTV split confirmed: Discovery takes lifestyle, BBC takes entertainment". TBI Vision. Retrieved 14 June 2019.