Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, while the introduction of television and the first tests commencing in 1927. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection of free-to-air, free-to-view and subscription services over a variety of distribution media, through which there are over 480 channels for consumers as well as on-demand content. There are six main channel owners who are responsible for most material viewed.
Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British paid television sports news channel run by Sky, a division of Comcast.
Top Up TV was a pay TV service in the United Kingdom which launched in March 2004, operating on the digital terrestrial television platform. The aim of the service was to "top up" Freeview customers by providing additional content and services through encrypted TV channels unavailable to other viewers.
Dave is a British free-to-air television channel owned by UKTV, which is available in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It broadcasts mainly comedy, with some factual programming. The channel took the name Dave in October 2007, but it had been on air under various identities and formats since October 1998.
Digital terrestrial television in the United Kingdom encompasses over 100 television, radio and interactive services broadcast via the United Kingdom's terrestrial television network and receivable with a standard television set. The majority of digital terrestrial television (DTT) services, including the five former analogue channels, are broadcast free-to-air, and a further selection of encrypted pay TV services are also available.
ABC TV Plus is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of general entertainment programming. Between the hours of 5am and 7.30pm daily, the channel's bandwidth is used for the ABC Kids channel for young children.
Xtraview was a British pay-per-view television channel run by Top Up TV. It replaced Top Up TV Sampler, a promotional channel showing Top Up TV's latest offers presented by Alice Beer. Xtraview showed a selection of programs from the Top Up TV package, at a cost of one pound per day. It ceased broadcasting on 31 August 2005 at 11.00pm due to lack of space on the DTT platform after Top Up TV's short-term lease with Channel 4 on multiplex 2 expired in September 2005, and has since been replaced with More 4. The official reason stated on the channel is that it is being "modified", however no developments were made and this screen was shown from its demise to March 2006.
Newshub is a New Zealand multi-platform news service that airs on TV channel Three, radio stations run by MediaWorks Radio, and on digital platforms. The Newshub brand replaced 3 News service on the TV3 network and the Radio Live news service heard on MediaWorks Radio stations on 1 February 2016. In late 2020, MediaWorks sold Newshub to US multimedia company Discovery, Inc.. The acquisition was completed on 1 December 2020.
MCOT Public Company Limited (MCOT), formerly known as the Mass Communication Organization of Thailand (Thai: บริษัท อสมท จำกัด, is a Thai state-owned public broadcaster. It owns and operates a number of radio and television stations in Thailand. It is based in Bangkok. At present, MCOT runs seven national, one international, 52 provincial, one district radio station, two television channels, and 2 satellite television channels. Their motto is "Always Serving the Public". On their website MCOT uses the slogan "Digitally beyond". MCOT's acting president is Eric Sirote Ratanamahatana.
Disney Channel is a Scandinavian children's channel owned by The Walt Disney Company.
QVC UK is a television shopping channel broadcast from the United Kingdom to the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was formed in 1993 when QVC, Inc. agreed to a deal with Sky TV to create a UK version of the US channel. "QVC – The Shopping Channel" first broadcast in the UK on 1 October 1993.
Digital UK is a British company owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 which supports Freeview viewers and channels. It provides people with information about their options for receiving terrestrial TV and advice on reception and equipment. The company also handles day-to-day technical management of the Freeview Electronic Programme Guide (EPG), allocates channel numbers and manages the launch of new services and multiplexes onto the platform. Digital UK has been licensed by Ofcom as an EPG provider.
ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of ABC TV channel and the ABC are in Ultimo, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales.
There are four major forms of digital television (DTV) broadcast in the United Kingdom: a direct-to-home satellite service from the Astra 28.2°E satellites provided by Sky UK, a cable television service provided by Virgin Media ; a free-to-air satellite service called Freesat; and a free-to-air digital terrestrial service called Freeview. In addition, an IPTV system known as BT Vision is provided by BT. Individual access methods vary throughout the country. 77% of the United Kingdom has access to HDTV via terrestrial digital television. Satellite is the only source of HDTV broadcast available for the remaining 23%.
Television in Iceland is currently composed of the public broadcasting service of RÚV, five free-to-view channels and a number of subscription channels provided by private broadcasters. Broadcasts began in 1955 when the American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) started an English-language television service broadcasting from Naval Air Station Keflavik, which operated until 2006. The first Icelandic-language television broadcasts started in September 1966 with the launch of RÚV, originally called Sjónvarpið. In 1986 the first privately owned TV station, Stöð 2, began broadcasts. In recent years the emergence of foreign internet streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+ has seen shift from domestic providers provide similar on demand streaming services such as Síminn Premium and Stöð 2+.
Television in France was introduced in 1931, when the first experimental broadcasts began. Colour television was introduced in October 1967 on La Deuxième Chaîne.
Freeview is the name for the collection of free-to-air services on the Digital Terrestrial Television platform in the United Kingdom. The service was launched at 5 am on 30 October 2002 and is jointly operated by its five equal shareholders – BBC, ITV, Channel 4, BSkyB and transmitter operator Arqiva. This article documents the history of the Freeview service, from its inception up to the present.
Viva was a British free-to-air music television channel owned by Viacom International Media Networks Europe. The channel launched on 26 October 2009, replacing TMF, and ceased broadcasting on 31 January 2018.
Channel 5 is a British free-to-air television network launched in 1997. It is the fifth national terrestrial channel in the United Kingdom and is owned by Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American media conglomerate ViacomCBS, which is grouped under ViacomCBS Networks UK & Australia division.
This is a timeline of the history of the British television network ITV.