BBC Four is a British free-to-airpublic broadcasttelevision channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002[1] and shows a wide variety of programmes including arts, documentaries, music, international film and drama, and current affairs.[2] It is required by its licence to air at least 100 hours of new arts and music programmes, 110 hours of new factual programmes, and to premiere twenty foreign films each year.[3][4] The channel broadcasts daily from 7:00 pm to 4:00 am, timesharing with CBeebies (which starts at 6:00 am).[5]
BBC Four launched on 2 March 2002 at 7:00pm GMT, having been delayed from the original planned 2001 launch. BBC Four began as a late schedule for BBC Two, before it received its own channel, along with BBC Three. BBC Four was launched before BBC Three as a result of the government delaying approval for the latter. The channel replaced BBC Knowledge, an educational and cultural channel that had undergone many changes throughout its lifetime; in its final format it carried a schedule of documentaries and art programming, essentially a test of the new BBC Four schedule. It was rebranded as part of BBC Four, aligning it with the existing BBC One and Two brands. Planning for the new channel, along with the new BBC Three, had been in progress since October 2000; however, the incumbent government delayed approving the new BBC digital plans. The BBC Four plans were approved earlier, and as a result launched before BBC Three.
BBC Four was different from the old BBC Knowledge: the channel would be more heavily promoted with more new and original programming and the channel would not be broadcast 24 hours a day. This was because on the Freeviewdigital terrestrial platform, BBC Four is broadcast in a statistically multiplexed stream in Multiplex B that timeshares with the CBeebies channel (which is on air from 06:00 until 19:00). As a result, BBC Four broadcasts from 19:00 to around 04:00 each night, with an hour's down-time and promotions for CBeebies before the start of that channel's schedule.
On 12 May 2011, BBC Four was added to the Sky EPG in the Republic of Ireland on channel 230. It later moved to EPG 211 to free up space for new channels.[6] It later moved to channel 143 on 1 May 2018 to sit beside the Northern Irish versions of BBC One and BBC Two there, and the 200s being used for +1 channels.[7]
On 17 August 2018, BBC Four announced BBC 4.1, a special two nights of programming which would revolve around artificial intelligence (AI) selecting the programmes broadcast on the channel, based on "what BBC Four audiences might like, based on the channel's previous schedules and programme attributes." It would then "[rank] programmes it thought were most relevant [to what BBC Four viewers would like]."[8] The programming was aired on the nights of 4 and 5 September 2018.[9] This included a few special programmes about AI,[10] such as "Made by Machine: When AI Met The Archive", which documented how the AI works,[8] and "The Joy of AI", where "the emergence of machine learning" is discussed, as well as "why [AI] shouldn't spook us".[11][12]
On 19 February 2019, Virgin Media stopped providing BBC Four in standard definition.[13]
Due to the launch of BBC Scotland on 24 February 2019, BBC Four has been on a higher Freeview EPG number in Scotland than elsewhere, moving to 82 to make room for BBC Scotland. Following eventual closures, it moved to channel 75 there, and later to channel 68, and eventually channel 55.[14] On 4 November 2020, due to Ofcom proposals regarding certain PSB channels requiring greater prominence on each UK TV provider's channel listing, BBC Four moved to channel 24 in Scotland, while every channel from that number (ITV4) to channel 54 (5Select) moved up one place.[15]
In May 2020, the BBC submitted its annual general plan for 2020–21, which included a proposal for BBC Two to supplant BBC Four as its main outlet for specialist programmes. Under the plan, BBC Four would cease originating new programmes, and become a service showcasing the BBC's "rich archive". The plan also included the possibility of the BBC expanding BBC Four into a global brand, to "[take] our strengths in specialist factual to the world stage."[16][17][18]
On 26 May 2022, the BBC announced plans to discontinue BBC Four as a broadcast channel within "the next few years", as part of plans to streamline and modify services to create a "digital-first" BBC.[19][20][21] In March 2023, it was reported that the BBC was considering a reversal of the decision, citing its viewership and low cost of operation, and concerns that the relaunch of BBC Three as a linear channel had not been successful: the aforementioned cuts to original programming had reduced its budget by half in comparison to 2017, and the channel's reach in February 2023 was 15.8 million—which was 50% higher than BBC Three in the same month.[22]
Organisation
The channel direction is determined by the channel's remit, set by royal charter and the corporation's governing body (the BBC Board), and by the channel controller. In October 2013, following the departure of Richard Klein from the controllership, the management of the channel changed, with the role of Controller of BBC Four scrapped: from this point the Controller of BBC Two would have ultimate oversight of BBC Four as part of their role, absorbing some of the former duties of the Controller of BBC Four, but a new 'Channel Editor' post, reporting up to this controller, would be created to take day-to-day charge of Four. The controllers of BBC Four from 2002 to 2016 have been:
2013–2014: Janice Hadlow (as Controller of BBC Two and BBC Four) "on an interim basis"[25] – Hadlow had been Controller of BBC Two since departing BBC Four in 2008
Early 2014: Adam Barker (interim Controller of BBC Two and BBC Four following Janice Hadlow's departure to a new post)[26]
As of 2011[update], BBC Four had an annual budget of £54.3million.[3]
On 20 January 2016, Kim Shillinglaw announced that she had decided to leave the BBC as the Controller of BBC Two and BBC Four. As a result of the reorganisation, the post of BBC Two and Four control had closed after her departure later that year.[29]
BBC Four HD
BBC Four HD logo (2013–2021)
On 16 July 2013, the BBC announced that a high-definition (HD) simulcast of BBC Four would be launched by early 2014.[30] The channel launched on 10 December 2013 at 18:58 GMT, and rolled out nationwide up to June 2014 (as did BBC News HD, CBBC HD and CBeebies HD).[31] The channel shares its stream with CBeebies HD, as they both air at different times. In June 2022, BBC Four HD moved from the COM7 multiplex on Freeview to Multiplex B due to the closure of COM7 for spectrum reallocation; this move allows the service to reach nearly the entirety of the UK.[32][33]
Prior to launch, the majority of BBC Four's HD output was broadcast on the BBC HD channel, before its closure on 26 March 2013. In 2017, BBC Four HD, along with CBBC HD and CBeebies HD, launched in Ireland.
BBC Four's primary role is to reflect a range of UK and international arts, music and culture. It should provide an ambitious range of innovative, high quality programming that is intellectually and culturally enriching, taking an expert and in-depth approach to a wide range of subjects.
The channel broadcasts a mixture of art and sciencedocumentaries, vintage drama (including many rare black-and-white programmes), and non-English-language productions such as films from the Artificial Eye catalogue, the French thriller Spiral and the Swedish detective series Wallander.[36] BBC Four further supports foreign-language films with its annual World Cinema Award which has been running since 2004.
From the channel's launch in 2002 until the middle of 2020, BBC Four broadcast a global news bulletin on weeknights. Originally this was the BBC Four News presented initially by George Alagiah, which ran at 8pm. It was rebranded in January 2004 as The World, and was axed in May 2007, replaced the following week by World News Today, in a new 7pm timeslot. More recently BBC Four moved news programmes to 7pm with a simulcast of Beyond 100 Days Monday–Thursday and an edition of World News Today on Fridays which was produced by BBC World News. As of autumn 2020, BBC Four no longer broadcasts a news bulletin.
Drama has given the channel some of its most popular programmes, with The Alan Clark Diaries (2003) and Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa! (2006) being among the highest rated, with over 800,000 viewers. The highly acclaimed Hattie, broadcast in 2011, holds the record for BBC Four's best ever consolidated ratings, of 2m / 8%.[37] Before that The Curse of Steptoe brought the channel its highest audience figures, estimated as 1.41million viewers, a 7% share of multichannel audiences between 21:00 and 22:05, based on overnight returns.[38] The official audience figures for the broadcast, including time-shifting, were later published as 1,625,000.[39]
Another notable production was a live re-make of the 1953 science-fiction serial The Quatermass Experiment, adapted from the original scripts into a single, two-hour version (though on the night it underran considerably, lasting less than 1 hour 40 minutes), broadcast on the evening of Saturday 2 April 2005. Discounting BBC Four's previous live relays of theatrical William Shakespeare productions, this was the first live made-for-television drama to be broadcast by the BBC for twenty years.[citation needed]
The channel is also curator and leader of the BBC Archive project whose aim is that the BBC's television archive is re-broadcast as much as appropriate so that the Archive can be enjoyed again and not isolated.[40]
Some output from BBC Four (documentaries rather than foreign films) was for a time repeated on BBC Two in a 'BBC Four on Two' branded area, although this was often in a late night broadcast slot after Newsnight and has since been discontinued.
According to BARB the comedy panel game QI has the highest ratings of any show on BBC Four.[41]
In 2012 Dirk Gently became the first continuing drama series produced for the channel.[42]
During the period when BBC Three was not broadcasting as a linear TV channel, BBC Four was occasionally used to show live sports coverage. The channel aired games from the UEFA Euro 2016 and 2018 FIFA World Cup football tournaments when the final round of matches in the group stages took place (when matches in each group kick-off simultaneously). It has also been used to broadcast England women's football matches, as well as some matches from the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. It also temporarily extended its broadcast hours to show live action from the 2016 Summer Olympics.[43]
As of 2023, BBC Four schedules still feature music programming (such as Top of the Pops and Neil Brand's documentaries) on a Friday night,[44] with drama imports on a Saturday (but not always foreign-language productions like Italian crime drama Inspector Montalbano)[45][46] and usually an hour of 'archive' programmes (such as those by Bob Ross[47] and Fred Dibnah)[48][49][50] starting off the weekday schedule at 7pm. As well as programmes from the 1980s and 1990s, this early evening slot gives a chance for regional programmes to get a national airing with Cy Chadwick'sWalking with... productions and Gareth Edwards's Great Welsh Adventure (from BBC Wales) getting a repeat here and then again late night.[51][52] In addition to these programmes, many hour long regional documentaries such as BBC Scotland's Rigs of Nigg,[53][54][55][56][57] about the 1970s North Sea oil drilling platform construction industry based around the Cromarty Firth, also received their national debut on the channel.
...at the BBC (an original hour long music compilation usually featuring performances from various BBC TV shows, with bands like ABBA, genres like disco and acts from record labels such as Motown and Island featured)[62][63][64][65]
The Sound of Musicals with Neil Brand[66][67] (documentary series)
The Sound of TV with Neil Brand[68] (documentary series)
Top of the Pops (episodes repeated each week from BBC One, with the run continuing from 1976 to 1996 as of May 2024)
Top of the Pops: The Story of... (an original hour long year-by-year documentary on BBC Four, also shown on BBC Two/UKTV Yesterday in an edited 45 minute version)[69]
Top of the Pops: Big Hits (an original hour long year-by-year compilation featuring performances from the show with added on-screen facts, also shown on BBC Two)[70]
Top of the Pops: Big Hits 1964 to 1975 (a 90-minute version of the Big Hits format featuring early hits from the show, also shown on UKTV's Yesterday channel)[71][72]
The following is a list of the ten most watched broadcasts on BBC Four since launch, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB.[73] Number of viewers does not include repeats.
The channel's initial series of idents were generated dynamically reflecting the frequencies of the continuity announcers' voice or of backing music and were designed by Lambie-Nairn. As a result, no two idents were ever the same. The first continuity announcer was Zeb Soanes.
When the channel first started airing, it used the slogan "Everybody Needs A Place To Think", but the BBC stopped using this several months after the launch. However the BBC Four logo and above slogan can be found, engraved on benches along the South Bank in London, between the London Eye and Waterloo Bridge.
On 10 September 2005, the channel began showing new idents comprising a central BBC Four logo surrounded by four quadrants which show different stages of the same footage thus making for a sort of optical illusion; for example, a swimming pool where a person on an inflatable ring appears in the bottom-left corner, though ripples don't enter the remaining quarters. Although the image appears as one at the start of the ident, by the end it is clearly four separate images. These were the longest-running idents ever used by the BBC - they lasted until the channel's rebrand in 2021, however, the "quadrants" theme continues to this day.
In March 2019, BBC Four added several new idents inspired by "oddly satisfying videos" in tandem with the quadrants theme, originally premiering for a programme season honouring the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web.
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded entirely by its commercial activities, including advertising. It began its transmission in 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in the United Kingdom. At the time, the only other channels were the licence-funded BBC1 and BBC2, and a single commercial broadcasting network, ITV.
Freeview is the United Kingdom's sole digital terrestrial television platform. It is operated by Everyone TV and DTV Services Ltd, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. It was launched on 30 October 2002, taking over the licence from ITV Digital which collapsed that year. The service provides consumer access via an aerial to the seven DTT multiplexes covering the United Kingdom. As of July 2020, it has 85 TV channels, 26 digital radio channels, 10 HD channels, six text services, 11 streamed channels, and one interactive channel.
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and documentaries. BBC Two has a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream and popular BBC One.
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, primetime drama and entertainment, and live BBC Sport events.
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 1932, although the start of its regular service of television broadcasts is dated to 2 November 1936.
CBeebies is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content targeted for children aged six years and under. Its sister channel, CBBC, is intended for older children aged six to twelve. It broadcasts every day from 6:00 am to 7:00 pm, timesharing with BBC Four.
ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a claim now held by its sister service ITV3 both of which are freely available to a majority of households.
U&Eden is a British free-to-air channel broadcasting nature content with some factual entertainment programming in the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of the UKTV network of channels. The channel originally launched on 8 March 2004 and relaunched in its current format on 27 January 2009. U&Eden was a pay television channel until 2024.
U&Yesterday is a British free-to-air television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It launched on 30 October 2002 as UK History and relaunched in its current format on 2 March 2009. It is available on satellite through Sky, Freesat and through the digital terrestrial provider Freeview. Hours on Freeview had previously been cut, with transmissions finishing at 6pm, but were restored on 1 June 2010.
ITV3 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first launched on Monday 1 November 2004 at 9 pm, replacing Plus. ITV3 is the sixth-largest UK television channel by audience share and the largest after the five main terrestrial services, the position which was previously held by its sister station ITV2. The channel is known for repeats of ITV dramas, and including sequential reruns of Agatha Christie's Poirot, Classic Coronation Street, Classic Emmerdale, Heartbeat, Inspector Morse and A Touch of Frost, amongst others, as well as formerly showing repeats of Kojak, Numb3rs, Columbo, Cagney & Lacey and The Bill.
BBC One Scotland is a Scottish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Scotland. It is the Scottish variation of the UK-wide BBC One network and is broadcast from Pacific Quay in Glasgow.
Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Everyone TV. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008. Freesat offers a satellite alternative to the Freeview service on digital terrestrial television, with a broadly similar selection of channels available without subscription for users purchasing a receiver.
CITV is a British children's morning programming block on ITV2 and formerly a free-to-air channel owned by ITV plc. CITV, then Children's ITV, launched on 3 January 1983 as a late afternoon programming block on the ITV network for children aged 6–12. It replaced the earlier Watch It! branding and introduced networked in-vision continuity links between programmes. These links were originally pre-recorded from a small London studio up until 1987, when Central won the contract to produce live links from their Birmingham studios. In 2004, presentation of CITV was relocated to Granada Television in Manchester, which saw the demise of in-vision continuity. Nine years later, the operations moved to ITV Granada's MediaCityUK studios in Salford.
BBC HD was a high-definition television channel owned by the BBC. The channel was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 25 March 2013. It broadcast only during the afternoon and evening and only broadcast material shot in high definition, either in a simulcast with another channel or by inserting a repeat of an HD programme.
High-definition television in the United Kingdom is available via cable, IPTV, satellite and terrestrial television. The first high-definition broadcasts began in late 2005 and since then the number of channels available to view has grown to a maximum of 87 that can be viewed on pay-TV service, Sky.
CBBC is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister channel, CBeebies, is aimed at children aged 6 and under. It broadcasts every day from 7:00 a.m. to 6:58 p.m., timesharing with BBC Three.
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 5am 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.
Channel 5 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's UK and Australia division. It was launched in 30 March 1997 to provide a fifth national terrestrial channel in the United Kingdom.
That's TV is a national television network in the United Kingdom, broadcasting via Sky, Freesat, Freeview, and Virgin Media, although only a small number of both local and national That's TV channels are available on Virgin Media.
This is a timeline of the history of non-flagship BBC television channels, i.e., BBC channels that have initially appeared on cable or satellite or digital television. The list excludes events from BBC One and BBC Two, unless they also relate to one of the other channels.
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