Channel 4 is a British public-service free-to-air television network with Headquarters in London, a National HQ in Leeds and creative hubs in Glasgow and Bristol. The channel was established to provide a fourth television service to the United Kingdom in addition to the licence-funded BBC One and BBC Two, and the single commercial broadcasting network ITV. It began transmission on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the station is now owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, a public corporation of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which was established in 1990 and came into operation in 1993. In 2010, Channel 4 extended service into Wales and became a UK-wide television channel.
ITV is a British free-to-air television network with its headquarters in London. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television, which had been established in 1932. ITV is the oldest commercial network in the UK. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990, its legal name has been Channel 3, to distinguish it from the other analogue channels at the time, namely BBC 1, BBC 2 and Channel 4.
Television in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising. 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. There are 27,000 hours of domestic content produced a year at a cost of £2.6 billion. Since 24 October 2012, all television broadcasts in the United Kingdom have been in a digital format, following the end of analogue transmissions in Northern Ireland. Digital content is delivered via terrestrial, satellite and cable, as well as over IP. As of 2003, 53.2% of households watch through terrestrial, 31.3% through satellite, and 15.6% through cable.
BBC One is the first flagship television network of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution. It was renamed BBC TV in 1960, using this name until the launch of the second BBC channel BBC2 in 1964, whereupon the BBC TV channel became known as BBC1, with the current spelling adopted of BBC One in 1997.
BBC Four is a British free-to-air television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002, with a schedule running from 7:00 pm to 4:00 am. The channel shows "a wide variety of programmes including arts, comedy, documentaries, music, international film, original programmes, drama and current affairs ... an alternative to programmes on the mainstream TV channels". 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 20 foreign films each year.
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated 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.
BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air television channel which broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Select Committees of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Scottish Parliament, the London Assembly, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Senedd. The channel also broadcasts reports from the European Parliament and the annual conferences of the main political parties and the Trades Union Congress. On average, 1.2% of the UK's total population watch the channel for more than three minutes at least once per week; these viewers watch for an average of just over two hours each over the course of the week.
In broadcasting, the watershed is the time of day after which programming aimed towards mature or adult audiences is permitted.
The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation was founded in 1964 and is the national public broadcaster of Turkey. Around 70% of TRT's funding comes from a tax levied on electricity bills and a license tax on television and radio receivers. As these are hypothecated taxes, as opposed to the money coming from general government funds, the principle is similar to that of the television licence levied in a number of other countries, such as the BBC in the United Kingdom. The rest of TRT's funding comes from government grants, with the final 10% coming from advertising.
BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland.
.tv was a British television channel dedicated to technology. .tv was owned and operated by British Sky Broadcasting. The channel first broadcast on 1 September 1996 and broadcast between 18:00 and 20:00. The broadcasting hours were increased to midday-midnight when The Computer Channel started broadcasting on British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite platform, Sky Digital in 1998. In 1999 the channel interviewed then Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.
Talking Movies is a top-rated film news programme broadcast on the BBC, that covers cinema around the world, including delivering reviews of the latest films and exclusive interviews with top Hollywood and international talent. The half-hour flagship programme, with a format conceived by BBC TV Executive Producer, Martin Everard, jointly with presenter journalist Tom Brook premiered in 1999 with the demise of the BBC's Barry Norman film programme, and is broadcast on BBC World News, while shorter Talking Movies reports are broadcast during the week and carried in the mornings on BBC America. At one time, the programme was carried on BBC 1, BBC 2, BBC News 24 as well as to the 200 million homes on BBC World. An edited version was/is also shown on a number of international airlines' inflight channels.
Sky Arts is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music. The channel is available in the United Kingdom via Sky, Virgin Media, and TalkTalk TV and in the Republic of Ireland via Sky Ireland, Virgin Media Ireland, Vodafone Ireland and eir, included in most basic subscription packs, but started life as a premium service requiring an additional payment on top of the monthly Sky subscription.
Channel Four Television Corporation is a publicly owned media company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its original and principal activity is the British national television network Channel 4.
Guangdong Television is a television stationin Guangzhou, Guangdong province in China. Guangdong TV is the oldest television station in the province, which covers Guangdong and surrounding provinces. At present, Guangdong TV has a staff of around 1,800 people.
The BBC News at Five is an hour-long daily news programme broadcast at 5:00pm on BBC News. The programme is fronted by Huw Edwards, the BBC's lead presenter for major breaking news, and Jane Hill on Friday. The show includes a detailed look at the news, as well as analysis with guests and sport and weather updates.
The Execution of Gary Glitter is a ninety-minute television drama, produced by Juniper Communications Limited and broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK, which follows an imaginary trial and execution by hanging of former glam rock singer Gary Glitter, who has been convicted for possession of child pornography and sex with minors, for "offences against children". The programme was written, produced, and directed by Rob Coldstream, and was broadcast on 9 November 2009.
The Great British Bake Off is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, attempting to impress a group of judges with their baking skills, with a contestant being eliminated in each round, and the winner being selected from the contestants who reach the finals. The first episode was aired on 17 August 2010, with its first four series broadcast on BBC Two, until its growing popularity led the BBC to move it to BBC One for the next three series. After its seventh series, Love Productions signed a three-year deal with Channel 4 to produce the series for the broadcaster. However, BBC Studios still owns the global distribution rights to the show, which are set for renewal in 2028. The programme was originally presented by Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, with judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood. Following its move to Channel 4, the current presenters are Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig, with Hollywood and Prue Leith as the judges. In chronological order, the winners are Edd Kimber, Joanne Wheatley, John Whaite, Frances Quinn, Nancy Birtwhistle, Nadiya Hussain, Candice Brown, Sophie Faldo, Rahul Mandal and David Atherton.
Top Gear is a British motoring magazine and factual television series conceived by Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman. The show launched on 20 October 2002, and broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two. The programme is a relaunched version of the original 1977 show of the same name, which looks at various motor vehicles, primarily cars. While the original format focused mainly on reviews of cars, the 2002 version expanded on this with motoring-based challenges, special races, timed laps of notable cars, and celebrity timed laps on a course specially-designed for the relaunched programme, with its format developing over time to focus on a more quirky, humorous and sometimes controversial style of presentation. The programme has received acclaim for its visual style and presentation, as well as criticism for its content.
Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams, or simply Electric Dreams, is a science fiction television anthology series based on the works of Philip K. Dick. The series consists of ten standalone 50-minute episodes based on Dick's work, written by British and American writers. It premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 17 September 2017, and in the United States on Prime Video on 12 January 2018.
