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 BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4.
Freeview is the United Kingdom's digital terrestrial television platform. It is operated by DTV Services Ltd, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky and transmitter operator Arqiva. It was launched in 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.
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 1922. 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 UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's largest pay-TV broadcaster with 12.7 million customers as of end of 2019 and its digital satellite TV platform was the UK's most popular digital TV service until it was overtaken by Freeview in April 2007. Sky's flagship product is Sky Q and its flagship channels are Sky One and Sky Atlantic.
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.
The Player Channel, known as the Poker Channel until 3 December 2012, was a gaming TV network which broadcast to over 30 million households in 30 countries.
Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, provided by joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc. 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.
Real Lives was a British television channel owned by Sky, a division of Comcast. It used to be the sister channel of Sky Living. It was originally known as LIVINGtv2 from the channel's launch in 2004 till 2007, and then was known as Living2 from 2007 to 2009.
VH1 was a British and Irish pay television channel that was owned by ViacomCBS. The channel was based on the original VH1 American channel of the same name. On 24 November until 26 December 2017, VH1 was renamed temporarily as VH1 Christmas. The channel closed on Tuesday 7 January 2020.
Sky+ HD was the brand name of the HDTV service launched by Sky plc on 22 May 2006 in the United Kingdom and Ireland to enable high definition channels on Sky to be viewed. For the first 2 years after launch, the service was branded Sky HD. The service requires the user to have a Sky+ HD Digibox and an HD ready TV. A subscription to the original HD pack carries an extra fee of £10.25 a month in addition to the standard Sky subscription, allowing customers to view HD channels corresponding to the channel packs subscribed to. Additional Pay-Per-View events on Sky Box Office HD are not available to customers unless they subscribe to the Sky HD pack.
Nicktoons is a British pay television channel launched on 22 July 2002. It is a cartoon-centric sister channel to Nickelodeon. The channel airs Nicktoons, as well as acquired programming from outside providers. Unlike the American counterpart, it has been ad-supported since launch. It targets children aged 7 to 11.
Babeworld was a British adult chat television broadcaster on Sky from 2006 until 2011. Both the channel and programme were named Babeworld.
XLEAGUE.TV was a broadcast production unit owned by The New World Assembly Group, creating and providing content on its primary subject of Video Games. It covered competitive video gaming by providing coverage for organisers including the Electronic Sports League and United Kingdom eSports Association.
JML Direct TV is a generic name for a series of British shopping channels broadcasting on the Sky, Freesat and Freeview platforms, owned by JML Direct Limited. JML Direct TV originally launched on Sky channel 664, on 1 October 2002 as JML Direct. Due to various Sky EPG reshuffles, this original channel is located on channel 661 as of 2018.
Channel One was a British television channel owned and operated by Virgin Media Television and then Sky plc. The channel was launched on 1 October 2007 at 21:00 on Freeview, Virgin Media and Sky as Virgin1, replacing Ftn. The channel broadcast 24 hours on cable, satellite and Freeview; a one-hour timeshift, Channel One +1, broadcast on cable and satellite.
The Match was the flagship show of the now defunct XLEAGUE.TV. It was a studio-based show which delivered highlights from tournament and league play from XLEAGUE.TV's club and league competition.
MTV is a British pay television channel focusing on reality TV and music programming operated by ViacomCBS Networks UK & Australia.
Sumo TV was a free-to-air television channel owned by Cellcast Group. On 1 July 2006, You TV was relabelled as Sumo TV. Sumo TV was officially launched on 28 November 2006, claiming to be the world's first user-content TV channel. Through their website and programming blocks on other TV channels, Sumo TV also had operations in America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, with a showcase of local content.
