Timeline of That's TV

This is a timeline of That's TV, which provides local and national channels in the United Kingdom.

2010s

• 2012
  • 10 May – Ofcom invites bids for local TV services in 34 areas of the UK. ^[1]
  • August – 57 applications were received to provide these services. ^[2]
  • September – That's TV is awarded a licence to broadcast the local TV service for Oxfordshire. ^[3] Two months later, the company win a second licence for the Southampton and Portsmouth areas, in conjunction with newspaper publishers Newsquest and Johnston Press. ^[4]

• 2013
  • 26 November – The first Local Digital Television Programme Services launches when Estuary TV begins broadcasting. ^[5]

• 2014
  • 26 November – That's Solent begins broadcasting.

• 2015
  • March – That's TV takes a controlling stake in YourTV. ^[6] YourTV had been awarded the local TV licences for the Manchester and Preston/Blackpool areas, but both services failed to launch within the two-year timeframe permitted by Ofcom. ^[7]
  • 17 April – That's Oxfordshire begins broadcasting.
  • 31 May – That's Manchester begins broadcasting.
  • 24 August – That's Lancashire begins broadcasting to the Preston and Blackpool areas.

• 2016
  • Following the closure of BBC Three, the local stations move from Channel 8 to channel 7 in England and Northern Ireland, and from channel 23 to channel 8 in Scotland and Wales.
  • 12 July – That's Swansea Bay begins broadcasting.
  • October – That's TV buys the licence for the York local TV service, formerly held by 'Hello York'. ^[8] The group also buys out Cambridge TV and launches That's Cambridge on 28 November.

• 2017
  • May – That's Thames Valley begins broadcasting to the Reading area of Berkshire.
  • 23 May – That's Hampshire begins broadcasting.
  • 26 June – That's York begins broadcasting.
  • 19 July – That's Salisbury begins broadcasting.
  • 25 July – That's Carlisle begins broadcasting.
  • 1 August – That's North Yorkshire begins broadcasting to the Scarborough area.
  • 2 August – That's Surrey ^[9] begins broadcasting.
  • August – That's TV buys Norfolk station Mustard TV. ^[10]
  • 29 November – That's Norfolk begins broadcasting.

• 2018
  • 30 May – That's Lincolnshire launches.
  • 30 June – That's TV acquires the assets of STV's STV2 channel. ^[11]
  • 15 October – That's TV Scotland launches as the replacement local television service in Aberdeen, Ayr, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. ^[12]

• 2019
  • July – That's TV announces the closure of 13 of its 20 studios in order to downsize to seven regional production centres producing content for its 20 local stations. ^[13]

2020s

• 2020
  • 12 November – Local news is reduced to a 10-minute slot at 6pm ^{[14] [15]} when That's TV is temporarily rebranded as That's Christmas ^[16] and mixes up its music programming - which earlier in 2020 had become to main focus of output ^[17] - so that Christmas hits would be played alongside 'party classics' from the 70s, 80s or 90s.

• 2021
  • 4 June – That's TV launches a national channel called That's TV Gold. ^[18] and on 9 July it launches on Freeview, simulcasting its schedule with its 20 regional versions of That's TV. ^[19] The channel largely keeps the pop-video hits format of its local service but drops the evening local news and the TJC simulcast in the mornings, adding documentaries and concerts largely drawn from the IMC Vision catalogue. ^{[20] [21]} That's TV starts to acquire a number of documentaries and classic comedy series, in order that the national service was not a retro pop video network once the local news was taken out of the schedule.
  • 1 November – Ofcom agrees to That's TV's request to reduce the number of production bases it has in regards to its newsgathering with some local news items to be produced outside the broadcast areas the company holds the licence for. That's TV hopes to have most of its news bulletins produced in studios based in Salford (for England) or Glasgow (for Scotland), with additional offices operating in Reading, Norwich, and Swansea (with news programmes for Wales to be either produced in Salford or Glasgow in the future). ^{[22] [23] [24]}
  • 18 November – That's TV Gold is rebranded for the festival period as That's TV Christmas. It shows comedy programmes made by Thames TV/Fremantle which inclufes repeats of The Benny Hill Show ^{[25] [26]} as well as programmes featuring Kenny Everett, Mike Yarwood, and Tommy Cooper, while the Carry On... team were seen in a number of Christmas TV specials. It also shows LWT's hidden camera show Beadle's About . ^{[27] [28]}

• 2022
  • 4 January – That's TV drops the word Gold from its national channel branding when it changes back from its Christmas schedule. ^[29]
  • 13 April – That's Music launches ^[29] with the intention that when both this and the main That's TV network are broadcasting music, a different decade would be showcased on each, and with music continuing on the new channel when That's Entertainment. ^[30]
  • 30 June –
    • That's TV's national channel receives increased coverage on Freeview when it moves into FreeSports' slot on channel 65 when that channel stopped broadcasting on Freeview. ^{[31] [32]}
    • That's Music is renamed as Classic Hits and its Freeview broadcast arrangements were changed, with its channel number moving up one place to channel 91. ^{[31] [33]} The channel moves to a more widely-available Freeview DVB-T broadcast multiplex, but only on Freeview only at night.
  • 2 August – The 24 hour version of Classic Hits launches on satellite ^[34] and in December it launches on Freesat. ^[35]
  • 24 August – That's TV increases its national operating hours on Freeview by reducing its timeshare channel Classic Hits' music video schedule to 4am–7am. ^[36] This gave That's TV an extra hour of entertainment programming each night between 3am and 4am on Freeview which is not covered by local television scheduling commitments (as they usually run local news on channel 7/8 between 3am and 6am). ^{[37] [38] [39]} In addition to these changes, the company took over Country Music Entertainment's Freeview licence in Greater Manchester for their music video channel.

• 2023
  • 6 January – Classic Hits is split into multiple decade-themed channels, branded as That's 60s , That's 70s, That's 80s and That's 90s. A 20-hour broadcast of That's 60s is made available on Freeview nationally in space freed up by the closure of the Smithsonian Channel. ^[40]
  • 23 March – That's 70s launches as a full-time channel, ^[41] broadcasting nationally on Freeview between 3am and 9am and in Manchester as a full-time service. ^[42]
  • 10 July – That's TV and That's 60s launch on Virgin Media. ^[43]
  • 30 August – That's 90s launches on Sky. ^[44] and three days later it launches on Freeview in Manchester. ^[45]

• 2024
  • 3 January – That's TV 2 launches. ^{[46] [47]}
  • 23 February - Chart Show Retro begins broadcasting via satellite ahead of its official launch on March 4. ^[48]
  • 12 June - That's 90s is replaced with That's Dance and That's Memories launches on Freeview. ^[49]
  • 24 June - Chart Show Retro closes after just four months on air, as the channel had been seen as a "pilot" on the Sky platform. It is replaced on satellite by That's Dance. ^[50]
  • 1 July - That's Memories launches on satellite, replacing That's 60s. ^[51]
  • 19 August - That’s Rock and That’s Melody replace That’s 80s and That’s 90s. ^[52]
  • 21 August - That’s TV 3 replaces That’s Memories. ^[53]

See also

• Timeline of local television in the UK

References

1. Deans, Jason (10 May 2012). "Ofcom invites bids to run local TV services in 21 towns and cities". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
2. Reynolds, John (14 August 2012). "Lebedev, Johnson and Norris to fight it out for London TV". MediaWeek. Archived from the original on 24 February 2024. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
3. "Ofcom awards local TV licences for Birmingham and Oxford". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
4. Turvill, William (2012-10-26). "Ofcom awards local TV licence to Southampton company backed by Johnston Press and Newsquest". Press Gazette. Archived from the original on 2023-07-08. Retrieved 2023-07-08.
5. Brown, Maggie (4 September 2013). "Local TV steps up activity ahead of launch". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 September 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
6. Exclusive: Local TV licences in Manchester and Blackpool & Preston to be rebranded as That's TV takes control Archived 2017-07-24 at the Wayback Machine , Prolific North, 5 March 2015
7. YourTV Manchester in discussions with Ofcom Archived 2017-07-10 at the Wayback Machine , Prolific North, 5 February 2015
8. Liverpool local TV service prepares for re-launch Archived 2016-10-05 at the Wayback Machine , a516digital.com, 3 October 2016
9. "Local TV Award: Guildford" (PDF). Ofcom. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 January 2015. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
10. "Norfolk local TV station Mustard TV broadcasts last show". BBC News. 2017-08-31. Archived from the original on 2017-09-22. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
11. "Struggling STV 2 to be taken off air in online shift". The Drum. Archived from the original on 2018-05-17. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
12. "Low key launch for new Scottish channel". Archived from the original on 2018-10-16. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
13. "Local TV company to close 13 studios as rival announces 'record' viewership figures". Press Gazette. 12 July 2019. Archived from the original on 13 July 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
14. "Local TV: Are you local? - Page 368 - TV Forum". tvforum.uk. Archived from the original on 2021-04-15. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
15. "That's TV rebrands as That's Christmas". Prolific North. 13 November 2020. Archived from the original on 10 July 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
16. Mal, Nisha (13 November 2020). "A TV channel dedicated to Christmas has launched". YorkshireLive. Reach. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
17. "That's Christmas channel to launch on Freeview in over 5 million UK homes" (Press release). London: That's TV. 12 November 2020. Archived from the original on 10 July 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024– via PRNewsWire.
18. "Additional and defunct channels on Sky (UK & Ireland)". TV Channel Lists. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
19. "That's TV Gold Channel Joins Sky & Freeview". Worldscreen. 9 July 2021. Archived from the original on 3 December 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
20. "International Catalogue". IMC Vision. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
21. Krieger, Jörn (9 July 2021). "That's TV Gold launches on Sky and Freeview". Broadband TV News. Archived from the original on 25 December 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
22. "That's TV consolidates studio bases". Advanced Television. 1 November 2021. Archived from the original on 6 December 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
23. "Further cuts at That's TV". RXTV info. 1 November 2021. Archived from the original on 10 July 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
24. Clover, Julian (1 November 2021). "That's TV to reduce studio presence". Broadband TV News. Archived from the original on 10 July 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
25. "Benny Hill back on national TV after two decades" (Press release). London: That's TV. 18 November 2021. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2024– via PRNewsWire.
26. Bennett, Steve (18 November 2021). "Benny Hill is back on TV". Chortle . Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
27. Ryder, James (18 November 2021). "Benny Hill, Tommy Cooper, Jeremy Beadle, Kenny Everett and Mike Yarwood for Christmas TV". ATV Today . Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
28. Goren, Or (18 November 2021). "New Christmas Channel on Freeview / Freesat: That's TV Xmas". Cord Cutters. Archived from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
29. "Freeview Updates". RXTV info. Archived from the original on 26 October 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
30. "That's TV TV Listings". TVGuide.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2023-07-10. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
31. "Two days of Freeview retuning: Your guide to all the changes". RXTV info. 23 June 2022. Archived from the original on 28 November 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
32. "FreeSports Removed from Freeview in a Blow to Sports Fans". 23 June 2022. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
33. "Major Freeview Shakeup: Nine Channels Are Shutting Down". 23 June 2022. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2023.
34. Hatton, Iain (30 July 2022). "Classic Hits channel to launch on Sky". RXTV info. Archived from the original on 10 July 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
35. "Freesat gains oldie music channel". RXTV info. 12 December 2022. Archived from the original on 13 January 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
36. "Classic Hits reduces Freeview output". RXTV info. 24 August 2022. Archived from the original on 26 September 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
37. "That's TV TV Listings". TVGuide.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2023-07-10. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
38. "What's on That's TV?". TV24. Archived from the original on 7 December 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
39. "What's on That's TV Humber?". TV24. Archived from the original on 2023-07-10. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
40. Goren, Or (5 January 2023). "Freeview Updates: New Channels, Changes And Closures". Cord Busters. Archived from the original on 19 January 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
41. @thats80s (23 March 2023). "If you're a @SkyUK satellite TV viewer, you'll find @Thats70sTV on your tellybox from today! Sky viewers can now enjoy the best music from the 60s, 70s and 80s all day every day: That's 60s - Sky channel 365 That's 70s - Sky channel 366 That's 80s - Sky channel 367" (Tweet). Retrieved 24 February 2024– via Twitter.
42. Thornham, Marc (21 March 2023). "Freeview: Channel changes on 22nd March". RXTV info. Archived from the original on 10 July 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
43. Thornham, Marc (11 July 2023). "Two new classic TV channels launch on Virgin Media". RXTV info. Archived from the original on 30 September 2023. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
44. "Changes to the Sky TV guide - August 2023". Sky Help Forum. Sky plc. 31 July 2023. Archived from the original on 3 September 2023. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
45. That's 90s EPG on 2 September 2023
46. Hibbs, James (2 January 2024). "Home and Away marks 35th anniversary with reruns on new TV channel". Radio Times . Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
47. "That's TV 2 channel on Freeview". Advanced Television. 2 January 2024. Archived from the original on 4 January 2024. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
48. Thornham, Marc (1 March 2024). "New Sky music channel revives an old brand". RXTV info. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
49. https://rxtvinfo.com/freeview-updates/
50. "That's TV plans new streaming service > RXTVinfo". 21 June 2024.
51. That's 60s EPG on 1 July 2024
52. https://rxtvinfo.com/2024/thats-tv-making-more-changes-on-sky-and-freeview/
53. https://rxtvinfo.com/2024/thats-tv-making-more-changes-on-sky-and-freeview/