TruTV (UK & Ireland)

Last updated

TruTV
TruTV logo.svg
Launched4 August 2014;5 years ago (2014-08-04)
Closed12 February 2019;6 months ago (2019-02-12)
Owned by Sony Pictures Television
Picture format 576i (16:9 SDTV)
Audience share0.17%
0.01% (+1) (August 2018 (2018-08), BARB)
SloganNot Reality. Actuality.
Country United Kingdom
Broadcast area United Kingdom
Ireland
Replaced by True Crime
Timeshift serviceTruTV +1
Website www.truechannels.tv
Availability
(at time of closure)
Terrestrial
Freeview (Manchester)Channel 68
Channel 69 (+1)
Satellite
Freesat Channel 153
Sky Channel 180
Channel 280 (+1)
Astra 2F 11307 V 27500 2/3
11307 V 27500 2/3 (+1)
Cable
Virgin Media Channel 212
IPTV
Eir Vision Channel 565

TruTV was a British free-to-air television channel owned by Sony Pictures Television. The channel was launched on 4 August 2014 by Turner Broadcasting as TruTV. [1] On 12 February 2019, it was replaced by True Crime.

Free-to-air (FTA) are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in clear (unencrypted) form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription, other ongoing cost or one-off fee. In the traditional sense, this is carried on terrestrial radio signals and received with an antenna.

Sony Pictures Television American television production/distribution company

Sony Pictures Television Inc. is an American television production and distribution studio founded in 2002 as the successor to Columbia TriStar Television, TriStar Television, Columbia Pictures Television, Screen Gems and Pioneer Telefilms. Based in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment and a unit of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.

True Crime (TV channel)

True Crime was a British free-to-air television channel owned by Sony Pictures Television that originally launched on 22 March 2016, it was renamed as Sony Crime Channel 2 on 6 February 2018. The channel closed on 15 November 2018, along with sister channel Scuzz.

Contents

History

In May 2014, Turner Broadcasting System announced that they would launch TruTV, a separate British version of the US channel of the same name. On 13 June 2014, TruTV launched a placeholder on Freeview channel 68. On 24 July 2014, the TruTV placeholder launched on Sky channel 565.

TruTV American cable and satellite television channel

TruTV is an American pay television channel that is owned by WarnerMedia Entertainment, a unit of AT&T's WarnerMedia.

TruTV

On 4 August 2014, TruTV was launched. [2]

In mid-December 2016, the then current owners Turner threatened to close down the channel if a last-minute funding deal could not be agreed. It cited the fact that the channel had failed to consolidated an audience, even with some of its biggest shows like America’s Got Talent. Original commissions were a part of the channel's early plans to build upon US shows. Ian McDonough, senior vice-president and managing director of Northern Europe at Turner Broadcasting said in February 2015: “We want to move quite quickly with this channel, so I don’t think we’ll wait too long. By year two, we want to start looking at UK commissions.” Due to the lack of audience, this never came about.

On 16 February 2017, Sony Pictures Television acquired the channel from Turner. The channel continued to license its name and logo from its previous parent, which will still represent ad sales for the channel. [3]

In early 2019, the Freeview broadcast area of truTV was reduced to Greater Manchester only, via the legacy GMAN multiplex, with Sony Crime Channel moving to the Comux slot, and True Entertainment moving from its original allocation (which was unavailable in Wales) to the prior Sony Crime berth (truTV's pre-2018 position).

The Turner-owned truTV name in the UK was closed on 12 February 2019 and was replaced by True Crime. [4]

Local-TV simulcasts

On 25 May 2017, TruTV began broadcasting on Freeview in two daily programming blocks on the Made Television network of channels, as part of a programming supply agreement. The eight stations in the Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Mold and Tyne and Wear areas simulcast TruTV every day from 13.00 to 17.00 and 21.00 to 01.00 (20.00 - 24.00 on Tuesdays to accommodate America's Got Talent ). [5] [6] This, however, has since been replaced by a supply agreement with CBS Reality in November 2017. [7]

Birmingham Major city in the English Midlands, 2nd highest population of UK cities

Birmingham is a major city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. It is the second-most populous city in the United Kingdom and the most populous city in the English Midlands. It is also the most populous metropolitan district in the United Kingdom, with an estimated 1,137,123 inhabitants, and is considered the social, cultural, financial, and commercial centre of the Midlands. It is situated within the larger West Midlands conurbation, which is the third most populated urban area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2,897,303 in 2017. The wider Birmingham metropolitan area is the second largest in the United Kingdom with a population of over 4.3 million. It is frequently referred to as both England and the United Kingdom's "second city".

Bristol City and county in England

Bristol is a city and county in South West England with a population of 463,400. The wider district has the 10th-largest population in England. The urban area population of 724,000 is the 8th-largest in the UK. The city borders North Somerset and South Gloucestershire, with the cities of Bath and Gloucester to the south-east and north-east, respectively. South Wales lies across the Severn estuary.

Cardiff Capital and largest city of Wales

Cardiff is the capital of Wales and its largest city. The eleventh-largest city in the United Kingdom, it is Wales's chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural institutions and Welsh media, and the seat of the National Assembly for Wales. At the 2011 census, the unitary authority area population was estimated to be 346,090, and the wider urban area 479,000. Cardiff is a significant tourist centre and the most popular visitor destination in Wales with 21.3 million visitors in 2017. In 2011, Cardiff was ranked sixth in the world in National Geographic's alternative tourist destinations.

Programming

Most of TruTV's programming originally aired in the USA. Programming ranges from TruTV programming, such as I, Detective and Bait Car to factual reality programming such as Hardcore Pawn and Container Wars , as well as programmes such as Fear Factor and Conan .

I, Detective is an American documentary-style series that aired on Court TV from 2001 to 2006.

<i>Bait Car</i> (TV series) television series

Bait Car was an American television series that aired on the truTV network. The show depicted police officers targeting criminals with a high-tech bait car, rigged with hidden cameras and radio trackers. Footage is shown from the in car cameras, fixed cameras on police cars and film crews with the police officers. The show holds a TV-14 rating due to strong language, although some of the profanity is bleeped out.

<i>Hardcore Pawn</i> television series

Hardcore Pawn is an American reality television series produced by RDF USA and Richard Dominick Productions for truTV about the day-to-day operations of American Jewelry and Loan, a family-owned and operated pawn shop and broker in Detroit, Michigan's 8 Mile Road corridor.

Unlike its US counterpart which relaunched in October 2014 with a new focus on humour while retaining its reality format and a revamped logo, the British version never followed suit. In March 2015, it was announced that the channel would broadcast RuPaul's Drag Race . Season 4 started airing in June 2015. [8] As a result, Conan was moved to the later time of 01.00, rather than airing in its original slot of 23.00.

On 9 April 2015, TruTV began airing Branson Famous .

On 9 June 2015, it was announced that TruTV would become the UK home of America's Got Talent , taking over from ITV2. It will start airing the tenth season later in the summer. [9]

In November and December 2016, TruTV began airing Adult Swim shows, such as Mr. Pickles , Robot Chicken and Rick and Morty , on Fridays from 23.00. [10]

Programming

TruTV +1

On 28 August 2014, a placeholder channel for TruTV +1 launched on Freeview channel 69. It launched on 5 October 2014. TruTV +1 launched on Sky channel 271 on 1 June 2015. On 15 March 2017, TruTV +1 timeshares with TruTV to be broadcasting from 4am to 5am, The +1 service still broadcasts 24 hours a day on other platforms. On 6 February 2018, TruTV +1 closed on Freeview to be replaced by Sony Crime Channel and its normal service will be on channel 60, with Sony Crime Channel +1 taking its old TruTV +1 channel slot on channel 69. Because of this, TruTV is now in local TV areas. On December 30, 2016, truTV+1 was temporarily removed from Sky 271, and relaunched on channel 186 on 27 June 2017. On 1 May 2018, TruTV+1 moved from Sky channel 186 to Sky channel 280. On 19 June 2018, TruTV+1 returned to Freeview on channel 92 in Manchester only service, but moved to channel 69 on 4 July 2018. On 7 January 2019, TruTV was removed from the Freeview Local TV multiplex and became a Manchester only service, broadcast on the Greater Manchester Freeview multiplex alongside TruTV +1.

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References

  1. ↑ Eames, Tom (30 May 2014). "truTV to launch in the UK on digital free-to-air". Digital Spy. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "Virgin Media Changelog". Cable Forum. 5 July 2015.
  3. ↑ Barraclough, Leo; Barraclough, Leo (16 February 2017). "Sony Pictures Television Networks Acquires British Channel truTV".
  4. ↑ ["TV Mag" (The Sun), issue date 9-15 February 2019 (published 2019-02-09]
  5. ↑ Made Television reveals all-new summer line up, Made Television, 25 May 2017
  6. ↑ TruTV on Made, Made Television, 25 May 2017
  7. ↑ "Made TV teams up with CBS Reality".
  8. ↑ Lee, Ben (12 March 2015). "RuPaul's Drag Race coming to truTV UK in June". Digital Spy. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  9. ↑ Rigby, Sam (9 June 2015). "America's Got Talent season 10 will air on truTV in the UK this summer". Digital Spy. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  10. ↑ "Adult Swim". www.adultswim.co.uk. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
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