Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. 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.
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.
Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group. In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema on demand content are available through these as well as via Now TV, BT TV and TalkTalk TV.
A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, dramas, and educational entertainment. Today, the network deals primarily in non-fiction programming, including reality docusoaps, true crime, documentaries, and miniseries.
Sony Pictures Television Inc. is an American television production and distribution company. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, California, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainment and a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation.
Challenge is a British free-to-air television channel owned by Sky, a division of Comcast. The channel mostly transmits game shows from the UK and around the world, with some original productions.
Pop is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited, targeting audiences aged 6 to 10. Launched on 29 May 2003 as Toons&Tunes by Chart Show Channels (CSC) Media Group, it later took on its current name and was sold to Sony Pictures Television, who in turn sold it and its local channels to Narrative Entertainment UK Limited in 2021.
CSC Media Group, formerly known as Chart Show Channels (CSC), was a British cable television broadcasting company. It was a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television. The company dissolved on 27 November 2019.
True Movies was a British free-to-air television channel. It was also distributed in Africa on DStv. It is the first channel from Moving Movies Ltd., majority-owned by CSC Media Group.
True Movies 2 was a British free-to-air television channel that was owned by Moving Movies Ltd., majority owned by CSC Media Group. It was launched on 20 March 2006 and was a sister channel from True Movies which was launched on 29 April 2005. True Movies 2 initially broadcast for two hours in the early morning, from 4am to 6am by timesharing with Pop, a children's cartoon channel. The service was later extended to 24 hours a day.
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 time-shift, Channel One +1, broadcast on cable and satellite.
Pop Girl is a defunct free-to-air children's television channel in the United Kingdom, owned by CSC Media Group, a company associated with the makers of The Chart Show, a television programme that had previously been on Channel 4 and ITV. It broadcast cartoons, live action and pop music videos on Sky and Freesat. Its target audience was 7 to 12-year-old girls.
Anime Central was a British television channel owned by CSC Media Group. The channel launched on 13 September 2007. It was first announced on 5 August 2007, though its license first appeared on the Ofcom website in January. The channel ran from 9pm to 6am, free-to-air on Sky's Digital TV Platform, channel 199; and it was the only channel broadcast in the UK and Ireland which was dedicated solely to showing anime.
True Entertainment was a former British free-to-air television channel that was launched on 3 August 2009, replacing Showcase TV. The change was originally scheduled to happen on 1 July 2009, but a late change put the change "on hold until further notice". Whilst the bulk of its programming were movies, similar to sister channels True Movies 1 and True Movies 2, the channel aimed to establish itself as a general entertainment channel.
RealityXtra is a British free-to-air television channel that centres its programming on American television shows produced by CBS. It is the sister channel of CBS Reality and is owned in partnership by AMC Networks and Paramount Networks.
Channel 5 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel launched in 1997. It is the fifth national terrestrial channel in the United Kingdom and is owned by Channel Five Broadcasting Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of American media conglomerate Paramount Global, which is grouped under the Paramount Networks UK & Australia division.
Great! TV is a British-English language general entertainment channel in the United Kingdom owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited. It originally launched as Sony Entertainment Television on 7 April 2011. However, it was closed on 6 February 2018 and replaced by Sony Crime Channel. It was brought back for a second time on 10 September 2019 when it replaced True Entertainment. The relaunched Sony Channel had different idents and programming than the former due to inheriting some programming from its predecessor True Entertainment and on 25 May 2021, following Narrative Capital's acquisition of Sony's channels, it was rebranded as Great! TV.
This is a timeline of the history of Sky Television.
Sky Living was a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky. The channel's programming was aimed mainly at women and young adults. It originally launched as UK Living.
