This is a timeline of UKTV, a television company that broadcasts seven television channels in the United Kingdom.
1990s 1992 1 NovemberUK Gold launches as a 50/50 joint venture between BBC Enterprises and Thames Television, showing programmes from the BBC and Thames archives. Thames gets involved after it lost its ITV franchise the previous year.
1993 Tele-Communications Inc. takes a stake in UK Gold. 1 September Sky Multichannels launches, resulting in UK Gold becoming encrypted. UK Living launches, as a joint venture between Thames, Tele-Communications and Cox Enterprises. 21 DecemberFlextech announces to purchase TCI's stake in UK Gold and UK Living.
1994 JanuaryTCI acquires a 60.4% stake in Flextech. This gives the company a 25% stake in UK Gold and UK Living.
1995 No events.
1996 14 AugustFlextech announces its purchase of Cox and Pearson/Thames' stakes in UK Gold and UK Living, gaining full control over the latter and retaining BBC's 50% stake in the former. 1 OctoberFlextech and the BBC hold talks about a partnership to launch a new range of channels. Rival company BSkyB also holds talks with the corporation but the BBC is against BSkyB's involvement.
1997 4 MarchThe BBC and Flextech agree on a deal to launch a series of BBCbranded channelsBBC Showcase, for entertainment; BBC Horizon, for documentaries; BBC Style, for lifestyle; BBC Learning, for schools, and BBC Arena, for the artsplus three other channels: BBC Catch-Up, for repeats of popular programmes within days of their original transmission, a dedicated BBC Sport channel and a TV version of Radio1. After conflicts over advertising, the UKTV partnership was transitioned over to BBC Worldwide. BBC themselves kept the BBC Showcase/Catch-Up and BBC Learning concepts, and launched them in 1998 and 1999 as BBC Choice and BBC Knowledge respectively, while the UKTV networks would be named after UK Gold, and named UK Horizons, UK Style and UK Arena respectively. 27 OctoberUK Living is renamed as Living, after it was decided that the channel would not be part of the UKTV network. 1 NovemberUK Horizons, UK Style and UK Arena launch on Astra satellite and analogue cable, on the fifth anniversary of UK Gold's launch. On satellite, the new networks share a single transponder, with each channel broadcasting at certain times of the day.
1998 1 October Sky Digital launches, which allowes for UK Horizons and UK Style to broadcast full time, with UK Arena airing during the evenings, from 7pm to 7am. An off-shoot spin-off to UK GoldUK Gold Classics, launches as the first digital-only UKTV channel, showcasing older programmes with UK Gold airing newer programmes. However, it only aired as a part-time service, broadcasting from Friday to Sunday between 6pm to 2am. 10 OctoberUK Play launches. This is the proposed TV version of Radio 1, but launches without any formal ties to the station. 15 NovemberOnDigital launches. UK Play and UK Gold have their own full-time slot, with UK Horizons and UK Style timesharing. UK Arena is not available on that platform.
1999 2 AprilUK Gold Classics relaunches as UK Gold 2, transitioning to becoming a secondary timeshift service of its parent network, airing the morning programmes during the evening. UK Play is added to Astra satellite as a filler network within UK Horizons' overnight downtime. UK Style and UK Arena also move transponders.
2000s 2000 31 MarchAfter low viewing figures, UK Arena is relaunched as UK Drama, transitioning to dramas full time, although it remains a part-time network. 27 NovemberUK Play is renamed as Play UK, to differentiate it from UKTV's other networks and is the first to use the then-new UKTV logo in its branding.
2001 30 MarchThe UKTV channels are removed from Astra satellite as part of Sky Analogue's closedown phase. 8 May The new UKTV logo expands to the other networks, which gains new ident packages. UK Horizons +1 Hour launches on Sky, becoming the first timeshift service in the UKTV network. 11 July UK Style and UK Horizons split on OnDigital, no longer timesharing with each other. UKTV announces the launch of UK Food, the first offshoot network of UK Style in November. The channel's launch was due to an increasing addition of more lifestyle programmes on UK Style. 5 NovemberUK Food launches on Sky Digital and Telewest Active Digital, airing from 7am to 7pm and timesharing with UK Drama.
2002 11 FebruaryUKTV's second timeshift service: UK Style + launches on Sky Digital. The channel broadcast from 8am to 6pm, timesharing with UK Gold 2. 15 FebruaryUK Style + and UK Horizons +1 launch on Telewest Active Digital, timesharing with each other. 1 MayITV Digital stops broadcasting, resulting in UKTV's channels disappearing from terrestrial television. 29 MayUK Gold 2, UK Food, UK Horizons +1 and UK Style + launch on NTL Home Digital. 11 JuneUKTV announces the closure of Play UK at the end of the year, due to poor viewing figures and the closure of ITV Digital. Most of its programmes would move over to UK Gold. 30 JuneUKTV announced the launch of its third timeshift serviceUK Gold +1, for August. 1 AugustUK Gold +1 launches on Sky Digital, airing from 7pm to 7am. 13 September UKTV announces that Play UK's closure will be moved forward to the end of the month. UKTV announces that a new offshoot network of UK Horizons – UK History, would take over the former Play UK bandwidth to prepare for the launch of Freeview. 30 SeptemberPlay UK closes. 3 OctoberUKTV announces the launch of their second free-to-air service on FreeviewUK HomeStyle, a highlight/showcase network that offers the best of UK Style and UK Food's content (later including UKTV [Style] Gardens' content upon its own launch in 2005) for Freeview viewers. 30 OctoberUK History launches as part of Freeview's launch window. 12 DecemberUKTV announces that its planned UK HomeStyle service for Freeview would be named "UK Bright Ideas" due to copyright issues with the "Home" trademark. Another planned name"UK Homes", was also rejected for the same reason.
2003 10 JanuaryUK Food extends broadcast hours, now airing from 5am to 9pm, with UK Drama airing at 9pm to 5am within the rest of the slot. 15 JanuaryUK Bright Ideas launches on Freeview, alongside Sky Digital and Telewest Active Digital. It is also available on Sky Digital and Telewest Active Digital. 29 JanuaryUK Bright Ideas launches on NTL. 7 JulyUK Style + extends its broadcast hours to end at 2am. 28 OctoberUKTV announces that UK Gold 2 would be reformatted and revamped into the younger and edgier UK G² on 12 November. It would feature the younger-skewing youth-oriented programmes that UK Gold already aired, alongside programmes from the shuttered Play UK. 12 November UK Gold 2 relaunches as UK G². Its broadcast hours are changed to 8pm3am. UK Gold +1 becomes a full time service. UK Food +1 launches, airing from 7am to 7pm.
2004 28 JanuaryUK History +1 launches on Sky. 3 February UKTV announces that all the networks will gain the "UKTV" prefix instead of "UK" on 8 March. UKTV announces the closure of UK Horizons, which would be split into two new channelsUKTV Documentary and UKTV People on the same day. 4 FebruaryUK History +1 and UK Food +1 launch on Telewest. 8 March The UKTV prefix is added to all channels, e.g. UK Gold becomes UKTV Gold. UK Horizons closes and splits up. UKTV Documentary takes over the former UK Horizons slot on all platforms, while timeshift service UKTV Documentary +1 takes over the UK Horizons +1 timeshift service on Sky Digital and Telewest Active Digital. UKTV People, the other network formed as part of the split, launches as a standalone channel on Sky Digital and Telewest Active Digital and replaces UK Horizons +1 on NTL Home Digital. It broadcasts from 7pm to 4am, timesharing with UKTV Food +1. Following a reduction the previous month in the length of its ad breaks in a bid to retain viewers and attract advertisers after results of its research show that shorter breaks produce higher advertising recall levels, UKTV limits its junctions from seven and a half minutes to a maximum of five minutes. 31 MarchA new digital terrestrial pay service, Top Up TV, launches and three of UKTV's channelsUKTV Gold, UKTV Style and UKTV Foodform part of the service of ten channels, each broadcasting on a part-time basis. 1 JulyUKTV People extends its broadcast hours to the daytime, now broadcasting from 7am to 3am. 1 NovemberUKTV G2 +1 launches on Sky Digital and Telewest Active Digital, broadcasting from 9pm to 4am.
2005 12 JanuaryUKTV People +1 launches exclusively on Sky Digital. 23 FebruaryUKTV Style Gardens launches on Sky and Telewest Digital as the gardening off-shoot from UKTV Style. 1/30 MayUKTV Drama expands its hours. 7 OctoberUKTV announces a "UKTV Sport" strand to air on UKTV G2, which would also lead with the launch of a planned channel (that never came into fruition). 13 OctoberUKTV Style Gardens launches on NTL Digital.
2006 16 JanuaryUKTV G2 expands its broadcast hours to the daytime to coincide with the launch of the UKTV Sport strand. 28 FebruaryUKTV Food +1 extends its broadcast hours to include the evening. 30 MarchUKTV G2 +1 launches on NTL. 18 AprilUKTV People +1 closes and is removed from the Sky EPG. 2 MayUKTV Drama +1 launches in the bandwidth formerly home to UKTV People +1. It broadcasts from 3pm to 2am. 2006 sees UKTV G2 show highlights of the RBS Six Nations rugby union championship, extensive coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup as a sub-licensing of the BBC's rights to the tournament, and basketball, including the quarter-finals of the EuroLeague. and the 2006 FIBA World Championship.
2007 5 FebruaryUKTV Style Gardens is renamed UKTV Gardens. 18 SeptemberUKTV History +1, UKTV Documentary +1 and UKTV Food +1 launch on Virgin Media in the ex-NTL areas. 14 OctoberUKTV Bright Ideas closes due to low ratings.UKTV considers G2 Freeview launch Digital Spy, 8 August 2007 15 October Dave launches as "the home of witty banter", which replaced UKTV G2. The channel also launches on Freeview. UKTV History moves into the vacated UKTV Bright Ideas space on Freeview to allow Dave to take the 24-hour slot. 23 OctoberUKTV Drama +1 launches on Virgin Media. 14 DecemberUKTV Style +2 launches on Sky, this was essentially used as a filler network for UKTV to keep the slot for future use.
2008 31 JanuaryUKTV begins transmitting its channels in the 16:9 widescreen ratio, though some content initially remains in the older 4:3 format. 11 JuneUKTV announces that, following the successful launch of Dave, it will rebrand all of its channels from generic, UKTV-prefixed names to individual and separate brands. 15 SeptemberUKTV Style +2 closes to make way for Watch. 7 October Watch launches as UKTV's flagship entertainment channel, which replaced UKTV Style +2. UKTV Drama rebrands as the crime-oriented Alibi. UKTV Gold rebrands as the comedy-oriented G.O.L.D., standing for "Go On Laugh Daily". In order to make room for the bandwidth of Watch and Watch +1, Virgin Media stops broadcasting UKTV History +1 and UKTV Documentary +1. 9 OctoberUKTV announces that UKTV Documentary and UKTV People would be rebranded as Eden and Blighty, respectively in early 2009. 11 NovemberUKTV announces that UKTV History would be rebranded as Yesterday.
2009 22 JanuaryDave +1 launches on Freeview. 26 JanuaryUKTV Documentary rebrands as the natural history–focused Eden. 17 FebruaryUKTV People rebrands as the UK-focused Blighty. 24 FebruaryDave +1 renames as "Dave ja vu". 2 MarchUKTV History rebrands as Yesterday. 30 AprilUKTV Style rebrands as Home, and reinstates gardening programmes. 19 MayUKTV Gardens relaunches as the female-orientated lifestyle medical real-life and crime channel Really. The gardening programmes move to Home. 22 JuneUKTV Food rebrands as Good Food.
2010s 2010