UKTV is easily the largest provider of niche TV channels in the United Kingdom. Their lineup currently stands at seven (previously ten) channels, each covering a different niche e.g. Gold shows old British comedy and Alibi shows crime drama. The company is currently owned by BBC Studios, having previously been a 50-50 joint venture between them and Flextech/Virgin Media Television (1997-2011), then Scripps Networks Interactive (2011-2018) and later Discovery, Inc. following their buyout of Scripps (2018-2019).
UKTV's origins lie in the 1992 birth of cable comedy channel UK Gold (now just Gold), which was run as a joint venture between BBC Worldwide, Thames and Cox Enterprises. In 1993, Tele-Communications Inc. took a stake in UK Gold, which was later bought out by UK cable channel provider Flextech. In 1996 Flextech and BBC Worldwide began talks to launch a set of BBC-branded cable channels. After the BBC branding part fell through due to Flextech wanting the channels to carry ads (which the BBC did not approve of), it was decided the channels would all be branded UK after UK Gold. Fun fact: The lineup could've included Flextech's own UK Living note , but that was left out and rebranded to just Living in advance of UKTV's launch due to perceived similarities between its programming and that of UKTV's UK Style but also to prevent confusion as to whether it was part of UKTV.
UKTV launched on November 1, 1997, incorporating UK Gold into its lineup alongside the newly launched UK Style (lifestyle), UK Horizons (documentaries) and UK Arena (drama and arts programming). Since then, the lineup has dramatically evolved - having practically covered all areas of Network Decay and reigning in Network Deaths - as channels have come and gone and changed remits over the years. Naming conventions have changed too - for instance, the UK prefix was swapped out for UKTV in 2004 but the uniform names were phased out for individual ones during 2007-09 after it was decided seeing several channels branded UKTV was confusing for the viewer.
They also have an on-demand catch-up service called UKTV Play (not to be confused with former channel Play UK/UK Play).
The current UKTV lineup includes:
- Gold (1992-present) note : The original channel. Shows mainly old BBC comedies but has been known to show newer productions from time to time as well as the occasional original show.
- Dave (1998-present) note : Started life as UK Gold Classics, the first of many channels UKTV created over the years to allow existing channels to change their remit (in this case to let UK Gold focus on newer programming). Over the years it evolved into a time-shifted version of UK Gold called UK Gold 2, which itself evolved into a male-oriented humour channel called UK(TV) G2. That became Dave ("the home of witty banter") in 2007, showing mostly repeats of Top Gear and comedy shows like QI, Have I Got News for You and Mock the Week. That said, it's also a noteworthy producer of original productions, such as Jon Richardson: Ultimate Worrier and the channel that first aired Taskmaster. The channel also brought back Red Dwarf in 2009, after a ten-year absence. It was also UKTV's first channel to get a +1 version, now cleverly named Dave ja vu.
- W (2008-present) note : UKTV considers this general entertainment channel to be their flagship channel. It mainly shows light entertainment programming, though it's been no stranger to more dramatic fare over the years like Doctor Who, Torchwood and Grimm. Since the rebranding as W in 2016, it appears to have taken on a bit of a female-oriented skew. W went free-to-air in March 2022.
- Alibi (2000-present) note : Replaced UK Arena in 2000 after that channel failed to pull in ratings. It started out as a regular drama channel before being relaunched as a crime drama channel in 2008. Not to be confused with Drama (see below).
- Drama (2013-present): Similar to the old UK Drama channel, Drama mostly plays British dramas - both old and new - across several genres like period and comedy.
- Yesterday (2002-present) note : Born out of the now-defunct UK Horizons to allow it to devote more time to other factual genres, UK History was UKTV's first channel to launch on Freeview. As Yesterday it still shows mainly historical documentaries but will occasionally show old British comedy shows from the 1970s and 80s. It also has a themed programming block called "War Zone". Guess what kind of documentaries it shows there.
- Eden (2004-present) note : One of the two channels formed from the split of UK Horizons in 2004, the other being the now-defunct UKTV People (later Blighty). Originally a general documentary channel like its predecessor, it relaunched as a nature-themed (with some science shows) channel in 2009. They really love David Attenborough documentaries.
Former UKTV channels
- UK Horizons (1997-2004): One of the original channels, it showed factual programming and named after flagship factual BBC show Horizon. In 2004 when the other UKTV channels had their prefix updated from UK to UKTV, UK Horizons was instead split into two channels - UKTV Documentary (now Eden) and UKTV People (which became Blighty before closing in 2013).
- UK Arena (1997-2000): One of the original channels, UK Arena was devoted to arts and culture programming. Unfortunately, it couldn't get good ratings so it was replaced with the more successful UK Drama (now Alibi). Like UK Horizons, it was named for the flagship BBC arts series Arena.
- Home (1997-present)note : One of the original channels, Home has always focused on lifestyle programming, though gradually over the years it has offloaded its non-home improvement shows to two other UKTV channels which have since become defunct. It was one of the three channels sold to Discovery in 2019, the other two being Good Food and Really. On January 21, 2020, Home was converted to a UK version of HGTV.
- Good Food (2001-2019) note : One of the two defunct UK Style spin-offs, Good Food was dedicated to well, food. In 2009, the channel took on the name and became affiliated with the BBC's Good Food magazine, though the partnership seemed to be forgotten after a few years. One of the three channels sold to Discovery, it was merged with the UK version of Food Network (acquired by Discovery from Scripps) in September 2019. Was noteworthy for being the first UKTV channel to launch a HD version in 2010.
- Really (2009-present): A channel showing reality and lifestyle programmes with a decidedly feminine bent. It replaced UKTV Style spinoff UKTV (Style) Gardens in 2009. It also had UK exclusive airings of the US shows Hartof Dixie and Covert Affairs. It was one of the three channels offloaded to Discovery, where it continues on. Since then Discovery has introduced some TLC shows to the channel.
- UKTV Gardens (2005-2009) note : A channel devoted to well, gardening, created to allow UKTV Style to focus more on home improvement/DIY shows. It closed to make way for Really in 2009, with its programming being moved to Home (ironically, a rebranded UKTV Style) as a result.
- UKTV Bright Ideas (2003-2007) note : A shop window service on Freeview that played shows from UKTV Style, UKTV Food and UKTV Gardens to promote UKTV's paid channels. Following its closure in 2007, its Freeview space was used to make way for Dave, which had never broadcasted free-to-air until that point.
- Play UK (1998-2002) note : Initially envisioned as a TV version of BBC Radio 1, Play UK served as a sort of youth channel/MTV clone. It played (for most of the time) music in the morning and afternoon, while broadcasting comedy during primetime and evenings. It was an early producer of original programming on UKTV, creating shows like The Mitchell and Webb Situation and The Alphabet Show. It also aired American shows like Duckman and The Larry Sanders Show. It suffered from low ratings, though the collapse of the ITV Digital platform was also a factor in its closure. It's also noteworthy for giving rise to future stars like David Walliams, Matt Lucas and Russell Brand.
- Blighty (2004-2013) note : One of two channels formed from the split of UK Horizons in 2004, the other being UKTV Documentary (now Eden). It was a fairly niche Patriotic Fervor channel showing light-natured factual programming about British life. It was closed in 2013 to make way for Drama.
Tropes associated with UKTV:
- all lowercase letters: UKTV's logo was rendered this way from 2001-2013.
- Design Student's Orgasm: Plenty of stunning Station Idents have been made for the channels over the years, such as the current Yesterday idents
and Watch's final set used from 2012-2016. - Fun with Acronyms: From 2008 to 2010, Gold was called G.O.L.D.: Go On, Laugh Daily.
- Mascot: Gold used an animated golden retriever named Goldie from 1992 to 1993. Goldie briefly returned for Gold's 30th anniversary celebrations in 2022.
- Officially Shortened Title:
- Watch became W in 2016.
- UK Style Gardens dropping the Style in 2007.
- Gold dropping the backroynmed name in 2010.
- Special mention goes to UK Living becoming Living after it was decided that said channel would not join UKTV.
- Patriotic Fervor: Blighty was this, right down to the idents.
- Tagline: Several for the different channels over the years:
- "The home of witty banter." (Dave, 2007-2014)
- "Where the past is always present." (Yesterday, 2009-2012)
- "There's only one channel called Drama." (Drama)
- "Go On, Laugh Daily" (Gold when it was G.O.L.D. from 2008-2010, also doubles as Fun with Acronyms)
- "Stick Something Funny On" (replaced Gold's previous tagline above when the acronym name was dropped, used 2010-2014)
- "Watch together." (used by Watch (now W) from 2010-12, idents followed the format of "(X) together, (Y) together, (Z) together, Watch together", e.g.: "Live together. Lounge together. Chat together. Watch together.")
- "Life Unfiltered" (W, 2022-present)
- "Life on TV" (Really, 2017-19, also Really's last tagline under UKTV)
- "One nation under a channel." (Blighty)
- "There's no place like it." (Home)
