BBC Four
| BBC Four | |
|---|---|
BBC Four logo
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| Launched | 2 March 2002 |
| Owned by | BBC |
| Picture format |
576i (16:9 SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audience share | 0.82% (September 2015, BARB) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Replaced | BBC Knowledge |
| Sister channel(s) |
BBC One BBC Two BBC News BBC Parliament CBBC CBeebies |
| Website | www |
|
Availability
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| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 9 Channel 106 (HD) |
| Satellite | |
| Freesat | Channel 107 (SD/HD) Channel 148 (SD) |
| Sky (UK) | Channel 116 (SD/HD) Channel 143 (SD) |
| Sky (Ireland) | Channel 211 |
| Astra 2E | 10773 H 22000 5/6 |
| Astra 2F | 11023 H 23000 2/3 (HD) |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media (UK) | Channel 107 Channel 163 (HD) |
| Virgin Media (Ireland) | Channel 117 |
| Ziggo (Netherlands) | Channel 64 |
| Kabeltex (Netherlands) | Channel 164 |
| WightFibre | Channel 18 |
| IPTV | |
| BT TV | Channel 106 (HD) |
|
SwisscomTV (Switzerland) |
Channel arbitrary |
| KPN (Netherlands) | Channel arbitrary |
| Streaming media | |
| BBC iPlayer | Watch live (UK only) |
| TVPlayer | Watch live (UK only) |
| Horizon Go |
Watch live (Ireland only) Watch live (Switzerland only) |
BBC Four is a British television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite, and cable.
BBC Four launched on 2 March 2002, with a schedule running from 19:00 to 04:00. The channel shows "a wide variety of programmes including comedy, documentaries, music, international film, original programmes, drama and current affairs ... an alternative to programmes on the mainstream TV channels". It is required by its licence to broadcast at least 100 hours of new arts and music programmes, 110 hours of new factual programmes and to premiere twenty international films each year.
BBC Four launched on 2 March 2002 at 19:00 GMT, having been delayed from the original planned 2001 launch. BBC Four began originally as a late schedule to BBC Two, before it received its own channel, along with BBC Three. Curiously, BBC Four had to launch before BBC Three as a result of the government delaying approval plans. The channel replaced BBC Knowledge, an educational and cultural channel which had undergone many changes throughout its lifetime; in its final format it carried a schedule of documentaries and art programming, essentially a test of the new BBC Four schedule. BBC Four would rebrand this channel, and bring it into line with the well recognised BBC One and Two brands at the same time. Planning for the new channel, along with the new BBC Three, had been in progress since October 2000; however, the incumbent government delayed approving the new BBC digital plans. The BBC Four plans were approved earlier, and as a result launched before BBC Three.
BBC Four was different from the old BBC Knowledge: the channel would be more heavily promoted with more new and original programming and the channel would not be broadcast 24 hours a day. This was because on the Freeview digital terrestrial platform, BBC Four is broadcast in a statistically multiplexed stream in Multiplex B that timeshares with the CBeebies channel (which is on air from 06:00 until 19:00). As a result, BBC Four broadcasts from 19:00 to around 04:00 each night, with an hour's down-time and promotions for CBeebies before the start of that channel's schedule.
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Wikipedia