Channel 4 programming
| Channel 4 | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 2 November 1982 |
| Owned by | Channel Four Television Corporation |
| Picture format |
576i (SDTV) 16:9 1080i (HDTV) 16:9 |
| Audience share | 4.55% 0.77% (+1) (September 2015, BARB) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Broadcast area | Nationwide and Ireland |
| Sister channel(s) |
4seven Film4 E4 More4 4Music Box Upfront The Box Box Hits Kerrang! Kiss Magic |
| Timeshift service | Channel 4 +1 Channel 4 +1 HD |
| Website | www.channel4.com |
|
Availability
|
|
| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 4 Channel 7 (Wales) Channel 13 (+1) Channel 104 (HD) Channel 109 (+1 HD) |
| Satellite | |
| Freesat | Channel 104 (SD) Channel 120 (Wales) Channel 121 (+1) Channel 126 (HD) |
| Sky (UK) | Channel 104 (SD) Channel 117 (Wales) Channel 135 (+1) Channel 227 (HD) |
| Sky (Ireland) | Channel 135 Channel 136 (+1) |
| Astra 2E | 10714 H 22000 5/6 10729 V 22000 5/6 (+1) |
| Astra 2F | 11127 V 22000 5/6 (HD) |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media (UK) | Channel 104 Channel 141 (HD) Channel 142 (+1) |
| Virgin Media (Ireland) | Channel 111 Channel 142 (HD) |
| Channel 163 (CH-D) | |
| WightFibre | Channel 4 |
| IPTV | |
|
Swisscom TV
(Switzerland) |
Channel arbitrary |
| Streaming media | |
| All 4 | Watch live |
| TVPlayer | Watch live (UK only) |
| Sky Go |
Watch live (UK and Ireland only)
|
| Virgin TV Anywhere |
Watch live (UK only) Watch live (+1, UK only) |
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster that began transmission on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), the station is now owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation, a public corporation of the Department for Culture, Media & Sport, which was established in 1990 and came into operation in 1993. With the conversion of the Wenvoe transmitter group in Wales to digital on 31 March 2010, Channel 4 became a UK-wide TV channel for the first time.
The channel was established to provide a fourth television service to the United Kingdom in addition to the licence-funded BBC's two services, BBC One and BBC Two and the single commercial broadcasting network, ITV.
Before Channel 4 and S4C, Britain had three terrestrial television services: BBC1, BBC2, and ITV. The Broadcasting Act 1980 began the process of adding a fourth, and Channel 4, along with its Welsh counterpart, was formally created by an Act of Parliament in 1982. After some months of test broadcasts, it began scheduled transmissions on 2 November 1982.
The notion of a second commercial broadcaster in the United Kingdom had been around since the inception of ITV in 1954 and its subsequent launch in 1955; the idea of an "ITV2" was long expected and pushed for. Indeed, television sets sold throughout the 1970s and early 1980s had a spare channel called "ITV/IBA 2". Throughout ITV's history and until Channel 4 finally became a reality, a perennial dialogue existed between the GPO, the government, the ITV companies and other interested parties, concerning the form such an expansion of commercial broadcasting would take. It was most likely politics which had the biggest impact in leading to a delay of almost three decades before the second commercial channel became a reality. With what can crudely be summed up as a clash of ideologies between an expansion of ITV's commercial ethos and a public service approach more akin to the BBC, it was ultimately something of a compromise that eventually led to the formation of Channel 4 as launched in 1982.
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Wikipedia