Comedy Central (UK and Ireland)
| Comedy Central | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 1 November 1995 |
| Owned by | Paramount UK Partnership (Paramount British Pictures/Sky plc) |
| Picture format |
16:9, 576i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Audience share | 0.52% 0.14% (+1) (September 2015, BARB) |
| Formerly called | The Paramount Channel (1995–1997) Paramount Comedy Channel (1997–2002) Paramount Comedy (2002–2005) Paramount Comedy 1 (2005–2009) |
| Sister channel(s) | |
| Timeshift service | Comedy Central +1 |
| Website |
comedycentral.co.uk comedycentral.ie |
|
Availability
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| Satellite | |
| Sky (UK) | Channel 112 (SD/HD) Channel 127 (+1) Channel 205 (SD) |
| Sky (Ireland) | Channel 112 Channel 127 (+1) Channel 205 (HD) |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media (UK) | Channel 132 Channel 133 (+1) Channel 181 (HD) |
| Virgin Media (Ireland) | Channel 127 Channel 128 (+1) Channel 177 (HD) |
| WightFibre | Channel 115 |
| IPTV | |
| Freewire | Channel 148 |
| TalkTalk TV | Channel 307 |
| BT | Channel 307 Channel 370 (HD) |
| Plusnet | Channel 307 Channel 370 (HD) |
| Streaming media | |
| Virgin TV Anywhere | Watch live (UK only) |
| Now TV | Watch live (UK only) |
| Sky Go | Watch live (UK and Ireland only) |
Comedy Central is a British television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated. This channel is specific to audiences within the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is aligned with the original US version of the channel. The channel started as Paramount Channel in 1995, before rebranding as the Paramount Comedy Channel in 1997 and again as Paramount Comedy 1 before finally becoming Comedy Central on 6 April 2009.
The channel was launched as The Paramount Channel on 1 November 1995 with a broadcast of the Indiana Jones film Raiders of the Lost Ark. The original schedule was a mixture of comedy and drama, as well as films from the Paramount Pictures film library, including such eclectic offerings as Beauty and the Beast, several Japanese anime productions acquired from Manga Entertainment, and authentic Paramount archive programming such as The Magician, as well as Nickelodeon's Ren & Stimpy, due to its rather adult nature at times. It originally aired every evening after Nickelodeon's closing at 7:00 pm until around 4:00 am, with a testcard featuring a chicken crossing the road and holding up traffic airing during downtime until Nickelodeon started up at 6:00 am.
On 1 September 1997 the Paramount Channel became the Paramount Comedy Channel, a channel dedicated solely to comedy.
With expansion of Sky Digital on 4 February 2001 the channel no longer shared air time with Nickelodeon and started broadcasting with a daytime schedule beginning broadcasts at 09:00. On 1 July 2002, the channel renamed itself as Paramount Comedy. By 2005, with the timeshift channel Paramount Comedy 2 having gone on the air in 2003, the primary channel was renamed as Paramount Comedy 1.
On 17 February 2009, it was confirmed that Paramount Comedy 1 would become Comedy Central from 6 April 2009 in the UK and Ireland. The channel's repositioning gave it greater scope of introducing new programming direct from Comedy Central US and additional programmes from other US broadcasters. These new shows included: Two and a Half Men, Scrubs, The Office, The Sarah Silverman Program and South Park, where they air new episodes, uncensored, about a week after their US airing. Since season 13, Comedy Central has aired new episodes of South Park two days after they aired in the US (i.e., the episodes air on Comedy Central US on Wednesdays, and air on the UK counterpart on Fridays.) At 9PM on 6 April, Paramount Comedy 1 officially rebranded as Comedy Central, with the last program on PC1 being an episode of Scrubs and the first program on Comedy Central being a new episode of Two and a Half Men.
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