Quest | |
---|---|
Launched | 30 September 2009 |
Owned by | Discovery Networks Northern Europe |
Audience share | 0.49% 0.20% (+1) (September 2015 , BARB) |
Slogan |
At the Heart of the Action (2009–2014) Where Fact is Bigger than Fiction (2014–present) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Replaced | DMAX +1.5 (Quest +1) |
Sister channel(s) |
Animal Planet Discovery Channel Discovery HD Discovery History Discovery Home & Health Discovery Science Discovery Shed Discovery Turbo DMAX Investigation Discovery TLC |
Timeshift service | Quest +1 |
Website | www.questtv.co.uk |
Availability
|
|
Terrestrial | |
Freeview | Channel 37 Channel 38 (+1) |
Satellite | |
Sky UK and Ireland | Channel 144 Channel 195 (+1) |
Cable | |
Virgin Media | Channel 172 Channel 173 (+1) |
Virgin Media Ireland | Channel 154 |
Streaming media | |
TVPlayer | Watch live (UK only) |
TVPlayer | Watch live (+1 Timeshift) (UK only) |
Virgin TV Anywhere | Watch live (UK only) |
Quest is a television channel in the United Kingdom. Quest provides factual, lifestyle, entertainment programmes and other imported material. The channel is operated by Discovery Networks Northern Europe.
In October 2008, Discovery announced that they would launch a channel on Freeview in early 2009, but without using the "Discovery" name. A placeholder appeared on Freeview channel 47 on 5 January 2009 and Tiscali TV channel 109 on 14 May 2009. Although the channel planned to launch on 14 May 2009 at 10am, after broadcasting a promo loop on the planned launch morning, at 10am the channel returned to displaying a "Coming soon" message.
The Quest website displayed a message reading: "Regrettably we have made the decision to postpone the launch of Quest. Due to a number of commercial factors we have had to make this difficult decision. We did not make this decision lightly and we are working towards launching Quest in the near future. We would like to apologise wholeheartedly to any of you that have been looking forward to this launch."
In August 2009, Discovery Networks announced that it planned to launch the channel on 30 September 2009. At the same time the channel moved to channel 38. Quest launched on Sky, on 1 October 2009, after acquiring an EPG slot from Information TV 2. Quest +1 launched on Sky, replacing DMAX +1.5 on 2 November 2009.
Quest launched on Virgin Media on 25 March 2010 on channel 179.
It is notable for cropping the top and bottom from 4:3 programming in order to make it 16:9. Furthermore, if the channel is viewed with a receiver set to 4:3, the sides are cropped from the image (including cutting the channel logo in half) meaning only the very centre of the original picture is viewable.
On 15 October 2010, Quest began broadcasting a 24-hour schedule on all platforms except Freeview. On 30 June 2011, Gems TV acquired a 24-hour Freeview stream, ending their timeshare with Quest, allowing Quest to begin broadcasting for 24 hours a day on Freeview as well.
At the beginning of March 2014, Quest +1 appeared on Freeview channel 57. On 27 May 2014, Quest moved on Freeview to channel 37 and Quest +1 moved to channel 38.
On 21 July 2014, Quest announced that they would be broadcasting live football in the form of the 2014 Schalke 04 Cup - a pre-season tournament featuring the likes of Newcastle United F.C. and West Ham United F.C. Five months later the channel broadcast live coverage of the Dubai Challenge Cup.