Channel 4

For other uses, see the British television station.

Channel 4

Ownership
Owner	Channel 4 Television Corporation

Channel 4 is a public-service television station, broadcast in the United Kingdom (see British television). The term can also be used to refer to the Channel 4 Broadcasting Corporation which owns and operates the station, as well as other stations described below.

Created by an Act of Parliament, Channel 4 began regular broadcasts on 2 November 1982. It was awarded the last remaining terrestrial television capacity (excluding Wales), making it one of the very few television broadcasters in the UK, its only competition being long-established public-service broadcaster, the BBC and its then commercial rival ITV. Although it saw new competition through the subsequent availability and growth of cable, satellite and digital terrestrial, Channel 4 still enjoys almost universal coverage, and in the case of terrestrial, pays no fee for this privilege.

Despite being a publicly owned, public service broadcaster, Channel 4 does not receive funding from the television licence income. Today, all programming is financed through its commercial activities, which include the sale of on-air advertising, though during its formative years funding came from ITV in return for their right to sell advertisements during its air-time.

The Channel 4 Broadcasting Corporation is a publicly owned corporation whose board is appointed by OFCOM, in agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Like the BBC, it has a public-service remit. It also has an obligation to provide schools programming.

On analogue, Channel 4 broadcasts to England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. In Wales, its equivalent S4C, broadcasts a mix of Channel 4 programming along with Welsh-language programmes. Since the emergence of Digital Television, Channel 4 has also been received throughout the principality on digital terrestrial, cable and satellite. Consequently S4C does not carry Channel 4 programming on the digital version of its channel.

It was announced on 3 December 2006 that Channel 4 would be made available to Sky viewers in the Republic of Ireland, and became available a day later. Some programmes, mainly imports, are not aired on this channel variant, due to Channel 4 not owning the relevant broadcast rights.

From June 2006 Channel 4 allowed Internet users in the United Kingdom to watch Channel 4 live on the Internet. However, for legal reasons all adverts have been removed and some programmes (mostly international imports) are not shown. Channel 4 is also provided by Virgin Mobile's DAB mobile TV service which has the same restrictions as the internet live stream.

History

Conception

Before Channel 4 and S4C, Britain had three terrestrial television services: BBC1, BBC2, and ITV. The 1980 Broadcasting Act 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 weeks of test broadcasts, it began scheduled transmissions on 2 November 1982.

The notion of a second commercial broadcaster in the UK 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. 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 somewhat of a compromise that eventually lead to the formation of Channel 4 as launched in 1982.

One clear benefit of the 'late arrival' of the channel was that its frequency allocations at each transmitter had already been arranged in the early 1960s, when the launch of ITV2 was highly anticipated^ibid. This lead to very good coverage across most of the country and few problems of interference with other UK based transmissions; a stark contrast to the problems associated with Channel 5's launch a decade and a half later.

IBA Control: 1982–1990

From the start, the channel set out to provide an alternative to the existing channels. In doing so it sometimes, in the eyes of its critics (including the self-styled public-decency campaigner Mary Whitehouse), overstepped the boundaries of acceptability; but it has arguably led to a liberalisation of the UK television industry. Programming such as the "Red Triangle" series, The Tube, and Network 7 often straddled the boundary between being pioneering and being tasteless.

File:C4logo82-96.jpg

The original Channel 4 logo, used from 1982–1996

Channel 4 was one of the first "publisher-broadcaster" stations in the world. All of its programming is produced by other companies; it exists only to fund, broadcast, and distribute its programmes. It was also the first broadcaster in the world to put its name on the introduction or end credits of programmes that it did not produce, a practice that is now widespread. More significantly, it also began the trend of owning the copyright and distribution rights of the programmes it aired, in a manner that is similar to the major Hollywood studios' ownership of television programs that they did not directly produce. Thus, although Channel 4 does not produce programmes, many are seen as belonging to it.

Initially, the station was managed by the Independent Broadcasting Authority, through subscription from the ITV franchise holders. In return, advertising on the channel, and advertising revenue, were handled by the ITV regions. This both removed the need for Channel 4 to establish its own relationships with advertisers, and kept it from competing too closely with ITV.

The channel was warmly received both by minority groups and the arts and cultural world during this period , while it did not target a mass audience.

Channel 4 also funded independent films during this time, in addition to made-for-TV material.

Independence: 1990–Today

File:C4logo96-99.png

The Channel 4 logo used from 1996–1999. The four circles appeared in various configurations.

File:Ch4logo.gif

The previous Channel 4 logo, used from 1999–2004. The white square background is part of the logo.

The 1990 Broadcasting Act altered [2] the organisation of Channel 4, transforming it into a public corporation with a board partly appointed by the new Independent Television Commission. While its original remit was, on the face of it, preserved, the channel now had to manage its own advertising (a potential disaster for a public service broadcaster), with a 'safety net' guaranteed minimum income should the revenue fall too low (which it so far has not). This safety net was funded by large insurance payments which the company had to make to the ITV companies. These premiums were phased out by the government in 1998. After the link with ITV was cut, the cross-promotion which had existed between ITV and Channel 4 since the latter inception also ended.

Its new independence helped bring in a rash of programming changes. Instead of aiming for the fringes of society, it began to focus on the edges of the mainstream, and the centre of the mass market itself. It began to show many US programmes in peak viewing time, previously a rarity on UK terrestrial television. It premiered such shows as Friends and ER.

It also started broadcasting reality formats (including Big Brother), and sports like cricket and horse racing. This new direction increased ratings and revenues. However, the Channel 4 contract to broadcast test match cricket ceased with the end of the Summer 2005 Ashes series.

In addition, the Channel launched a number of digital channels. The first was Film4, which was launched in 1998. Film4 focused on independent and non-English language films. It spawned a number of spin-off channels, however, these all subsequently closed due to poor performance.

In 2000, Channel 4 launched a dedicated horse racing channel, At the Races. However, for a combination of financial and legal reasons the channel ceased broadcasting in 2003. It was subsequently bought by BSkyB and relaunched in June 2004. Channel 4 no longer has any involvement with At the Races. The Channel 4 programmes, also named At the Races, returned to their original name of Channel 4 Racing when the channel left involvement with At The Races

Channel 4's next launch was an entertainment channel called E4 in 2001.

In 2002, Channel 4's film financing division (Film4 Productions) was seriously scaled back, due to massive losses, although total closure was averted. It had however had various successes, most notably Four Weddings and a Funeral and Trainspotting. In 1994, BAFTA/LA (the Los Angeles branch of the British Academy of Film & Television Arts) presented a full-length film festival in Los Angeles in conjunction with the American Cinematheque (the US equivalent of Britain's National Film Theatre that saluted the considerable contributions to British film of Channel 4's film division since its inception. The festival presented many of the most celebrated Channel 4 films and also featured panel discussions about Channel 4's role between Channel 4 chief executive Michael Grade, US TV producer Norman Lear and the festival's producer - BAFTA/LA chairman Martin Lewis.

Partially in reaction to its new populist direction, the Communications Act 2003 directed the channel to demonstrate innovation, experimentation and creativity, appeal to the tastes and interests of a culturally diverse society and to include programmes of an educational nature which exhibit a distinctive character.

Now under the leadership of Freeview founder Andy Duncan, 2005 saw a change of direction for Channel 4's digital channels. Channel 4 made E4 'free to air' on Digital Terrestrial, and launched a new 'free to air' digital channel called More4. In October 2005 Channel 4 joined the Freeview consortium.[3] Finally in July 2006, Film4 also became a 'free to air' and started broadcasting on Digital Terrestrial.[4]

Also in 2005 Channel 4 purchased 51% of shares in the Oneword radio station [5] with UBC Media holding onto 49% of the shares in Oneword - already Channel 4 has launched a programme on the station called The Morning Report, a half hour news programme at 07:30 on weekday mornings produced under the name.Channel 4 Radio

On November 3 2006, Channel 4 confirmed that it had sold Ostrich Media Limited, the subsidiary responsible for participation television channel Quiz Call, to iTouch. Channel 4 cited the fact that strong competition in the UK participation television market had meant that it was no longer easy to make profits from participation TV as the reason for selling. The space occupied by QuizCall on Freeview was not included as part of the sale. Consequently, the channel left Channel 4's space on Freeview on 15 November 2006, and was replaced in the short term by Film4+1. Channel 4 director of television, Kevin Lygo, confirmed the plan to launch a new channel in the longer term. However, he was reported not to be satisfied with the first round of ideas submitted to him (a US acquisitions channel, a comedy channel and a T4 youth brand channel) and is now canvassing further options.

The future

Channel 4 has in recent years raised concerns over how it might finance its public service obligations after digital switch-over. Channel 4 has projected it will have a £100m funding gap. It has stated that it will need further help, possibly in the form of a slice of the licence fee in order to meet these commitments. On 25 April 2006 it was announced that Channel 4's digital switch-over costs would be paid for by licence fee revenues. [6]

Channel 4 is also one of the broadcasters of the FreeviewHD HDTV trial in London on channel 504 (on RF channel 27) using MPEG-4, using some of its American catalogue such as Lost and Desperate Housewives, which ABC has aired in HD for some time and therefore has no need to be converted. This makes Channel 4 highly likely to move to HD in the near future.

At the same time Channel 4, is looking for methods to diversify its income. In addition to launching More4, and making Film4 and E4 free-to-air, Channel 4 has ambitions to launch more channels. In September 2004 Channel 4 spent £55m reserving space for up to 14 channels on SES Astra's Astra 2D satellite before the limited remaining air space was filled. However, some of this may be used by Channel 4's existing channels when more expensive encryption contracts with BSkyB expire in 2008.

Furthermore, the announcement by media regulator Ofcom, that it was looking into creating a new public-service broadcasting licence may be good news for Channel 4. It has been widely suggested in the media that Channel 4 would be the most likely candidate to run the new three hours per day channel dedicated to factual and current affairs programming. Ofcom has suggested that, if the channel is approved, it could be funded from general taxation or by "top-slicing" of the licence fee.[7]

Corporate Structure

Management

Channel 4 is run by a chief executive, whose role is similar to that of the Director-General of the BBC. The chief executive is appointed by the chairman, which is a part-time position appointed by Ofcom.

Chairmen

• Edmund Dell (1982–1987)
• Richard Attenborough (1987–1992)
• Michael Bishop (1993–1997)
• Vanni Treves (Jan 1998–Dec 2003)
• Luke Johnson (Jan 2004–)

Chief executives

• Jeremy Isaacs (1981–1987)
• Michael Grade (1988–1997)
• Michael Jackson (1997–2001)
• Mark Thompson (Mar 2002–June 2004)
• Andy Duncan (July 2004–)

Financial information

Channel 4's total revenue for the year to 31 December 2005 was £894.3 million, of which £735.2 million was generated by its main channel, and the remainder by its subsidiaries channels, sales of programming rights to other broadcasters, Film Four and "new media". Operating profits for the year were £56.9 million. [8]

Headquarters

The Channel 4 building

Originally based in Charlotte Street, close to the Post Office Tower in London's film and media heartland, Channel 4 has occupied since 1994 a distinctive, purpose-designed building on Horseferry Road, Westminster, designed by Richard Rogers Partnership with structural engineering by Ove Arup & Partners. Architecturally it follows on from, but is more restrained than, the Lloyd's building in the City of London, and was constructed from 1991–94. It was built on the former site of a Methodist teacher-training college, which occupied a neo-Gothic campus intermittently from its foundation in 1851 until World War II, when the buildings were badly damaged by an incendiary bomb. The College eventually moved to a purpose-built site in Oxford in 1959 and became Westminster College, Oxford.

Other Channels

Television

Film4

Main article: Film4

Channel 4 has had a long record of success in funding the production of films through Channel Four Films, renamed FilmFour in 1998 to coincide with the launch of its digital channel of the same name. Notable successes include The Madness of King George, The Crying Game and Four Weddings and a Funeral. However, this dedicated film-making wing was scaled back in 2002 as a cost-cutting measure in the face of substantial losses.

Channel 4 launched a subscription film channel, FilmFour, in November 1998. It is available on digital satellite television and digital cable. Companion services, such as FilmFour+1, FilmFour World and FilmFour Extreme were also available on some digital services. In 2003 Extreme and World were discontinued, and replaced with FilmFour Weekly. FilmFour Weekly closed in July 2006, when the main, newly named Film4 channel went free-to-view and became available on Digital Terrestrial. The switchover to Digital Terrestrial was heavily advertised. The adverts featured Lucy Liu, Christian Slater, Ewan McGregor, Judi Dench, Gael García Bernal, Willem Dafoe, Mackenzie Crook, Rhys Ifans and Ray Winstone declaring "Film4 is now free" in various situations across London.

When Channel 4 had the rights to broadcast test match cricket in England, the FilmFour channel was sometimes used to broadcast parts of a match when the main channel was committed elsewhere, usually to racing. At these times FilmFour was available free-to-air.

E4

Main article: E4 (TV)

E4, a digital entertainment channel previously available on the Internet, was launched in January 2001. It features premieres of US imports and supplementary footage for programs on its main channel (most notably extended Big Brother coverage).

In 2005 it launched on Digital Terrestrial. E4 now has as much coverage as other services available on Cable, Satellite and Digital Terrestrial like ITV2 and BBC Three. It is a very successful channel with a first look or sneak peek, with the next episode of some series, such as Hollyoaks, Desperate Housewives and Lost appearing on E4 immediately after the show on Channel 4 has finished. Also they have "Second Chance Sunday" which allows you to see programmes you have missed during the week on a Sunday.

During Big Brother, E4 plays host to live coverage of the show, subject to a delay. Until 2006, programmes on the channel did not air until 14.00 GMT, but in February 2006 the widely-advertised E4 Music airs from 06.00 until 14.00 GMT, with various music shows and videos being showcased.

E4 is widely available in the Republic of Ireland in close to 70% of homes. It is carried on the NTL/Chorus cable networks and also on Sky Digital. The channel operates a separate advertising opt out in the Republic allowing advertisers to directly target Irish audiences. This has been a highly successful commercial operation and all airtime sales are handled on the channels behalf by Medialink in Dublin.

More4

Main article: More4

More4 is a channel aimed at those aged 35–60. Launched on 10 October 2005, it channel carries news and nightly discussion programmes, such as More4 News, an extension of Channel 4 News that attempts to look "beyond the headlines", giving in-depth analysis. Advertising before the launch of the channel flaunted such HBO shows as Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Sopranos, as well as NBC's The West Wing. Its conception has met conflicting responses; many people believe the programmes shown to be of great quality, while others see it as an excuse to free up more room for a deluge of property programmes or less respectable programmes (see Fat Pets) in all other free slots on Channel 4.

Radio

Oneword

Main article: Oneword

Oneword is a digital radio station featuring the spoken word. In early 2005 Channel 4 purchased a minority stake in it, later that year buying a majority one. It has been rumoured that the station will be relaunched with a format featuring greater integration with Channel 4's other properties.

4radio

File:4radio logo.jpg

In November, media regulator Ofcom will advertise a licence to operate the UK's second national commercial digital radio multiplex - a hub that houses a host of digital radio stations - and Channel 4 are preparing their bid.

In June they launched 4radio, offering audio programmes in the shape of podcasts aimed at introducing new public service radio services informed by C4’s values of creativity and innovation. Coupled with their strategy of becoming a truly multimedia company, there are shows that tie in with their flagship TV hits including Big Brother, Lost, and Channel 4 News. But they are also looking to introduce opportunities for new music, comedy, speech and drama production from independents to invigorate the commercial radio sector and give the BBC some real competition.

The successful multiplex consortium will not be expected to launch until 2008. However a taste of Channel 4 Radio's audio output is already available for free at www.channel4radio.com ^[9] including a revival of the Channel's influential The Tube [10] music programme.

A very small amount of 4radio branded content can be heard on OneWord.

4oD

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4oD Logo

Launched towards the end of 2006, 4oD stands for "4 on Demand", a service which allows some internet and NTL:Telewest users to view programming recently shown or from Channel 4's archive[11]. The Cable version is operated through an appropriate set top box whilst the internet variant requires the installation of a free piece of software, which allows users to download the programmes to a computer for viewing.

The services are limited to UK and Republic of Ireland viewers only, and the internet version is at present further limited to Windows XP, PC users only. This is due to the propriety Microsoft DRM system chosen for the service, being only available to that platform at this time. Channel 4 state that this choice of system is at the stipulation of many of the content owners, thus such a limitation is unavoidable if their content is to be made available in this way.

File:4od ss.jpg

Screen shot of 4oD Browser

Most content is charged for, on a per-download basis, typically at around 99p per standard programme, and £1.99 per film, though there will also be free content available. Video can be viewed multiple times, for up to forty-eight hours after the first time it was played, or for a month unplayed, where downloaded. The video on the internet service, is advertised as being 'DVD quality', and estimates download time to be around twice the programme length, on an average broadband connection.

The 4oD internet service uses exactly the same technology (Kontiki Delivery Manager[12] and Microsoft DRM) as the BBC iPlayer test service (still awaiting launch approval from the BBC Trust), that was successfully trailed at the end of 2005. The BBC service made no charge for watching recently aired programmes.

Programming

In contrast to the other terrestrial TV channels, Channel 4 makes none of the programmes it broadcasts, because it is known as a publishing only television channel and partly as a result of the terms under which it was founded. Its critically acclaimed news service, Channel 4 News, is supplied by ITN, and the channel commissions all of its programmes from outside companies.

The first voice ever heard on Channel 4 was that of continuity announcer Paul Coia, who intoned, "Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to be able to say to you: Welcome to Channel Four", before heading into a montage of clips from its programmes set to the station's Lord David Dundas-penned signature tune, Fourscore, which would form the basis of the station's jingles for its first decade. The first programme to air on the channel was the teatime game show Countdown, produced by Yorkshire Television; it is still running as of 2006 and is contracted until 2009.

Channel 4 and its associated channels do not cut programmes or movies for commercial timing purposes, however some imported shows have been known to be edited (Channel 4's broadcasts of animated sci-fi comedy Futurama is heavily edited in comparison to the episodes broadcast on rival channel Sky One).

Channel 4 pioneered the concept of 'after the pub' television, with series such as Who Dares Wins, Tonight with Jonathan Ross, Friday Night Live and The Word broadcast in the 10 – 11pm slot. Channel 4 is also noted for the screening of Big Brother. Based on the original Dutch format, the UK version has attracted massive press attention for each of its seven series from 2000 to date.

In October 2005 Channel 4 began broadcasting the UK version of Endemol's worldwide smash game show Deal or No Deal. Despite being broadcast at a relatively slow time slot - 4.15pm weekdays and originally 4.25pm Saturdays - the show, presented by Noel Edmonds, on some occasions has been the most-watched show on the channel. The Saturday edition of the show has had a spell in a prime-time slot, and in June 2006 the show's popularity led to "Double Deal Week" where a second show at 8pm was broadcast each day for a week.

The highest audience ever attained by Channel 4 was 13.8 million for the final part of the mini-series A Woman of Substance, broadcast on 4 January 1985.

Since then, and excluding films, the channel's highest rating was 10 million viewers for the final of the third series of Big Brother on 27 July 2002. The channel's daily share of viewing on that date was 22.8%, then the highest recorded by the station. This record was beaten on Monday 12 September, 2005, the final day of the 2005 Ashes, when the channel's daily share of viewing in UK homes was recorded as 23.2%. This was also the first time that Channel 4 had been the highest-rating UK television station across a 24-hour period.

Comedy

One of the channel's strengths is its comedy, mostly shown on Friday nights. The early days saw screenings of The Comic Strip Presents, a highly innovative series of short one-off comedy films produced by a rotating line-up of alternative comedians, such as Rik Mayall, Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Peter Cook, Peter Richardson, and Alexei Sayle. The Tube and Friday Night Live also launched the careers of a number of alternative comedians. More recently, Channel 4 has aired such comedy shows as Brass Eye, The Mark Thomas Product, Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights, Drop the Dead Donkey, Desmond's, Green Wing, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Smack the Pony and Father Ted. Recently additions to Channel 4's line-up include The IT Crowd and the U.S. import My Name Is Earl. It is also worth noting the comedy show "Blunder" which was a recent addition to Channel 4 comedy line up. The reaction to the programme was seen as very negative and after several showings it was dropped from its Thursday Night slot.

For years, Channel 4 has also broadcast episodes of the most popular situation comedies from the United States on Friday nights. In 2004, Friday-night sitcoms on Channel 4 included Friends, Sex and the City, and Will & Grace.

Since 5 November 2004, Channel 4 has had the British terrestrial rights to show new-to-terrestrial episodes of The Simpsons, in addition to several of the classic seasons, rights that had previously been held by the BBC since the show started airing on British terrestrial (1996). This was considered a major scoop for Channel 4, which was reported to have paid £700,000 for each episode and which began promoting The Simpsons nearly a month in advance, using 18-frame teasers for the show (made up of various characters' faces being created using different-coloured Channel 4 logos) to lead into commercial breaks from October 8 onward. When it began airing in November 2004, seasons 2–5 of the show were repeated weekdays at 6pm, with new and newer episodes from seasons 11 and 12 on Fridays at 9pm. From January 2006, C4 lost the rights to seasons 2 and 3 to Sky, but showed Season 6 in November 2005. More new episodes were scheduled to begin airing in the post-watershed slot (Season 13) from 25 August 2006. However, it has been criticized heavily for its slight censorship of the programme during its 6:00 PM slot, such as removing some swear words and even cutting scenes with mild sexual activity.

In January 2005, Channel 4 gained the rights to show the hugely popular U.S. comedy Desperate Housewives. It became a ratings landslide, with six million viewers and third place in the ratings.

In 2006, Channel 4 gained rights to various new American TV shows like The Class, and in 2007 it gained rights to Ugly Betty.

Drama

On 4 November 2003, Channel 4 screened its final episode of Brookside, a soap opera which had run for the 21 years since the channel started.

American drama is a key part of Channel 4's portfolio, initially with NYPD Blue and ER. These were followed by Without a Trace, The Sopranos, The West Wing and Six Feet Under. Many of these programmes are shown (and notably edited) for their Sunday morning T4 slot.

In August 2005, Channel 4 started showing the US TV show Lost after a lengthy advertising campaign that included a 60-second commercial shot by David LaChapelle, that featured the cast and cost over £1 million becoming the most expensive advertisement produced in the UK. This gamble seems to have paid off, however; the pilot episode was watched by over 6 million viewers, placing it second in the overall ratings for the channel for that year, Big Brother securing the top spot. However, in October 2006 Channel 4 suffered a blow when BSkyB acquired the rights to the third and fourth seasons of Lost.

Factual

Channel 4 also has a strong reputation for history programmes and real-life documentaries. It has also courted controversy, for example by broadcasting live the first public autopsy to be carried out in the UK for 170 years, carried out by Gunther von Hagens in 2002, or the 2003 one-off stunt Derren Brown Plays Russian Roulette Live.

The television chef Jamie Oliver could not reach a deal with the BBC after his contract with them expired in December, 2002. Channel 4 took him up. Since this happened, Jamie Oliver has created a number of documentaries such as Jamie's Kitchen, Jamie's School Dinners, which was broadcast to coincide with his campaign to improve the quality of school dinners, and Jamie's Great Escape.

Thursdays saw Ricochet's canine Supernanny Victoria Stilwell tame Britain's worst dogs as It's Me or The Dog launched onto screens. It lasted six episodes in Series 1, earning record ratings and a second series launched in January 2006.

Film

The channel has established a tradition of broadcasting the animated film of Raymond Briggs's picture book The Snowman, which in 1982 was the new channel's first major animated commission, every Christmas. From 2002, the film was controversially cropped from its original 4:3 picture format to the current widescreen standard of 16:9. The Channel also commissioned early work by Nick Park and Aardman Animation.

In March 2005, Channel 4 screened uncut Lars von Trier film The Idiots that includes unsimulated sexual intercourse, making it the first UK terrestrial channel to do so. The Channel had screened before other films with similar material but censored and with warnings. The broadcast after midnight only raised one complaint and has been taken as an indication of how far audience values have changed since the Channel began.

Notable Failures

Channel 4 has for a long time struggled in the breakfast slot. In 1989 the Channel launched a breakfast television slot produced by Mentorn Films, called the Channel 4 Daily. In 1992 this was replaced by The Big Breakfast. The Big Breakfast briefly outrated the ITV breakfast broadcast, GMTV, after the closure of TV-am. The Big Breakfast became one of the best loved programmes on British TV. However, the Big Breakfast itself was axed in March 2002. It was replaced by RI:SE, which rated terribly. With the demise of RI:SE, Channel 4 withdrew from original programming in the breakfast TV slot. Now T4 runs the early morning slots on weekdays showing repeats of popular shows such as Friends. (This was temporarily interrupted in early 2006 with the show Morning Glory, designed to keep the audience following the early morning transmission of Big Brother's Little Breakfast).

Other misfires by the Channel in its early days included the series Minipops and Club X.

Stranding

Channel 4 was the first UK broadcaster to use stranded programming with slots such as 4 Mation showing innovative animation. Under Isaacs the channel also gained a reputation for programmes on the contemporary arts. Current Channel 4 strands include:

T4

Main article: T4 (Channel 4)

T4 is a separately identified strand carried on Channel 4 (and briefly on E4 until 2002). It consists of programming in the mornings seven days a week for an age range of around 16–25.

Music, soaps and US comedy shows all feature as part of the schedule on T4. Famous programmes include the Hollyoaks Omnibus, The OC, One Tree Hill, Will & Grace and Friends, with popular US animation Futurama airing weekend mornings too (although Futurama is heavily edited to fit the allocated timeslot). The final season of the hit US drama show Charmed was showing on T4 every Sunday, repeats were shown on the following Saturday, after five lost in a bidding war with Channel 4.

4Learning

4Learning produces innovative and thought-provoking multimedia services for schools and learners of all ages in the United Kingdom. More than 400 hours of its programming is broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK (excluding Wales) each year. One of its well known programmes is The Hoobs.

Between 1987-1993 the schools service was run by ITV as "ITV Schools on Channel 4". In 1993 it was rebranded as "Channel 4 Schools". Then in 2000 it was rebranded to "4 Learning".

FourDocs

Main article: FourDocs

File:Main-logo.gif

FourDocs is an online service from Channel 4. FourDocs is a broadband documentary "channel" that celebrates all aspects of the documentary genre. It allows users to upload their own documentaries to the website for others to watch. The videos need to be 4 minutes long.

FourDocs

Regions

Channel 4 has, since its inception, broadcast identical programmes and continuity throughout the UK (excluding Wales where it does not operate on analogue transmitters). At launch this made it somewhat unique, as both the BBC and ITV had long established traditions of providing regional variations in their programming and announcements between transmitters in different areas of the country. In ITV's case, this was a consequence of its inherent federal structure (see ITV companies). Since the launch of subsequent British television channels, Channel 4 has become typical in its lack of variations of this nature. A notable exception was in schools' programming (1980s/early 90s), when a handful of programs were regionalised due to differences in curricula between different regions of the UK. The vast majority of schools' programming was uniform throughout the UK though.

Advertising on Channel 4 does however have such variation: Prior to 1990 when ITV was responsible for Channel 4's advertising, each regional ITV company would provide the content of advertising breaks for the same transmitter area as that company provided for on ITV, and these breaks were often unique to that area. After Channel 4 became responsible for its own advertising, it continued to offer advertisers the ability to target particular audiences and divided its coverage area into six parts coining the term 'LEMNUS' standing for "London, The East [and South] of England, The Midlands, The North of England, Ulster and Scotland. Its sales web site also lists Ireland separately from Northern Ireland, though like Wales it does not have its own advertising region, despite being available on some platforms in the area.

The six regions are also carried on satellite, cable and Digital Terrestrial. five and GMTV use a similar model to Channel 4 for providing their own advertising regions, despite also having a single national output of programming.

Channel 4 Northern Ireland became available to Sky Digital subscribers in the Republic of Ireland on channel 142 on Monday, 4 December 2006.

See also

• List of British television channels
• List of Channel 4 television programmes
• Channel4.com
• 3 Minute Wonder
• Channel 4 Sheffield Pitch competition
• Annan Committee

External links

• channel4.com
• channel4radio.com
• Media Guardian special report on Channel 4
• Collection of Channel 4 idents