ITV2

ITV2

Country	United Kingdom
Ownership
Owner	ITV Digital Channels Ltd (ITV plc)

ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc . It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial (Freeview) platforms. The channel has the biggest audience of any UK multichannel, thanks to its wide availability. The channel is known for its American programming such as Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries, catch ups of ITV1 programming such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale, spin-off shows such as The Xtra Factor and Britain's Got More Talent, and for original programming, with shows such as Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Celebrity Juice.

Background

The term can also refer to the continuum of proposals to create a second commercial television network, from the 1950s until the idea was realised with the start of Channel 4 and S4C in 1982. The concept of there being more than one independent television service dates back to the very origins of independent television itself, where ways of allowing the composite companies of ITV to compete directly with one another side-by-side were considered. When the first broadcasts went on air in 1955 there was not enough frequency space given for use by television to allow this to happen, so each competing company was allotted a part of the country, and in the large areas a period of the week (weekdays or weekend), in which to 'compete'. This arrangement was not seen as ideal however, and the ITA continually pushed the government for the extra capacity to license a second set of franchises.

When transmissions began on UHF in the early 1960s, the GPO were afforded the task of allocating each transmitter region with a set of frequencies that would provide maximum coverage, and minimal interference; this was done in such a way that each area had four channels available for four services, one each for the existing BBC and Independent Television services (as already carried on VHF), one for the new BBC2 service, launched in 1964, and a fourth for future allocation. The ITA and ITV companies pushed for this space to be given to them, and during the 1968 round of new ITV franchises being issued, each licence included a clause that would allow the licence to be revoked and reconsidered if 'ITV2' became a reality before its ten-year expiry period, so as to 're-draw' the network with this consideration in mind. The term 'ITV2' became popular during this time, as the term 'ITV' itself grew in popularity for the commercial network which hitherto had no formal or agreed overall name. So anticipated was the creation of such a network by some, that many television sets manufactured during the '60s and '70s had buttons labelled 'ITV' and 'ITV2'.

The issue was a sensitive political point: The Labour Party of the 1950s and 1960s had been traditionally against commercial television, and many on the left of the party wanted to see ITV abolished altogether. Ideas to create a 'BBC3' using the spare capacity had been considered during the 1960s, but never acted upon - presumably due to the cost involved. The following Conservative government, despite traditionally favouring the concept of ITV and having founded it, were also slow to act in implementing the new network when they came to power in 1970. After many years of indecisiveness on the part of the various governments, moves began to be made towards the end of the 1970s on the form such a fourth service would take. By then, both major political parties roughly agreed that this new service ought to have some public service element to it, and provide content to minority groups not necessarily catered for by the BBC or ITV proper. The resultant service, Channel 4, and a variant for Wales, S4C, began in 1982. It could be said that this service was the long-awaited 'ITV2' in all but name, as it was operated and regulated by the IBA, was (then) funded by the rest of ITV, and some of its content was produced from the ITV companies; only the name was distinct.

History

This name was not dead, however, and the concept of 'ITV2' resurfaced in the late 1990s for very different reasons. The launch of digital terrestrial television services in the UK saw each existing analogue terrestrial broadcaster given a slice of bandwidth with which to carry their existing service after analogue switch-off with space left over for new channels. Whilst strictly speaking this space belonged to each regional contractor for use within their own region, ITV had undergone a series of buy-outs earlier on in the decade, the three players operating the majority of the network, Granada, Carlton and United News & Media jointly launched ITV2 in 1998 to be broadcast to most of the country as a uniform service. Whilst free-to-air, it was marketed along-side their own subscription based ONdigital platform. Other ITV licensees, SMG, UTV and GMTV launched their own services in the space (see below).

While ITV2 is now a popular entertainment channel, at its launch in 1998 it was a mixed genre channel. Much of the original content in its launch schedule was current affairs related programming fronted by ITV newscasters. Katie Derham presented a weekly media programme called Wide Angle, John Suchet fronted a weekly current affairs discussion programme called Who, What, Why, and Trevor MacDonald presented an interview series, Trevor MacDonald Meets.... Other programmes included omnibus editions of ITV soaps Emmerdale and Coronation Street, and a Saturday football results service.

It is important to consider the distinction between ITV2 as considered between 1955 and 1982 and the ITV2 that was launched in 1998. Like ITV itself, the former would have had a regional structure consisting of many companies competing head-to-head with their counterparts in each region, whilst the latter is operated by one organisation, as a supplement service to the main network.

In June 2004, ITV plc announced that they were going to double the channel's programme budget, and would add more US series and movies. On 1 November 2004, in a attempt to launch ITV3 on Sky, ITV2 moved from 175 to 118 on Sky after ITV plc bought GSkyB for £10millon. As a result, Granada Plus was permantly closed down, with its EPG slot taken by ITV3.

ITV plc launched a one hour timeshift channel of ITV2 on Monday, 30 October 2006. The company is looking to its digital channels to shore up revenues as the ITV Network suffers a decline in viewers. ITV3 +1 was launched on the same day.

ITV2 and its one-hour timeshift channel began broadcasting 24 hours a day on 17 March 2008.

From 11 January 2011, ITV2 +1 on the Freeview platform has changed its broadcasting hours to 7:00 p.m. until 4:00 a.m. On 1 June 2011, an additional hour was added in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, allowing ITV2 +1 to start at 6:00 p.m.

As part of the changes, ITV2 +1 swapped slots on Sky's electronic programme guide with Men & Motors, resulting in the timeshift channel making a significant jump from channel 184 to 131. It is now Sky 179.

GMTV2 programming moved from ITV2 to ITV4. The strand continues to be simulcast on the CITV Channel.

On 20 August 2008, ITV2 unveiled a new look, the logo was given a 3D look, with three new idents.

ITV2 was launched on UPC Ireland in the Republic of Ireland on 4 January 2010, marking the first time the channel has been officially available in the country. The channel had already been (and remains) available to Irish viewers on free-to-air satellite for some time, however it is still not listed in the Sky electronic programme guide. On 1 April 2011, ITV2 was removed from UPC Ireland along with ITV3 and ITV4 due to the expiry of a carriage agreement between UPC and ITV. UPC Ireland claim that ITV is not in a position to renegotiate the deal because ITV had struck a deal with another channel provider to provide it with exclusive rights to air certain content from the channels. Conversely, UPC Ireland also claims to have been in discussions right up to the last moment in order to continue broadcasting the channels. TV3 Ireland and its sister channel 3e already hold carriage agreement to air certain ITV content within the Republic of Ireland, alternatively UTV is available within the Republic. ITV2 is available along with ITV3 and ITV4 within Switzerland, all three channels are available on UPC Cablecom.

Most watched programmes

The following is a list of the ten most watched shows on ITV2, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB up to 22 May 2011. The number of viewers does not include repeats or airings on ITV2 +1.

Rank	Show	Episode	Number of Viewers	Date
1	Bionic Woman	1.01 - Pilot	2,553,000	11 March 2008
2	The Xtra Factor	7.30 - Final	2,536,000	12 December 2010
3	Britain's Got More Talent	3.13 - Final	2,525,000	30 May 2009
4	The Xtra Factor	6.20 - Lucie Jones Eliminated	2,520,000	8 November 2009
5	Celebrity Juice	5.15 - Coronation Street Vs Emmerdale	2,246,000	19 May 2011
6	Britain's Got More Talent	2.13 - Final	2,172,000	31 May 2008
7	The Xtra Factor	6.30 - Final	2,145,000	13 December 2009
8	I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! NOW!	10.21 - Final	2,131,000	4 December 2010
9	The Xtra Factor	5.19 - Semi Final	2,106,000	6 December 2008
10	I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! NOW!	3.15 - Final	2,040,000	9 February 2004

Branding

• 7 December 1998-18 November 2001
  7 December 1998-18 November 2001
• 16 January 2006–August 2008
  16 January 2006–August 2008
• August 2008-to present
  August 2008-to present

Awards

ITV2 won channel of the year at the Broadcast Digital Channel Awards 2007 on 9 June 2007, and on 25 August of the same year, ITV2 was named non-terrestrial channel of the year at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

ITV2 HD

File:ITV2 HD.svg

ITV2 HD, a high-definition simulcast of ITV2, launched on 7 October 2010 on Sky channel 225. The channel is available through Sky's pay subscription in a non-exclusive deal, ITV has held talks with other providers including Virgin Media. Original HD programming includes entertainment shows, Britain's Got More Talent, The Xtra Factor and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! Now; original drama such as the third series of Secret Diary of a Call Girl; and acquired content including The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl and a range of movies.

Other local variants

S2

S2 was a television station broadcast throughout the Scottish and Grampian ITV regions by SMG plc, the holder of the Scottish and Grampian region ITV franchises. S2, which aired on the Digital Terrestrial platform, was launched 30 April 1999 and closed just over two years later — as part of a deal with ITV Digital — on 27 July 2001.

By the end of its life, it had lost nearly all of its Scottish programmes and mainly simulcast ITV2, but covered the ITV2 graphic with an opaque S2 graphic. This caused controversy and forced the broadcaster further into removing the channel.

Although S2 initially had great ambitions for the station, it closed in 2001 as part of a deal with ITV Digital. The channel capacity was replaced by ITV2 and the ITV Sports Channel. When the sports channel closed, it was replaced by the now also-defunct ITV News Channel. It had its hours slashed to half in November 2005 to make room for ITV4 on Freeview. It ceased transmission on December 2005, but in March 2006 CITV occupied the daytime slot until February 2008. ITV4 went 24 hours and this made CITV move into ABC1's old space.

The Grampian and Scottish franchises operate together as STV as of present (2006).

UTV2

UTV2 Logo. Similar in design to the original ITV2 logo.

UTV2 was a television station broadcast by UTV Media plc on Digital Terrestrial Television in Northern Ireland. It was launched in 1999 as TV You. The programming consisted primarily of simulcasts with the ITV2 station shown in England, Wales and the Scottish Borders, although they did also use archive broadcasts from UTV.

Unusually, for a commercial station, neither UTV2 nor its predecessor carried any advertising. This was presumably due to their failure to attract advertisers to a station which was only receivable to a few thousand viewers.

UTV2 closed on 22 January 2002 following a deal with ITV Digital and was replaced by ITV2.

Branding

When the channel launched, the logo was very similar in style to the ITV1 logo at the time and ITV were worried the channel looked just like an extension of ITV1 and didn't offer anything new. It was soon after this that the channel received a complete overhaul along with the other ITV channels in 2006. The channel received a new lime green logo which was generally well received by viewers. Six New idents and general presentation were introduced as well as new programming. The lime green colour was chosen as ITV thought it had a young fresh feel to it. The colour has been used now since 2006. The six new idents all had names beginning with 'Too' to relate to the 2 in the channels name. They were called; "Too Fast", "Too Hot", "Too Cold, "Too Expensive", "Too Glamorous" and "Too Loud". Each of the idents were made up of a mix of shades of green to match the channels logo.

In 2008, the channel received another new look. The green logo was kept but edited. The channel now had a new 3D logo to try and make the channel look more modern and appealing to a younger audience. The new look was praised by many viewers. Six new idents were launched. Each ident had a unique but fresh look and feel to them and were well received.

Idents - 2008–Present

Name	Description	Air dates
Buildings	The ident starts in a city full of tall buildings which suddenly erupt with strobes of light. We then move to the countryside with a view of the full city and the light strobes blasting out. The logo becomes part of the scene as it moves behind the tree.	August 2008–present
Pool	The camera moves over an extremely clean swimming pool just after someone dives in. Then patterns start to appear on the tiles on the base of the pool including swimmers.	August 2008–present
Dancing	Several people start dancing on screen each wearing very different types of footwear. Some dancers appear to dance on one floor while others appear to be dancing on an invisible wall behind. The logo becomes part of the scene as some dancers come in front of the logo.	August 2008–present
City	An ordinary looking city street soon becomes full of life and colour when neon signs begin to light up. Many of the signs contain names of current or previous ITV2 programmes such as Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Supernatural.	August 2008–present
Nail Polish	A jar of nail polish on a dressing table is knocked over with the polish spilling out and starts flowing over the edge. As it flows, a range of items start to appear from it such as high heels, jewellery and mobile phones.	August 2008–present
Couple	A young couple start to passionately make out and remove each others clothing before falling on the bed. The only unusual thing about this ident is all the action takes place in reverse.	August 2008–present

Programming

• American Idol
• America's Got Talent
• Britain's Got More Talent
• Celebrity Juice
• Gossip Girl
• Hells Kitchen USA
• The Hot Desk
• I'm a Celebrity…NOW!
• Kerry Katona: The Next Chapter
• Judge Judy

• Minute to Win It (coming fall 2011)
• The Movie Show on ITV2
• Nanny 911
• The Only Way Is Essex
• Peter Andre: The Next Chapter
• The Planet’s Funniest Animals
• The Real Housewives of Orange County
• The X Factor USA
• The Xtra Factor
• The Vampire Diaries

External links

• ITV2 at itv.com

• ITV2 on Facebook
• ITV2 on Twitter