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BBC Prime

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BBC Prime
CountryUnited Kingdom
Broadcast areaEurope, Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Asia Pacific
Programming
Picture format576i (4:3/16:9 SDTV)
Ownership
OwnerBBC
History
Launched30 January 1995; 29 years ago (1995-01-30)
ReplacedBBC World Service Television
Closed11 November 2009; 15 years ago (2009-11-11)
Replaced byBBC Entertainment

BBC Prime was the BBC's general entertainment TV channel in Europe, Middle East, Africa, South Asia and Asia Pacific from 30 January 1995 until 11 November 2009, when it was replaced by BBC Entertainment.

Launch

BBC Prime was launched at 19:00 GMT on Thursday, 26 January 1995 when the former BBC World Service Television was split into two separate television stations:

  • BBC World: a 24-hour English free-to-air terrestrial international news channel such as news bulletin, information, business and financial, news magazine and current affairs programmes. Now known as BBC World News.
  • BBC Prime: a 24-hour English subscription lifestyle, variety and entertainment channel such: variety, culture, leisure, lifestyle, art and light entertainment programmes. Now known as BBC Entertainment.

Programming

The channel broadcast drama, comedy and lifestyle programmes which it repeated on a monthly basis. Every day since the channel's 2000 rebrand, it allocated six hours per day to educational programmes from BBC Learning (shown in the European small hours, between 01:00 and 07:00 CET); this practice was abandoned on 23 July 2006 "with the intention of improving the relevance and appeal of the channel to the widest audience".[1] It also included a special children's strand, using the CBBC brand and idents, by the name of CBBC on BBC Prime, or CBBC Prime.

When it first launched, BBC Prime also carried programming from the former ITV company Thames Television, since BBC Worldwide had a joint venture with Thames's parent company, Pearson and Cox Communications, known as European Channel Management.[2] However, this was dissolved in 1998.[3]

BBC Prime explained their decision to schedule older programmes in addition to newer ones: "For the majority of our viewers, who are European and African nationals, this is the first chance to see these programmes, and often the only way to view them."[4]

Funding

Unlike the BBC's domestic channels, and some of their foreign channels paid for by the UK Foreign Office, BBC Prime was funded by subscription available either as part of a satellite package or as a stand-alone channel. It was also funded by adverts placed on the channel in breaks, and because of this, it was not available in the UK. Much of BBC Prime's programming was available to watch through BBC One, Two or the UKTV network, part owned by the BBC and showing archive programming.

Presentation

BBC Prime's first ident consisted of five different diamonds shining, at first by each other, and then all of them, in a black background, with the BBC Prime logo placed in the bottom right corner. The logo at the time had the BBC logo, with "Prime" written in all capitals below in the Trajan Bold font. The ident had another version which had a jazz-styled music.

On 4 October 1997, the BBC went on a major rebrand, and BBC Prime was also affected by it. The logo now had the BBC blocks, with "Prime" in all capitals in the Gill Sans font next to it. The idents start with epileptic water scenes with full of colours, before settling on the main part of the ident, which features the water in a blue to orange gradient with ripples, and two marbles reflected and inverted by each other, with the logo being placed in the bottom.

In December 2000, BBC Prime rebranded again. The idents now featured cartoon draws of famous UK sights, like the Big Ben, the Tower Bridge or the Stonehenge, shooting fireworks, followed by the looped, 15-second long sequence with exploding firework animations. The idents had a xylophone-and-trumpet music, with firework sounds playing in the background. Like the 1997 idents, the logo is placed at the bottom.

BBC Prime's final rebrand took place in August 2006, when BBC Learning was discontinued and the channel's gradual replacement started. The logo featured the 1997 logo being placed inside a turquoise circle (although the 1997 logo remained in use as the DOG). The idents consisted of differently coloured circles as people who do different situations, like going on a rollercoaster, jumping and swimming in the pool, or the grass being clipped with a lawnmower. These idents were used until BBC Prime was completely replaced by BBC Entertainment on 11 November 2009.

Availability

The channel was available in many areas through satellite and cable television

In order to cater to a wider audience, who do not have English their first language, BBC Prime carried subtitles in Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Czech, Polish, Romanian, Hungarian, Italian, Hebrew and Serbian. The Asian service also had subtitles in Chinese, Thai, and Korean.

A similar channel, called BBC Japan, launched in Japan on 1 December 2004, but ceased broadcasting on 30 April 2006 owing to problems with its local distributor.

Replacement

Main article: BBC Entertainment

In September 2006 it was announced that the BBC Prime brand was to be phased out and replaced by BBC Entertainment, one of a number of new international channels planned by BBC Worldwide.[6]

The process began with the Asian services, which switched on 6 October 2006, followed by the South African service on 1 September 2008.[7] BBC Prime was completely replaced by BBC Entertainment on 11 November 2009.[8]

Notes

  1. ^ BBC Prime – faqs Why has BBC LEARNING ended?[permanent dead link‍]
  2. ^ From us to them; How the BBC became a world player, The Independent, 11 October 1997
  3. ^ BBC to buy out int'l partners, Variety, March 16, 1998
  4. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". BBC Prime. Archived from the original on 14 July 2001. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  5. ^ Handbook – Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, Secretariat, Commonwealth Broadcasting Association, 1997, page 59
  6. ^ Clarke, Steve (7 September 2006). "BBC Worldwide bows new channels". Variety. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
  7. ^ "Four BBC Worldwide channels for DStv". Bizcommunity.com. 11 June 2008. Retrieved 9 July 2008.
  8. ^ "BBC Prime rebranded as BBC Entertainment". Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 4 November 2009.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BBC_Prime&oldid=999700273"