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Challenge (TV channel)

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Challenge TV
CountryUnited Kingdom
Ownership
OwnerSky plc

Challenge is a British digital television channel owned by Sky plc. The channel mostly transmits game shows from the UK and around the world, with some original productions.

History

The Family Channel UK

The channel was originally established as The Family Channel, a British localisation of the American cable network of the same name, owned by U.S. firm International Family Entertainment, officially launched 1 September 1993.

British version of the The Family Channel came about when TVS was sold on 1 February 1993 to the American Company International Family Entertainment Inc. for US$68.5 million, which included the ownership of MTM Enterprises. In June 1993, prior to its launch, IFE sold a 39% stake in the channel to Flextech.[1]

The Family Channel did produce some UK original programming (see below), but heavily relied upon content from MTM and TVS's archives, and other U.S. imports. It was claimed that the channel produced more original series worldwide than any other cable or satellite network.

Family Challenge Weekend

In April 1996, IFE sold its remaining 61% share to Flextech,[2][3] giving them full ownership of the venture and production studio in Maidstone.[4] The deal did not include any of the programme archive which included many TVS game shows, such as Catchphrase and All Clued Up, but the channel did continually broadcast these series until 2000.

Flextech planned to re-launch the channel as Challenge during the autumn of 1996, with daytime targeted towards housewives, and evening and weekend programming focused on game shows. However, Flextech decided to delay the full re-launch of The Family Channel so it would not compete with the October 1996 launch of Granada Sky Broadcasting's suite of channels—which included the potential competitor Granada Good Life.[5]

Instead, on 5 October 1996, the weekend slots were rebranded as "Family Challenge Weekend" which focused mainly on game shows, and had in vision presenters during the whole evening. During the week, The Family Channel continued to broadcast its wide range of programmes, including dramas and comedy.[6][7]

Challenge

On 3 February 1997, The Family Channel re-branded as Challenge TV, devoting the majority of its lineup to game shows.

The channel was originally a primetime block from 17:00 to 00:30 and shared its channel slot with The Children's Channel (which closed on 3 April 1998) and TV Travel Shop until 1999, which resulted in Challenge being able to broadcast 24 hours a day. From 3 February 1997 to the end of 1998, between 00:30 and 06:00, the channel was branded as "Family Late", which continued to air its previous entertainment programming.

Sky takeover

On 7 April 2009, Virgin Media, the then current owner, formally began the sale of its content operation.[8] On 13 July 2010, Sky and Virgin Media announced that Sky has completed the acquisition of Virgin Media Television (VMtv) following regulatory approval in the Republic of Ireland.[9]

On 15 September 2010, Sky announced a number of its sister channels Bravo, Bravo 2 and Channel One, were closed, which resulted in a small number of programmes being moved. On 25 January 2011, it was confirmed that Total Nonstop Action Wrestling programming would start broadcasting on Challenge from 3 February 2011.[10]

On 1 February 2011, Challenge replaced Channel One's Freeview space on the Freeview multiplex,[11][12][13][13][14]

Challenge launched on the free-to-air satellite platform Freesat on 3 December 2012.[15]

On 7 October 2013, the channel went through a revamp, which included a new logo, and a set of animated characters, named the "Challengers", as idents to represent each type of show; such as Les Play for classics, Ellie for lighter physical shows or Cecil the Geek for science shows.[16][17]

Additional information

The channel also aired some poker game shows including World Poker Tour, Celebrity Blackjack and Casino Casino. It also launched a very short-lived spin-off channel in 2006, Player (which was replaced just several months later by Bravo 2), which mainly focused on the poker-related programming that Challenge had transmitted. Challenge only aired programmes in the letterbox format (4:3), but on 3 June 2008, it switched to the widescreen format (16:9) along with all other Living TV Group channels. This was coupled with a revamped logo and a new set of idents. The channel used to have interactive features for digital cable and satellite viewers watching certain shows, enabling them to play along at home, and it used to offer many games and competitions before the start of each programme, during commercial breaks and after the end of each programme.

Programmes

Main article: List of programmes broadcast by Challenge

Programming blocks

Challenge have had various programming blocks, for example, Fully Loaded!, a former morning programming block from around 2007 which consisted of Win, Lose or Draw, Wheel of Fortune, Catchphrase, Bullseye and Family Fortunes.

Other programming

Although the bulk of Challenge's schedule consists of game shows, the channel also broadcasts some other entertainment programming. Challenge is the UK rights holder for TNA Wrestling, airing Impact Wrestling, TNA Xplosion and delayed coverage of pay-per-view events, alongside original home-produced output for the channel, including BWC: British Wrestling Round-Up, Wrestle Talk TV and the reality series TNA British Boot Camp.

A gaming review show, Videogame Nation, also airs on Saturday mornings (originally Sundays). In August 2014, Challenge aired its first coverage of championship darts - delayed broadcasts of the PDC Sydney Masters.

Presenters

Continuity announcers

References

  1. ^ "UK media group Flextech. (invests in UK Family Channel) (Brief Article)". Broadcasting & Cable. 7 June 1993. Retrieved 13 January 2016 – via Highbeam Research.
  2. ^ "Flextech absorbs Family's U.K. assets. (Flextech PLC; International Family Entertainment Inc.)".
  3. ^ Fri, 5 Apr 1996 (5 April 1996). "Buy-up strategy covers all exits | Archive". Marketing Week. Retrieved 30 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ "International Family Entertainment Agrees To Consolidate The Family Channel Uk Into Flextech Plc. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. 20 March 1996. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  5. ^ Fri, 15 Nov 1996 (15 November 1996). "Family Channel hands relaunch task to TBWA | Archive". Marketing Week. Retrieved 30 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ The times newspaper and the Guardian newspaper October 1996
  7. ^ "Family Channel". TV Live.
  8. ^ "Virgin Media begins sale of its content operations". Media Week. 7 April 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "BSkyB and Virgin Media Complete Sale of VMtv". Virgin Media. 13 July 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  10. ^ "WWE News, TNA News, WWE Payback Results (6/1)". WrestlingNewsSource.Com. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  11. ^ Sweney, Mark (15 September 2010). "BSkyB to close Bravo and Channel One". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2010. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ "BARB reported channels". overnights.tv. 17 January 2011.
  13. ^ a b "TNA set for Freeview". The Sun. 25 January 2011.
  14. ^ Paul (26 January 2011). "Entertainment Interactive". Entertainment-iuk.com. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  15. ^ "Challenge TV launching on Freesat". Join Freesat. 1 December 2012.
  16. ^ "Challenge and Pick get an exciting new look". Skymedia.co.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  17. ^ "An Exciting New Look On". Challenge. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
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