Ftn (TV channel)
| Ownership | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Virgin Media Television |
Ftn (Flextech Television Network) was a British television channel from Virgin Media Television (formerly known as Flextech) transmitting free-to-air on Freeview and Virgin Media, and as a subscription channel on Sky Digital. The channel was broadcast between 18:00 and 06:00 daily. It launched at 18:00 on 15 January 2003, six hours after neighbouring Freeview channel, UKTV Bright Ideas, also partially owned by Virgin Media Television which itself closed down on 14 October 2007.
Ftn's schedule featured entertainment and reality programming, and also programming from other Virgin Media Television cable channels, such as Living, Living2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Trouble, and Challenge. This provided a preview to Freeview viewers of what the other Virgin Media channels offered, in a similar fashion to BSkyB's Sky3, a channel also on Freeview.
Ftn +1 launched on Sky and Virgin Media on 9 August 2007. Despite being a one-hour timeshift, Ftn +1 only broadcast from 19:00 until 01:00 as Live Roulette TV which was shown on Ftn from 00:00 till 03:00 could not be rebroadcast an hour later for legal reasons.
Programming
- 3-2-1-Challenge
- 6ixth Sense with Colin Fry-Living
- A-Z of Bad Boys-Bravo
- The Best Of Beadle's About-Challenge
- Blue and Twos-Bravo2
- Booze Britain-Bravo2
- Booze Britain 2: Binge Nation-Bravo2
- Boston Legal-Living
- Bob and Margaret-Living
- Bullseye-Challenge
- Catchphrase-Challenge
- Celebrity Poker Club-Challenge
- Celebrity Poker Showdown-Challenge
- Close to Home-Living
- Cold Squad-Bravo
- Costa Del Street Crime-Bravo
- The Crystal Maze-Challenge
- Date My Sister-Trouble
- Da Vinci's Inquest-Trouble
- Dead Famous-Living
- Dilbert-Living
- Dog the Bounty Hunter-Bravo
- European Poker Tour-Challenge
- Fifteen To One-Challenge
- Fort Boyard-Challenge
- Ghost Towns-Living
- Gamepad-Bravo2
- Gladiators-Challegne
- Hellraisers' Handbook-Trouble
- Hollywood Star Treatment-Living
- Increase Your House Price By £10K-Challenge
- Incredible Edible Challenge-Challenge
- Inside Spearmint Rhino-Trouble
- Kath and Kim-Living
- The Krypton Factor-Challenge
- The L Word-Trouble
- Laid Bare-Bravo2
- Masters Of Horror-Bravo2
- Most Haunted - Series 1 to 7 showing on Ftn
- Most Haunted Almost Live!
- Most Haunted Live!
- My God, I'm My Dad!
- Night Stalker
- Nothing To Declare
- Poker Superstars
- Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
- Shock Movie Massacre
- Showbiz Poker
- Sin Cities
- Stars in their Eyes
- Stakeout
- Street Crime UK-Bravo
- Takeshi’s Castle-Challenge
- Teleshopping (from 5am-6am)
- Telly Addicts-Challenge
- The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
- The Ultimate Fighter
- The Warehouse
- Travel Sick
- World Series of Poker
- The X-Files-Bravo
Closure
It was announced in the summer of 2007 that Virgin Media Television was to launch a new channel, Virgin 1.[1] The new channel launched on Monday 1 October 2007.[2] The channel being intended to be Virgin Media's attempt to rival Sky1.
As a result of the launch of Virgin1, it was revealed that Ftn would close, leaving its EPG positions on Sky, Virgin Media and Freeview to Virgin 1.[3]
Ftn closed on Monday 1 October 2007 at 06:00 with Virgin 1 launching at 18:00 but actually at 21:00 on the same day.[4] At the same time, Ftn's timeshift channel Ftn+1 was replaced by Virgin1+1 on cable and satellite. With the sale of VMTV to Sky in 2010, led to Virgin1 rebranding as the Channel One before being closed on 1 February 2011.
References
- ^ "Virgin Media Television announces Virgin 1". Virgin Media Press Office. 12 June 2007. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
- ^ "Virgin 1 launch date announced". Digital Spy. 18 September 2007. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
- ^ "Launch of Virgin 1 on Freeview". Freeview.co.uk. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
- ^ "Ftn/Virgin 1 schedule (1 October 2007)". Radio Times. Retrieved 2006-09-19.
