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More4
CountryUnited Kingdom/Ireland
Ownership
OwnerChannel Four Television Corporation

More4 is a digital television channel, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel launched on 10 October 2005.[1]

The channel is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky and on UK cable networks Virgin Media and Smallworld Cable. In Switzerland the channel is available on UPC Cablecom and in Ireland on UPC Ireland, Magnet Networks and Sky.

Content

When the channel first launched in 2005, it encouraged viewers by showing the first run of critically acclaimed US dramas including The West Wing, showing season 6 and 7 back to back, from its sister digital station E4 to More4 and Without a Trace from Channel 4. The channel also carries (or has carried) other American imports such as The Daily Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and repeats of Channel 4 programmes including game show Deal or No Deal, reality TV show Brat Camp, investigative series Dispatches, and the controversial BodyShock. Daytime content includes classic films and reruns of shows such as Hill Street Blues and ER.

The channel also carried Morgan Spurlock's reality TV show 30 Days and American dramas such as The Closer. The channel featured a nightly discussion programme Starkey's Last Word hosted by David Starkey during the Autumn line-up. This show was originally called The Last Word and hosted alternately by Stanley Johnson, Mark Dolan, Hardeep Singh Kohli and David Mitchell and occasional special guest hosts such as Morgan Spurlock.

On midweek days, it shows hour-long and feature-length documentaries including Channel 4's Cutting Edge films. On its first night, the channel led with the satirical docudrama A Very Social Secretary about the affair between David Blunkett, the former British Home Secretary, and Kimberly Quinn.

In April 2006, More4 broadcast a live hypnosurgery hernia operation.

Having shown all five weekday editions of The Daily Show since More4's launch, in January 2011 the channel scaled back its commitment to one episode a week in order to increase investment in its arts programming.[2]

On 23 January 2012, More4 refocused towards more lifestyle based content.[3] Documentaries which previously aired on the channel moved to its parent station Channel 4. Previously, More4 concentrated on lifestyle, documentaries and arts programming competing with BBC Four and Sky Arts. The channel broadcasts between 09:00-06:00 daily.

Branding

More4 logo from 10th October 2005 - 22nd January 2012

2005–2012

More4 share of viewing 2005-2007 BARB figures

In September 2005, Channel 4 began running teaser trailers for the new station (although the name was neither mentioned nor seen in the adverts).[1] Showing neon lettering, the teasers hinted at "adult entertainment". Some people may have been confused by the deliberate double-meaning of these trailers and mistakenly presumed the new channel would be of a pornographic nature.[4] The Daily Mail refused to accept launch advertising for the channel on these grounds. Advertisements starting at the end of September made it much clearer that the "adult entertainment" being offered was the 'intelligent and insightful' programming. Viewing figures for the launch date gave More4 an average figure of 269,000 viewers, compared to E4's 296,000. The original More4 branding was designed by Spin.

2012–present

On 23 January 2012, More4 adopted a new logo and on-air branding.[5] The logo and channel idents were designed by London-based design and motion company ManvsMachine and Channel 4's in-house agency, 4Creative.[6] The repositioning of the brand coincided with the channel's move towards more lifestyle content and a move away from documentaries and arts. The idents focus on moving mechanical "scrapbooks" which also refers to the Digital Scrapbook platform.[7]

Availability

Space was reserved on Freeview multiplex C for the channel. However, despite Channel 4 saying that the channel would appear on multiplex C, the channel appeared on multiplex 2. A place holder appeared on the Freeview EPG at number 13 on 13 September and after a time, ran a looping teaser trailer. More4 +1 became available on the DTT platform on 14 December 2005. It was removed on 18 May 2006, to make way for live coverage of Big Brother, and the Freeview launch of Film4 later in the year.

While More4 is available on most cable platforms, More4 +1 was available on Virgin Media until 20 August 2007 when it was replaced by Channel 4 +1 across the digital television network. It was re-added on 15 January 2013.

Despite initial advertising and official internet communication that it would be free-to-air on satellite television, More4 was encrypted under Sky's pay TV scheme until 6 May 2008 when it dropped its NDS encryption and went free-to-air. It joined the BBC and ITV's new satellite platform, Freesat on the same day.

More4 is available outside the UK where it is available to viewers in Ireland via Sky and UPC Ireland's digital service. This led to further speculation that Channel 4 would eventually launch on Sky in Ireland, which it did in December 2006. Channel 4 has already made its other flagship channels: E4, E4 +1, Film4 and Film4 +1 available in Ireland via Sky, UPC Ireland digital TV providers. Channel 4 itself is available on almost all Irish cable and MMDS systems (in some cases Channel 4 is replaced with S4C). In Switzerland, the channel is available among other Channel 4 branded channels on UPC Cablecom and on Swisscom TV.[8]

More4 +2 launched on 16 April 2012 on Sky.[9] The temporary channel, which aired for a limited period between 7.:45 pm and 11.00 pm, was short lived, because it closed on 26 June 2012 ahead of the launch of 4seven on 4 July.[10]

More4 HD

Channel 4 anticipated that More4 HD would launch in 2011, however a launch did not occur.[11] As part of More4's rebrand in January 2012, ManvsMachine created the channel logo for More4 HD.[12] On 14 September 2012, Channel 4 announced that More4 HD would launch on Sky.[13] The channel then launched on 4 February 2013.[14] More4 HD also became available to Virgin Media viewers on channel 203 on 1 October 2013.

Programming

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Channel 4's More4 makes its debut". BBC News. 10 October 2005.
  2. ^ "More4 cuts back The Daily Show to one episode a week". The Guardian. 20 December 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  3. ^ "More4 is evolving". Channel 4. 3 November 2011.
  4. ^ "Do we need any more digital TV channels?". BBC News. 1 November 2005.
  5. ^ "More 4 rebrand coming 23rd January". Entertainment Interactive. 13 January 2012.
  6. ^ "A new identity for More4". Creative Review. 24 January 2011.
  7. ^ ManvsMachine - More4 Rebrand 2012
  8. ^ "Channels - Digital TV". UPC Cablecom. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  9. ^ "Channel 4 launching 'More4+2′ channel". imediamonkey. 20 March 2012.
  10. ^ "Channel 4's 4seven catch-up channel to launch on July 4". Digital Spy. 22 May 2012.
  11. ^ "HD to become C4's standard delivery format" (PDF). Channel 4 Television Corporation. 16 March 2011.
  12. ^ "More4 Rebrand". ManvsMachine. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
  13. ^ "Sky customers to enjoy comprehensive access to the best of Channel 4". Channel 4. 14 September 2012.
  14. ^ "More4 HD launches this Monday". Entertainment Interactive. 2 February 2013.
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