UK Horizons
| Ownership | |
|---|---|
| Owner | UKTV (BBC Worldwide/Flextech) |
UK Horizons was a television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom, as part of the UKTV network of channels. The channel was in existence between 1997 and 2004.
History
Launch
UK Horizons launched on 1 November 1997 as part of the initial expansion of the UKTV network, also launching UK Arena, CBeebies and UK Style. The channel would focus on documentaries, primarily from the BBC, who held a 50% stake in the UKTV network through BBC Worldwide. The channel was named after the BBC programme Horizon which itself broadcast these type of reports in their programme.[1] The use of BBC programme brands for the new channels also occurred in the case of UK Arena. The launch editor was Bryher Scudamore, the channel manager was Allison McGourty, and the deputy editor Eddie Tulasiewicz.[2]
The channel used abridged versions of the majority of the programmes it used due to the cutting down of programmes to fit commercial timeslots as opposed to terrestrial slots. However, the channel also produced extended versions of top BBC brands such as Top Gear and Tomorrow's World.
Closure
The channel was closed on 8 March 2004, when the channel's output was split two ways. The channel retaining the UK Horizons EPG position was renamed UKTV Documentary and would feature the best of all documentaries on the network that did not specifically fall into one of the other channels area, such as UKTV History. The other new channel launched was UKTV People, focusing on the eccentric lives of the British people and containing programmes and features looking into the way Britain works.[3][4] These two channels have since rebranded as Eden and Blighty respectively as part of the 2008/9 rebranding of all UKTV channels to unique names. The latter channel has since closed down in 2013 and was replaced by Drama.
Identity
The original UK Horizons identity featured the theme of a circle and a split screen. The screen would be split horizontally at the centre, with two separate images coming together to form one circle in the centre of the screen. Examples involved an astronaut's helmet and a compass forming a circle and a bird cage and a steering wheel. The look was accompanied by the generic logo style consisting of a box, containing the UK prefix, and the station name written over a line.
This look lasted until 2002 when it was replaced by a cylindrical robot, with a large circular eye in the centre with two jet engines above and to the left and right of the main body. The robot was seen zooming around various environments, including world destinations, a tube and a multi coloured vortex. The look was accompanied by a plain UK Horizons logo, stylised as UK Horizons, with a target scope like icon added to the right hand end of the logo.
See also
References
- ^ "UK Horizons 1997 - 2004". TVARK. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
- ^ "Trade Talk - Leading light". Broadcastnow. 2002-06-13.
- ^ "UK Horizons to close". Digital Spy. 2004-02-03.
- ^ Gibson, Owen (2004-02-04). "UKTV launches set to raise hackles". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 26 May 2010.