History
Conception
Before Channel 4 and S4C, Britain had three terrestrial television services: BBC1, BBC2, and ITV. The Broadcasting Act 1980 began the process of adding a fourth; Channel 4 was formally created, along with its Welsh counterpart, by an act of Parliament in 1982. After some months of test broadcasts, it began scheduled transmissions on 2 November 1982 from Scala House, the former site of the Scala Theatre. The notion of a second commercial broadcaster in the United Kingdom had been around since the inception of ITV in 1954 and its subsequent launch in 1955; the idea of an "ITV2" was long expected and pushed for. Indeed, television sets sold throughout the 1970s and early 1980s often had a spare tuning button labelled "ITV 2" or "IBA 2". Throughout ITV's history and until Channel 4 finally became a reality, a perennial dialogue existed between the GPO, the government, the ITV companies and other interested parties, concerning the form such an expansion of commercial broadcasting would take. Most likely, politics had the biggest impact in leading to a delay of almost three decades before the second commercial channel became a reality. One clear benefit of the "late arrival" of the channel was that its frequency allocations at each transmitter had already been arranged in the early 1960s, when the launch of an ITV2 was anticipated. This led to very good coverage across most of the country and few problems of interference with other UK-based transmissions; a stark contrast to the problems associated with Channel 5's launch almost 15 years later. "ITV2" is not to be confused with ITV's digital television channel launched in 1998.Wales
At the time the fourth service was being considered, a movement in Wales lobbied for the creation of dedicated service that would air Welsh language programmes, then only catered for at "off peak" times on BBC Wales and HTV. The campaign was taken so seriously by Gwynfor Evans, former president ofLaunch and IBA control
The first voice heard on Channel 4's opening day of 2 November 1982 was that of continuity announcer Paul Coia who said: "Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to be able to say to you, welcome to Channel Four." Following the announcement, the channel headed into a montage of clips from its programmes set to the station's signature tune, "Fourscore", written by David Dundas, which would form the basis of the station's jingles for its first decade. The first programme to air on the channel was the teatime game show '' Countdown'', produced byChannel Four Television Corporation
After control of the station passed from the Channel Four Television Company to theSince 2006
Before the digital switch-over, Channel 4 raised concerns over how it might finance its public service obligations afterward. In April 2006, it was announced that Channel 4's digital switch-over costs would be paid for by licence fee revenues. On 28 March 2007, Channel 4 announced plans to launch a music channel "4Music" as a joint venture with British media company EMAP, which would include carriage on the Freeview platform. On 15 August 2008, 4Music was launched across the UK. Channel 4 announced interest in launching a high-definition version of Film4 on Freeview, to coincide with the launch of Channel 4 HD. However, the fourth HD slot was given to Channel 5 instead. Channel 4 has since acquired a 50 per cent stake in EMAP's TV business for a reported £28 million. In June 2017, it was announced that Alex Mahon would be the next chief executive, and would take over from David Abraham, who left in November 2017. On 25 September 2021, Channel 4 and several of its sub-channels went off air after an incident at Red Bee Media's playout centre in west London. Channel 4,Planned privatisation
Channel 4's parent company,Public service remit
Channel 4 was established with, and continues to hold, a remit of public service obligations which it must fulfil. The remit changes periodically, as dictated by various broadcasting and communications acts, and is regulated by the various authorities Channel 4 has been answerable to; originally the IBA, then the ITC and now Ofcom. The preamble of the remit as per theCarriage
Channel 4 was carried from its beginning on analogue terrestrial, which was then the standard means of television broadcast in the United Kingdom. It continued to be broadcast through these means until the changeover toFunding
During its first decade, Channel 4 was funded by subscriptions collected by the IBA from the ITV regional companies, in return for which each company had the right to sell advertisements on the fourth channel in its own region and keep the proceeds. This meant that ITV and Channel 4 were not in competition with each other, and often promoted each other's programmes. A change in funding came about under the Broadcasting Act 1990 when the new corporation was afforded the ability to fund itself. Originally this arrangement left a "safety net" guaranteed minimum income should the revenue fall too low, funded by large insurance payments made to the ITV companies. Such a subsidy was never required, however, and these premiums were phased out by the government in 1998. After the link with ITV was cut, the cross-promotion which had existed between ITV and Channel 4 also ended. In 2007, owing to severe funding difficulties, the channel sought government help and was granted a payment of £14 million over a six-year period. The money was to have come from the television licence fee, and would have been the first time that money from the licence fee had been given to any broadcaster other than the BBC. However, the plan was scrapped by theProgramming
Channel 4 is a "publisher-broadcaster", meaning that it commissions or "buys" all of its programming from companies independent of itself. It was the first UK broadcaster to do so on a significant scale; such commissioning is a stipulation which is included in its licence to broadcast. In consequence, numerous independent production companies emerged, though external commissioning on theMost watched programmes
The following is a list of the 10 most watched shows on Channel 4 since launch, based on Live +28 data supplied byComedy
During the station's early days, the screenings of innovative short one-off comedy films produced by a rotating line-up of alternative comedians went under the title of '' The Comic Strip Presents''. '' The Tube'' and '' Saturday Live/Friday Night Live'' also launched the careers of a number of comedians and writers. Channel 4 broadcast a number of popular American imports, including '' Roseanne'', '' Friends'', ''Factual and current affairs
Channel 4 has a strong reputation for history programmes and documentaries. Its news service, ''FourDocs
FourDocs was an online documentary site provided by Channel 4. It allowed viewers to upload their own documentaries to the site for others to view. It focused on documentaries of between 3 and 5 minutes. The website also included an archive of classic documentaries, interviews with documentary filmmakers and short educational guides to documentary-making. It won a Peabody Award in 2006. The site also included a strand for documentaries of under 59 seconds, called "Microdocs".Schools programming
Channel 4 is obliged to carry schools programming as part of its remit and licence.ITV Schools on Channel 4
Since 1957 ITV had produced schools programming, which became an obligation. In 1987, five years after the station was launched, the IBA afforded ITV free carriage of these programmes during Channel 4's then-unused weekday morning hours. This arrangement allowed the ITV companies to fulfil their obligation to provide schools programming, whilst allowing ITV itself to broadcast regular programmes complete with advertisements. During the times in which schools programmes were aired Central Television provided most of the continuity with play-out originating from Birmingham.Channel 4 Schools/4Learning
After the restructuring of the station in 1993, ITV's obligations to provide such programming on Channel 4's airtime passed to Channel 4 itself, and the new service became Channel 4 Schools, with the new corporation administering the service and commissioning its programmes, some still from ITV, others from independent producers. In March 2008, the 4Learning interactive new media commission Slabovia.tv was launched. The Slabplayer online media player showing TV shows for teenagers was launched on 26 May 2008. The schools programming has always had elements which differ from its normal presentational package. In 1993, the Channel 4 Schools idents featured famous people in one category, with light shining on them in front of an industrial-looking setting supplemented by instrumental calming music. This changed in 1996 with the circles look to numerous children touching the screen, forming circles of information then picked up by other children. The last child would produce the Channel 4 logo in the form of three vertical circles, with another in the middle and to the left containing the Channel 4 logo. A present feature of presentation was a countdown sequence featuring, in 1993 a slide with the programme name, and afterwards an extended sequence matching the channel branding. In 1996, this was an extended ident with timer in top left corner, and in 1999 following the adoption of the squares look, featured a square with timer slowly make its way across the right of the screen with people learning and having fun while doing so passing across the screen. It finished with the Channel 4 logo box on the right of the screen and the name 'Channel 4 Schools' being shown. This was adapted in 2000 when the service's name was changed to '4Learning'. In 2001, this was altered to various scenes from classrooms around the world and different parts of school life. The countdown now flips over from the top, right, bottom and left with each second, and ends with four coloured squares, three of which are aligned vertically to the left of the Channel 4 logo, which is contained inside the fourth box. The tag 'Learning' is located directly beneath the logo. The final countdown sequence lasted between 2004 and 2005 and featured a background video of current controversial issues, overlaid with upcoming programming information. The video features people in the style of graffiti enacting the overuse of CCTV cameras, fox hunting, computer viruses and pirate videos, relationships, pollution of the seas and violent lifestyles. Following 2005, no branded section has been used for schools programmes.Religious programmes
From the outset, Channel 4 did not conform to the expectations of conventional religious broadcasting in the UK. John Ranelagh, first Commissioning Editor for Religion, made his priority 'broadening the spectrum of religious programming' and more 'intellectual' concerns. He also ignored the religious programme advisory structure that had been put in place by the BBC, and subsequently adopted by ITV. Ranelagh's first major commission caused a furore, a three-part documentary series called '' Jesus: The Evidence''. The programmes, transmitted during the Easter period of 1984, seemed to advocate the idea that the Gospels were unreliable, Jesus may have indulged in witchcraft, and that he may not have even existed. The series triggered a public outcry, and marked a significant moment in the deterioration in the relationship between the UK's broadcasting and religious institutions.Film
Numerous genres of film-making – such as comedy, drama, documentary, adventure/action, romance and horror/thriller – are represented in the channel's schedule. From the launch of Channel 4 until 1998, film presentations on C4 would often be broadcast under the "Film on Four" banner. In March 2005, Channel 4 screened the uncut Lars von Trier film '' The Idiots'', which includes unsimulated sexual intercourse, making it the first UK terrestrial channel to do so. The channel had previously screened other films with similar material but censored and with warnings. Since 1 November 1998, Channel 4 has had a digital subsidiary channel dedicated to the screening of films. This channel launched as a paid subscription channel under the name "FilmFour", and was relaunched in July 2006 as a free-to-air channel under the current name of " Film4". The Film4 channel carries a wide range of film productions, including acquired and Film4-produced projects. Channel 4's general entertainment channels E4 andGlobal warming
On 8 March 2007, Channel 4 screened a documentary, '' The Great Global Warming Swindle'' stating that global warming is "a lie" and "the biggest scam of modern times". The programme's accuracy were disputed on multiple points, and commentators criticised it for being one-sided, observing that the mainstream position on global warming is supported by the scientific academies of the major industrialised nations. There were 246 complaints to Ofcom as of 25 April 2007, including allegations that the programme falsified data. The programme was criticised by scientists and scientific organisations, and various scientists who participated in the documentary claimed their views had been distorted. '' Against Nature'': An earlier controversial Channel 4 programme made by Martin Durkin which was also critical of the environmental movement and was charged by the UK'sAhmadinejad's Christmas speech
In the '' Alternative Christmas address'' of 2008, a Channel 4 tradition since 1993 with a different presenter each year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a thinly veiled attack on the United States by claiming that Christ would have been against "bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers". The broadcast was rebuked by human rights activists, politicians and religious figures, including4Talent
4Talent is an editorial branch of Channel 4's commissioning wing, which co-ordinates Channel 4's various talent development schemes for film, television, radio, new media and other platforms and provides a showcasing platform for new talent. There are bases in London, Birmingham, Glasgow and Belfast, serving editorial hubs known respectively as 4Talent National, 4Talent Central England, 4Talent Scotland and 4Talent Northern Ireland. These four sites include features, profiles and interviews in text, audio and video formats, divided into five zones: TV, Film, Radio, New Media and Extras, which covers other arts such as theatre, music and design. 4Talent also collates networking, showcasing and professional development opportunities, and runs workshops, masterclasses, seminars and showcasing events across the UK.''4Talent Magazine''
''4Talent Magazine'' is the creative industries magazine from 4Talent, which launched in 2005 as ''TEN4'' magazine under the editorship of Dan Jones. ''4Talent Magazine'' is currently edited by Nick Carson. Other staff include deputy editor Catherine Bray and production editor Helen Byrne. The magazine covers rising and established figures of interest in the creative industries, a remit including film, radio, TV, comedy, music, new media and design. Subjects are usually UK-based, with contributing editors based in Northern Ireland, Scotland, London and Birmingham, but the publication has been known to source international content from Australia, America, continental Europe and the Middle East. The magazine is frequently organised around a theme for the issue, for instance giving half of November 2007's pages over to profiling winners of the annual 4Talent Awards. An unusual feature of the magazine's credits is the equal prominence given to the names of writers, photographers, designers and illustrators, contradicting standard industry practice of more prominent writer bylines. It is also recognisable for its 'wraparound' covers, which use the front and back as a continuous canvas – often produced by guest artists. Although ''4Talent Magazine'' is technically a newsstand title, a significant proportion of its readers are subscribers. It started life as a quarterly 100-page title, but has since doubled in size and is now published bi-annually.Scheduling
Since the 2010s, Channel 4 has become the public service broadcaster most likely to amend their schedule at short notice, if programmes are not gaining sufficient viewers in their intended slots. Programmes which have been heavily promoted by the channel before launch and then have lost their slot a week later include ''Sixteen: Class of 2021''. This was a fly-on-the-wall school documentary which lost its prime 9pm slot after one episode on 31 August 2021, even with a 4 star review in ''The Guardian''. Channel 4 moved the next episode to a late night (post-primetime) slot on a different day and continued to broadcast the remainder of the four-part series in this timeslot. Also in 2021, the channel launched ''Epic Wales: Valleys, Mountains and Coast'', a version of their More4 documentaries ''The Pennines: Backbone of Britain'', ''The Yorkshire Dales and The Lakes'' and ''Devon and Cornwall''. set in Wales. ''Epic Wales: Valleys, Mountains and Coast''. was initially broadcast in a prime Friday night slot at 8pm, in the hour before their comedy shows, but was dumped by the channel before the series was completed and replaced by repeats. In February 2022, the channel scheduled a new version of the show under the title ''Wonderous Wales'' with a Saturday night slot at 8pm but after one episode, they decided to take this series out of their schedule, moving up a repeat of ''Matt Baker: Our Farm in the Dales'' to 8pm and putting an episode of ''Escape to the Chateau'' in Baker's slot at 7pm. Other programmes moved out of primetime in 2022, include ''Mega Mansion Hunters'', Channel 4's answer to ''Selling Sunset'', which saw its third and final episode moved past midnight with repeats put in the schedule before it, and '' Richard Hammond's Crazy Contraptions'', a primetime Friday night competitive engineering show which saw its grand final moved to 11pm on a Sunday night. Instead of Hammond's competition, Channel 4 decided to schedule the fifth series of ''Devon and Cornwall'' in its place at 8pm on Friday nights, with this documentary being put up against Channel 5's ''World's Most Scenic Railway Journeys'' in the same timeslot. A new series of ''Unreported World'' was due to start on 18 February 2022 with a report by Seyi Rhodes in South Sudan, but was dropped due to an extended storm report on ''Channel 4 News''. When the programme was rescheduled for following Fridays, it was dropped again as ''Channel 4 News'' was extended due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. ''Winter Paralympics: Today in Beijing'' is due to take the ''Unreported World'' slot from 11 March 2022 though this sports programme may also be moved around the schedule to continue the extended news programmes reporting on the conflict. The invasion of Ukraine has also prompted Channel 4 to acquire and schedule the comedy series ''Presentation
Since its launch in 1982, Channel 4 has used the same logo which consists of a stylised numeral "4" made up of nine differently-shaped blocks. The original version was designed byRegions/international
Regions
Channel 4 has, since its inception, broadcast identical programmes and continuity throughout the United Kingdom (excluding Wales where it did not operate on analogue transmitters). At launch this made it unique, as both the BBC and ITV had long-established traditions of providing regional variations in their programming in different areas of the country. Since the launch of subsequent British television channels, Channel 4 has become typical in its lack of regional programming variations. A few exceptions exist to this rule for programming and continuity: * Some of Channel 4's schools' programming (1980s-early 1990s) was regionalised due to differences in curricula between different regions. * Advertising on Channel 4 does contain regular variation: prior to 1993, when ITV was responsible for selling Channel 4's advertising, each regional ITV company would provide the content of advertising breaks, covering the same transmitter area as themselves, and these breaks were often unique to that area. After Channel 4 became responsible for its own advertising, it continued to offer advertisers the ability to target particular audiences and divided its coverage area into six regions: London, South, Midlands, North, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Wales does not have its own advertising region; instead, its viewers receive the southern region on digital platforms intentionally broadcast to the area or the neighbouring region where terrestrial transmissions spill over into Wales. Channel 5 andInternational
Channel 4 is available in Ireland, with adverts specifically tailored towards the Irish market. The channel is registered with the broadcasting regulators in Luxembourg for terms of conduct and business within the EU/EEA while observing guidelines outlined by Ireland's BAI code. Irish advertising sales are managed by Media Link in Dublin. Where Channel 4 does not hold broadcasting rights within the Republic of Ireland such programming is unavailable. For example, the series ''Glee'' was not available on Channel 4 on Sky in Ireland due to it broadcasting onFuture possibility of regional news
With ITV plc pushing for much looser requirements on the amount of regional news and other programming it is obliged to broadcast in its ITV regions, the idea of Channel 4 taking on a regional news commitment has been considered, with the corporation in talks with Ofcom and ITV over the matter. Channel 4 believe that a scaling-back of such operations on ITV's part would be detrimental to Channel 4's national news operation, which shares much of its resources with ITV through their shared news contractor ITN. At the same time, Channel 4 also believe that such an additional public service commitment would bode well in on-going negotiations with Ofcom in securing additional funding for its other public service commitments.Channel 4 HD
In mid-2006 Channel 4 ran a six-month closed trial of HDTV, as part of the wider Freeview HD experiment via the Crystal Palace transmitter to London and parts of theAll 4
Teletext services
4-Tel/FourText
Channel 4 originally licensed an ancillary teletext service to provide schedules, programme information and features. The original service was called 4-Tel, and was produced by Intelfax, a company set up especially for the purpose. It was carried in the 400s on Oracle. In 1993, with Oracle losing its franchise to Teletext Ltd, 4-Tel found a new home in the 300s, and had its name shown in the header row. Intelfax continued to produce the service and in 2002 it was renamed FourText.Teletext on 4
In 2003, Channel 4 awarded Teletext Ltd a ten-year contract to run the channel's ancillary teletext service, named Teletext on 4. The service closed in 2008, and Teletext is no longer available on Channel 4, ITV and Channel 5.Awards and nominations
See also
* Annan Committee * '' Big 4'' * Channel 4 Banned season * Channel 4 Sheffield Pitch competition * List of Channel 4 television programmes * List of television stations in the United Kingdom *Notes
References
External links
* {{Authority control Peabody Award winners 1982 establishments in the United Kingdom Television channels and stations established in 1982 Television channels in the United Kingdom Publicly funded broadcasters International Emmy Founders Award winners