True Entertainment was a former British

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...

television channel that was launched on 3 August 2009, replacing Showcase TV. The change was originally scheduled to happen on 1 July 2009, but a late change put the change "on hold until further notice". Whilst the bulk of its programming were movies, similar to sister channels True Movies 1 and True Movies 2, the channel aimed to establish itself as a general entertainment channel. Its licence first appeared on the Ofcom website in January 2007 (initially named "Toon TV", this was changed to " AnimeCentral" in June 2007, to "True Entertainment" in June 2008, and to "Showcase TV" on 26 August 2008. It then changed back to "True Entertainment" on 10 June 2009. Its logo is the same as the True Movies 1 and True Movies 2. On 5 July 2010, True Entertainment was launched on

Freesat Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Digital UK. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008. Free ...

. On 1 March 2011, True Entertainment launched on

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...

. True Entertainment was launched on

Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...

channel 61, with the exception of transmitters in Wales, on 6 August 2013. It was accompanied by a refreshed schedule to take into account the new Freeview viewers. A temporary duplicate launched on channel 126 on Virgin Media at midnight on 22 July 2018, a slot previously vacated by

Alibi An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...

prior to the

UKTV UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through ...

channels' removals, until the network was restored on 11 August 2018. ''True Entertainment +1'', a one-hour

timeshift channel A timeshift channel (sometimes referred to as a +1 channel) is a television channel carrying time-delayed reruns of its "parent" channel's programming. This channel runs alongside their parent: the term "timeshift" does not refer to a network br ...

, was launched on 25 February 2013. The channel was replaced by ''True Drama'' on 4 June 2013. The channel relaunched on 3 April 2014, replacing BuzMuzik, which closed due to CSC bringing

Starz TV Starz TV (formerly Fizz TV) was a British free-to-air music channel, owned by TRACE Group. History Fizz TV was launched on 24 January 2005 on Sky. The output of the station was music videos from a range of genres that were popular in the char ...

to their list. It closed again on 17 August 2015, with its slot being bought by the Information TV group for Showcase, which moved from channel 192, as its slot was bought by

BT Group BT Group plc ( trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, bro ...

for their AMC from BT channel. On 30 September 2016, it returned, replacing True Drama. The channel was launched on Virgin Media on 21 July 2018. On 24 July 2019, it was announced that the channel would be closed and will be replaced by the relaunch of

Sony Channel Sony Channel is a brand of general entertainment television channels, owned by Sony Pictures Television. It was previously known as Sony Entertainment Television (SET), but many of the channels, except the Indian television channel, were rebrand ...

from 10 September 2019.

Former Programming

* ''

Born and Bred ''Born and Bred'' was a British light-hearted drama series aired on BBC One which ran from 21 April 2002 to 3 August 2005. It was created by Chris Chibnall and Nigel McCrery. Initially the cast was led by James Bolam and Michael French as a ...

'' * '' Chicago Hope'' * '' Due South'' * '' Gunsmoke'' * ''

Hamish Macbeth Hamish Macbeth is the lackadaisical police constable of the fictional Scottish Highland town of Lochdubh, in a series of murder mystery novels created by M. C. Beaton (Marion Chesney). Considered by many to be a useless, lazy moocher, Macbeth ...

'' * ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...

'' * ''

Highway to Heaven ''Highway to Heaven'' is an American fantasy drama television series that ran on NBC from September 19, 1984, to August 4, 1989. The series starred Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent to Earth in order to help people in need. Victo ...

'' * ''

Little House on the Prairie The ''Little House on the Prairie'' books is a series of American children's novels written by Laura Ingalls Wilder (b. Laura Elizabeth Ingalls). The stories are based on her childhood and adolescence in the American Midwest (Wisconsin, Kansas, ...

'' * '' Ironside'' * ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. Th ...

'' * '' Murder, She Wrote'' * '' Napoleon and Josephine'' * '' The New Avengers'' * ''

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

'' * ''

The Persuaders! ''The Persuaders!'' is an action-comedy series starring Tony Curtis and Roger Moore, produced by ITC Entertainment, and initially broadcast on ITV and ABC in 1971. The show has been called 'the last major entry in the cycle of adventure ser ...

'' * '' Providence'' * ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a 1967 British television series about an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a mysterious coastal village, where his captors designate him as Number Six and try to find out why he abruptl ...

'' * ''

Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) ''Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)'' is a British private detective television series, starring Mike Pratt and Kenneth Cope respectively as the private detectives Jeff Randall and Marty Hopkirk. The series was created by Dennis Spooner and p ...

'' * '' Road to Avonlea'' * ''

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

'' * ''

Taggart ''Taggart'' is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries "Killer" from 6 until 20 Septembe ...

'' * '' Tenko'' * ''

Touched by an Angel ''Touched by an Angel'' is an American fantasy drama television series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994, and ran for 211 episodes over nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and executive produced ...

'' * '' The Vice'' * ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book '' Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 fil ...

References

External links

* CSC Media Group English-language television stations in the United Kingdom Sony Pictures Television Television channels and stations established in 2009 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2019 {{UK-tv-channel-stub