Best Direct is a home shopping
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
channel, broadcast in the United Kingdom on the
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...
platform. Additionally the channel is available
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 subscri ...
on the
Eutelsat 28A
Eutelsat 133 West A (formerly Eurobird 1, Eutelsat 28A, and Eutelsat 33C) is a Eutelsat operated Eurobird satellite, used primarily for digital television. It was launched in March 2001, and after a short period testing at 33°E, joined Eutelsat ...
satellite.
History
The Best Direct channel is owned and operated by Best Direct International Ltd. Best Direct International was formed in 1992; however, the roots of the company can be traced back to the late 1940s when William Levene (the father of the company's current chairman, Michael Levene) exhibited household products he had obtained worldwide at county shows,
fair
A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...
s and
exhibition
An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...
s.
On 14 January 2002, a sister channel – Let's Go Shopping, launched on Sky Digital. Let's Go Shopping was renamed as Best Direct + in February 2004, becoming a secondary timeshift service. In November 2009, Best Direct +'s EPG slot on Sky was sold, and became known as Blueberry TV. Best Direct continued to supply programming for the network, under a block named "Best Fitness" until Blueberry TV's sale to
QVC UK
QVC UK is a television shopping channel broadcast from the United Kingdom to the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was formed in 1993 when QVC, Inc. agreed to a deal with Sky TV to create a UK version of the US channel. "QVC – The Shopping Chan ...
in Mid-2010.
Best Direct launched on Telewest in July 2002.
In 2007, Best Direct became available to ex-NTL areas on Virgin Media, replacing Thane Direct. Best Direct was removed from Virgin Media altogether on 17 January 2014.
From 16 September 2008, Best Direct was also broadcast on the
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 Everyone TV (itself owned by all of the four UK Public broadcasting, public service broadcasters, BBC, ...
platform (channel 813), but was removed on 21 April 2009 (Later relaunched in 2016 but re-removed in 2017–2018)
In Germany, the TV broadcaster
9Live
9Live was a commercial German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For c ...
broadcast advertising from Best Direct.
References
External links
Best Direct homepage
Shopping networks in the United Kingdom
{{UK-tv-channel-stub