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Rapture TV was a previously
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 ...
satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...
station (although now an exclusively online channel) operated from the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, founded in 1997. Focusing mostly on
electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...
and
extreme sports Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk of injury or death. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extre ...
, it is notable for the number of times it has failed financially only to be relaunched.


History


1997-2001

The channel was initially launched by the
United Business Media UBM plc was a British business-to-business (B2B) events organiser headquartered in London, England, before its acquisition by Informa in 2018. It had a long history as a Multinational corporation, multinational media company. Its main focus was ...
group as a
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
channel on 22 November 1997. Due to common UBM ownership, the channel shared facilities with, and was broadcast from, the
Anglia Television ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated b ...
studios in
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
. The channel was later carried
free-to-view Free-to-view (FTV) is a term used for audiovisual transmissions that are provided free without any form of continual subscription. It differs from free-to-air (FTA) in that the program is encrypted. Free-to-view vs. free-to-air The free-to-vie ...
on the analogue transponder of
FilmFour Film4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, dedicated to broadcasting films. The standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat ...
on
Astra 1A Astra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by SES (Société Européenne des Satellites), launched in December 1988. During its early days, it was often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite origi ...
at weekends, and eventually used this transponder full-time, until closing its analogue service on 12 December 1999. Shortly before this, on 27 October 1999, the channel had moved to digital broadcasting via Sky Digital, where it launched in the general entertainment section of the
EPG Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio, and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information fo ...
. Rapture made agreements with cable companies in 1999, starting with NTL in January 1999, adding 700,000 potential households, and later in September with Cable & Wireless, effective 16 October, adding 850,000 potential households. The agreement with CWC also enabled the production of five programmes for CWC's Local Channel. In May 1999, it announced that Rapture TV would start a seven-day service from March 2000, a move that would double its production output. Rapture made a production agreement with
BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first United Kingdom, British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in Digital television, digital format, as well as t ...
to produce ''Problem Page'', presented by Heather Darroch. In October 1999, Rapture TV made its first acquisition, ''Clubavision'', produced by
London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT; now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV (TV network), ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00&nbs ...
, as well as an agreement with
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
to relay thirty hours of its output per week. The channel made its first outside broadcast on 13 November 1999 at the Slope X snowboarding festival in
Battersea Park Battersea Park is a 200-acre (83-hectare) green space at Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth in London. It is situated on the south bank of the River Thames opposite Chelsea, London, Chelsea and was opened in 1858. The park occupies ...
. For New Year's Eve, the channel planned to air a five-part documentary about Radio 1 DJ
Carl Cox Carl Andrew Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, radio DJ, motorsport team owner and record producer. He is based in Frankston, Victoria, Australia. Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has perfor ...
's two gigs in Sydney and Honolulu. A notable feature of the station during this time was its "Mouse Cam", broadcast as a time filler when the station was off-air. This featured some mice in a
Habitrail Habitrail is a brand name for a hamster cage made by the Hagen corporation. It is a series of translucent plastic tubes and "houses" for use in home terrariums, designed specially for hamsters. The design of the Habitrail is modular and can be ...
-like setup, with shots changing between cameras. The station also featured one of the first
SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...
-based request shows during this era. A launch to
ITV Digital ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners ...
was planned at this time, but never came to completion. Co-founder Debbie Mason quit the channel in late January 2000, to spend more time with her family. The channel started its seven-day schedule on 7 February 2000, nearly a month ahead of the initial March 2000 target. Richard Kilgarriff left the channel in March, starting a platform of his own instead. Shortly afterwards, the channel announced a one-off celebrity special of ''That Film Show'' presented by
Neil Stuke Neil Robert Stuke ( ; born 22 February 1966 in Deal, Kent) is an English actor best known for his role of Matthew in the TV sitcom '' Game On'' and more recently for playing Billy Lamb in the BBC legal drama ''Silk''. Career Stuke played Matth ...
. Hobbins Sides devised a new identity for the channel in 2000, being implemented from 1 May that year. On 24 July, the channel was made available full-time on Sky Digital. Rapture started facing difficulties in September 2000. On 27 September a meeting was being held at the now-defunct Rapture TV studio at Anglia's facilities, eyeing a massive cut of its staff, which before the crisis was estimated to be at 40. After the cuts were announced, Rapture greenlighted its first independent commission, ''Club Class'' and a co-production with
Ministry of Sound Ministry of Sound or Ministry of Sound Group is a multimedia entertainment business based in London with a nightclub, shared workspace and private members' club, worldwide events operation, music publisher (popular music), music publishing busin ...
to broadcast a concert held at the
Millennium Dome The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millen ...
.


2001 shutdown, first relaunch

The channel had never been profitable, and its average audiences were in the region of 100,000. UBM placed the channel on the market in January 2001, but as it was unable to find a buyer, UBM announced in September that it would close the channel later in 2001, pending a consultation regarding the date of its closedown, with the loss of 46 jobs and debts estimated at £12 million, before closing down on 31 October, notably playing "Rapture" by iio as its final track over pictures of the station staff. During this time, it had refocused almost entirely on dance music, and had moved to the music section of the EPG. In April 2002, the channel's assets were bought by
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
based independent production company Power TV, who had previously produced some shows for the channel. A temporary relaunch occurred to Channel 232 in June 2002, and lasted until August of the same year, when problems caused it to close again.


2003 relaunch

In November 2002, Power TV appointed Feel to devise the next look for Rapture, eyeing a possible relaunch of the channel in 2003. It was again relaunched on 12 May 2003 on EPG channel 265. Recurring financial issues, aggravated by the technical failure of a premium-rate SMS service on the channel which would have brought in funding, and various other problems, left the channel in a precarious state. By April 2004 it was running on an almost autopilot, having moved (again) to EPG channel 205, with a somewhat randomised playlist of a few videos, reruns of old club nights overnight, and extreme sports in the day. In July 2004, the channel ran out of money terminally, a potential purchase by
Video Interactive Television Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) systems ...
fell through and the channel ceased to broadcast and was removed from the Sky EPG. Plans for its relaunch were kept active, however. Its named holding company, Rapture TV (Scotland), which was incorporated in 2002, was wound up in 2005. In December 2004, the channel returned in part-time format after an agreement with The Musicians' Channel, an FTA educational channel. The arrangement occupied the 12am to 12pm timeslot. The story of Rapture TV has been a defining one for the birth of digital satellite. With the increase in capacity, and lower cost base, a whole host of such channels were launched, with most languishing at unpopular EPG locations, or even outside the EPG. Although the satellite TV became cheaper to enter, many operators rushed onto the scene without a viable business plan that would make money. Unlike other such channels, Rapture TV has refused to disappear.


2005 relaunch

Ahead of its return to the air, Rapture TV bought programming to fill its new line-up. The channel relaunched on Sky Digital broadcasting from
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 ...
on 14 November 2005, after some time awaiting an EPG number from Sky – a period of time which was deemed excessive enough to warrant a complaint to
OFCOM The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...
by the channel. At the same time it was awarded a five-year contract with
Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquart ...
for satellite uplink. The re-launched Rapture TV showed clubbing and
extreme sports Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk of injury or death. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extre ...
, programming that the channel is well known for, as well as new programmes from genres such as comedy and drama. In addition, programmes focusing on computer games and technology, including
Cybernet ''Cybernet'' (also known as Interactive) was a weekly video gaming magazine programme, originally broadcast overnight on the ITV network in the United Kingdom. The programme was commissioned by ''Yorkshire Television'' and produced by ''Caprico ...
(previously seen on ITV) and G@mers, an in-house production were added to the lineup. The channel also broadcast feature films. Dance music content, which made up much of the channels output on previous editions, was retained, with the addition of Underground, a hardcore dance show presented by Jon Doe of CLSM. The channel launched a broadband simulcast in March 2006, and claims to be the first UK based entertainment channel to launch such a service. In September 2006, Rapture lodged a complaint with OFCOM against BSkyB, claiming "BSkyB is charging excessively high fees for the supply of a EPG service on the UK's only DSat platform". This was furthered on 23 February 2007 with Rapture submitting further evidence to OFCOM in regard to what they felt was "Bullying" on the part of BSkyB. The complaint was furthered just under a week before Virgin Media removed BSkyB's Basic channels from their service after an unsuccessful round of negotiations in regard to the worth of the channels. Ofcom rejected this complaint.


2007

On 19 March 2007, BSkyB decided to remove Rapture TV from their EPG based on the fact that Rapture TV had failed to pay for a slot in the EPG. Rapture TV was available on the BSkyB platform on channel 193. On 25 April 2007, Rapture published a statement that outlined the temporary cut off of the channel, whilst giving details of upgrading the site with more content and on-demand video. On 9 May 2007 a case brought by Rapture TV to Ofcom concerning the BSkyB EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) went to Appeal at the Competition Commission Appeals Tribunal (CAT). The hearing was heard on 18 and 19 December 2007.


Rapture TV Live

On 12 June 2007, Rapture relaunched its live stream, which initially broadcast R:Muzik 24/7 but now also broadcast programmes from the Rapture archive. A week beforehand the stream was trialled unsuccessfully using peercast. The free stream was a temporary measure, and in the future was likely going to be replaced with a high quality paid service. In October 2007, a new feature was added enabling viewers to select music videos to play on the live stream for free via the Rapture website.


2008

On 31 March 2008, the Competition Commission Appeals Tribunal released their judgement, in which they unanimously dismissed the appeal. Rapture continued to be very vocally critical of Sky and the various related Murdoch companies on public forums for some time before focusing their efforts elsewhere.


2009

Rapture attempted to restart their satellite broadcast presence in an audio-only capacity by broadcasting several shows for satellite radio broadcaster RTI, Radio Tatras International (Sky channel 0195), a British- Slovak station. These broadcasts took place on 17 and 24 January 2009. RTI closed down shortly after this, on 25 January.


References

{{Reflist


External links


Rapture TVRapture claims simulcast firstPress Release regarding complaint against BskyB
Television channels and stations established in 1997 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2007 Dance music television channels Television channels in the United Kingdom