ITV4

ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which first aired on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV plc.
The channel focuses primarily on general entertainment programming targeting a male audience, including action series and films, gameshows, reality television, and sports. It is the main linear television outlet for ITV Sport, carrying much of its football, cycling, darts, motorsport, horse racing, rugby, and snooker coverage.

WWW Official Site

History

It was expected that ITV4 would replace the existing Men & Motors channel, in the same way Granada Plus was rebranded into ITV3. In April, ITV obtained the physical spectrum to run it on Freeview, having outbid companies such as Disney and Turner Broadacasting. The channel would, however, axe Men & Motors' popular late night softcore block. The channel would also have a generalist profile, as seen with ITV2 and ITV3, while still aiming at men. It was also expected to timeshare with the CITV channel, which was becoming a viable option after a plan for a joint service with Nickelodeon fell through.
ITV plc stated that the two channels would run alongside each other, forcing the ITV News Channel on Freeview to timeshare with ITV4. ITV replaced the failing News Channel with CITV. Both channels were on Freeview until ITV plc took Men & Motors off Freeview and replaced it with the live quiz channel ITV Play. Some programming from Men & Motors was transferred to ITV4.
ITV4 was the first channel to use the new on-screen look that was rolled out across the rest of ITV plc's channels on 16 January 2006. Red Bee Media designed the new logos and presentation for the entire corporation that saw the end of the yellow and blue squared look designed for ITV, ITV2 and the cube look for ITV3. An ITV 2005 interim results presentation revealed that an old style logo was designed for the channel but was never used on air. The launch look for ITV4 was the launch pad for the wider corporate revamp, which was conceived by Clare Salmon.
The channel initially broadcast early in the evenings, but had its hours extended to cover daytime programming in February 2008, following previous trials where CITV handed over to ITV4 early in the weekends, closing at 12.30pm instead of the usual 6pm handover.
ITV4 was launched on UPC Ireland in Ireland on 4 January 2010, marking the first time the channel has been officially available in the country. The channel had already been available to Irish viewers on free-to-air satellite for some time, but it has not been listed in the Sky electronic programme guide since its removal on 25 January 2006. On 1 April 2011, ITV4 was removed from UPC Ireland along with ITV2 and ITV3 due to the expiry of a carriage agreement between UPC and ITV. UPC Ireland claim that ITV is not in a position to renegotiate the deal because ITV had struck a deal with another channel provider to provide it with exclusive rights to air certain content from the channels. Conversely, UPC Ireland also claims to have been in discussions right up to the last moment in order to continue broadcasting the channels. ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 were restored to the UPC Ireland line-up on 20 December 2011. Virgin Media One and its sister channel Virgin Media Two already hold carriage agreement to air certain ITV content within the Republic of Ireland, alternatively UTV is available within the Republic. ITV2 is available along with ITV3 and ITV4 within Switzerland, all three channels are available on SwisscomTV and UPC Cablecom. ITV4 is registered to broadcast within the European Union/EEA through ALIA in Luxembourg.

Launch

ITV4's launch night was on Freeview channel 30. Although it was broadcast on the Astra 2D satellite used by Sky, so users could manually tune it in. It was launched on Sky channel 120, after ITV2 and ITV3 in the listings, on 1 November. Prior to this date, some sporting content was simulcast on Men & Motors in an ITV4 on M&M strand. It officially launched with Real Betis v Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League, the UK premiere of Kojak, and the film Carlito's Way.

Subsidiary channels

ITV4 +1

In late October 2008, it was announced that a timeshifted version of ITV4 would be launched by the end of the year. ITV4 +1 was launched on Sky on 1 December 2008, on Freesat on 9 December 2008 and on Virgin Media on 25 March 2010. It was delisted from Sky on 11 January 2011, due to the launch of ITV1 +1 taking up space on the EPG; the channel is still available on Freesat and Virgin. The channel was restored on 1 June 2012.

ITV4 HD

A high-definition simulcast of ITV4, ITV4 HD, was launched on 15 November 2010 alongside the sister channel, ITV3 HD on Sky. The channel was initially available through Sky's pay subscription service in a non-exclusive deal, before being added to Virgin Media's service on 14 March 2013. ITV4 HD's high definition content includes films, and sports events which currently include British Touring Car Championship, Tour de France, horse racing, snooker and darts as well as highlights of other sporting events and content from the ITV Sport archives.
On 1 November 2022, in the lead up to the launch of ITVX and as part of the 18th anniversary of ITV3 and 17th anniversary of ITV4, the encryption was dropped on ITV4 HD at around 11am that day and so became free to air. Later that day, Freesat data had been added to ITV4 HD, indicating that the channel will be made available on Freesat soon. On 8 November 2022 the HD version replaced the SD version on Freesat channel 117. In January 2023, As part of a EPG clean up for HD Channels, Virgin Media moved ITV4 HD from channel 176 to channel 118 to make the channel free to all Virgin Customers.

Branding

2013 rebranding

In line with the corporate rebranding of ITV, ITV4 received a new look on 14 January 2013. The channel received a "slate-grey" logo and became the "home of sport and cult classics". Channel promotion includes pub factoids and idents featuring viewer nominated "dreams come true".

2022 rebranding

ITV4 received its first revamp in nine years in November 2022 as part of a redesign of all of ITV's main channels, being carried out in tandem with the launch of the streaming service ITVX. The idents launched on 15 November 2022. The logo is now coloured green and uses idents that are cross-used across ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, and ITVBe with different views which reflect the channel's image and programming output.

Programming

Current programming

The 1% ClubAEW Dynamite AEW CollisionAmerican PickersAuf Wiedersehen, PetAuto MundialThe Avengers Ax MenBear's Mission with...Beat the ChasersThe Big Fish OffThe Big Match RevisitedBoonBritain's Busiest MotorwayBritish Touring Car ChampionshipCadfaelThe Car ChasersCar Crash Global: Caught on CameraThe Car YearsCash CowboysThe ChampionsThe Chase Celebrity Special Darts.Dempsey and MakepeaceDuck DynastyExtreme Salvage SquadFA CupPremiership RugbyGoodwood Revival Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip Hell's KitchenHornblowerIce Road TruckersIronsideITV RacingITV Sport StoriesJunk & DisorderlyJeremy Wade's Mighty RiversKojakLovecars: On the RoadMagnum, P.I.MinderThe Motorbike ShowMonster CarpMade in BritainOnly When I LaughPawn Stars Snooker.The ProfessionalsThe ProtectorsTour de FranceRiver Monsters Robin of SherwoodThe SaintSharpeSherlock HolmesThe SweeneyTenableWhen English Football Ruled EuropeWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?

''World of Sport''

Former programming

AEW RampageBenidormBad MoveColumboDollhouseFierceFootball Genius Fifth GearGrandma Jane's Garden AdventuresHell on WheelsHomicide: Life on the StreetIt's Not Rocket ScienceJerichoLAPD: Life On the BeatMartial LawMiami ViceMillenniumMr. Bean The New AvengersNitro CircusQuincy, M.E.Police Camera Action!SanctuarySpeed Freaks Space PrecinctStorage WarsStorage Wars: New YorkStorage Wars: TexasTake the Tower UFO

''Used Car Roadshow''

Sports coverage

Before ITV4's launch in 2005, ITV's digital sports coverage was on ITV2, but after its launch all sports coverage moved to ITV4. In its first week, it had coverage of the aforementioned Real Betis v Chelsea game in the UEFA Champions League, and also had coverage of Middlesbrough v Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the UEFA Cup on the Thursday, and Amir Khan's fight against Steve Gethin from the Braehead Arena in Glasgow on the Saturday.