BBC G2 (PatrZDZ's vision)

**BBC G2** is a British free-to-air television channel owned by UKTV (jointly owned by the BBC and Flextech). It broadcasts mainly comedy, with some factual programming. The channel took the present name in 2003, but it had been on air under various identities and formats since October 1998.

## History

### BBC Gold Classics and BBC Gold 2 (1998–2003)

BBC Gold Classics, UKTV's first digital-only channel, was launched on 2 October 1998 and was only broadcast from Friday to Sunday on Sky Digital from 6.00pm to 2.00am. Around this time, BBC Gold began to move towards newer programmes instead of older ones; the 'classics' line-up included a number of early shows, including some black-and-white programmes, which had been acquired in the early years of the BBC Gold service. They also showed some recent shows from the main channel, but the main purpose of the channel was older shows from the early years of BBC Gold. On weekdays, the channel was off air, showing a still caption of all the UKTV channels and start-up times.

The 'Classics' format lasted just six months; the channel ended on 28 March 1999, and the following day, UKTV announced that the channel would be relaunched as BBC Gold 2 from 2 April 1999 and eventually expand broadcast hours. The new format for the network essentially functioned as a secondary timeshift service, with BBC Gold 2 screening BBC Gold's programmes from the morning of that day. On 24 May 1999, it was officially announced that the channel would start broadcasting daily from 1 June. The channel was later added to Telewest and NTL's digital cable services upon their launch.

On 11 February 2002, BBC Gold 2's downtime within the day became home to BBC Style +. On 1 August, the channel moved from 110 to 111 on the Sky EPG, to make room for BBC Gold +1, which launched that day. In July 2003, BBC Style + vacated the downtime slot used by BBC Gold 2 and extended its broadcast hours.

### BBC G2 (2003–present)

On 28 October 2003, it was announced that BBC Gold 2 would be relaunched and rebranded as BBC G² on 12 November. The newly-revamped network was promoted as being an edgier alternative to BBC Gold; airing programmes aimed at an 18-34 year-old youth audience. Some of the programmes that already aired on BBC Gold moved to the new network. The broadcast hours were also changed, with the channel now operating from 8:00pm to 5:00am.

On 10 December 2005, UKTV announced that UKTV G2 would expand broadcast hours to the daytime and begin operations at 9:00am beginning on 16 January 2006. Standard programmes featured included pre-watershed comedy programmes already seen on the channel, alongside the addition of popular-factual and magazine shows which were already running on UKTV People, such as Top Gear and Airport. The extended hours did not apply to UKTV G2 +1, which remained an evening-only service.

On 29 July 2011, UKTV announced that it had secured a deal with BSkyB to launch three more high-definition channels on Sky. BBC G2 HD launched on 10 October 2011 on Sky and Telewest, two days before BBC People HD, while BBC Drama HD launched in July 2012. All three channels are HD simulcasts of the standard-definition channel.