What if Channel 5 was launched in 1982?

In the real life, we know that Channel 5 was launched in 1997. But in the alternate universe, what if Channel 5 was launched in 1982 instead of 1997.

This theory is interconnected to What if DreamWorks Pictures was founded in 1980 as The Geffen Film Company?

## Changes

* Channel 5 would've been known as Channel 5 (1982-2002; 2011-present), before it was renamed Five (2002-2011)
* Channel 5 would've been owned by Heron International (1982-1992), PolyGram (1982-1998), Seagram via Universal Studios (1998-2000), Vivendi "formerly Vivendi Universal" (2000-2004), General Electric and Vivendi via NBCUniversal "formerly NBC Universal, Inc." (2004-2005), RTL Group (2005-2010), Northern & Shell (2010-2014) and Paramount Global "formerly ViacomCBS" (2014-present)
* Channel 5 Video would've been founded in 1983 instead of 1986
	+ Channel 5 Video would've still been open for Home Video and would've never closed down in 1991 and again in 2000
	+ Channel 5 Video would've been known as Channel 5 Video (1983-2002) and Five Video (2002-2011), before it was renamed 5Video (2011-present)
* Milkshake! would've been launched in 1983 instead of 1997
* 5 News would've premiered in 1982 instead of 1997
	+ 5 News would've been known as 5 News (1982-2002; 2011-present), before it was renamed Five News (2002-2011)
* 5Star would've been launched in 1992 as Channel 5 Life instead of 2006
	+ 5Star would've been known as Channel 5 Life (1992-2002), Five Life (2002-2008), Fiver (2008-2011), 5\* (2011-2016), before it was renamed 5Star (2016-present)
* 5USA would've been launched in 1992 as Channel 5 US instead of 2006
	+ 5USA would've been known as Channel 5 US (1992-2002), Five US (2002-2009) and Five USA (2009-2011), before it was renamed 5USA (2011-present)
* 5Select would've been launched in 2000 as Channel 5+24 instead of 2014
	+ 5Select would've been known as Channel 5+24 (2000-2002; 2011-2016), Five+24 (2002-2011), My5 (2016-2018) and 5Prime (2018), before it was renamed 5Select (2018-present)
* 5Action would've been launched in 2004 as Five Action instead of 2018
	+ 5Action would've been known as Five Action (2004-2011), before it was renamed 5Action (2011-present)

## Logo Evolution

### Channel 5 (first era)

#### 1982-1986

   Channel 5 began transmission on November 2, 1982. This logo is a similar to logo of the 1982 Channel 4.

#### 1986-1991

   The new look was introduced on February 6, 1986.

#### 1991-1996

   The new look was introduced on January 2, 1991.

#### 1996-2002

    The new look was introduced on October 11, 1996. The original identity was developed by Wolff Olins for the retuning campaign that preceded the channel's launch. The identity used on screen was developed by Silver Hammer from California, USA. This logo is a similar to logo of the 1996 Channel 4.

### Five

#### 2002-2008

    Channel 5 was renamed **Five** on September 16, 2002. The rebrand was created by the agency Spin, who has been redesigning Channel 4's logo from 1999. A set of idents, similar to the original ones, was launched on March 8, 2004. A new look was launched later in November. This time the logo would appear as part of the idents, instead of just superimposed. The rebrand was taken care of by Devilfish.

The final set with this logo was launched on January 23, 2006 but didn't actually use the logo in them. Instead, various words connected to the ident were shown in the same font as the logo. The idents were created by BB/Saunders. New versions of the "words" idents came about in January 2007, with all the words replaced by "five". When the new logo occurred on 6 October 2008, Five US would continue to use this logo until it was renamed Five USA on February 16, 2009.

#### 2008-2011

    The new look was introduced on October 6, 2008. The design agency behind the rebrand was DixonBaxi.

### Channel 5 (second era)

#### 2011-2016

    Following the sale of the Channel 5 group from the RTL Group to Northern & Shell, the channels were rebranded. Five was once again renamed **Channel 5** on February 14, 2011. The new logo is a circle surrounding the 5. This logo is a bit similar to the logo of the Philippine TV5 introduced the previous year, and a similar logo would later be used by ABC affiliate WEWS-TV, starting in mid-2016.

#### 2016-present

    Following the sale of the Channel 5 group from Northern & Shell to Viacom (later Paramount Global "formerly ViacomCBS"), a new logo for the main channel, featuring 5 segments creating the numeral, was officially launched on February 11, 2016. No logo appears on new idents as the five entities appear, that the logo appears separately on break bumpers, and on promos and end-boards instead. The logo has been criticized for looking similar to Channel 4's and Seven Network's logos.

On February 26, 2020, Channel 5 refreshed their on-screen presentation using solely graphical elements; this also marks the return of the logo to the idents for the first time in 4 years.