BBC Gold (PatrZDZ's vision)

**BBC Gold** is a British pay television channel from the UKTV network (jointly owned by the BBC and Flextech) that was launched in late 1992 as UK Gold before it was rebranded BBC Gold in 1997. It shows repeats of classic programming from the BBC, ITV and other broadcasters.

## History

The channel was formed as a joint venture between the BBC, through commercial arm BBC Enterprises, American company Cox Enterprises and outgoing ITV London weekday franchisee Thames Television. The channel, named "UK Gold", was to show repeats of the 'classic' archive programming from the two broadcasters. The channel launched on 1 November 1992 at 7pm with Just Good Friends. The first commercial shown on the channel was for Lucozade, and all commercials shown in the first three breaks on the channel's launch night either had the word gold or golden in either the name of the brand advertised or mentioned in the commercial itself.

The rights to the BBC programmes previously were held by the BSB entertainment channel Galaxy, prior to the merger with Sky Television to form BSkyB in November 1990. The channel was initially broadcast on an analogue transponder from an SES satellite at 19.2°E which was less well suited for UK reception. As a result, the channel used to be notorious for being marred with interference, known as 'sparklies', in large parts of the UK. Another initial drawback was the cutting of programming down to fit commercial time slots, and the intensive use of commercial breaks. Reception improved however with the channel added to BSkyB's basic subscription package in 1993, and the launch of the channel on cable services.

In 1993, Flextech gained its first stake in the station after acquiring Tele-Communications' (TCI) TV interests in Europe. In 1996, it started discussions about increasing its stake, to gain full control. At that point, Flextech held 27% with Cox (38%), BBC (20%) and Pearson (15%). By the Autumn, Flextech held 80% of UK Gold. Flextech's main reason for increasing its stake in UK Gold was in participation of new talks with the BBC.

### UKTV

The channel's success led to the launch of the UKTV network on 1 November 1997, owned by BBC Worldwide and Flextech, and consisting of three other channels: BBC Arena, BBC Horizons and BBC Style, focusing on the arts, factual and lifestyle programmes respectively. At the same time, the channel was renamed BBC Gold. The UKTV network would expand to include numerous more channels as the years progressed.

The BBC Gold brand was expanded in October 1998 with the launch of the digital only channel BBC Gold Classics, broadcasting some of the older comedy serials that were being lost from the BBC Gold schedule, as the channel moved towards more modern programming. BBC Gold Classics was not to last however, and was rebranded as BBC Gold 2 on 2 April 1999, which acted as a time shift of the original channel, showing the daytime programmes from UK Gold in the evening on BBC Gold 2. In 2003 however, BBC Gold 2 was rebranded and repositioned as BBC G2, with some programming transferring to the new channel.

## Subsidiary channels

### BBC Gold Classics/BBC Gold 2

BBC Gold Classics originally launched on 2 October 1998 to coincide with the launch of Sky Digital. It was UKTV's first digital-exclusive network. The channel initially focused on older programs while the main UK Gold began focusing more on newer programmes. The channel also only broadcast within the evening, airing from 6.00 pm to 2.00 am every day.

BBC Gold Classics only lasted six months, with the channel closing on 28 March 1999, and from 2 April 1999, the channel was relaunched as BBC Gold 2, becoming a secondary timeshift service that broadcast BBC Gold's daytime schedule in the evening.

On 29 October 2003, UKTV announced that BBC Gold 2 would be relaunched as UK G2 on 12 November, being reinvented as a younger-oriented edgier youth network aimed towards a 16-34-year-old demographic.

### BBC Gold HD

A HD version of Gold was launched on 2 October 2017 exclusively to Sky, replacing the SD version of the channel on the platform. Gold HD was added to Telewest on 25 September 2018, also replacing BBC Gold in standard definition. It was added to NTL on 11 March 2019, along with Vice HD.

## Programming

The channel features an unrivalled array of quality programmes from the best British comedy series and award winning dramas to movie box-office successes.