ITV2 History

*Information taken from Wikipedia.*

Prior to the launch of Channel 4 in 1982, the name "ITV2" had sometimes been used to refer informally to an envisioned second commercial network in the UK. However, the name resurfaced in the late 1990s for very different reasons. The launch of digital terrestrial television services in the UK saw each existing analogue terrestrial broadcaster given a slice of bandwidth with which to carry their existing service after analogue switch-off with space left over for new channels. Whilst strictly speaking this space belonged to each regional contractor for use within their own region, ITV had undergone a series of buy-outs earlier on in the decade, the three players operating the majority of the network, Granada, Carlton and United News & Media jointly launched ITV2 in 1998 to be broadcast to most of the country as a uniform service. Whilst free-to-air, it was marketed alongside their own subscription based ONdigital platform. Other ITV licensees, SMG, UTV and GMTV launched their own services in the space.

While ITV2 is now a popular entertainment channel, at its launch in 1998 it was a mixed genre channel like ITV1 (or ITV as it was known back then). Much of the original content in its launch schedule was current affairs related programming fronted by ITV newscasters. Katie Derham presented a weekly media programme called *Wide Angle*, John Suchet fronted a weekly current affairs discussion programme called *Who, What, Why*, and Trevor McDonald presented an interview series, *Trevor McDonald Meets...*.[3] Other programmes included Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, Judge Judy, omnibus editions of ITV soaps *Emmerdale* and *Coronation Street*, and a Saturday football results service. Since 19th November 2001, the channel now focuses exclusively on programmes aimed at female audiences.[4]

In June 2004, ITV plc announced that they were going to double the channel's programme budget, and would add more U.S. series and movies. On 1 November 2004, in an attempt to launch ITV3 on Sky, ITV2 moved from 175 to 118 on Sky after ITV plc bought GSkyB for £10 million. As a result, Plus was permanently closed down, with its EPG slot taken by ITV3.

ITV2, along with ITV1, launched their own one-hour timeshift channels on 18th April 2011, which broadcast 24 hours a day. The company is looking to its digital channels to shore up revenues as the ITV Network suffers a decline in viewers.[5]

In August 2015, ITV2 +1 swapped slots on Sky's electronic programme guide with the former Men & Motors slot, resulting in the timeshift channel making a significant jump from channel 184 to 131. It is now Sky 180.

GMTV2 programming moved from ITV2 to ITV4. The strand continued to be simulcast on the CITV channel.

On 20 August 2008, ITV2 unveiled a new look when the logo was given a 3D look with new idents. On 17th February 2011 the channel decided to revert back to the original 2D version of the 2006 logo with the exception of the 'ITV' lettering becoming black - and along with it, new idents and presentation were introduced. On 10th January 2014 the channel was once again given a new look - this time the logo was given a ribbon-like effect so it would appear in two shades of green simultaneously rather than just one.

ITV2 was launched on UPC Ireland in the Republic of Ireland on 4 January 2010, marking the first time the channel has been officially available in the country. The channel had already been (and remains) available to Irish viewers on free-to-air satellite for some time, however it is still not listed in the Sky electronic programme guide. On 1 April 2011, ITV2 was removed from UPC Ireland along with ITV3 and ITV4 due to the expiry of a carriage agreement between UPC and ITV.[6] 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.[7] ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 were restored to the UPC Ireland line-up on 20 December 2011. TV3 and its sister channel 3e 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.[8]

ITV2 was made available on Freeview in the Channel Islands on 29 February 2012, a few months after ITV plc bought Channel Television from Yattendon Group plc.[9]

In April 2017, the channel became available on TopUp TV via subscriber's choice. It was removed from the service on 8th March 2023 when TopUp TV closed down.

On Christmas Day 2022, ITV2 HD launched on Freeview on channel 106, replacing BBC Four HD which moved to 108. It currently only broadcasts for two hours during the early morning, between 2am & 4am.

### 2 @20

On 7th December 2018 ITV2 celebrated its 20th anniversary. The channel went retro for the entire day; it completely replaced all its current presentation with the original one dating from 1998 (although some of it didn't exist 20 years ago but had the same attention to detail), and was temporarily renamed "2 @20". Later in the same day a special anniversary show known as "2 @20 LIVE!" was aired live at 7pm that evening, which was hosted by Keith Lemon and featured flashbacks of presentation on ITV2 from the last two decades. The programme was produced in-house by ITV Studios.