1.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
2.
Television
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Television or TV is a telecommunication medium used for transmitting moving images in monochrome, or in color, and in two or three dimensions and sound. The term can refer to a set, a television program. Television is a medium for entertainment, education, news, politics, gossip. Television became available in experimental forms in the late 1920s. After World War II, a form of black-and-white TV broadcasting became popular in the United States and Britain, and television sets became commonplace in homes, businesses. During the 1950s, television was the medium for influencing public opinion. In the mid-1960s, color broadcasting was introduced in the US, for many reasons, the storage of television and video programming now occurs on the cloud. At the end of the first decade of the 2000s, digital television transmissions greatly increased in popularity, another development was the move from standard-definition television to high-definition television, which provides a resolution that is substantially higher. HDTV may be transmitted in various formats, 1080p, 1080i, in 2013, 79% of the worlds households owned a television set. Most TV sets sold in the 2000s were flat-panel, mainly LEDs, major manufacturers announced the discontinuation of CRT, DLP, plasma, and even fluorescent-backlit LCDs by the mid-2010s. In the near future, LEDs are gradually expected to be replaced by OLEDs, also, major manufacturers have announced that they will increasingly produce smart TVs in the mid-2010s. Smart TVs with integrated Internet and Web 2.0 functions became the dominant form of television by the late 2010s, Television signals were initially distributed only as terrestrial television using high-powered radio-frequency transmitters to broadcast the signal to individual television receivers. Alternatively television signals are distributed by cable or optical fiber, satellite systems and. Until the early 2000s, these were transmitted as analog signals, a standard television set is composed of multiple internal electronic circuits, including a tuner for receiving and decoding broadcast signals. A visual display device which lacks a tuner is correctly called a video monitor rather than a television, the word television comes from Ancient Greek τῆλε, meaning far, and Latin visio, meaning sight. The Anglicised version of the term is first attested in 1907 and it was. formed in English or borrowed from French télévision. In the 19th century and early 20th century, other. proposals for the name of a technology for sending pictures over distance were telephote. The abbreviation TV is from 1948, the use of the term to mean a television set dates from 1941
3.
Satellite television
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A direct-broadcast satellite is a type of artificial satellite which usually broadcasts satellite television signals for home reception. The type of satellite television which uses direct-broadcast satellites is known as direct-broadcast satellite television or direct-to-home television and these services were to use the D-Mac and D2-Mac format and BSS frequencies with circular polarization from orbital positions allocated to each country. Before these DBS satellites, home satellite television in Europe was limited to a few channels, really intended for cable distribution, in 1977, the ITU adopted an international BSS Plan under which each country was allocated specific frequencies at specific orbital locations for domestic service. Over the years, this plan has been modified to, for example, accommodate new countries, increase coverage areas, at present, numerous countries have brought into use their BSS Plan allocations. By contrast, the term DTH can apply to similar services transmitted over a range of frequencies transmitted from satellites that are not part of any internationally planned band. The term DBS is often used interchangeably with DTH to cover both analog and digital video and audio services received by relatively small dishes, a DBS service usually refers to either a commercial service, or a group of free channels available from one orbital position targeting one country. In certain regions of the world, especially in North America, DBS is used to refer to providers of subscription satellite packages, the second commercial DBS service, Sky Television plc, was launched in 1989. Sky TV started as a four-channel free-to-air analogue service on the Astra 1A satellite, by 1991, Sky had changed to a conditional access pay model, and it launched a digital service, Sky Digital, in 1998, with analogue transmission ceasing in 2001. Since the DBS nomenclature is used in the UK or Ireland. News Corporation has a 32% stake in BSkyB, PrimeStar began transmitting an analog service to North America in 1991, and was joined by DirecTV, in 1994. At the time, DirecTVs introduction was the most successful consumer electronics debut in American history, although PrimeStar transitioned to a digital system in 1994, it was ultimately unable to compete with DirecTV, which required a smaller satellite dish and could deliver more programming. DirecTV purchased PrimeStar in 1999 and moved all of that subscribers to DirecTV equipment. In 2008, Liberty Media Corporation purchased News Corporations controlling interest in DirecTV, in 1996, EchoStars Dish Network went online in the United States and, as DirecTVs primary competitor, achieved similar success. AlphaStar also started but soon went under, astro was also started, using a direct broadcast satellite system. Dominion Video Satellite Inc. s Sky Angel launched on a platform in the United States in 1996, with its DBS service geared toward the faith. It grew from six to 36 television and radio channels of entertainment, Christian-inspirational programming. Dominion, under its corporate name Video Satellite Systems Inc. Sky Angel, although a separate and independent DBS service, used the satellites, transmission facilities
4.
Radio
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When radio waves strike an electrical conductor, the oscillating fields induce an alternating current in the conductor. The information in the waves can be extracted and transformed back into its original form, Radio systems need a transmitter to modulate some property of the energy produced to impress a signal on it, for example using amplitude modulation or angle modulation. Radio systems also need an antenna to convert electric currents into radio waves, an antenna can be used for both transmitting and receiving. The electrical resonance of tuned circuits in radios allow individual stations to be selected, the electromagnetic wave is intercepted by a tuned receiving antenna. Radio frequencies occupy the range from a 3 kHz to 300 GHz, a radio communication system sends signals by radio. The term radio is derived from the Latin word radius, meaning spoke of a wheel, beam of light, however, this invention would not be widely adopted. The switch to radio in place of wireless took place slowly and unevenly in the English-speaking world, the United States Navy would also play a role. Although its translation of the 1906 Berlin Convention used the terms wireless telegraph and wireless telegram, the term started to become preferred by the general public in the 1920s with the introduction of broadcasting. Radio systems used for communication have the following elements, with more than 100 years of development, each process is implemented by a wide range of methods, specialised for different communications purposes. Each system contains a transmitter, This consists of a source of electrical energy, the transmitter contains a system to modulate some property of the energy produced to impress a signal on it. This modulation might be as simple as turning the energy on and off, or altering more subtle such as amplitude, frequency, phase. Amplitude modulation of a carrier wave works by varying the strength of the signal in proportion to the information being sent. For example, changes in the strength can be used to reflect the sounds to be reproduced by a speaker. It was the used for the first audio radio transmissions. Frequency modulation varies the frequency of the carrier, the instantaneous frequency of the carrier is directly proportional to the instantaneous value of the input signal. FM has the capture effect whereby a receiver only receives the strongest signal, Digital data can be sent by shifting the carriers frequency among a set of discrete values, a technique known as frequency-shift keying. FM is commonly used at Very high frequency radio frequencies for high-fidelity broadcasts of music, analog TV sound is also broadcast using FM. Angle modulation alters the phase of the carrier wave to transmit a signal
5.
British Satellite Broadcasting
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British Satellite Broadcasting was a television company, headquartered in London, that provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. The company was merged with Sky Television plc in November 1990 to form British Sky Broadcasting and it started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. In 1977 the World Administrative Radio Conference assigned each country five high-powered channels for direct broadcast by satellite for domestic use, within a few months the BBC started talking with the Independent Broadcasting Authority, about providing a joint project to help cover the cost. The project failed in May 1985 when the consortium concluded that the cost of set up was not justifiable, the BBC stated the costs were prohibitive, because the government insisted that the BBC should pay for the costs of constructing and launching a dedicated satellite. One of the conditions imposed on applicants by the IBA was that use a new, untried transmission standard. This standard was part of the European Community’s attempt to promote a high-definition television standard being developed by Philips and other European companies, the conditions to use a High power Satellite was dropped, and no winner was precluded from buying a foreign satellite system. The IBA received five bids for the Direct Broadcast Satellite franchises. It also received submission from the The Childrens Channel and ITN to make sure their programmes are used on any successful bid, British Satellite Broadcasting, Consortium by Granada Television, Pearson, Virgin Group, Anglia Television and Amstrad. DBS UK LTD, Consortium by Carlton Communications, LWT, Saatchi and Saatchi, Dixons and it planned a sport/news/business channel, entertainment channel, and Super Channel. Direct Broadcasting Limited, Consortium by British and Commonwealth shipping, Cambridge Electronic Industries, Electronics Rental Group, Rupert Murdochs News International, One channel was for families and children, second channel for films, 3rd channel would have broadcast Sky Channel. National Broadcasting Service, Consortium by, James Lee - Former head of Goldcrest Films, promised schedules for children, sport fans along with a news channel. SatUK Broadcasting, Created by Muir Sutherland and Jimmy Hartley, back by Australian finanicier Mr Alan Bond, proposed Free to air entertainment channel, £5 monthly film channel and a £2 monthly family channel. British Satellite Broadcasting won the franchise on 11 December 1986 to operate the Direct Broadcasting by Satellite System over four rival bids with a licence to operate three channels. BSB believed 400,000 homes would be equipped during its first year, the Cable Authority welcomed the service, believing it would encourage more users, especially with its dedicated movie channel. BSBs original satellite channels were, Screen, film channel Zigzag, kids and lifestyle channel, Australian businessman Alan Bond joined the consortium along with Reed International, Chargeurs, Next plc and London Merchant Securities amongst others. BSB earmarked the bulk of the first round of financing for buying and launching two satellites and planned a second close to the commencement of broadcasting operations. It commissioned Hughes Aircraft to provide two high-powered satellites using launch vehicles from McDonnell Douglas, both companies were American and had established reputations for reliability. BSB had been aware of the launch of Astra when it submitted its proposal to the IBA in 1986
6.
Emley Moor transmitting station
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Emley Moor transmitting station is a telecommunications and broadcasting facility on Emley Moor,1 mile west of Emley, in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England. The most visible feature of the structure is its 1,084 feet tall concrete tower, the towers current official name, Arqiva Tower, is shown on a sign beside the offices at the base of the tower, but it is commonly known as Emley Moor mast. The present concrete tower is the antenna support structure to have occupied the site. The original 135-metre lattice tower was erected in 1956, to provide Independent Television broadcasts to the Yorkshire area and it entered service on 3 November 1956, transmitting Granada TV programmes on weekdays, and ABC TV programmes at weekends. In 1964, it was replaced by a taller 385.5 metres guyed mast, identical to the structure at Belmont transmitting station in Lincolnshire, at 53. 612700°N1. 666078°W /53.612700, the dismantled lattice tower was rebuilt at Craigkelly transmitting station. Emley Moor has been a site since the earliest days of television. The first permanent transmitter built there was for ITV, covering much of the north of England and it had a 135 metres lattice tower, which provided limited coverage. Its performance was improved in anticipation of colour PAL transmissions in 1966, at the time of its construction, it was one of the tallest man-made structures in the world. It was designed by British Insulated Callenders Cables, and manufactured by EMI, the cylindrical steel mast was regularly coated in ice during the winter months, and large icicles formed on the guy wires, placing them under great strain. During winter, ice falling from the guy-wires was common, for this reason, red warning lights on the tower operated when ice was a hazard, and notices were posted on the fence adjacent to Jagger Lane, below the guy wire crossings. On 19 March 1969, a combination of winds and the weight of ice that had formed around the top of the mast. Roads close to station temporarily closed by Councils, please notify councils when roads are safe Pye monitor - no frame lock - V10 replaced. Monitor overheating due to fan choked up with dust- cleaned out, motor lubricated, evening, - Glendenning, Bottom, Redgrove 1,265 ft Mast, - Fell down across Jagger Lane at 17,01,45. Mast Power Isolator, - Fuses removed & isolator locked in the OFF position, all isolators in basement feeding mast stump also switched off. The collapse left sections of twisted mast strewn over the site, and across the junction of Common Lane and Jagger Lane. Although a falling stay cable cut through a church and across the transmitter site buildings. It completely disabled the BBC2 UHF transmitter and the ITV VHF transmitter, bBC1 VHF television transmissions continued from Holme Moss. The Independent Television Authority owned a collapsible emergency mast,61 metres tall, ITV signals were restored to 2.5 million viewers within four days
7.
ITV (TV network)
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ITV is a commercial TV network in the United Kingdom. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990 its legal name has been Channel 3, to distinguish it from the analogue channels at the time, namely BBC1, BBC2. ITV is a network of channels that operate regional television services as well as sharing programmes between each other to be displayed on the entire network. In recent years, several of companies have merged so currently the fifteen franchises are in the hands of two companies. With the exception of Northern Ireland, the ITV brand is the used by ITV plc for the Channel 3 service in these areas. In Northern Ireland, ITV plc uses the brand name UTV, STV Group plc, uses the STV brand for its two franchises of central and northern Scotland. The origins of ITV lie in the passing of the Television Act 1954, the act created the Independent Television Authority to heavily regulate the industry and to award franchises. The first six franchises were awarded in 1954 for London, the Midlands, the first ITV network to launch was Londons Associated-Rediffusion on 22 September 1955, with the Midlands and North services launching in February 1956 and May 1956 respectively. Following these launches, the ITA awarded more franchises until the country was covered by fourteen regional stations. Following the 1993 changes, ITV as a network began to consolidate with several companies doing so to save money by ceasing the duplication of services present when they were all separate companies. The ITV Network is not owned or operated by one company, since 2016 the fifteen licences are held by two companies, with the majority held by ITV Broadcasting Limited, part of ITV plc. The network is regulated by the media regulator Ofcom who is responsible for awarding the broadcast licences, the last major review of the Channel 3 franchises was in 1991, with all operators licences having been renewed between 1999 and 2002 and again from 2014 without a further contest. However, due to amalgamation of several of companies since the creation of ITV Network Limited. Approved by Ofcom, this results in ITV plc commissioning and funding the network schedule, all licensees have the right to opt out of network programming, however many do not due to pressures from the parent company or because of limited resources. The network also needs to produce accessible output containing subtitles, signing, in exchange for this programming, the ITV network is available on all platforms free to air and can be found at the top of the EPG of all providers. Since the launch of the platform in 1998, all of the ITV licensees have received gifted capacity on the terrestrial television platform. At present, the companies are able to broadcast additional channels and all choose to broadcast the ITV plc owned ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV in their region. UTV and STV previously broadcast their own services – UTV2 in Northern Ireland and S2 in central and northern Scotland – until 2002, the broadcasters all make use of the Digital 3&4 multiplex, shared with Channel 4
8.
Cable television
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This contrasts with broadcast television, in which the television signal is transmitted over the air by radio waves and received by a television antenna attached to the television. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone services, and similar non-television services may also be provided through these cables, analog television was standard in the 20th century, but since the 2000s, cable systems have been upgraded to digital cable operation. A cable channel is a television network available via cable television, alternative terms include non-broadcast channel or programming service, the latter being mainly used in legal contexts. Examples of cable/satellite channels/cable networks available in many countries are HBO, MTV, Cartoon Network, E. Eurosport, the abbreviation CATV is often used for cable television. It originally stood for Community Access Television or Community Antenna Television, in areas where over-the-air TV reception was limited by distance from transmitters or mountainous terrain, large community antennas were constructed, and cable was run from them to individual homes. The origins of cable broadcasting for radio are even older as radio programming was distributed by cable in some European cities as far back as 1924, Cable television has gone through a series of steps of evolution in the United States and Canada. Particularly in Canada, communities with their own signals were fertile cable markets, as viewers wanted to receive American signals. Early systems carried only a maximum of seven channels, using 2,4,5 or 6,7,9,11 and 13, as the equipment was unable to confine the signal discreetly within the assigned channel bandwidth. The reason 4 and 5 along with 6 and 7 could be used together was because of the 4 MHz gap between 4 and 5 and the nearly 90 MHz gap between 6 and 7. Even though eight channels are listed, in systems that maximized 7 channels. As equipment improved, all channels could be utilized, except where a local VHF television station broadcast. Local broadcast channels were not usable for signals deemed to be priority, later, the cable operators began to carry FM radio stations, and encouraged subscribers to connect their FM stereo sets to cable. Before stereo and bilingual TV sound became common, Pay-TV channel sound was added to the FM stereo cable line-ups, about this time, operators expanded beyond the 12-channel dial to use the midband and superband VHF channels adjacent to the high band 7-13 of North American television frequencies. Some operators as in Cornwall, Ontario, used a dual distribution network with Channels 2-13 on each of the two cables, during the 1980s, United States regulations not unlike public, educational, and government access created the beginning of cable-originated live television programming. These stations evolved partially into todays over-the-air digital subchannels, where a main broadcast TV station e. g, many live local programs with local interests were subsequently created all over the United States in most major television markets in the early 1980s. This evolved into todays many cable-only broadcasts of diverse programming, including cable-only produced television movies and miniseries, Cable specialty channels, starting with channels oriented to show movies and large sporting or performance events, diversified further, and narrowcasting became common. By the late 1980s, cable-only signals outnumbered broadcast signals on cable systems, by the mid-1980s in Canada, cable operators were allowed by the regulator to enter into distribution contracts with cable networks on their own. By the 1990s, tiers became common, with customers able to subscribe to different tiers to obtain different selections of additional channels above the basic selection, by subscribing to additional tiers, customers could get specialty channels, movie channels, and foreign channels
9.
Soap opera
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A soap opera, soap, or soapie, is a serial drama on television or radio that examines the lives of many characters, usually focusing on emotional relationships to the point of melodrama. The term soap opera originated from such dramas being typically sponsored by soap manufacturers in the past, the first serial considered to be a soap opera was Painted Dreams, which debuted on October 20,1930 on Chicago radio station WGN. The first nationally broadcast radio soap opera was Clara, Lu, and Em, a crucial element that defines the soap opera is the open-ended serial nature of the narrative, with stories spanning several episodes. One of the features that makes a television program a soap opera. While Spanish language telenovelas are sometimes called soap operas, telenovelas have conflicts that get resolved, but with soap operas each episode ends with a promise that the storyline is to be continued in another episode. You spend more time even with the characters, the apparent villains grow less apparently villainous. Soap opera storylines run concurrently, intersect and lead into further developments, each episode may feature some of the shows current storylines, but not always all of them. Soap operas rarely bring all the current storylines to a conclusion at the same time, when one storyline ends, there are several other story threads at differing stages of development. Soap opera episodes typically end on some sort of cliffhanger, evening soap operas and those that air at a rate of one episode per week are more likely to feature the entire cast in each episode, and to represent all current storylines in each episode. Evening soap operas and serials that run for only part of the year tend to bring things to a dramatic end-of-season cliffhanger, the article explained that at that time, many prime time series lost money, while daytime serials earned profits several times more than their production costs. Fitting in with these characteristics, most soap operas follow the lives of a group of characters who live or work in a particular place, the storylines follow the day-to-day activities and personal relationships of these characters. These elements may be found across the gamut of soap operas, Due to the prominence of English-language television, most soap-operas are completely English. In many soap operas, in particular daytime serials in the US, Soap operas from the United Kingdom and Australia tend to focus on more everyday characters and situations, and are frequently set in working class environments. Many of the soaps produced in two countries explore social realist storylines such as family discord, marriage breakdown or financial problems. This diverges from US soap operas where such comedy is rare, UK soap operas frequently make a claim to presenting reality or purport to have a realistic style. Romance, secret relationships, extramarital affairs, and genuine hate have been the basis for many soap opera storylines, in US daytime serials, the most popular soap opera characters, and the most popular storylines, often involved a romance of the sort presented in paperback romance novels. Crimes such as kidnapping, rape, and even murder may go unpunished if the perpetrator is to be retained in the ongoing story, Australian and UK soap operas also feature a significant proportion of romance storylines. In Russia, most popular serials explore the romantic quality of criminal and/or oligarch life, in soap opera storylines, previously unknown children, siblings and twins of established characters often emerge to upset and reinvigorate the set of relationships examined by the series
10.
CITV
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CITV is a British childrens television channel from ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6am to 9pm which was previously 6am to 6pm until 21 February 2016 in an attempt to compete with CBBC and it is also the title of a programming block on the ITV network at weekends. Childrens ITV launched on 3 January 1983, as an afternoon programming block on the ITV network. It replaced the earlier Watch It, branding and introduced networked in-vision continuity links between programmes. These links were originally pre-recorded from a small London studio, up until 1987 when Central won the contract to produce live links from their Birmingham studios, in 2004, presentation of CITV was relocated to Granada Television in Manchester, which saw the demise of in-vision continuity. Nine years later, operations moved to ITV Granadas MediaCityUK studios in Salford, in 2006, CITV launched as a channel in its own right. The CITV channel averages around 100,000 viewers between 4pm-6pm every day, the CITV strand on the ITV network airs on weekend mornings from 6am to 9, 25am, as part of the ITV Breakfast time slot. Before being known as Childrens ITV, the timeslot for childrens programmes on the ITV Network was briefly branded as Watch It, brand started on 29 December 1980 and was presented live by the duty continuity announcer in each ITV region. On many occasions, the ITV regions were able to broadcast whatever programmes they wished, many non-childrens programmes appeared, ATV provide different animations each season, to freshen up what was available to each company. Most regions, including Southern/TVS and Granada, would use their own station announcers during Watch It, shortly after the start of new franchises in 1982, some ITV stations raised concerns that Watch It. had not gone far enough to address previous concerns. Centrals Controller of Childrens Programmes, Lewis Rudd, suggested a different approach to the presentation method, as a result, the Central promotions department came up with the initial concept for Childrens ITV. The new look was devised, and links between programmes were pre-recorded using presenters drawn from the constituent programmes, initially featuring a different presenter each month, the links were pre-recorded in advance in a small studio at a London facility called Molinare, using a single locked-off camera. The first set design was a ship and was used for the first few months. The concept was retired, and the set and style of presentation used began to reflect the artist presenting that month or the programme that he/she fronted. By 1984, the links were still being recorded, but using a common, the exterior of this fictitious location also featured in the animations and stings. Technical considerations often left the system flawed, with each programme coming from a different playout source, and each link being pre-recorded, things often went wrong on air, programmes would be rolled early and the links would be cut short. Programmes would also fail to appear and the presenter would be left on screen, pre-recording the links also meant that late schedule changes could not be easily referenced. In September 1985, the BBC revamped their own childrens presentation with the introduction of Childrens BBC, using the BBC1 announcer booth at BBC Television Centre, later dubbed The Broom Cupboard, Phillip Schofield provided links between the programmes
11.
ITV2
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ITV2, is a 24-hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998 and is available digitally via satellite, cable, IPTV, 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, 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. Much of the content in its launch schedule was current affairs related programming fronted by ITV newscasters. Other programmes included Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, Judge Judy, omnibus editions of ITV soaps Emmerdale and Coronation Street, and a Saturday football results service. In June 2004, ITV plc announced that they were going to double the channels programme budget, 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, ITV plc launched a one-hour timeshift channel of ITV2 on Monday,30 October 2006. The company is looking to its channels to shore up revenues as the ITV Network suffers a decline in viewers. ITV3 +1 was launched on the same day, ITV2 and its one-hour timeshift channel began broadcasting 24 hours a day on 17 March 2008. From 11 January 2011, ITV2 +1 on the Freeview platform has changed its hours to 7,00 p. m. until 4,00 a. m. On 1 June 2011, an hour was added in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. On 2 August 2011, ITV2 +1 began to broadcast 24 hours a day on Freeview across the UK, using an eleventh stream created on mux A. As part of the changes, ITV2 +1 swapped slots on Skys electronic programme guide with Men & Motors, gMTV2 programming moved from ITV2 to ITV4. The strand continues to be simulcast on the CITV channel, on 20 August 2008, ITV2 unveiled a new look. The logo was given a 3D look, with three new idents, 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 available to Irish viewers on free-to-air satellite for some time, 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. 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
12.
Channel 4
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Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster that began transmission on 2 November 1982. With the conversion of the Wenvoe transmitter group in Wales to digital on 31 March 2010, before Channel 4 and S4C, Britain had three terrestrial television services, BBC1, BBC2, and ITV. The Broadcasting Act 1980 began the process of adding a fourth, after some months of test broadcasts, it began scheduled transmissions on 2 November 1982. Indeed, television sets throughout the 1970s and early 1980s had a spare channel called ITV/IBA2. It was most likely politics which had the biggest impact in leading to a delay of almost three decades before the commercial channel became a reality. The campaign was taken so seriously by Gwynfor Evans, former president of Plaid Cymru, the result was that Channel 4 as seen by the rest of the United Kingdom would be replaced in Wales by Sianel Pedwar Cymru. Operated by a specially created authority, S4C would air programmes in Welsh made by HTV, since then, carriage on digital cable, satellite and digital terrestrial has introduced Channel 4 to Welsh homes where it is now universally available. The first programme to air on the channel was the game show Countdown. The first person to be seen on Channel 4 was Richard Whiteley with Ted Moult being the second, the first woman on the channel, contrary to popular belief, was not Carol Vorderman and was a lexicographer only ever identified as Mary. Whiteley opened the show with the words, On its first day, Channel 4 also broadcast controversial soap opera Brookside, which ran until 2003. On its launch, Channel 4 committed itself to providing an alternative to the existing channels, Channel 4 co-commissioned Robert Ashleys ground-breaking television opera Perfect Lives, which it premiered over several episodes in 1984. The channel often did not receive mass audiences for much of period, however. Channel 4 for many years had a poorer quality signal compared to other channels, Channel 4 also began the funding of independent films, such as the Merchant-Ivory docudrama The Courtesans of Bombay, during this time. In 1992, Channel 4 also faced its first libel case by Jani Allan, a South African journalist, who objected to her representation in the documentary The Leader, His Driver and the Drivers Wife. After control of the station passed from the Channel Four Television Company to the Channel Four Television Corporation in 1993, instead of aiming for the fringes of society, it began to focus on the edges of the mainstream, and the centre of the mass market itself. It began to show many US programmes in peak viewing time and it gave such shows as Friends and ER their UK premières. In the early 2000s, Channel 4 began broadcasting reality formats such as Big Brother and obtained the rights to broadcast mass appeal sporting events like cricket and this new direction increased ratings and revenues. In addition, the corporation launched a number of new channels through its new 4Ventures offshoot, including Film4, At the Races, E4
