Five (TV)

five, formerly known as Channel 5, is the United Kingdom's fifth terrestrial TV Channel. The British frequency plan only allowed for four channels to be transmitted using analogue terrestrial transmitters, so it was very difficult to allocate frequencies for the new channel before its launch in March of 1997 – UHF channel 37 was allocated in many areas, which meant that large numbers of domestic videorecorders (which output on that channel) had to be retuned at the new company's expense.

Company

five was licensed by the UK Government in 1995 after an exhaustive bidding process that lasted from 1993 and throughout 1994. The initial round of bidders, which included Thames Television, was rejected outright and the government contemplated not awarding the license at all. The difficulty with the project lay in the frequency distribution plan which interefered with existing transmitters for channel 3 (ITV) and others. To achieve national coverage entailed a physical visit to the home of every UK TV set owner and then "re-tuning" the set(s) to receive the new Channel Five and prevent interference with other local frequencies.

Related Topics:
Thames Television - ITV

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The project was revived in mid 1994 when Tom McGrath, then president of Time Warner International Broadcasting, put together a revised frequency plan with NTL and consulting engineer Ellis Griffiths, involving less re-tuning and greater signal coverage. Lord Clive Hollick, then CEO of Meridian Broadcasting (later United News) took up the project as lead investor as UK law prohibited Time Warner from owning more than 25%. Ironically, when McGrath left to become President of Paramount, Time Warner dropped out of the project and was replaced by CLT/RTL who today control the network.

Related Topics:
Tom McGrath - NTL - Lord Clive Hollick - CEO - Meridian Broadcasting - CLT - RTL

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five, with its mix of popular programs acquired at significantly lower cost and original comedy fare, was an almost immediate success and in less than ten years has become firmly established as a leading UK national network.

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On 27 February 2004 it was reported that the owners of five and Channel 4 were discussing a possible merger; this was widely seen as a potential upset for Channel 4's pride. Some comics joked that the merged company should call itself Chanel 9 after the spoof foreign network on The Fast Show. C4 and five announced that merger plans were being called off in November of that year.

Related Topics:
27 February - 2004 - Channel 4 - Sic - Spoof - The Fast Show

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On the 20 July 2005, RTL Group paid £247.6 million for United Business Media's 35.4% stake in the channel. The acquisition remains subject to regulatory approval but is expected to be completed by the autumn.

Related Topics:
20 July - 2005 - RTL Group

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