ITV Digital Channels Ltd - Current Channels

Current Channels

ITV Digital Channels Ltd operates ITV plc's digital channels:

• ITV2 (and ITV2 +1) — a general entertainment channel
• ITV3 (and ITV3 +1) — a drama and movie channel
• ITV4 (and ITV4 +1) — a channel aimed at men
• CITV — a channel aimed at children under 9
• The Zone — a gaming and shopping channel
• ITV1 HD — a high definition simulcast of ITV plc's ITV1 channel
• ITV2 HD — a high definition simulcast of ITV2
• ITV3 HD — a high definition simulcast of ITV3
• ITV4 HD — a high definition simulcast of ITV4

On 2 February 2004, Granada merged with Carlton Communications to form ITV plc. On 1 November 2004, ITV plc agreed to purchase BSkyB's stake in GSB for £10 million. The deal included the slot that Plus was broadcast on, which ITV used on the Sky platform to broadcast its new ITV3 channel, which replaced Plus on the same day. The negotiations that led to ITV plc taking sole control of GSB, closing Granada Plus and launching ITV3 on digital satellite were apparently completed just hours before the new channel started broadcasting. A week later, on the 8 November 2004, Granada Sky Broadcasting was renamed "ITV Digital Channels Limited". The closure of Granada Plus left Men & Motors the sole survivor of the original four channels. As part of ITV's buy-out of Sky's shareholding Sky will receive 49.5% of any proceeds (net of liabilities) from any future sale of Men & Motors.

On 2 May 2005, Men & Motors launched as free-to-air channel on the Freeview digital terrestrial television service. It was rumoured than ITV plc would replace Men & Motors with ITV4, another men's channel, when it launched on 1 November 2005. However, after a better than expected performance from Men & Motors as a free-to-air channel, both channels continued and ITV plc cut the hours of the ITV News Channel to make way for ITV4 and CITV instead.

Although ITV4 started broadcasting from the Astra satellite on 1 November, it was not placed on the Sky EPG until 7 November. Because of this, some ITV4 sporting programming was simulcast on Men & Motors in a ITV4 on m&m strand.

Despite the previous U-turn not to close Men & Motors, fresh rumours over the channel's future began to circulate in early 2006 due to a poorer than expected performance from the fledgling ITV4 service. In April 2006 Men & Motors left Freeview to make way for the launch of ITV Play. It closed on Virgin Media on 25 March 2010, and finally closed on Sky and Freesat on 1 April, to make way for a permanent EPG position for ITV1 HD.

Currently, ITV2 and ITV3 are the highest rating digital TV channels in the UK. ITV4 is benefiting from extra investment which saw it obtain the rights to the Indian Premier League Cricket is also improving its share of the viewing. The CITV channel is the number one commercial kids TV channel having a higher share of viewers compared to Cartoon Network UK and Nickelodeon UK.