| British Television |
| British Television has always been at the forefront of television broadcasting and development since the vary begining. With the BBC at its core, British television is global television, with international channels and programme exports worldwide. |
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| BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) |
| Founded in 1922 by private companies interested in radio broadcasting, its first radio transmission went out on November 14th of that year. In 1927 it was granted a Royal Charter of incorporation and became the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation.
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The BBC has been at the forefront of television since its very begining, and began TV broadcasts in 1932, started the worlds first regular television service in 1936, were the first to use teletext known as Ceefax in 1973 and invented NICAM stereo in the early 1980s.
Today the Corporation is a global broadcaster and supplier of programming to the worlds television channels.
From classic comedies such as Faulty Towers to BBC Three's Little Britain, exceptional and educational childrens programmes like the Teletubbies, to an unrivald News service, with a world wide reputation trusted by millions.
The BBC, ITV and Channel 4, will be launching Freesat, a Public Service digital satellite platform in the first quater of 2008.
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| Click HERE to read more about the BBC. |
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| ITV (Independent Television) |
Independent Television (ITV) were the UK's first commercial television broadcasters, set up to provide competition to the BBC in 1954 . Today most of the ITV (channel 3) franchises have been consolidated by ITV plc. The original channel was rebranded ITV1, and ITV now operates four other channels, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and Men & Motors. There are time shifted versions of ITV2 and ITV3.
Along with the BBC and Channel 4, ITV will be part of the Freesat Public Service digital satellite platform, due to launch in March 2008. With the launch of Freesat, ITV will be launching a HD version of the main channel ITV1.
ITV was the first British terrestrial broadcaster to offer its channel via a live Internet stream. See www.itv.com.
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| Click HERE to read more about ITV. |
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| Channel Four |
Channel 4 was created by an Act of Parliament and started broadcasting on November 2, 1982.
Unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and all programming is financed through its commercial activities, and advertising. It is a publicly owned corporation whose board is appointed by OFCOM, in agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. Like the BBC it is a Public Service Broadcaster and has a public service remit. It also has an obligation to provide schools programming.Channel 4 also operates three digitalk only channels, E4, More4 and Film4.
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| Click HERE to read more about Channel Four. |
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| S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru) |
S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru) - 'Channel Four Wales') is a Welsh-language television channel broadcasting in Wales, which was established in response to demands for a channel to cater for the Welsh-speaking minority population in Wales. It is the equivalent of Channel 4, which broadcasts to the rest of the United Kingdom.The channel started broadcasting on 1 November 1982, the night before Channel 4's opening.S4C's remit is to provide a service which is in the Welsh language in peak viewing hours. Previously Welsh speakers had been served by occasional programmes in Welsh broadcast as regional opt-outs on BBC Wales and HTV (the ITV1 station in Wales), often at obscure times.
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| Click HERE to read more about S4C. |
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| Five |
| Five, formerly known as Channel 5, is the fifth terrestrial TV Channel in the UK. Channel 5 was the first terrestrial TV broadcaster to broadcast on satellite. 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. |
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| Unlike the other four analogue British television channels, many areas remain unable to receive it via analogue terrestrial broadcasts, notably the south coast of England, where the signal would otherwise interfere with signals from television stations in France. The channel is available on all digital platforms (via satellite on Sky Digital, on Freeview digital terrestrial, and on cable). |
| Click HERE to read more about Five. |
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| Sky Digital |
Sky Digital is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television service, transmitted from the SES Astra satellites located at 28.2°E and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E.
Sky Digital is the UK's only satellite platform. Sky Digital was officially launched on 1 October 1998, although small-scale tests were carried out before then.For the first time, BSkyB used the newly-launched Astra 2 satellites, which have since come to broadcast exclusively to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
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| With over 7 million subscribers, Sky is the UK’s most popular digital satellite entertainment service provider. Using advanced satellite technology, they deliver access to more than 200 channels of programming to homes and businesses that have digital satellite equipment supplied by Sky. |
| Click HERE to read more about Sky Digital. |
