UK Gold
UK Gold is a
British television channel, originally launched on
November 1,
1992 (coincidentally, the day before
Channel 4's 10th birthday) as a joint venture between
Thames Television and the
BBC to show their 'classic' archive programming (see:
rerun). The channel's major drawbacks in its early years were the insensitive placement of commercial breaks in BBC shows, and the heavy-handed editing of BBC programmes to fit commercial timeslots. The channel joined
Sky's basic subscription package in
1993.
UK Gold's programming includes such viewer favourites as:
UK Gold's success led to the creation of UKTV, still part-owned by the
BBC, which operates several channels showing different types of archive programming. These include UK Horizons (documentaries), UK Style (home and lifestyle), UK Drama, and UK History, as well as the time-shifted UK Gold +1, and UK Gold 2, renamed UKG
2 on
November 12,
2003.
Unfortunately the BBC still cuts programmes (mainly documentaries) for commercial timing on some of the UKTV channels, which seems somewhat hypocritical, although UK Gold programmes are now shown apparently uncut in longer slots - for instance, most half-hour BBC sitcoms are shown in 40-minute slots.
UK Gold and is available on digital satellite and cable, but not any form of terrestrial television in the UK.
External Links