E4 is a digital television channel in the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and
Republic of IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
, launched as a pay-TV companion to
Channel 4Channel 4 is a UK public-service television broadcaster which began working on November 2, 1982. Although commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station owned now and operated by the Channel Four Television...
on 18 January 2001. The "E" stands for
entertainment, and the channel is mainly aimed at the lucrative 15 - 35 age group. Programming includes US imports such as
FriendsFriends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which premiered on NBC on September 22, 1994. The series revolved around a group of friends in the area of Manhattan, New York City, who occasionally live together and share living expenses. The series was produced by...
,
The O.C.The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
,
SmallvilleSmallville is an American television series developed by writers/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The television series was initially broadcast by The WB, premiering on October 16, 2001...
,
The SopranosThe Sopranos is an American television drama series created and produced by David Chase. It premiered on the premium cable network HBO in the United States on January 10, 1999 and ended its original run of six seasons and 86 episodes on June 10, 2007. The show has also been broadcast on A&E in...
,
What About Brian?,
Desperate HousewivesDesperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry, who also serves as show runner, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producers, as of the fourth season, are Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
,
9021090210 may refer to* Beverly Hills, California, zip code 90210* Beverly Hills Post Office* Peltola, Oulu, Finland, postal code 90210* Beverly Hills, 90210, an American Teen drama television series that ran between 1990 and 2000...
,
Gilmore GirlsGilmore Girls is an American comedy drama series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and starring Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel. The series made its debut on The WB on October 5, 2000, and ended on May 15, 2007, in its seventh season, which aired on The CW. Time magazine named Gilmore Girls to their...
,
One Tree HillOne Tree Hill is an American teen, young adult television drama created by Mark Schwahn, which premiered on September 23, 2003 on The WB Television Network. After its third season, The WB merged with UPN to form The CW Television Network, and since September 27, 2006 the network is the official...
,
Scrubs, and British dramas such as
Shameless,
HollyoaksHollyoaks is a long-running television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
,
SkinsSkins is a teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England as they grow up. The controversial plotline explores issues including homosexuality, narcissism, dysfunctional families, absent parents, personality disorders, post traumatic stress, substance abuse, anorexia,...
and
Nearly FamousNearly Famous is a television drama mini-series about a group of British teenagers at a top London school of the performing arts. It is shown in the UK and Ireland on E4. The show has been compared to other teen drama series such as The OC and Skins. The show debuted on E4 on 8 November 2007 and...
. Some of the imports, e.g.
The O.C.The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
,
Ugly BettyUgly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series created by Silvio Horta, which premiered on The American Broadcasting Company on September 28, 2006. The series revolves around Betty Suarez, an unglamorous and good-natured girl, and her incongruous job at the ultra-chic New York City...
and
Desperate HousewivesDesperate Housewives is an American television comedy-drama series created by Marc Cherry, who also serves as show runner, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. Executive producers, as of the fourth season, are Marc Cherry, Bob Daily, George W...
, are screened on E4 up to one week ahead of their Channel 4 broadcasts.
History
Channel 4 announced that the subscription channel would return to digital terrestrial television. From its launch until the closure of
ITV DigitalITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster, which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network as ONdigital in 1998 and briefly re-branded as ITV Digital in July 2001, before the service ceased in May 2002. Its main shareholders...
it was available as a bonus subscription channel. It became part of the
Top Up TVTop Up TV is a subscription video on demand service broadcasting on the UK digital terrestrial platform in the UK. The service offers a assortment of content from providers such as BBC, Warner, Cartoon Network and TCM. The content is accessed by a Top Up TV Freeview+ digital Television recorder...
subscription scheme until 27 May 2005, when the channel became available on Freeview, with the potential to increase advertising revenue by attracting a larger audience.
E4 was also available as part of the basic
Sky DigitalSky Digital is the brand name for British Sky Broadcasting's digital satellite television and radio service, transmitted from SES Astra satellites located at 28.2° east and Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 satellite at 28.5°E....
satellite subscription channel package, due to a long term contract with
BSkyBBritish Sky Broadcasting is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It is the UK's largest pay TV provider...
it only became
free-to-airFree-to-air television and radio broadcasts are sent unencrypted and may be received via any suitable receiver:Free-to-view is, generally, available without subscription but is digitally encrypted and may be restricted geographically...
in 2008. This change happened on 6 May 2008 and the channel joined
FreesatFreesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was marketed from 6 May 2008 and offers a satellite alternative to the Freeview service on digital terrestrial television, with a selection of channels available...
alongside with
More4More4 is a digital television channel, produced by United Kingdom broadcaster Channel 4, that launched on 10 October 2005. It is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky Digital, UK IPTV broadcaster Tiscali TV and on UK cable network Virgin Media and in the Republic of...
.
In May 2005 E4 introduced "First Look", showing episodes of popular programmes such as
HollyoaksHollyoaks is a long-running television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
and drama series such as
LostLost is an American serial drama television series. It follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney, Australia, and Los Angeles, United States, crashes somewhere in the South Pacific...
and
InvasionInvasion is an American science fiction television series that aired on ABC for only one season beginning in September 2005. Somewhat similar to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the show told the story of the aftermath of a hurricane in which water-based creatures infiltrate a small Florida town and...
in advance of transmission on Channel 4.
In October 2005
More4More4 is a digital television channel, produced by United Kingdom broadcaster Channel 4, that launched on 10 October 2005. It is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky Digital, UK IPTV broadcaster Tiscali TV and on UK cable network Virgin Media and in the Republic of...
was launched to complement Channel 4's digital channels.
ERER is an American medical drama series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 1994 to April 2009. It is set primarily in the emergency room of fictional County General Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment in...
and
The West WingThe West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
subsequently moved from E4 to More4.
E4 launched a
Republic of IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
service in June 2002 which has become the second most popular non-terrestrial channel in Ireland with 1.1% of the audience; Sky1 is the most popular.
http://www.medialive.ie/Television/chshare.html.
Since 2006 E4 has sponsored the E4
UdderBELLYThe udderBELLY is an upside-down giant purple cow tent owned by the event venue and management company Underbelly, and sponsored by E4.The udderBELLY can be used for a variety of different purposes as it can be adapted to contain a stage and all-seater 322 seat venue, or alternatively can be...
venue (part of
UnderbellyUnderbelly Limited is an English company that operates a series of four venues at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, in Scotland. From 2000-2004, Smirnoff Underbelly, Cowgate was the only venue operated by Underbelly. In 2005, Underbelly added the Smirnoff Baby Belly venue...
) at the
Edinburgh FringeThe Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the world’s largest arts festival. Established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, it takes place in Scotland's capital during three weeks every August alongside several other arts and cultural festivals, collectively known as the...
and
Brighton FestivalThe Brighton Festival is an annual arts festival which takes place in the city of Brighton and Hove in England each May. It was founded in 1966, and is the largest multi-art form festival in England...
. The venue took the form of a giant upside cow in the purple colour of E4's logo.
In July 2007 it was announced Channel 4 would be launching
E4 RadioIn July 2007 it was announced Channel 4 would be launching E4 Radio, the first of a network of channels to be broadcast on DAB radio. The station was to be launched in spring 2009 on the Digital one mulitplex and would have been aimed at a similar demographic to its sister television channel E4.In...
, the first of a network of channels to be broadcast on
DAB radioDigital Audio Broadcasting , is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
. The station was planned for launch in July 2008 and aimed at a similar demographic to its sister television channel, however this launch date was later delayed. In October 2008 Channel 4 announced it was abandoning its plans for digital radio, and thus scrapping the E4 Radio proposal.
E4 Music
In August 2005, following the close of that year's
Big Brother, E4 introduced the
E4 Music programming block. The slot initially ran through much of the morning/daytime schedule, though was later reduced to mornings only, with the amount of scripted comedy and drama screened in daytime increased.
Prior to the launch of
E4 Music, E4 was off-air during daytime for much of the year, only going on air in daytime for rolling coverage of reality shows such as
Big BrotherBig Brother is a reality television series broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Channel 4 and E4, and on S4C in Wales. Internationally, it is broadcast on the Polish network TVN. It is part of the Big Brother franchise first developed in the Netherlands, and is currently the second...
. The introduction of
E4 Music led to E4 broadcasting 24/7 all year round. Initially,
E4 Music would take a summer break to allow
Big Brother coverage to replace it, but in later years
Big Brother coverage was reduced, allowing a cut-down
E4 Music to run during the summer.
In 2008, the launch of
4Music4Music is a music channel in the United Kingdom and available on some digital television providers in the Republic of Ireland. It is the only channel within the Box Television Network to be branded under Channel 4 and the only channel in the network to be broadcast in widescreen. The channel...
as a channel led to questions being asked about the future of
E4 Music. However, E4 retained its commitment to music content, stating that
E4 Music had been commissioned to run until at least the start of
Big Brother in 2009.
At 10am on Thursday 4 June 2009, the day before the launch of the 2009
Big Brother series,
E4 Music ceased broadcasting.
Big Brother coverage
When the
Big BrotherBig Brother is a reality television series broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Channel 4 and E4, and on S4C in Wales. Internationally, it is broadcast on the Polish network TVN. It is part of the Big Brother franchise first developed in the Netherlands, and is currently the second...
reality show is being transmitted E4 devotes much of its schedule to live coverage from inside the
Big Brother house; interactive features that give access to additional camera angles have also been transmitted. The channel also has
Big Brother voting options, "Big Brother" spin off shows such as Big Brother Live,
Big Brother's Little Brother,
Big Brother's Big Mouth,
Big Brother's Diary Room Uncut and Big Brother highlights repeats.
Big Brother coverage is among the highest-rating programming on the channel, and comes at a time when most of the year's American imports have ended.
Promotions
E4 has become somewhat notorious for its strange
promotionPromotion involves disseminating information about a product, product line, brand, or company. It is one of the five key aspects of the marketing mix....
campaigns, initially narrated by the infamous ‘voice of E4’, the late
Patrick AllenJohn Keith Patrick Allen was a British actor and voice actor.Allen was born in Nyasaland , where his father was a tobacco farmer. After his parents returned to Britain, he was evacuated to Canada during the War where he stayed to finish his education at McGill University in Montreal...
. Since Allen's death in 2006, the similar voice of
Peter DicksonPeter Dickson is a British radio presenter, television announcer and voice over artist who rose to prominence in the 1990s. He has worked extensively as an announcer in the gameshow genre on The Price Is Right , Gameshow Marathon, The Big Call, Soapstar Superstar, Viewer of the Year, Family...
has been used. Trailers often make use of
dry humourDroll humor is an often dry, witty form of humor that elicits laughs through amusingly odd, sometimes zany behavior or speech. Due to its more subtle nature, this type of humor is not commonly used by comedians; Steven Wright is an example of one who does use it in combination with other...
and phrases which, at first, do not appear to make any sense. Past examples include:
- “Big shiny films in your dinky little home!”
- "Coming To You, Straight into Your Telly Box"
- “Second chance Sunday — not just a bunch of repeats, honest”
Programme trailers sometimes have the narrator repeating things that characters have said, such as, in a trailer for
Ugly BettyUgly Betty is an American comedy-drama television series created by Silvio Horta, which premiered on The American Broadcasting Company on September 28, 2006. The series revolves around Betty Suarez, an unglamorous and good-natured girl, and her incongruous job at the ultra-chic New York City...
that includes one character asking Betty "Why are you crying in the bathroom?", the narrator immediately asks "Why
is Betty crying in the bathroom?!". And on another occasion he says "Oh No!
Kerry KatonaKerry Jane Elizabeth Katona is an English media personality. She is most known for her television work and for being a magazine columnist...
must be double booked." commenting on a cameo by
Victoria BeckhamVictoria Caroline Beckham is an English singer, songwriter, dancer, fashion designer, author, businesswoman, actress and model....
. Sometimes the narrator appears to interact with the characters of the programme, especially notable in recent trailers for
Miss MatchMiss Match is a 2003 American television series created by Jeff Rake and Darren Star and produced by Twentieth Century Fox, Darren Star Productions and Imagine Entertainment. It aired in the U.S. on NBC, Australia on Network Seven, Arena and FOX8, and in the UK on Living, Channel 4 and is currently...
and
What About BrianWhat About Brian is an American dramedy television series created by Dana Stevens and co-produced by J.J. Abrams' company Bad Robot Productions. The series premiered on April 16, 2006 on ABC, as a midseason replacement and concluded on March 26, 2007. The show regularly aired on Monday at 10 p.m....
.
Films are usually gently ridiculed in their promotion, such as with the voice of E4 telling viewers they "probably will" guess the ending of
She's All ThatShe's All That is a 1999 romantic comedy film, directed by Robert Iscove, and is a modern remake of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion .-Plot:...
, naming actress
Kim CattrallKim Victoria Cattrall is a Britishactress. She is known for her role as Samantha Jones in the HBO comedy/romance series Sex and the City, and for her leading roles in the 1980s films Police Academy, Big Trouble in Little China, and Mannequin.-Early life:Cattrall was born in Mossley Hill,...
as "That slaggy one from
Sex and the CitySex and the City is an American cable television series. The original run of the show was broadcast on HBO from 1998 until 2004, for a total of six seasons....
" when advertising
Big Trouble in Little ChinaBig Trouble in Little China is a 1986 American action comedy, directed by John Carpenter. It stars Kurt Russell as truck driver Jack Burton, who helps his friend Wang Chi rescue Wang's green-eyed girlfriend from bandits in San Francisco's Chinatown...
, and re-dubbing a scene from
EntrapmentEntrapment is the act of a law enforcement agent inducing a person to commit an offense which would be illegal and the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit. In many jurisdictions, entrapment is a possible defense against criminal guilt....
where the two characters are running along a rooftop before being caught in a helicopters' search light with "
Catherine Zeta-JonesCatherine Zeta Jones is a Welsh actress, currently based in the United States. She began her career on stage at an early age. After starring in a number of UK and US television films and small roles in films, she came to prominence with roles in Hollywood movies such as The Phantom, The Mask of...
! This is the old man police!". There is also quite heavy use of
BritishBritish English, or UK English or English English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
words which have generally fallen out of circulation, such as ‘ruddy’ and ‘gaff’.
Occasionally, the E4 narrator narrates trailers for shows on More4 (chiefly ex-E4 shows such as
ER), ending with him being caught off guard that he's narrating for a "different" channel.
E4's continuity sends up the channel's
Friends-reliant schedule - while in the past, announcements would generally be the same for example "Now it's time to relax with Friends", more recently the announcers have been more inventive with phrases such as "....after an episode of Friends we've shown so many times the tape's gone a bit wobbly" before a Series 1 episode which indeed had a distorted soundtrack. The "Next"
DOGA digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
which runs towards the end of programmes on the channel parodies the schedule with phrases such as "Next: The One with
Jennifer AnistonJennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress. She became famous in the 1990s for her role as Rachel Green in the US sitcom Friends, a role for which she won an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award....
". Another example of using
Friends to get ratings was via promotion for the sitcom
The ClassThe Class was a sitcom which premiered on CBS, and ran from September 18, 2006 to March 5, 2007. The series followed the lives of eight very different alumni of the fictitious Woodman Elementary School. The show was created by David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik's production company CraneKlarik in...
; the show was continuously billed as being from one of the creators of
Friends,
David CraneDavid Crane is an American writer and producer. He was one of the creators of the TV sitcom Friends, along with his longtime friend Marta Kauffman...
. When a late schedule change meant an edition of
Big Brother's Big Mouth was moved to Channel 4 after a controversial incident in the Big Brother house, the E4 announcer, Dominic O'Shea said: "Instead, well, I dunno, we'll probably just show another Friends or something." There have only been a handful of days since the creation of E4 when Friends hasn't been shown, after the previous day's editions, the continuity announcers have been heard to say things like, 'Hell must have frozen over because there's no Friends on tomorrow.'
On one occasion when a playout-error caused part of an episode of
Desperate Housewives to be repeated, O'Shea said, "I know we repeat ourselves a lot on E4 but that was of course a technical fault. Hopefully we'll have it fixed by the time it's repeated on Sunday,"
http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showpost.php?p=8153306&postcount=28 playing on the fact that many of E4's imported American drama programmes are shown at least twice for each episode.
External links