Flextech
Encyclopedia
Living TV Group was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 content subsidiary of British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....

. It is now defunct as a company but Sky Living, Sky Livingit, Sky Living Loves and Challenge are still in operation by BSkyB.

Overview

Living TV Group had a number of wholly owned channels, available in the United Kingdom on Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...

, Satellite television
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...

 and Cable television
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...

 platforms and in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 on Satellite and Cable Television. Living TV Group's advertising for all of its channels was handled by former sister company Interactive Digital Sales (IDS) until 1 January 2011, when Sky Media took over.

History

The first incarnation of Living TV Group was as United Artists Programming Ltd, a division of Croydon-Based United Artists Cable
United Business Media
UBM plc is a magazine publisher, news distributor and events organiser providing business information services principally to the technology, healthcare, media, automotive and financial services industries...

. As part of the formation of Telewest
Telewest
Telewest, formerly Telewest Broadband and Telewest Communications was a cable Internet, broadband internet, telephone supplier and cable television provider in the United Kingdom...

, it was the subject of a management buy-out and was re-purchased by the then much enlarged Telewest Communications in 2000, being re-named Flextech.

On 8 February 2007, Flextech was renamed Virgin Media Television as part of a larger re-branding exercise covering the whole of NTL:Telewest, Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile UK
Virgin Mobile UK is a mobile phone service provider operating in the United Kingdom. The company was the world's first Mobile Virtual Network Operator, launched in 1999. Being a virtual operator, Virgin Mobile does not maintain its own network, and instead has contracts to use the existing network...

 and Virgin.net
Virgin.net
Virgin.net was an Internet service provider operating in the United Kingdom. It launched in November 1996. Once a joint venture between NTL and the Virgin Group, the ISP became wholly owned by NTL in 2004....

.

Sale to BSkyB

On 7 April 2009, Virgin Media formally began the sale of its content operation, issuing a sales memorandum for its Virgin Media Television unit plus ad sales house IDS. It excluded its 50% stake in UKTV from the sale.

On 4 June 2010, British Sky Broadcasting and Virgin Media announced that they had reached an agreement for the acquisition by Sky of Virgin Media Television. The companies had, in parallel, agreed to enter into a number of agreements providing for the carriage of certain Sky standard and high-definition (HD) channels. Sky acquired VMtv for a total consideration of up to £160 million in cash, with £105 million paid on completion and the remainder paid following the regulatory process. The acquisition expanded Sky's portfolio of basic pay TV channels and eliminated the carriage fees it previously paid for distributing VMtv channels on its TV services. New carriage agreements secured wholesale distribution of Sky's basic channel line-up, including Sky1 and Sky Arts, and the VMtv channels, on Virgin Media's cable TV service. For an incremental wholesale fee, Virgin Media, for the first time, had the option of carrying any of Sky's basic HD channels, Sky Sports HD 1 and Sky Sports HD 2, and all Sky Movies HD channels. Virgin Media will make available through its on-demand TV service a range of content from Sky's basic and premium channels, including the VMtv channels. Virgin Media also gained access to red button interactive sports coverage and the opportunity to deliver selected standard definition programming over the internet. Sky would assume responsibility for selling advertising for the newly acquired VMtv channels from January 2011. Completion of the agreements was conditional on obtaining merger control clearance in the Republic of Ireland.

Virgin1 was also a part of the deal, but was rebranded as Channel One on 3 September 2010, as the Virgin name was not licensed to Sky. Virgin Media's stake in UKTV was not included in the deal.

On 29 June 2010, The Competition Authority
Competition Authority (Ireland)
The Competition Authority is the statutory body responsible for regulating competition in the Republic of Ireland. The authority was established under the Section 10 of the to assume the functions of the defunct Fair Trade Commission. The changed the authority from an office of the Department of...

 in Ireland cleared the proposed transaction. The parties proceeded after the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation did not direct the Authority to carry out a full investigation within 10 days of the date of the Authority’s decision.

On 13 July 2010, British Sky Broadcasting and Virgin Media announced that Sky has completed the acquisition of Virgin Media Television (VMtv) following regulatory approval in the Republic of Ireland. VMtv was then re-named the Living TV Group. In completing the acquisition, Sky paid Virgin Media an initial £105 million. Up to an additional £55 million would be paid on UK regulatory clearance.

On 20 July 2010, The Office of Fair Trading
Office of Fair Trading
The Office of Fair Trading is a not-for-profit and non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforces both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the UK's economic regulator...

 announced that they would review BSkyB's acquisition of the Virgin Media Television business to judge whether it posed any competition concerns in the UK. The OFT planned to investigate the deal to see whether it could constitute a qualifying merger under the Enterprise Act 2002
Enterprise Act 2002
The Enterprise Act 2002 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which made major changes to UK competition law with respect to mergers and also changed the law governing insolvency bankruptcy.-Structure:*Part 1 The Office of Fair Trading...

. The watchdog invited interested parties from the industry to comment on the sale, including its potential impact on the pay-TV market. On 14 September 2010, The OFT decided not to refer BSkyB's takeover of Virgin Media's TV channels to the Competition Commission
Competition Commission
The Competition Commission is a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom...

.

Following the sale, BSkyB chose to integrate the Living TV Group into its own operations. This resulted in the closure of Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge Jackpot on 1 January 2011 and Channel One on 1 February 2011. On 1 February 2011, Living, Livingit and Living Loves were rebranded as Sky Living, Sky Livingit and Sky Living Loves, while Challenge was added to Freeview, with the channels receiving a 25% boost to their programming budget. Fifty-two of the Living TV Group's 110 employees were made redundant as part of the process, including managing director - Johnny Webb, director of television - Claudia Rosencrantz and director of programmes for Channel One, Bravo and Challenge - Daniela Neumann. The integration process was completed at the end of January 2011.

Living TV Group channels


Living TV Group directly operated a number of linear television channels. Most of the channels were formed in the Flextech years. Additionally Living TV Group operated a high-definition channel and a number of time shifted channels. All channels were available on Satellite and Cable television services. Channel One, was also available on Freeview.

Challenge

Challenge and Challenge +1, launched as The Family Channel on 1 September 1993 as a family orientated channel but relaunched as Challenge in February 1997. The station relies heavily on game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

s taken from a variety of sources although most are repeats of programmes acquired from the terrestrial channels' archives. The channel also has interactive features for digital cable and satellite viewers watching certain shows, enabling them to play along at home. As of 1999, Challenge now broadcasts for 24 hours a day. Until 1998, it was timeshared with The Children's Channel and, when it closed, subsequently with TV Travel Shop
TV Travel Shop
TV Travel Shop was a British television channel that sold holidays.It launched in 1998, primarily on satellite and cable. In 2000, the channel launched on ONdigital, using capacity from ONrequest 2 , and broadcast 6am-12pm weekdays, and 6am-10am weekends, free to air on channel 44. Its hours were...

. While it was timeshared, Challenge would begin at 17:00 and run until around midnight, with a teleshopping service filling up the early hours when both them and either TCC or TV Travel Shop weren't broadcasting. The main slogan of the channel is 'Saturday night, every night'.

Sky Living

Sky Living and Sky Living +1, formerly affiliated with UK Gold as UK Living and then known as LIVINGtv. It is the main channel from Living TV Group and usually has the highest ratings, recently better than that of Sky1 which strengthens its bid to become "the 6th Channel". It originally launched on 1 September 1993 as UK Living, but the channel later changed its name to Living in 1997, to disassociate itself from the UKTV network that launched that year. In a bid to appeal to a more male audience, the pink colour scheme was dropped and new types of programming came to the channel, but at the same time not losing its female audience. Shows include the likes of the CSI, Close to Home and Boston Legal
Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...

, the channel is now broadening its audience reach to other key demographics
Demographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...

 such as men aged 18–45. The most watched shows on Living are Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer is an American television supernatural drama, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005 to May 21, 2010.The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon , who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts...

, America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....

, Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

and Most Haunted Live!
Most Haunted Live!
Most Haunted Live was a spin-off of the paranormal reality television series Most Haunted and was also produced by Antix Productions. The show consists of paranormal investigations broadcast live over a period of one or more nights, usually with interactive sections that involve the...

. Living in 2006 launched a specific version of the channel for the Republic of Ireland. It is available on Sky, Magnet Networks
Magnet Networks
Magnet Networks is an Irish company providing telephone, television and internet services via subscription over optical fibre.Magnet Networks was launched in Dublin on 1 December 2004, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of US-based international investment company Columbia Ventures Corporation...

 and UPC
UPC Ireland
UPC Ireland is Liberty Global Europe's telecommunications operation in Ireland. UPC Ireland is the largest digital cable television provider within the Republic of Ireland. As of September 2010 the company offers broadband internet, digital television and digital telephony to over 531,000 customers...

. It was also available on SCTV
South Coast Television
South Coast TV was a television deflector and MMDS service operating in County Cork, Ireland. Its headquarters were in Carrigaline.-History:South Coast TV was founded in 1985 as the Carrigaline Community Television Project, to provide a multi-channel TV service to the people of Carrigaline...

 until that service closed in 2010. The channel airs specific advertising for the region. Living have also used outdoor advertising within the country.

A high-definition simulcast of Living called Living HD was launched on 6 October 2009 and was the first high-definition channel from Living TV Group.

On 1 February 2011, Living was rebranded as Sky Living.

Sky Livingit

Sky Livingit and Sky Livingit +1 is the sister channel of Living which was launched on 13 December 2004. The channel mainly shows highlights of programming from Living, along with extended coverage of its reality programmes, such as I'm Famous and Frightened Extra!
I'm Famous and Frightened!
I'm Famous and Frightened was a Living TV reality TV show in which 8 celebrities stayed for three nights in a "haunted" castle. They had to then do terrifying challenges in order to raise money for charity; each one was evicted until only the winner was left.The first series aired on Friday 12...

and Most Haunted Live!
Most Haunted Live!
Most Haunted Live was a spin-off of the paranormal reality television series Most Haunted and was also produced by Antix Productions. The show consists of paranormal investigations broadcast live over a period of one or more nights, usually with interactive sections that involve the...

. However, the channel has gained the American Reality TV Show, the Amazing Race. The channel also shows more lifestyle and health related programmes than Living such as, Baby ER, Birth Stories, Downsize Me and Wedding SOS. There is also a programming slot called Baby Zone, in which programmes related to pregnancy and birth are shown.

On 1 February 2011, Livingit was rebranded as Sky Livingit.

Sky Living Loves

On 5 July 2010, Living Loves replaced Living +2 on Sky and Virgin Media. Running a daily schedule from 15:00 to 02:00, the channel gives viewers the opportunity to experience their favourite Living shows again or catch up on ones that they have missed.

On 1 February 2011, Living Loves was rebranded as Sky Living Loves. On 5 September 2011, the channel began broadcasting for 24 hours a day.

The channel will close on 24 January 2012.

Defunct channels

As Flextech, Living TV Group used to be interested in different markets from its current demographics which focus on an older age group. But in an attempt to streamline the business that was at the time suffering from falling ratings across these channels they were made defunct. Due to the sale of Living TV Group to Sky some channels were disposed of.

Bravo

Bravo was launched in 1985. The channel also has a one hour timeshift named Bravo +1. The channel mainly broadcasts a multitude of exclusive crime documentaries and factual entertainment both from a variety of archive programming, such as Knight Rider and MacGyver
MacGyver
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...

, and original productions. Its target audience is currently men in their late 20s to early 40s. On 28 August 2005, the channel started showing Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

 Italian football, bringing back the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

 format Football Italia
Football Italia
Football Italia is an Italian football programme in the United Kingdom, known as Football Italiano for its final season. The first broadcasting of the show was in 1992 on Channel 4, the show is centered around live coverage of Serie A football, the top flight in the Italian league system...

. However, poor viewing figures saw Bravo cancel first the weekly Gazetta Football Italia show, then announce it would stop showing Italian Football altogether after 23 December 2006. The network aired an Adult Swim block nightly at around midnight until July 2008. The channel also acquired rights to show Blade: The Series
Blade: The Series
Blade: The Series is a 2006 American live-action television program based on the Marvel Comics character and film series. It premiered on Spike on June 28, 2006...

and The Kill Point
The Kill Point
The Kill Point is a television series that follows a group of U.S. Marines recently returned from serving in Iraq as they come together to pull off a major bank heist of a Three Rivers Bank branch in Pittsburgh. The series, produced by Mandeville Films and Lionsgate Television, is the first drama...

.

The channel closed on 1 January 2011.

Bravo 2

Bravo 2, formerly called Player, launched on 2 March 2006. It originally replaced the Player late night slot on Challenge. On 28 September 2006, Player relaunched as Bravo 2 and became a sister channel of Bravo. The channel's content consists of gambling and sports programmes. The ident for Player was the same as that of the original slot. Recently, as Player, Bravo 2 added exclusive coverage of the FIA GT Championship
FIA GT Championship
The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout the years has visited other continents including Asia and South...

 to its portfolio of sports events. The channel also carries a limited amount of Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

 matches under the production of Bravo. From January 2007 Bravo 2 started broadcasting Total Nonstop Action Wrestling programming and was the only channel in the UK which had the exclusive rights for TNA Wrestling Programming which consists of a two day delay for the American broadcast TNA weekly show TNA Impact!
TNA iMPACT!
Impact Wrestling is a professional wrestling television program for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling that currently airs in the United States and Canada on Spike...

and a three day delay for the TNA's monthly pay-per-views. Bravo's contract with TNA Wrestling Programming is an 18 month contract and was distributed by RDA TV. Impact was later moved to Bravo and pay-per-views moved to the Extreme Sports Channel
Extreme Sports Channel
The Extreme Sports Channel is a Netherlands-based extreme sports television channel available across Europe and the Middle East. Al Gosling had the idea for the channel in 1998.-History:...

.

The channel closed on 1 January 2011.

Challenge Jackpot

Challenge Jackpot launched on 1 July 2008 as a 24 hour interactive gaming channel, run in collaboration with Two Way Media. It is available on Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...

 cable & Sky but is also available on Freeview via Virgin 1
Virgin 1
Channel One was a television channel owned and operated by British Sky Broadcasting. The channel was launched on 1 October 2007 at 21:00 on Freeview, Virgin Media and Sky as Virgin1, replacing Ftn...

 and Bravo 2 simulcasts overnight. On cable, an interactive application developed by Two Way Media that enables viewers to play along with live programming on the channel; alternatively, viewers may participate on the channel's website. It shows Face Up Hold 'Em
Texas hold 'em
Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...

, Get Set Roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....

, Hot Shot Keno
Keno
Keno is a lottery or bingo gambling game often played at modern casinos, and is also offered as a game in some state lotteries. A traditional live casino keno game uses a circular glass enclosure called a "bubble" containing 80 balls which determine the ball draw result. Each ball is imprinted...

and Roulette Nation
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....

gambling programmes with presenters such as Jeff Brazier
Jeff Brazier
Jeffrey Carl Brazier is a British television presenter and reality TV star. Before becoming a television personality, he was a footballer on the books of Leyton Orient for three years, although he never played for the first team and quit the game due to injury.-Career:In 2001, Brazier took part in...

.

Challenge Jackpot was not available in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 due to "regulatory and legal restrictions". Games are overseen by Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...

 and, because Two Way's gaming division is based there, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission
Alderney Gambling Control Commission
Alderney Gambling Control Commission was established in May 2000. The Commission is independent and non political, and regulates eGambling on behalf of the States of Alderney. The Commission ensures that its regulatory and supervisory approach meets the very highest of international standards...

.

The channel closed on 1 January 2011.

Channel One

Channel One, a general entertainment channel from Living TV Group, launched on 1 October 2007 as Virgin1 and replaced Ftn
Ftn
Ftn was a television channel from Virgin Media Television transmitting free-to-air on Freeview and Virgin Media, and as a subscription channel on Sky Digital. The channel was broadcast between 18:00 and 06:00 daily...

 on all platforms. Channel One +1 is also available on Virgin and Sky. Some media sources have claimed that the channel was intended to be Virgin Media's attempt to create a rival to Sky1 with the advantage of having a wider reach of viewers. The channel initially had a £40 million budget as well as being funded through advertising revenue. Programming on the channel includes acquisitions such as Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Chuck
Chuck (TV series)
Chuck is an action-comedy/spy-drama television program from the United States created by Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak. The series is about an "average computer-whiz-next-door" named Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, who receives an encoded e-mail from an old college friend now working for the Central...

, The Riches
The Riches
The Riches is an FX television series, which originally ran from March 15, 2007 to April 29, 2008, and starred Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver.-History:...

and The Unit
The Unit
The Unit is an American action-drama television series that focuses on a top-secret military unit modeled after the real-life U.S. Army special operations unit commonly known as Delta Force...

along with commissions such as Caribbean Cops
Caribbean Cops
Caribbean Cops is an 8 part documentary created for Virgin 1.The series was shot on location in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and St Lucia, and was designed to capture the drama behind policing these holiday destinations and keeping the islands safe....

and Take Me to the Edge
Take Me to the Edge
Take Me to the Edge is a British reality series investigating global rites of passage. Host Leo Houlding brings five adults to different parts of the world, where they experience local rites of passage such as rock climbs, running through fire, drinking blood straight from a cow’s neck and climbing...

.

The channel closed on 1 February 2011.

European Business News

European Business News
CNBC Europe
CNBC Europe is a business and financial news television channel, the pan-European sister station of CNBC. The network is owned and operated by NBC Universal and headquartered in London, where it shares the Adrian Smith-designed 10 Fleet Place building with Dow Jones...

was a business news channel which broadcast throughout Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 in partnership with Dow Jones. It broadcast between 06:00 and 12:00 on satellite, timesharing with Bravo, and 24 hours a day on cable. On 9 December 1998, the channel announced that it would be merging with the CNBC Europe
CNBC Europe
CNBC Europe is a business and financial news television channel, the pan-European sister station of CNBC. The network is owned and operated by NBC Universal and headquartered in London, where it shares the Adrian Smith-designed 10 Fleet Place building with Dow Jones...

 news channel. The merger took place in February 1998, upon which the channel then became known officially as "CNBC Europe - A Service of NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 and Dow Jones". Flextech left all of its interests in the channel and then decided to focus on entertainment rather than news. Since the merger, CNBC Europe has leaned generally on the US CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...

 on-air graphical look.

Ftn

Ftn
Ftn
Ftn was a television channel from Virgin Media Television transmitting free-to-air on Freeview and Virgin Media, and as a subscription channel on Sky Digital. The channel was broadcast between 18:00 and 06:00 daily...

(or Flextech Television Network) is the only wholly owned channel that has been closed down by the new VMT. The channel rebranded as Virgin1 on 1 October 2007.

SceneOne

SceneOne
SceneOne
SceneOne was a general entertainment website and television channel operated by Flextech Television, now Living TV Group.The site was accessible via the public internet and within the walled garden of the Telewest and Cable and Wireless cable television platforms . Listings from the site were also...

was a general entertainment website and television channel which was closed down under Flextech management after disappointing reach and a lack of revenue. The website was set up in February 1999, and following an announcement in March 2002, was shut on 4 April 2002. The site's coverage spanned cinema, TV, radio, music, concerts, theatre, comedy, online, books and videos. The television channel was announced in 1999 and launched in June 2000 but was closed in March 2001. It was accessible to subscribers of Telewest cable television. There was speculation that the closure was due to low viewing figures and the failure to gain carriage on Sky, although this was denied by the general manager of SceneOne. The channel broadcast for 24 hours a day, and showed entertainment news and reviews on similar genres to the web site.

Setanta Sports News

Setanta Sports News
Setanta Sports News
Setanta Sports News was a television channel from Virgin Media Television and Setanta Sports. The channel launched on 29 November 2007. as a rolling 24-hour sports news channel using the strength of the Setanta Sports brand across the United Kingdom and Ireland . It was available to all Virgin...

was a joint venture channel from Virgin Media Television and Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...

. Following many delays the channel launched on 29 November 2007. The channel was seen as Virgin Media's rival to Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News is a 24-hour sports news channel in the United Kingdom. It is run by BSkyB whose sports channels include Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as Sky Sports HD1, HD2, HD3 and HD4....

 which was removed from their platform on 1 March 2007 as their contract with BSkyB
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....

 had ended.

The channel ceased broadcasting on 23 June 2009, the same day that Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports
Setanta Sports is an international sports broadcaster based in Dublin, Ireland. Setanta Sports was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events...

 was placed into administration.

The Children's Channel

The Children's Channel
The Children's Channel
The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a television station in the United Kingdom, Benelux and Scandinavia, which was owned by Flextech . It began broadcasting on 1 September 1984, and was closed on 3 April 1998...

closed down silently on 3 April 1998. The reason for this is unknown, but it is known that TV Travel Shop took its place. It was available in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 from the Astra 1A
Astra 1A
Astra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by SES . During its early days, it was often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite originally....

 satellite. Despite the channel's closure, the website continued to be available as late as 2005, however most of the features that were originally available when the channel still broadcast were removed. The website has since became inaccessible.

Trouble

Trouble launched on 3 February 1997. It fully replaced The Children's Channel from 4 April 1998, prior to the start of Sky. Trouble had a key demographic of young adults and teenagers, aged between 15-24. The channel showed a lot of American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n imports, with only a small margin of programs being British, although a website was launched called Trouble Homegrown that showcases British videos. The channel had success, with acquisitions such as My Wife and Kids
My Wife and Kids
My Wife and Kids is an American television family sitcom that ran on ABC from March 28, 2001 until May 17, 2005. Produced by Touchstone Television , it starred Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell-Martin, and centers on the character of Michael Kyle, a loving husband and modern-day patriarch who rules...

, One on One
One on One (TV series)
One on One is an American sitcom that aired on the now-defunct UPN from its September 3, 2001 premiere until May 15, 2006. The series stars Flex Alexander as a single sportscaster, who becomes a full-time dad when his ex-wife decides to accept a job out of the country and his teenage daughter...

, Grounded for Life
Grounded for Life
Grounded for Life is an American television sitcom that debuted on January 10, 2001 as a mid-season replacement on the FOX Network. It was created by Mike Schiff and Bill Martin. It ran for two seasons on the network until being cancelled only two episodes into its third season...

, Summerland
Summerland (TV series)
Summerland is an American drama television series created by Stephen Tolkin and Lori Loughlin. It is centered on a clothing designer in her 30s, Ava Gregory , raising her niece and nephews after their parents die in a tragic accident...

, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from September 10, 1990 to May 20, 1996. The show stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart teenager from West Philadelphia who is sent to move in with his aunt and uncle in their...

, That '70s Show
That '70s Show
That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...

and How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Mother is an American sitcom that premiered on CBS on September 19, 2005, created by Craig Thomas and Carter Bays.As a framing device, the main character, Ted Mosby with narration by Bob Saget, in the year 2030 recounts to his son and daughter the events that led to his meeting...

to name a few. It also showed some dramas such as Life as We Know It and The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us
The Secret Life of Us was a television drama series set in the beachside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, Australia. The series was produced by Southern Star Entertainment and screened in Australia from 2001 to 2005 on Network Ten and on Channel 4 in the UK...

. The channel underwent a rebrand in mid-2006, with the number placement of the channel changing on Sky from 607 in 'Kids' to 201 in 'Entertainment' as a move to make it seem more teenage orientated. Later the channel moved on Sky  again to channel 172. Trouble's one hour timeshift channel named Trouble +1 (formerly Trouble Reload) closed on 5 February 2009 to make way for the launch of Living2 +1 (now known as Livingit +1). Trouble then followed Trouble +1 and closed on 1 April 2009.

Virgin Central

Virgin Central
Virgin Central
Virgin Central was a barker channel from Virgin Media Television, promoting video-on-demand content. The service was launched on the Virgin Media cable television platform on 20 February 2007. Viewers were presented with a video loop promoting the programmes available...

was a TV channel launched on the Virgin Media platform on 20 February 2007. It was based on the video-on-demand system. The service was launched on the Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...

 platform on 20 February 2007. Viewers pressed the red button on their remote controls and were presented with a list of television series, episodes of which they could have watched at any time they like during the week. The programmes were all free to watch, and did not have any adverts in them. The viewer could also have used their remote control to pause, fast forward
Fast forward
To fast-forward means to move forward through a recording at a speed faster than that at which it would usually be played. The recordings are usually audio, video, or computer data...

, rewind and stop the programme at any time. The service featured shows from distributors such as the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, Buena Vista
Buena Vista Television
Disney-ABC Domestic Television is the domestic television syndication firm of the Disney-ABC Television Group, a division of The Walt Disney Company, that handles the television distribution of product from Walt Disney Television, Walt Disney Television Animation, BVS Entertainment, and ABC...

 and Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis
Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. was a Toronto-based media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operator in Canada. Alliance Atlantis also had offices in Halifax, Los Angeles, London, Dublin, Madrid, Barcelona, Shannon and Sydney.Alliance Atlantis was acquired by Canwest...

. It was replaced by a message stating the service had moved to the 'More On Demand' section in the Virgin TV menus, and was later removed off the platform a few days later. A sister channel called Virgin Central 2 existed for less than a year, airing the same promotional reel but on a delayed schedule.

Minotaur International

In 1999, Flextech agreed to acquire Minotaur International for around $6.5 million. Minotaur International was responsible for international sales of most programmes commissioned by the network. In 2007, Target Entertainment Group acquired Minotaur International and formed strategic alliances with Virgin Media Television to act as their preferred distribution partner in 2007.

NetPlay TV

On 7 April 2009, it was announced that Virgin Media Television had agreed to buy options to acquire 9.9 percent of NetPlay TV Plc's shares at a strike price of 18 pence per share.

NetPlay acquired the business assets of Two Way Gaming Ltd, the provider of the Challenge Jackpot gaming services, for £2 million pounds in stock.

NetPlay TV signed production and gaming agreements with Virgin Media Television for an initial period until June 30, 2013, and take over production of Challenge Jackpot, including its website and television channel.

On 25 March 2010, NetPlay TV and Virgin Media Television agreed to the termination of the option agreement entered into on 7 April 2009 under which VMTV was granted options over 14.9m ordinary shares being 9.9 per cent of the share capital then in issue at a price of 18p per share (the "Option Agreement"). Under the revised agreement NetPlay TV will take control of the current Challenge Jackpot database and terminate the Option Agreement in exchange for a fixed cash payment of £1.82m. The current database generated £2.9m of gross gaming margin from 12 May 2009 to 31 December 2009 and was subject to a revenue share agreement. Under the revised terms, all revenues arising from this database will be retained by NetPlay TV, with VMTV receiving fixed monthly payments that reflect the value of its airtime.

External links

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