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UKTV Gold
Launched	1 November 1992
Owned by	UKTV (BBC 50%/Virgin Media Television 50%)
Picture format	4:3, 576i (SDTV)
Audience share	0.7% (0.4% for +1) (October 2007, [1])
Formerly called	UK Gold (until March 2004)
Timeshift service	UKTV Gold +1
Website	www.uktvgold.co.uk
Availability
Terrestrial
Top Up TV	Channel 17 (16:00-01:00)
Satellite
Sky Digital	Channel 109 Channel 110 (+1)
Cable
Virgin Media	Channel 124 Channel 125 (+1)
WightCable	Channel 46/112
Tiscali TV	Channel 16
UPC Ireland	Channel 120

UKTV Gold, (previously known as UK Gold until March 8, 2004), is a British television channel that shows mainly classic BBC entertainment programmes. It launched on November 1, 1992, currently available on Sky Digital, Virgin Media, and terrestrial subscription via Top Up TV.

Contents 1 History 2 Programming 2.1 Current Programming 2.2 Former Programming 3 On-Screen Identity 3.1 Logos 4 External links

The channel launched on November 1, 1992 as a joint venture between Thames Television and the BBC to show reruns of their 'classic' archive programming (UKTV Gold and its sister stations (see below) are now part of the UKTV network, owned jointly by Virgin Media Television (formerly Flextech) and the BBC).

The channel's major drawbacks in its early years were the insensitive placement of commercial breaks in BBC shows, poor timekeeping, and the heavy-handed editing of BBC programmes to fit commercial timeslots. The channel joined Sky's basic subscription package in 1993.

Initially broadcast on an analogue transponder from a SES Astra satellite at 19.2°E which was not primarily intended for UK reception, the channel used to be notorious for being marred with 'sparklies' in large parts of the UK.

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 included UK Arena, UK Style (home and lifestyle), UK Drama, UK Play/PlayUK (now defunct), UK Horizons (now defunct) and UK History, as well as the time-shifted UK Gold +1, and UK Gold Classics, soon renamed to UK Gold 2. UK Gold 2 originally screened morning programmes from UK Gold time-shifted to the evening of the same day, but was relaunched with a completely new programme lineup and renamed UKG² on November 12, 2003. Another channel, UK Living, was renamed LivingTV when it broke away from the joint BBC-Flextech ownership (now solely owned by Virgin Media Television).

On March 8, 2004 all of the UKTV channels changed their prefixes from UK to UKTV, and UK Horizons was split into two channels - UKTV Documentary and UKTV People.

The BBC still cuts programmes (mainly documentaries) for commercial timing on the UKTV's factual channels, None of the UKTV channels broadcasts in widescreen; programmes made in 16:9 format are screened in the compromise 14:9 semi-letterbox ratio. (UKTV have confirmed they plan on broadcasting in widescreen in early 2008) On 30 November 2007, UKTV started testing programmes on UKTV Gold and UKTV Gold +1 in widescreen.[2] None of the other UKTV or Virgin Media Television channels were testing in the new format at the time.

An analogue teletext service known as GoldText used to be available on this channel, but has since closed down.

The channel has been criticised by some, particularly in recent years, for featuring many recent programmes as opposed to 'classics' as was the original concept, with some shows appearing on the channel mere months or weeks after their first television broadcast.

The output of the channel is mainly British comedy programmes and sometimes feature length films. These are a combination of internally produced shows and repeats of shows from the BBC & ITV archive.

The Afternoon Play Alistair McGowan's Big Impression As Time Goes By Baywatch The Bill Casualty The Catherine Tate Show Charlie's Angels Classic Doctor Who Close Up Comedy Connections Dallas Dalziel and Pascoe Dancing With The Stars dinnerladies Doctor Who EastEnders Euromillions: Boom Bang a Bang Fantasy Island Holby City Icons

Keeping up Appearances Last of the Summer Wine The Lenny Henry Show Men Behaving Badly My Family Neighbours New Tricks One Foot In The Grave Only Fools and Horses Open All Hours Porridge The Royle Family Shark Starstruck Classics The Thin Blue Line 2 Point 4 Children The Vicar of Dibley Victoria Wood As Seen On TV Who Do You Think You Are? Wogan: Now and Then The Worst Week of My Life Top Gear

A Close Shave A Grand Day Out The A-Team All Creatures Great and Small Are You Being Served? Blackadder Blake's 7 Blankety Blank Blue Peter The Blue Planet Bottom The Britass Empire Coast Dad's Army Dangerfield Defenders of the Earth Eldorado Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again Hi-de-Hi! The House of Eliott

It Ain't Half Hot Mum Little Britain Lovejoy Match of the Day Minder The Morcambe & Wise Show Murder, She Wrote My Hero The New Adventures Of Old Christine Only Fools and Horses Greatest Moments Planet Earth Prison Break Repeats of season 1 & 2 Record Breakers Red Dwarf Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em Spitting Image Sons and Daughters The Sweeney The Two Ronnies Top of the Pops Waiting For God The Wrong Trousers The Young Ones You Rang, M'Lord?

UKTV Gold's new look went live on April 5, 2007 - the same day that Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again, premiered.

For the first few years, idents on UK Gold featured an animated dog mascot named "Goldie" posing with the UK Gold logo. Goldie was never name-checked as such on air, possibly owing to the death of the original Blue Peter dog Goldie some weeks before launch, although the late-night music video slot "Dog House" was originally listed as "Goldie's Video Bites" in initial pre-launch listings. The Goldie idents were kept until 1993 when they were replaced with a form-up of the first logo against a blue background. A re-branding in 1994 saw UK Gold adopt a more fitting identity: Idents were based on the forging of gold bars, with the station's logo appearing to have been stamped into gold. Variations on this theme were used until 1997, when the channel received a revamp as part of the formation of the UKTV network.

The new network's corporate identity saw all its channels logos simplified to a boxed "UK" followed by the name (e.g. "Gold") in a simple sans serif font. The new networkwide ident theme would involve the splitting of the screen for different purposes. UK Gold's new idents depicted objects such as apples or leaves falling through the top half of the screen, with only the gold coloured ones reaching the bottom half of the screen. These idents were briefly adopted for UK Gold 2 when it launched in 2000. In 2000 the theme changed again, this time with idents featuring light beams and fireworks.

These channel idents were carried on through another network-wide re-branding of the logo in 2001, adopting a bolder font and merging UK into a single composite character. A range of live-action idents showing everyday activities from unusual perspectives appeared in 2002. From 2003 onward idents showed channel hopping viewers with their TV set "off stage" being brought to a halt by the appearance of a golden light accompanied by the channel's ident jingle. This new identity also featured a series of shifting yellow, orange and red blocks which suggested a gold bar at the centre of the screen.

On April 4, 2007, UKTV Gold unveiled a new on-air identity centred around a branded golden space hopper.[3] playing to contemporary trends toward 1970s nostalgia, and emphasising the station's re-run content. 12 new live action idents featuring the branded space hopper began airing from April 5th 2007.

UK Gold (2001-2004)

UKTV Gold (2004-present)

• Gold at UKTV.co.uk
• UKTV Gold at TV Ark
• The TV Room looks at presentation/branding on the UKTV channels

v • d • e UKTV
Dave • UKTV Documentary • UKTV Drama • UKTV Food • UKTV Gardens • UKTV Gold • UKTV History • UKTV People • UKTV Style  Former channels: UK Arena • UKTV Bright Ideas• UK Horizons • Play UK

v • d • e Virgin Media Television
Channels	Adult Swim • Bravo • Bravo 2 • Challenge • Living • Living2 • Trouble • Virgin 1 • Virgin Central • Sit-Up TV (bid tv • price-drop tv • speed auction tv • Screenshop)
Joint Ventures	Setanta Sports News1 • UKTV2 (UKTV Documentary • UKTV Drama • UKTV Food • UKTV Gardens • UKTV Gold • UKTV History • UKTV People • UKTV Style • Dave)
Defunct channels	The Children's Channel • Ftn • SceneOne • Tiny Living • UKTV G2 • UK Horizons • UK Arena • Play UK • UKTV Bright Ideas • European Business News • Player
1Setanta Sports News is a joint venture with Setanta Sports   2Virgin Media Television own a 50% stake in UKTV with BBC Worldwide
Website: virginmediatv.co.uk