Dave (TV channel)

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Dave
Launched	October, 1998
Owned by	UKTV Network (BBC Worldwide/Virgin Media Television)
Picture format	16:9, 576i (SDTV)
Audience share	1.0% (0.1% for +1) (March 2008, [1])
Slogan	"The home of witty banter"
Country	United Kingdom
Formerly called	UKTV G2 (until October 2007) UKG² (until March 2004) UK Gold 2 (until November 2003) UK Gold Classics (until April 1999)
Sister channel(s)	UKTV Gold
Timeshift service	Dave +1
Website	www.dave-tv.co.uk
Availability
Terrestrial
Freeview	Channel 19
Satellite
Sky Digital	Channel 111 Channel 159 (+1)
Cable
Virgin Media	Channel 126 Channel 127 (+1)
UPC Ireland	Channel 122
IPTV over ADSL
Tiscali TV	Channel 40

Dave (previously UKTV G2, UKG², UK Gold 2 and UK Gold Classics) is a television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. It is owned by UKTV Network, a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media Television. The channel is available on Satellite, Cable, IPTV and Freeview platforms. A timeshift service with the name Dave +1 is available on the Virgin Media and Sky Digital platforms. This service launched on 1 November 2004 with the name UKTV G2 +1. At first UKTV G2+1 timeshared with UKTV Bright Ideas meaning it broadcast from 6:00pm to 6:00am

[edit] History

UK Gold Classics was launched when UK Gold began to move towards newer programmes instead of older ones. From 2 April 1999 it was renamed to UK Gold 2, and screened morning programmes from UK Gold time-shifted to the evening of the same day. It was again relaunched with a completely new programme lineup and renamed UKG² on 12 November 2003. Along with the rest of the UKTV network, the "UK" prefix was changed to "UKTV" on 8 March 2004 and therefore the channel name changed to UKTV G2. The continuity announcers had been known to make fun of the extreme length of the full name saying that "it's for watching rather than saying", "more laughs than letters in its name" or "more letters than Postman Pat".

The output of the channel is mainly comedy from the BBC with some shows produced inhouse. A fair amount is similar to the comedy output of UK Play/Play UK before that channel's closure.

Some shows available on Dave are Top Gear, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Red Dwarf, Parkinson, Bottom, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Room 101, QI, Have I Got News for You, The Catherine Tate Show, Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Little Britain. Every weekend Dave has a "Nothing but..." weekend, which is themed to only one programme running for the entire evening.

In February 2006, UKTV G2 picked up the rights to show highlights of the RBS Six Nations rugby union championship, with a highlights show broadcast on the evening of the games previously shown live on the BBC. On 16 March 2006, UKTV G2 announced a deal to air extensive coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cup as a sub licensing of the BBC's rights to the tournament.^[1] UKTV G2 simulcasted the BBC's live matches, including the opening match between Germany and Costa Rica, England's game with Paraguay and the final. The channel also showed highlights of every match in the tournament.

[edit] Rebranding and Freeview launch

In September 2007, UKTV announced that they would relaunch and rename UKTV G2 to Dave on 15 October.^[2]. UKTV said the name of the channel was chosen because "everyone knows a bloke called Dave".^[3] The rebrand included the channel being available free-to-air on digital terrestrial platform, Freeview, replacing UKTV Bright Ideas which only averaged 0.1% of the audience share.^[4] The move to Freeview saw Dave launch in the bandwidth previously used by UKTV History which now uses the time limited (07:00-18:00) bandwidth once occupied by UKTV Bright Ideas. Dave is available daily, from 7 am to 3 am, on all platforms. It calls itself "the home of witty banter" and now uses Ralph Ineson as an announcer (following Phill Jupitus, who was the announcer for the channel's first month.)

To ensure that all Freeview viewers receive the channel on number 19, UKTV placed a re-tuning notice on the programme's information banner, however this has now gone.

From 31 January 2008, Dave began broadcasting in widescreen, along with the other UKTV channels.^[5]

[edit] Reception

Within just one month of its launch, Dave has become the tenth largest television channel in the UK. The broadcaster puts daily averages at around 3 m viewers, although much of the growth may be attributed to its presence on Freeview; nonetheless, it is performing significantly better in pay TV homes than UKTV G2 ever did. Over the month since its launch, Dave averaged a 1.32% share in multichannel homes and a 3.2% share in the 16-34 male demographic.^[6]

Dave's positive reception is proven by an attraction of 4 m viewers throughout 18 November 2007 for its coverage of "Car of the Year", pushing it to second place in multichannel behind ITV2.^[6]

The shows with the highest ratings are QI (over 400,000 viewers), Top Gear (350,000) and Dragons' Den (about 300,000).

[edit] Programming

(* Signifies the show was aired on UKTV G2 but has yet to air since the channel rebranded itself to Dave)

[edit] Logos

UK Gold 2 (Autumn 1998 - May 2001)

UKTV G2 (March 2004 - October 2007)

Dave - "The Home of Witty Banter"* (October 2007 - Present)

• Changed to "The Home of Sweary Banter" if the program contains strong language (It is normally used with Mock the Week)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Dave Website
• UKTV G2 at TV Ark
• The TV Room looks at presentation/branding on the UKTV channels