A Brief History - British Television (BBC1, ITV, BBC2, Channel 4 & Channel 5)

Also missed out the actisly 5th channel S4C was the Welsh language channel was introduced at the same time Channel 4

Missed out the most important event that brought TV to many UK homes. The corronation of Queen Elizabeth was broadcast live thpusends of people perchesed TVs for the first time, thus making commerical TV viable in the UK and the birth of ITV

An interesting story about British Television.

BTW: Do they still have snooker on TV? 🎱

Mm we then in Ireland (Republic), esp on the east coast or in Wickow or nr to the NI Border, could pick up BBC NI (from about 1957), UTV (NIs ITV) from 1959 and TWW (Wales ITV), all completely free! We only had to pay a licence fee on from 31 Dec 1961 when then TE (Telefis Eireann, later RTE) began, in B+W. And I'm told that TE began on 625 (which was coming in later anyway) but had to, at their transmitters, downgrade to 405, due to then there being no 625 sets available. Those would only come into availability in 1964 when BBC 2 began (which of course only ever transmitted on that higher def format) and which we Irish in some areas also then could pick up for free..!!

Thanks for the video. We watched mainly ITV in our house growing up, but when channel 4 came on I was instantly hooked.

Honestly a great video, being Canadian myself i do like learning about how the first TV channels came to be and what started TV as a whole.

If i may ask though, do you happen to have a list of the songs that you used throughout the video? Some of them are quite catchy!

😂

You're forgetting the channel that launched on the day before Channel 4, on the 1st of November....that being Sianel Pedwar Cymru, or S4C. This channel was as unique as the other mainstream channels as it provided a home for the BBC and HTV's Welsh output, leaving other channels available to concentrate on output for non-Welsh speakers. So Welsh television/teledu Cymraeg had a natural home. This of course was in lieu of Channel 4 and disadvantaged choice for non Welsh speaking viewers so we began to see intricately designed metal sculptures appearing on rooftops all over the Valleys and in North Wales as far west as Anglesey designed to receive programmes from English transmitters such as Winter Hill, Mendip The Wrekin and Ridge Hill rather than use local transmitters radiating S4C! I used to wonder if anyone in Wales actually watched BBC Wales or HTV Wales!!

Looks like analog horror

Can anyone tell me the name of (or prefereably provide a link to) the original documentary piece that contains the clip included at around 3' 13" with the line "the station goes on the air" - It's preceded, IIRC by a couple of other memorable one-liners: "Engineers stand by..." and "Switches are thrown..." - I've seen it a couple of times, many years ago, but have failed to track it down more recently.... that'll teach me to keep tidier notebooks, I guess :(

It took over 15 years for Channel 5 to be transmitted from all transmitters.
Most or all relays did not get it until digital switchover in 2012.

That was one reason I got a satellite dish.


2012-1997=15

What about S4C? Do you only recognise channels in English?

Not to mention that ITV also had the Muppets on ATV during the 70s :D

Did the same programs air on the different regional stations, or was it all different?

You should rename your channel to TV-AM!

Yes, I Am The Country Of "New Zealand"

Yes, My Name Is "Saudi Arabia"

For Those Thinking That The First Broadcast On Television In World History Was Done By BBC! Well, That Is Not True! BBC Started Broadcasting On November 2, 1936! The First Broadcast In World History Was Done By NBC, And NBC-MDE! This Was On July 7, 1936! By The MDE In NBC-MDE Stands For "Middle East" So, NBC Middle East Is What NBC-MDE Stands For! NBC Middle East Is Only Available In My Borders Though!

Yes if you had a black & white set to recieve Colour. You could use your B/W to view programing Some sets you needed to tune to 625/ UHF to recieve'. Colour

I am curious as I wasn't alive before 1995 to recieve colour tv from those channels did you need to change your TV to ones that have colour was the process to colour television automatic?

The premieres of BBC 1 and ITV were simple. BBC 2's premiere was eventful. Channel 4's, awesome! And Channel 5's premiere was... something.

You should talk about not just the UK HDTV Switchover but also the US HDTV Switchover of 2009

You know, Channel 5 in the places outside the orange areas was too fuzzy :)

Brilliant video! I remember watching Channel 4 come on air for the first time back in 1982 - it’ll be 40 years old this November!

By the time Channel 5 started, though, as you rightly said, it didn’t really have the same impact as the launch of the other 4 terrestrial channels as we already had satellite TV by then and a huge range of channels to choose from, something we didn’t have when the previous four first came on air.

what was the ending music?

When was this program originally broadcast?

Great video btw

What is the backing music from 1.40 to 2.08?

Fun fact the snowman was one first things on channel 4

Such an impressive logo

maybe they should buy a clock!

We should have known how Channel 5 was going yo be from the fact they paid the Spice Hags.

It's a shame you didn't include S4C, which launched the day before Channel 4, as the result of protests and civil disobedience.

The launch of channel 5 had less impact because many couldn't receive it until the digital switchover.

Very long video with lots of adverts that told me very little. Like no mention of why it took so long for channel 5 to come along or what was required to launch. No mention of S4C etc

I thought channel 5 began in 1995?. I miss the old regional ITV's, seeing all their idents brings back childhood memories. But it sucked when some regions got certain tv programmes, but others didnt. I remember seeing the very first BBC 2 broadcast on a documentary, it looked like a monty python sketch, the way it was so unpolished lol. I rarely watch tv now, i just stick with dvd movies and streaming services like netflix.

I absolutely love this channel. Don’t stop making these videos.

You failed to cover S4C, that's as relevant as C4, I would say.

happy birthday to Channel 5

I lived in a suburb of New York City and it was always channel 2 or 4 or 5 or 7 or
9 or 11 or 13 with the New York City stations.
(2-WCBS,4-WNBC,5-WNEW,7-ABC,9-WOR,11-WPIX,13-WNET) WNET (PBS network)
would be the U.S. version of the BBC but was privately funded, no government
involvement.

.
And many a time people would still say there was nothing to watch on tv last night.

Rhythm is a dancer,by Snap,speeded up is the title music.btw,by dad had the first tv set in his village back in 1938!

STV and UTV did not use ITV branding as they were independent of ITV takeover of the English regions. No idea about Grampian don't know if they had been bought by STV by then.

That was superb! Clearly passionate about the subject, well presented, well put together and easy to get lost in, which is a rarity in today's over saturation of media entertainment. It was like watching an old school television programme itself! Great work Adam, I can't wait to see more. I've subscribed 🙂

Here in Australia, the History is much different, TV first launched in 1956. we had 2 commercial stations and one Public/State broadcaster. A Third commercial station launched in the 1960s. Colour TV launched in 1975, later than most other countries, but the adoption was so rapid that most people had a colour TV by the early to mid 80s. A fifth station launched in the 1980s know as the Special Broadcasting Service or SBS for short. Up until Digital TV we pretty much had 5 stations.