Launched 10 October 1998 Formerly called UK Play (1998-2000) | Closed 30 October 2002 ITV Digital Channel 37 | |
Owned by UKTV
(BBC Worldwide/Virgin Media) Replaced by UKTV History now Yesterday | ||
Play UK was a television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom as part of the UKTV network of channels. The channel was launched (as UK Play) on 10 October 1998. The channel was aimed at playing (for most of the time) music in the morning and afternoon, while broadcasting comedy in the evening.
Contents
- Music Programming
- Comedy programming
- Originally producedAmerican programming
- BBC shows on reruns
- References
Play UK broadcast all day on the digital platforms, but on the Sky Analogue platform on the Astra 19.2°E satellite system it broadcast between 1am and 7am when UK Horizons was not broadcasting.
It closed on 30 October 2002 due to low ratings because of the closure of ITV Digital in July 2002; also it could not compete with MTV. Play UK's comedy programming was then moved to UK Gold (now Gold).
Music Programming
The majority of the music programmes broadcast (quizzes, interviews and compilations) on Play UK were produced by themselves. Play UK also use the reruns of TOTP2, which was originally broadcast on BBC Two.
Comedy programming
Most of the comedy programming on Play UK had already been broadcast on the BBC's channels. Play UK also produced original comedy programming and, later on, broadcast American comedy and animation.