More4

More4 is a digital television channel, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel launched on 10 October 2005.^[1]

The channel is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky and on UK cable networks Virgin Media and Smallworld Cable. In Switzerland the channel is available on UPC Cablecom and in Ireland on UPC Ireland, Magnet Networks and Sky.

Content

When the channel first launched in 2005, it encouraged viewers by showing the first run of critically acclaimed US dramas including The West Wing, showing season 6 and 7 back to back, from its sister digital station E4 to More4 and Without a Trace from Channel 4. The channel also carries (or has carried) other American imports such as The Daily Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and repeats of Channel 4 programmes including game show Deal or No Deal, reality TV show Brat Camp, investigative series Dispatches, and the controversial BodyShock. Daytime content includes classic films and reruns of shows such as Hill Street Blues and ER.

The channel also carried Morgan Spurlock's reality TV show 30 Days and American dramas such as The Closer. The channel featured a nightly discussion programme Starkey's Last Word hosted by David Starkey during the Autumn line-up. This show was originally called The Last Word and hosted alternately by Stanley Johnson, Mark Dolan, Hardeep Singh Kohli and David Mitchell and occasional special guest hosts such as Morgan Spurlock.

On midweek days, it shows hour-long and feature-length documentaries including Channel 4's Cutting Edge films. On its first night, the channel led with the satirical docudrama A Very Social Secretary about the affair between David Blunkett, the former British Home Secretary, and Kimberly Quinn.

In April 2006, More4 broadcast a live hypnosurgery hernia operation.

Having shown all five weekday editions of The Daily Show since More4's launch, in January 2011 the channel scaled back its commitment to one episode a week in order to increase investment in its arts programming.^[2]

On 23 January 2012, More4 refocused towards more lifestyle based content.^[3] Documentaries which previously aired on the channel moved to its parent station Channel 4. Previously, More4 concentrated on lifestyle, documentaries and arts programming competing with BBC Four and Sky Arts. The channel broadcasts between 09:00-06:00 daily.

Branding

More4 logo from 10th October 2005 - 22nd January 2012

2005–2012

More4 share of viewing 2005-2007 BARB figures

In September 2005, Channel 4 began running teaser trailers for the new station (although the name was neither mentioned nor seen in the adverts).^[1] Showing neon lettering, the teasers hinted at "adult entertainment". Some people may have been confused by the deliberate double-meaning of these trailers and mistakenly presumed the new channel would be of a pornographic nature.^[4] The Daily Mail refused to accept launch advertising for the channel on these grounds. Advertisements starting at the end of September made it much clearer that the "adult entertainment" being offered was the 'intelligent and insightful' programming. Viewing figures for the launch date gave More4 an average figure of 269,000 viewers, compared to E4's 296,000. The original More4 branding was designed by Spin.

2012–present

On 23 January 2012, More4 adopted a new logo and on-air branding.^[5] The logo and channel idents were designed by London-based design and motion company ManvsMachine and Channel 4's in-house agency, 4Creative.^[6] The repositioning of the brand coincided with the channel's move towards more lifestyle content and a move away from documentaries and arts. The idents focus on moving mechanical "scrapbooks" which also refers to the Digital Scrapbook platform.^[7]

Availability

Space was reserved on Freeview multiplex C for the channel. However, despite Channel 4 saying that the channel would appear on multiplex C, the channel appeared on multiplex 2. A place holder appeared on the Freeview EPG at number 13 on 13 September and after a time, ran a looping teaser trailer. More4 +1 became available on the DTT platform on 14 December 2005. It was removed on 18 May 2006, to make way for live coverage of Big Brother, and the Freeview launch of Film4 later in the year.

While More4 is available on most cable platforms, More4 +1 was available on Virgin Media until 20 August 2007 when it was replaced by Channel 4 +1 across the digital television network. It was re-added on 15 January 2013.

Despite initial advertising and official internet communication that it would be free-to-air on satellite television, More4 was encrypted under Sky's pay TV scheme until 6 May 2008 when it dropped its NDS encryption and went free-to-air. It joined the BBC and ITV's new satellite platform, Freesat on the same day.

More4 is available outside the UK where it is available to viewers in Ireland via Sky and UPC Ireland's digital service. This led to further speculation that Channel 4 would eventually launch on Sky in Ireland, which it did in December 2006. Channel 4 has already made its other flagship channels: E4, E4 +1, Film4 and Film4 +1 available in Ireland via Sky, UPC Ireland digital TV providers. Channel 4 itself is available on almost all Irish cable and MMDS systems (in some cases Channel 4 is replaced with S4C). In Switzerland, the channel is available among other Channel 4 branded channels on UPC Cablecom and on Swisscom TV.^[8]

More4 +2 launched on 16 April 2012 on Sky.^[9] The temporary channel, which aired for a limited period between 7.:45 pm and 11.00 pm, was short lived, because it closed on 26 June 2012 ahead of the launch of 4seven on 4 July.^[10]

More4 HD

Channel 4 anticipated that More4 HD would launch in 2011, however a launch did not occur.^[11] As part of More4's rebrand in January 2012, ManvsMachine created the channel logo for More4 HD.^[12] On 14 September 2012, Channel 4 announced that More4 HD would launch on Sky.^[13] The channel then launched on 4 February 2013.^[14] More4 HD also became available to Virgin Media viewers on channel 203 on 1 October 2013.

Programming

• George Clarke's Amazing Spaces
• A Place in the Sun
• Come Dine with Me
• 24 Hours in A&E
• 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown
• Embarrassing Bodies
• Father Ted
• River Cottage Bites
• Four in a Bed
• Four Rooms
• Grand Designs
• Jamie's 15-Minute Meals
• Location, Location, Location
• One Born Every Minute
• Double Your House for Half the Money
• Shipping Wars
• Time Team
• The Returned
• Gadget Man
• Homes by the Sea
• My Daughter the Teenage Nudist
• More Sex Please, We're British
• Hugh's 3 Good Things: Best Bites
• Help! My House is Falling Down
• The Supervet
• Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners
• Walter Presents (a "strand" of various non-English language imported dramas with subtitles, Vis a vis (Spain) (translated as "Locked Up") and Thicker Than Water (Sweden) are examples)
• Formula One

See also

• Channel 4
• E4
• Film4
• List of television stations in the United Kingdom

References

• BBC report on More4
• Digital Spy report
• More4 goes West Wing at the Wayback Machine (archived 29 September 2007)
• 'Daily Show' Heads Overseas at the Wayback Machine (archived 8 August 2007)
• Channel 4 Board Confirms Launch of More4 at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 May 2006)

External links

• More4 at channel4.com
• SES guide to receiving Astra satellites

Media in the United Kingdom
Newspapers, magazines and other periodicals Newspapers (history) National Berliner The Guardian The Observer Broadsheet Financial Times The Daily Telegraph The Sunday Telegraph The Sunday Times Compact i The Times Middle-market Daily Express Daily Mail The Mail on Sunday Tabloid Daily Mirror Sunday Mirror Morning Star The Sunday People Daily Star Daily Star Sunday The Sun Sunday Sport Magazines and other periodicals List of magazines by circulation
Radio National stations BBC Analogue/digital Radio 1 Radio 2 Radio 3 Radio 4 Radio 5 Live Digital Radio 1Xtra Radio 4 Extra Radio 5 Live Sports Extra Radio 6 Music Asian Network BBC National DAB (multiplex) Commercial Analogue/digital Absolute Radio Classic FM Talksport Digital Absolute 80s Absolute Radio Extra BFBS Radio Capital UK Digital One (multiplex) Heart Extra Jazz FM Kiss LBC Magic Planet Rock Premier Christian Radio Radio X Sound Digital (multiplex) Smooth Radio UK TalkRADIO UCB UK Virgin Radio UK Regional and local stations BBC List of BBC Local Radio stations List of BBC Regional Radio stations Commercial List of community radio stations List of local commercial radio stations List of semi-national analogue and digital stations Other stations List of hospital radio stations Pirate radio Restricted Service Licence List of RSL stations List of satellite radio stations List of student and schools radio Other Broadcasting House FM broadcasting The Studios, MediaCityUK Radio Academy Radio Academy Awards Radio Independents Group RAJAR Most-listened-to programs
Television Principal channels (List) BBC BBC One BBC Two BBC Four BBC News BBC Parliament CBBC CBeebies Channel Four Channel 4 E4 Film4 More4 4seven Channel 5 Channel 5 5Star 5 USA Spike ITV ITV, STV, UTV ITV2 ITV3 ITV4 CITV ITV Encore ITVBe Sky Challenge Pick Real Lives Sky 1 Sky 2 Sky Arts Sky Atlantic Sky Cinema Sky Cinema Box Office Sky Living Sky News Sky Sports Sky Sports F1 Sky Sports News HQ UKTV Alibi Dave Drama Eden Gold Good Food Home Really W Yesterday Services and platforms All 4 Film4oD Analogue Analogue terrestrial (defunct) BBC iPlayer BBC Three (online) Blinkbox BT TV Cable Digital Digital terrestrial List of channels Freesat Freesat+ Freeview Freewire High-definition List of channels ITV ITV Hub, STV Player Local television My5 Real Digital Restricted Service Licence Satellite List of channels Sky Freesat from Sky On Demand Sky+ Sky+ HD TalkTalk TV Top Up TV TVCatchup Virgin Media FilmFlex TiVo V+ YouView Zattoo Studios BBC Elstree Centre BBC Pacific Quay BBC Television Centre Broadcasting House Broadcasting House, Cardiff Fountain Studios The Leeds Studios The London Studios MediaCityUK Gas Street Studios Granada Studios Osterley Television Centre Roath Lock Teddington Studios Television Centre, Southampton Other Defunct channels Edinburgh International Television Festival History List of years List of channels Student television Viewing statistics Most-watched broadcasts
Companies and organisations Companies Major companies Archant Ascential Bauer Radio BBC Bloomsbury Publishing BT Group Channel Four Daily Mail and General Trust Dentsu Aegis Network Economist Group EMI Music Publishing Endemol UK Global Group Guardian Media Group Haymarket Informa ITN ITV Johnston Press Mecom Group News UK Newsquest Northern & Shell Origin Broadband Pearson Press Holdings Reed Elsevier Reuters Sky STV Group Syco TalkTalk Group Time Inc. UK Trinity Mirror UBM Virgin Media Wireless Group Other resources List of largest UK book publishers Government and regulatory bodies Advertising Standards Authority BBC Trust British Board of Film Classification British Film Institute Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Department for Culture, Media and Sport Ofcom Press Complaints Commission S4C Authority UK Film Council Industry and trades bodies British Academy of Film and Television Arts British Phonographic Industry Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union Clearcast Digital TV Group Digital UK Equity Federation Against Copyright Theft National Union of Journalists The Publishers Association Royal Television Society United Kingdom Independent Broadcasting Other BBC Academy National Film and Television School National Media Museum
Regional and student media Regional media Media in England Birmingham London Manchester Media in Scotland Aberdeen Dundee Glasgow Media in Wales Cardiff Student media Student television
Category