Play UK телеарнасының тарихы

Television channel by UKTV

Play UK was a television channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom as part of the UKTV network of channels. 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.

The channel had originally been planned as a television version of BBC Radio 1 but launched without the Radio 1 tie up as UK Play on 10 October 1998, changing its name to Play UK in November 2000. Like 4Music and Viacom's old Freeview channel Viva, the channel had music programming through the day, while broadcasting comedy during its primetime and evening hours. Most of the comedy programming on Play UK had already been broadcast on the BBC's terrestrial channels, with Play UK adding a few original UKTV produced comedy programmes as well as a number of American comedy and animation shows towards the end of its broadcast life.

On 30 June 2002, it was announced that Play UK would shut down at the end of the year, with the closure of ITV Digital being the reason for its demise. The channel closed on 30 September 2002 at 12am, with its EPG space later being used to launch UK History the following month as part of the launch of Freeview. Some of the channel's comedy programming like The Office, The Fast Show and Shooting Stars were moved to UK Gold following the closure. Other programs were later added to UKG2 upon its launch the following year in November 2003.