Freeview and Virgin Media changes on the way

In a surprise announcement, UKTV G2 is being relaunched under a new name – it will now be known as Dave (a bizarre name – but strangely clever), and will launch on Freeview as well as cable and Sky. Dave launches on the 15th October, and will be aimed at male audiences between the ages of 16 and 34. This will be the only UKTV channel not to include the “UKTV” prefix in the channel name. The channel will feature comedy, documentary and factual programmes. In the announcement, a representative of UKTV describes the channel name and why it was chosen – “everyone knows a bloke called Dave”. Dave will broadcast from 7am to 3am every day (Freeview channel 19, Virgin Media channel 125 and Sky). To make way for the launch on the Freeview platform, UKTV History will have its hours cut (on Freeview only) to 7am through to 6pm every day. Other channel changes on Freeview coming in October include the launch of Virgin Media’s new channel, Virgin 1 (launching on the 1st October – available on Freeview, cable and Sky), and the closure of Disney-owned channel ABC1 (closing on all platforms from the end of September – Freeview, cable and Sky). Teachers’ TV is also changing Freeview broadcast hours soon (if that goes ahead) but it’s not known when, and there are rumoured to be some Top Up TV changes coming soon as well. Liverpool FC TV is now available on Virgin Media as of today, as part of the Setanta Sports package.