Virgin 1

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Virgin 1 is the flagship television channel broadcast by Virgin Media Television. The channel was launched on 1 October 2007 at 9pm on Freeview, Virgin Media and Sky Digital, replacing Ftn. Some media sources have claimed that the channel is intended to be Virgin Media's attempt to create a rival to Sky One with the advantage of having a wider reach of viewers. The channel will initially have a £40 million budget as well as being funded through advertising revenue.

The channel is broadcast 24 hours on cable and satellite complemented by the Virgin 1 +1 service (not available on Freeview). As Ftn only broadcast for 12 hours on Freeview, Virgin 1 is broadcast on Freeview only from 6:00 pm until 6:00 am.

[edit] History

Virgin 1 was launched on 1 October 2007 on all platforms (Freeview, Virgin Media and Sky Digital) replacing former Virgin Media Television channel Ftn. The network had previously expressed their interest in running a general entertainment channel, to concide with the relaunch of NTL:Telewest to Virgin Media. Some media sources claimed that Virgin 1 was intended to be in direct competition with BSkyB's Sky One^[1], which has an average of around 0.9% of the market compared to Virgin 1's 0.5%. Virgin 1's sister channel Living has 1.0% audience share combined with its timeshifted service. It was announced in the summer of 2007 that Virgin Media Television was to launch the new channel.^[2] At first the company stated that all of their other channels, including Ftn would still run as normal, but because of Ftn having a key Freeview primetime slot which would increase any channels audience share this was later changed.^[3] As a result of the launch of Virgin 1, Ftn closed, leaving its EPG positions on Sky, Virgin Media and Freeview to Virgin 1.^[4]

[edit] Launch night

On the launch night, the channel started of at 18:00 by showing three hours of looped previews accompanied by a countdown until the official launch at 21:00.

The schedule after the previews for the primetime shows on the channels launch night were as follows:

[edit] Programming

See also: List of programmes broadcast by Virgin 1

The schedule for Virgin 1 currently consists of a mixture of American and British comedy, drama and factual programming. The channel is pitched towards its female-targeted channel Living and the male-targeted channel Bravo. The channel also shows commissioned content from Living, Bravo, Challenge and Trouble as well as its own commissioned content such as Crime Invasion.

[edit] Current Programming

[edit] Coming soon

• Bingolotto^[13]
• Brits Behind Bars^[14]
• Chuck^[15]
• City In Fear
• Death Row Dogs^[16]
• Extremely Out Of Control
• Moonlight^[8]
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles^[6]
• The Leo Houlding Project^[11]
• Viva Laughlin^[17]
• Justice

[edit] Former programming

• Help Me Help You

[edit] V Funny Sunday

V Funny Sunday is a programming block which airs on Sunday evenings which currently features classic comedy from the United States. The block is thought to have taken inspiration from the US network Fox (owned by Sky One parent News Corp) which also airs a comedy block on Sunday evenings (known as LOL Sunday).

From 11th November the V Funny Sunday programming block changed both in programming and when it would air, moving from a starting time of 9pm to the earlier time of 7pm. Both Help Me Help You and Boston Legal were replaced by The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and That 70s Show.

From 2 December the V Funny Sunday programming block was changed and shortened to 2 hours, with Seinfeld being removed from its 9pm slot to make way for factual programming such as Crime Invasion and the ....Envy series.

[edit] Virgin 1 Website

The URL virgin1.co.uk (also virgin1.virginmedia.com) is the address of the main website for Virgin 1. The website that accommodates the channel. The website offers online streaming, competitions, TV Guide, programme information, videos as well as social networking facilities. Other features include an Editor's Pick, newsletter and my virgin 1.

The URL 'www.virgin1.co.uk' was created in September 2007, before the launch of the channel, with the main aim to get buzz about the new channel. It initially only featured a taster video. Before featured on website highlighting the new shows that would broadcast on Virgin 1. When the channel launched a new website at the URL 'virgin1.virginmedia.com' commenced, although the original now redirects to the new site.

Another website for Virgin 1 also exists as part of the main virginmedia.com website. It features information on all of the channels programmes and short previews of television shows such as The Riches and Crime Invasion and games.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• Virgin Media Television