Channel 5



Channel 5 is a British commercial television network. It was launched in 1997, and was the fifth national terrestrial analogue network in the United Kingdom after BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, and Channel 4, but before the now defunct Six TV (and seventh overall including Welsh-language channel S4C in Wales). It is generally the fifth-placed network in the country in audience share, and has been since its inception.

The station was branded as Five between 2002 and 2011, when it was owned by the RTL Group. Richard Desmond purchased the station from RTL on 23 July 2010, announcing plans to invest more money in programming and return to the name Channel 5 with immediate effect, and it was relaunched on 14 February 2011. ATV Network, 30 October 2010 On 1 May 2014 the channel was acquired by Viacom for £450 million (US$759 million).

In 2002, Channel 5 took the decision to drop the word 'Channel' from its name and refer to the channel as 'five'. A new look launched on 16 September 2002. The informal name "Five" was used in early continuity announcements and idents containing a lower case 'five' had been used on the channel from the launch.

On 23 January 2006 a new set of idents based on four letter words such as, Hope, Fast, Love etc. The idents didn't feature the logo.