News and opinion channel GB News is moving to a new place on Virgin Media UK’s channel guide on Wednesday 24th August.
The change is due to occur just after midnight on the 24th when GB News moves up Virgin Media’s channel list from 626 to its new home on channel 604.
With the move, GB News fills the old BBC News HD channel number. 604 has been vacant since the BBC stopped simulcasting its channels in both HD and SD on Virgin Media. GB News is broadcast in HD only on Virgin Media.
As a latecomer, GB News initially had to launch behind all other news channels on Virgin Media. But under Virgin Media’s channel allocation rules, broadcasters are able to buy their way up the channel list when vacant slots are auctioned.
The Telegraph previously reported that GB News and TalkTV were both bidding for the right to move to channel 604. As TalkTV is the most recent news and opinion channel to launch, it now occupies the bottom slot in Virgin Media’s news section.
The first such auction completed in 2017, when Virgin Media took bids for BBC Three’s original slot on channel 106. That resulted in E4 being promoted up the channel list.
However, the news section of Virgin Media’s channel list has other holes that haven’t yet been filled. Among them is CNN’s old channel number (607). Virgin Media hasn’t commented on if it will offer TalkTV and other news broadcasters a further opportunity to move up the list.