Shopping channel Create & Craft launches a new service to fill the void left by the closure of Ideal World last month.
- The new service officially launches on 24th August 2023.
- Viewers will be able to access the channel through the red button on Freeview channel 85.
- Sky, Freesat and Virgin Media viewers in the UK will also be able to watch the channel every evening.
The sudden closure of its former parent didn’t escape the management of Create & Craft, now under the ownership of Hochanda. During the past few weeks, it’s begun to branch out from its usual fayre of arts and crafts. Now it has confirmed it is launching ‘Shop Extra’, which will provide a new home for a number of former Ideal World presenters. The new service officially launches on Thursday 24th August 2023.
But unlike a regular Freeview channel, Shop Extra will initially only be found as a secret channel, hidden behind the red button. To access Shop Extra, viewers with compatible connected Freeview Play TVs or boxes will need to press red on channel 85 after 6pm to watch.
Meanwhile, Create & Craft has also confirmed Shop Extra’s first presenters. Shaun Ryan, Dennice Robinson, Hayley Green and Shaun Crawley join the channel all having had presenting experience on Ideal World.
Create & Craft started life as a sister channel to Ideal World before being sold off in the winter of 2022. It broadcasts from Oundle, a short distance away from the now shuttered Peterborough home of Ideal World.
Shop Extra on Sky, Freesat and Virgin Media UK
Sky satellite viewers will be able to watch on channel 680 during the evening until 10pm. Then at 10pm, the service continues on channel 673.
Freesat viewers will be able to watch Shop Extra on channel 813 each evening.
On Virgin Media in the UK, Shop Extra will take over channel 748 each evening.
In addition, Create & Craft will feature special hours dedicated to the new channel. But it has reassured viewers via social media that its regular craft-focused programming will remain.
What’s happening with Ideal World?
Ideal World’s “suspended broadcasting” message remains on Freeview channel 51. Freeview channel listing rules permit channels to suspend broadcasts for up to three months before losing their slot. Sky’s much more stricter rules resulted in the channel dropping off the TV guide within hours of suspending broadcasts.
At present, Ideal World’s administrators Kroll Advisory Ltd are seeking to sell off Ideal World’s remaining assets before the remainder of the company is liquidated. Efforts to find a buyer for the whole company before going into administration in July ultimately failed.
The collapse of Ideal World has left a potentially desirable nationwide slot on Freeview. Additionally, its channel number may be of interest to other broadcasters wanting a higher ranking slot, as Freeview channel numbers can now be traded. Indeed Ideal World’s former owners traded its former Freeview channel number (22) with TJC for £7million in early 2022, a figure confirmed by the administrators of the previous company that operated Ideal World last September.
Marc Thornham