UKTV’s free-to-air channels including Dave and Drama get a new name from Tuesday 16th July 2024.
- Following last year’s announcement, UKTV confirms more details about how its channels will be changing.
- Change to its streaming service.
17 years after the broadcaster launched separate brands for all of its channels, UKTV will come full circle from next month.
It’s launching the new U masterbrand next month, which will sit alongside all of its channels. The masterbrand will unite UKTV’s family of free-to-air channels becoming U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&YESTERDAY and U&W on 16th July. Its free streaming service will transition from UKTV Play to U.
Meanwhile, its streaming service will relaunch with nearly 8,500 hours of content, an uplift of almost 1,500 hours from the start of the year.
The new masterbrand was first teased late last year, when UKTV also said that its pay channels – including Gold, Alibi and Eden – would be rebranded later on. In its latest update, UKTV hasn’t expanded on its pay TV plans.
UKTV has however confirmed it will be investing in more original programmes, as it becomes less reliant on recycling old BBC shows. A second series of Robert Thorogood’s The Marlow Murder Club, plus a “reimagining” of cult drama Bergerac and a third series of the World’s Most Dangerous Roads are on their way for 2025.
Ahead of the change, UKTV will heavily promote the new names across its channels. The promotions will emphase that while the names are changing, the content remains the same. The new U streaming service website will launch at www.u.co.uk
Streaming channel changes
The rebrand will also affect UKTV’s recently launched streaming-only channels, available on platforms including Samsung TV Plus, Freevee and Pluto TV.
UKTV Play Heroes becomes U&Real Heroes. UKTV Play Laughs to U&Laughs. Meanwhile, UKTV Play Full Throttle will transition to U&Transport and UKTV Play Uncovered will be known as U&The Past.
Context
UKTV is fully owned by the BBC’s commercial subsidiary BBC Studios. Despite being owned by the BBC, commercial channels aren’t currently allowed to carry BBC branding in the UK. UKTV started off as a single channel, UK Gold in 1992 – a joint venture between the BBC’s commercial arm and Thames Television. UKTV became a multi-channel operation in 1997, with the UK Style, Horizons and Arena joining Gold. In 2007, UKTV began dropping common branding, instead giving each of its channels distinct or abstract names and branding. This led to the creation of Dave and Yesterday.
Reinstating a common brand shared across channels will allow UKTV to promote its services more effectively in an all-streaming environment. But UKTV’s ‘U’ brand’s future will depend on decisions made by the next Government over the BBC’s future funding. If the BBC is permitted to operate on a more commercial basis and the licence fee is dropped, there would be no reason to segregate the UKTV channels under a different brand – they could all continue under BBC branding.
Corporate comment
Penny Brough, Chief Marketing Officer, UKTV said,
The launch of U on 16th July is an important step for UKTV, defining our age of transformation. U will present our viewers with an extraordinary range of free quality content, allowing them to connect the dots between the streaming service and our family of TV channels.
Andrea Amey, Chief Digital Officer, UKTV added,
U will be home to almost 8,500 hours of free content, comprising new programming, exclusive shows, award-winning originals and premiere acquisitions. We can’t wait to give our viewers even more choice and a service that is easy to navigate, so they can enjoy our free and varied offering.
By: Marc Thornham | Image: UKTV