LIVINGtv
Encyclopedia
Sky Living is a UK television
channel owned by British Sky Broadcasting
, who purchased the Living TV Group group in 2010. Originally launched as UK Living in 1993, the channel changed its name to Living TV in 1997 and then to Living in 2007. On 1 February 2011 Living changed its name to Sky Living. The channel's programming was aimed mainly at women and young adults, but with new shows such as CSI
, Close to Home and Boston Legal
, the channel is now broadening its audience reach to a wider range of demographics
including men aged 18–45.
The most watched shows on the channel are Ghost Whisperer
, Cougar Town
, Criminal Minds
, America's Next Top Model
, Hot In Cleveland
, Grey's Anatomy
and Private Practice. The channel is set to broadcast the first episode of the 7th series of Bones
on the 16th of November.
The channel also aired Yvette Fielding
's Most Haunted
and Most Haunted Live, in which Fielding and the team, that at one point included medium Derek Acorah
, investigate haunted locations in the UK and abroad. The show had brought some of the channel's biggest ratings to date.
In 1997, when the BBC and Flextech launched UK Style, UK Horizons
and UK Arena to form the UKTV
network, it was decided that UK Living would remain a separate channel. As such, it had to remove the 'UK' branding to avoid being confused with the UKTV services; thus UK Living became Living.
Living subsequently launched a website at livingtv.co.uk, and to complement the website's branding, the channel was renamed LivingTV in 2001. This was initially represented on-screen by the addition of the letters 'TV' to the established logo. In a 2004 branding relaunch, the way the name was displayed changed to LIVINGtv.
In a further change in 2007, the channel name reverted from LIVINGtv back to LIVING (still officially spelt all in capitals, though some media write the name in normal case). In 2009, the idents were changed to a 3D logo, with glass on the side of the 'L' in either pink or blue. Other idents show the logo covered in paint, while Livingit adopts a slightly different appearance.
BSkyB announced on 25 October 2010, that Living would be rebranded as Sky Living in early 2011 and moving EPG positions on Sky from channel 112 to 107 after Sky1 and before Sky Atlantic
, in order to improve their entertainment line-up.
programming with such shows as Crossing Over with John Edward, 6ixth Sense with Colin Fry, Scream Team
, Jane Goldman Investigates, Dead Famous
, I'm Famous and Frightened!
and Most Haunted, which continued to be a ratings winner.
The channel has also launched a number of successful US
television shows in the UK market. Past successes include Charmed
, Will & Grace
, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Miss Match
, Joan of Arcadia
, CSI
, and Just Shoot Me!
. At present the channel currently has first run UK rights to Boston Legal
, Criminal Minds
, Grey's Anatomy
, Ghost Whisperer
, The L Word
, Men In Trees
and the Australia
n comedy Kath and Kim. In 2008 the channel also debuted the first seasons of Army Wives
, Lipstick Jungle
, and Viva Laughlin
.
Brian Dowling
was put forward as one of the public figures to represent the channel - by presenting programming including Celebrity Extra
, Trolley Dollies
, and a spin-off
to I'm Famous and Frightened!
. However in recent years, he has been mostly absent from the channel apart from the occasional Celebrity Extra
presenting duties. Instead fellow Big Brother
contestant Jade Goody
became the channel's newest public face, with three different shows devoted to her life, Jade's Salon, Just Jade and Jade's PA, but in January 2007, she was dropped due to the racist row
on Celebrity Big Brother
. In 2009, when Jade discovered that she had terminal cancer, the channel acquired the exclusive rights to film a documentary through her final days followed by the show producing two hour long tribute shows a week after her death followed by a further two tribute shows in 2010 and 2011.
To continue the list of Reality TV stars hosting programmes, Jodie Marsh
announced that she would be presenting a new programme called Get A Life starting on 1 March 2007. However, the channel announced that the show was to be cancelled and discussions got under-way as to whether the remaining four episodes would be aired.
The channel announced in February 2007 that Abigail Clancy
, the runner up Britain's Next Top Model (cycle 2) signed a deal with the channel to make a new reality show with Janice Dickinson
as her mentor, on trying to crack into America.
The channel announced in June 2010 that model Katie Price had signed a £5 Million, 2 year contract to make and broadcast Series 3 and 4 of her fly on the wall show, What Katie Did Next
after turning down a weaker offer from rival channel, ITV2
to continue making further series of the show. This will be the first time that her show will be broadcast in HD.
Many of the channel's original programming are available on demand through Virgin Media
and will soon be available on BT Vision
. Living and its sister channels are run by ex-ITV Controller of Entertainment Claudia Rosencrantz
.
In July 2010, Virgin Media Television and Living itself were acquired by British Sky Broadcasting
, under Sky's ownership the company was subsequently rebranded as the "Living TV Group", with a logo similar to the channel itself.
and UPC Digital. The Irish opt-out feed features localized advertising and sponsorship. The channel has been further trying to appeal to the Irish market with outdoor advertising in urban areas. Previously, Irish television channel TV3 were in charge of overseeing the Irish advertising, but Sky Media Ireland now operates the Irish opt-out feed.
.
Living +2, a two hour timeshift
of the channel ran from 1 April 2009, after replacing Trouble, until 1 July 2010, ahead of the launch of Living Loves.
service which is available on cable via Virgin Media
. It offers access to a number of shows which viewers may of missed first time around. It also allows a whole series catch-up of particular original programming such as Most Haunted, Rehab and Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Life. The shows are available for free.
Certain programmes from the channel are also accessible to Freeview viewers who use Top Up TV Anytime.
On demand content from Living was added to BT Vision
's library on 15 January 2009. 38 hours of programming from six of the channel's shows; Extreme: Skinny Celebrities, Dirty Dancing, Living with the Cheeky Girls, Ibiza 2008 and Most Haunted were available from launch. Subscribers to BT Vision taking the TV and Value Packs were be able to access the content with no additional cost; others were be able to view it on a pay per view basis with prices starting at 77p. Living programming was removed from BT Vision
on 13 January 2010.
The channel's on-demand offering was revamped during Autumn 2009 as Living Player on Virgin Media. Living Player offers dedicated seven-day catch-up on shows such as Ghost Whisperer
and Grey's Anatomy
, as well as hours of archive content previously shown on the channel. Living Player will be made available on PCs, the player will also offer HD programming for free to all customers on the Virgin Media's XL TV package. Original commissions will be made available longer term.
version of the channel would be rolled out during 2009 as part of a cross-platform strategy to boost the channel's brand and said that taking it into HD was "an absolute priority", to kickstart a HD roll-out of all of the Virgin Media Television channels.
On 13 August 2009, Virgin Media added a placeholder for Living HD on channel 110, however it only showed a static 'coming soon' slate. A standard-definition preview was added on 20 August 2009.
The channel launched on 6 October 2009 exclusively on Virgin Media. The channel shows programming such as Criminal Minds
, CSI, Ghost Whisperer
and Private Practice in HD and is "a significant step forward in Virgin Media Television's cross-platform entertainment strategy".
On 2 September 2010, it launched on Sky channel 224.
On 1st February 2011, the Living HD channel was relaunched as Sky Living HD. It now broadcasts on channel 107 for Sky+ HD customers with the HD channel swap. It continues to broadcast on Virgin Media channel 110.
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
channel owned by British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
, who purchased the Living TV Group group in 2010. Originally launched as UK Living in 1993, the channel changed its name to Living TV in 1997 and then to Living in 2007. On 1 February 2011 Living changed its name to Sky Living. The channel's programming was aimed mainly at women and young adults, but with new shows such as CSI
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, Close to Home and Boston Legal
Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
, the channel is now broadening its audience reach to a wider range of demographics
Demographics
Demographics are the most recent statistical characteristics of a population. These types of data are used widely in sociology , public policy, and marketing. Commonly examined demographics include gender, race, age, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location...
including men aged 18–45.
The most watched shows on the channel are Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer is an American television supernatural drama, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005 to May 21, 2010.The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon , who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts...
, Cougar Town
Cougar Town
Cougar Town is an American television sitcom that premiered on ABC on September 23, 2009. The series focuses on a recently divorced woman in her forties facing the often humorous challenges, pitfalls and rewards of life's next chapter, along with her son, ex-husband, and friends who together make...
, Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
, America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
, Hot In Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland
Hot in Cleveland is an American sitcom on TV Land starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick and Betty White. The series, which is TV Land's first original scripted series, premiered on June 16, 2010, and was TV Land's highest rated telecast in the cable network's 14-year history. The...
, Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
and Private Practice. The channel is set to broadcast the first episode of the 7th series of Bones
Bones (TV series)
Bones is an American crime drama television series that premiered on the Fox Network on September 13, 2005. The show is based on forensic anthropology and forensic archaeology, with each episode focusing on an FBI case file concerning the mystery behind human remains brought by FBI Special Agent...
on the 16th of November.
The channel also aired Yvette Fielding
Yvette Fielding
Yvette Fielding is a British broadcaster, producer and actress. She is best known for being the presenter of the TV shows Blue Peter, Most Haunted and Ghosthunting With....-Early life and career:...
's Most Haunted
Most Haunted
Most Haunted is a British paranormal documentary reality television series. The series was first shown on 25 May 2002 and ended on 21 July 2010. It was broadcast on Living and presented by Yvette Fielding. The programme was based on investigating purported paranormal activity...
and Most Haunted Live, in which Fielding and the team, that at one point included medium Derek Acorah
Derek Acorah
Derek Acorah is a British medium. He is best known for his work on Most Haunted, broadcast on Living, between 2002 and 2005. He recently presented the series Derek Acorah on Sky Real Lives...
, investigate haunted locations in the UK and abroad. The show had brought some of the channel's biggest ratings to date.
Branding
The channel began broadcasting in 1993 as UK Living. This came about as it was established by the firm then known as Flextech (now Living TV Group), who also owned a half-share in the established entertainment channel UK Gold.In 1997, when the BBC and Flextech launched UK Style, UK Horizons
UK Horizons
UK Horizons was a television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom, as part of the UKTV network of channels. The channel was in existence between 1997 and 2004.-Launch:...
and UK Arena to form the UKTV
UKTV
UKTV is a digital cable and satellite television network, formed through a joint venture between BBC Worldwide, a commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Scripps Networks Interactive, spun off from The E.W Scripps Company in 2008...
network, it was decided that UK Living would remain a separate channel. As such, it had to remove the 'UK' branding to avoid being confused with the UKTV services; thus UK Living became Living.
Living subsequently launched a website at livingtv.co.uk, and to complement the website's branding, the channel was renamed LivingTV in 2001. This was initially represented on-screen by the addition of the letters 'TV' to the established logo. In a 2004 branding relaunch, the way the name was displayed changed to LIVINGtv.
In a further change in 2007, the channel name reverted from LIVINGtv back to LIVING (still officially spelt all in capitals, though some media write the name in normal case). In 2009, the idents were changed to a 3D logo, with glass on the side of the 'L' in either pink or blue. Other idents show the logo covered in paint, while Livingit adopts a slightly different appearance.
BSkyB announced on 25 October 2010, that Living would be rebranded as Sky Living in early 2011 and moving EPG positions on Sky from channel 112 to 107 after Sky1 and before Sky Atlantic
Sky Atlantic
Sky Atlantic is a television channel owned by British Sky Broadcasting, which launched on 1 February 2011 on Sky in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland....
, in order to improve their entertainment line-up.
Channel profile
In 2001, the channel helped to launch a whole new genre of paranormalParanormal
Paranormal is a general term that designates experiences that lie outside "the range of normal experience or scientific explanation" or that indicates phenomena understood to be outside of science's current ability to explain or measure...
programming with such shows as Crossing Over with John Edward, 6ixth Sense with Colin Fry, Scream Team
Scream Team
Scream Team was a 2001 LivingTV Paranormal television series, as well as the name of an unrelated 2002 film. This article deals with the British TV series, not the film...
, Jane Goldman Investigates, Dead Famous
Dead Famous (TV)
Dead Famous: Ghostly Encounters is a British paranormal reality television series that originally aired on LivingTV from June 15, 2004 to June 13, 2006. The program searches for the alleged ghosts of famous deceased people...
, I'm Famous and Frightened!
I'm Famous and Frightened!
I'm Famous and Frightened was a Living TV reality TV show in which 8 celebrities stayed for three nights in a "haunted" castle. They had to then do terrifying challenges in order to raise money for charity; each one was evicted until only the winner was left.The first series aired on Friday 12...
and Most Haunted, which continued to be a ratings winner.
The channel has also launched a number of successful US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television shows in the UK market. Past successes include Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
, Will & Grace
Will & Grace
Will & Grace was an American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 21, 1998 to May 18, 2006 for a total of eight seasons. Will & Grace remains the most successful television series with gay principal characters...
, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Miss Match
Miss Match
Miss Match is a 2003 American television series created by Jeff Rake and Darren Star and produced by Twentieth Century Fox, Darren Star Productions and Imagine Entertainment. It aired in the U.S. on NBC, Australia on Network Seven, Arena and FOX8, and in the UK on Living, Channel 4 and is currently...
, Joan of Arcadia
Joan of Arcadia
Joan of Arcadia is an American television fantasy/family drama telling the story of teenager Joan Girardi , who sees and speaks with God and performs tasks she is given. The series originally aired on Fridays, 8-9 p.m...
, CSI
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is an American crime drama television series, which premiered on CBS on October 6, 2000. The show was created by Anthony E. Zuiker and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
, and Just Shoot Me!
Just Shoot Me!
Just Shoot Me! is an American television sitcom that aired for seven seasons on NBC from March 4, 1997 to August 16, 2003, with 148 episodes produced. The show was created by Steven Levitan, the show's executive producer.-Description:...
. At present the channel currently has first run UK rights to Boston Legal
Boston Legal
Boston Legal is an American legal dramedy created by David E. Kelley, which was produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television for the ABC...
, Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
, Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
, Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer is an American television supernatural drama, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005 to May 21, 2010.The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon , who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts...
, The L Word
The L Word
The L Word is an American co-production television drama series originally shown on Showtime portraying the lives of a group of lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends, family and lovers in the trendy Greater Los Angeles, California city of West Hollywood...
, Men In Trees
Men in Trees
Men in Trees is an American romantic television dramedy series which premiered on September 12, 2006 on ABC and starred Anne Heche who played relationship coach Marin Frist. The series was set in the fictional town of Elmo, Alaska and concerned Marin Frist's misadventures in relationships...
and the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n comedy Kath and Kim. In 2008 the channel also debuted the first seasons of Army Wives
Army Wives
Army Wives is an American drama series that follows the lives of four army wives, their families, and an army husband whose wife is in the army. The series, shot at ABC Studios, premiered on Lifetime on June 3, 2007...
, Lipstick Jungle
Lipstick Jungle (TV series)
Lipstick Jungle is an American comedy-drama television series created by DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler for NBC Universal Television Studio . The hour-long series was based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Candace Bushnell, who also served as executive producer alongside...
, and Viva Laughlin
Viva Laughlin
Viva Laughlin is an American musical–dramedy series adapted by Bob Lowry and Peter Bowker from the popular BBC British serial, Blackpool. They also served as executive producers alongside Hugh Jackman, John Palermo, Paul Telegdy and Gabriele Muccino. The latter also directed the pilot...
.
Brian Dowling
Brian Dowling
Brian Patrick Robert Dowling is an Irish television presenter who rose to fame after being crowned the winner of the second series of UK reality television show Big Brother in 2001. He also won Ultimate Big Brother in 2010, making him the ultimate Big Brother housemate...
was put forward as one of the public figures to represent the channel - by presenting programming including Celebrity Extra
Celebrity Extra
Celebrity Extra was a British celebrity entertainment series on LivingTV. It was presented by Tania Bryer, followed by Liz Bonnin after a major revamp. Occasionally, Brian Dowling also hosted. It featured a mixture of star interviews and reviews....
, Trolley Dollies
Trolley Dollies
Trolley Dollies was a 20-part TV documentary series aired on British digital network LIVING in 2005. It followed the lives of a number of Cabin Crew at UK charter airline Excel Airways.During the series, Excel Airways crew travelled to various countries...
, and a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
to I'm Famous and Frightened!
I'm Famous and Frightened!
I'm Famous and Frightened was a Living TV reality TV show in which 8 celebrities stayed for three nights in a "haunted" castle. They had to then do terrifying challenges in order to raise money for charity; each one was evicted until only the winner was left.The first series aired on Friday 12...
. However in recent years, he has been mostly absent from the channel apart from the occasional Celebrity Extra
Celebrity Extra
Celebrity Extra was a British celebrity entertainment series on LivingTV. It was presented by Tania Bryer, followed by Liz Bonnin after a major revamp. Occasionally, Brian Dowling also hosted. It featured a mixture of star interviews and reviews....
presenting duties. Instead fellow Big Brother
Big Brother (UK)
Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
contestant Jade Goody
Jade Goody
Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody was an English celebrity. She came into the public spotlight while appearing on the third series of the Channel 4 reality TV programme Big Brother in 2002, an appearance which led to her own television programmes and the launch of her own products after her eviction from...
became the channel's newest public face, with three different shows devoted to her life, Jade's Salon, Just Jade and Jade's PA, but in January 2007, she was dropped due to the racist row
Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy
The Celebrity Big Brother racism controversy was a series of events related to incidents of perceived racist behaviour by contestants on the television series Celebrity Big Brother 2007 shown on British television station Channel 4...
on Celebrity Big Brother
Celebrity Big Brother 2007 (UK)
Celebrity Big Brother 2007 was the highly controversial fifth series of the United Kingdom reality television series Celebrity Big Brother, a spin-off of Big Brother. The series was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK , and involved a number of celebrities referred to as 'housemates', who live in the...
. In 2009, when Jade discovered that she had terminal cancer, the channel acquired the exclusive rights to film a documentary through her final days followed by the show producing two hour long tribute shows a week after her death followed by a further two tribute shows in 2010 and 2011.
To continue the list of Reality TV stars hosting programmes, Jodie Marsh
Jodie Marsh
Jodie Marsh is an English media personality, former glamour model and bodybuilder. She has appeared topless in many tabloid newspapers and has appeared in her own reality show, Totally Jodie Marsh.-Early life:...
announced that she would be presenting a new programme called Get A Life starting on 1 March 2007. However, the channel announced that the show was to be cancelled and discussions got under-way as to whether the remaining four episodes would be aired.
The channel announced in February 2007 that Abigail Clancy
Abigail Clancy
Abigail Marie "Abbey" Crouch is a British lingerie and catwalk model and television presenter.-Early life:...
, the runner up Britain's Next Top Model (cycle 2) signed a deal with the channel to make a new reality show with Janice Dickinson
Janice Dickinson
Janice Doreen Dickinson is an American actress, author, fashion photographer, model and talent agent.Initially notable as a model, she has described herself as the first supermodel. One of the most successful models throughout the 1970s and 1980s, she expanded her profession to reality television...
as her mentor, on trying to crack into America.
The channel announced in June 2010 that model Katie Price had signed a £5 Million, 2 year contract to make and broadcast Series 3 and 4 of her fly on the wall show, What Katie Did Next
What Katie Did Next
Katie is a fly-on-the-wall reality TV show that documents the life of model and television personality Katie Price...
after turning down a weaker offer from rival channel, ITV2
ITV2
ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms. The channel has the...
to continue making further series of the show. This will be the first time that her show will be broadcast in HD.
Many of the channel's original programming are available on demand through Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
and will soon be available on BT Vision
BT Vision
BT Vision is a hybrid IPTV-digital terrestrial television service provided by BT Group in the United Kingdom which was launched in December 2006...
. Living and its sister channels are run by ex-ITV Controller of Entertainment Claudia Rosencrantz
Claudia Rosencrantz
Claudia Rosencrantz is a journalist and was the Controller of Entertainment for ITV for over ten years, and was responsible for commissioning some of ITV's biggest hits and changing the landscape of entertainment programming in the UK...
.
In July 2010, Virgin Media Television and Living itself were acquired by British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
, under Sky's ownership the company was subsequently rebranded as the "Living TV Group", with a logo similar to the channel itself.
Sky Living in Ireland
Sky Living is also available in the Republic of Ireland via Sky and UPC IrelandUPC Ireland
UPC Ireland is Liberty Global Europe's telecommunications operation in Ireland. UPC Ireland is the largest digital cable television provider within the Republic of Ireland. As of September 2010 the company offers broadband internet, digital television and digital telephony to over 531,000 customers...
and UPC Digital. The Irish opt-out feed features localized advertising and sponsorship. The channel has been further trying to appeal to the Irish market with outdoor advertising in urban areas. Previously, Irish television channel TV3 were in charge of overseeing the Irish advertising, but Sky Media Ireland now operates the Irish opt-out feed.
Broadcasting
Living is broadcast on 11.739 GHz, vertically polarised at 28.2°E. It is encrypted using VideoguardVideoGuard
VideoGuard , produced by NDS, is a digital encryption system for use with conditional access television broadcasting. It is used on digital satellite television systems - some of which are operated by News Corporation, which owns about half of NDS...
.
Living +2, a two hour timeshift
Timeshift channel
A timeshift channel is a television channel carrying a time-delayed rebroadcast of its "parent" channel's output. This channel runs alongside their parent: the term "timeshift" does not refer to a network broadcasting at a later time to reflect a local timezone unless the parent is also available...
of the channel ran from 1 April 2009, after replacing Trouble, until 1 July 2010, ahead of the launch of Living Loves.
On Demand
Living along with the BBC, Channel 4, HBO and Bravo has an on demandVideo on demand
Video on Demand or Audio and Video On Demand are systems which allow users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content on demand...
service which is available on cable via Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
. It offers access to a number of shows which viewers may of missed first time around. It also allows a whole series catch-up of particular original programming such as Most Haunted, Rehab and Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Life. The shows are available for free.
Certain programmes from the channel are also accessible to Freeview viewers who use Top Up TV Anytime.
On demand content from Living was added to BT Vision
BT Vision
BT Vision is a hybrid IPTV-digital terrestrial television service provided by BT Group in the United Kingdom which was launched in December 2006...
's library on 15 January 2009. 38 hours of programming from six of the channel's shows; Extreme: Skinny Celebrities, Dirty Dancing, Living with the Cheeky Girls, Ibiza 2008 and Most Haunted were available from launch. Subscribers to BT Vision taking the TV and Value Packs were be able to access the content with no additional cost; others were be able to view it on a pay per view basis with prices starting at 77p. Living programming was removed from BT Vision
BT Vision
BT Vision is a hybrid IPTV-digital terrestrial television service provided by BT Group in the United Kingdom which was launched in December 2006...
on 13 January 2010.
The channel's on-demand offering was revamped during Autumn 2009 as Living Player on Virgin Media. Living Player offers dedicated seven-day catch-up on shows such as Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer is an American television supernatural drama, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005 to May 21, 2010.The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon , who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts...
and Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
, as well as hours of archive content previously shown on the channel. Living Player will be made available on PCs, the player will also offer HD programming for free to all customers on the Virgin Media's XL TV package. Original commissions will be made available longer term.
Sky Living HD
On 12 June 2009, Virgin Media managing director Johnny Webb revealed that a high-definitionHigh-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
version of the channel would be rolled out during 2009 as part of a cross-platform strategy to boost the channel's brand and said that taking it into HD was "an absolute priority", to kickstart a HD roll-out of all of the Virgin Media Television channels.
On 13 August 2009, Virgin Media added a placeholder for Living HD on channel 110, however it only showed a static 'coming soon' slate. A standard-definition preview was added on 20 August 2009.
The channel launched on 6 October 2009 exclusively on Virgin Media. The channel shows programming such as Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
, CSI, Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer
Ghost Whisperer is an American television supernatural drama, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005 to May 21, 2010.The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon , who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts...
and Private Practice in HD and is "a significant step forward in Virgin Media Television's cross-platform entertainment strategy".
On 2 September 2010, it launched on Sky channel 224.
On 1st February 2011, the Living HD channel was relaunched as Sky Living HD. It now broadcasts on channel 107 for Sky+ HD customers with the HD channel swap. It continues to broadcast on Virgin Media channel 110.
See also
- List of British television channels
External links
- Sky Living at sky.com