| Bravo | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 1985 |
| Owned by | Virgin Media Television |
| Picture format | 16:9, 576i (SDTV) |
| Audience share | 0.2% 0.1% (+1) (July 2009, BARB) |
| Country |  United Kingdom |
| Sister channel(s) | Bravo 2 |
| Timeshift service | Bravo +1 |
| Website | bravo.co.uk |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Sky Digital | Channel 123 Channel 124 (+1) Channel 154 (2) |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media On Demand Content in |
Channel 136 Channel 137 (+1) Channel 138 (2) Catch-Up TV On Demand TV Choice On Demand Bravo HD On Demand |
| UPC Ireland | Channel 508 Channel 509 (+1) |
| WightCable | Channel 83/116 |
Bravo is a British television channel, owned by Virgin Media Television. Its target audience is currently men in their late twenties to early forties and shows a variety of both archive programming (such as Knight Rider & MacGyver) and original productions.
Contents |
History
It has undergone many transformations since it began broadcasting as a channel for mainly black & white programmes from the 1950s and 1960s such as The Avengers and many ITC Entertainment productions. A policy change to withdraw all of their black & white shows soon saw them move on to specialise in science fiction and horror before becoming known for showing crime documentaries by day and adult programming at night. Since then it has decreased the adult content and increased sports and imported shows like Alias. Bravo also aired World Championship Wrestling's flagship show Nitro during WCW's final year in business and also showed Extreme Championship Wrestling's show ECW Hardcore TV during ECW's final year in business.
On July 22, 1993, Bravo launched on the Astra 1C satellite in anticipation of the launch of Sky Multichannels in September 1993.[1] With the launch on Astra, the channel started broadcasting between noon and midnight, which it continued doing until February 3, 1997, when Trouble launched and took over the channel's afternoon and early evening broadcast hours, meaning Bravo would broadcast between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. CNBC Europe timeshared with the channel on weekdays and Living on weekends until 2001.
On 28 August 2005, the channel started showing Serie A Italian football, bringing back the Channel 4 format Football Italia. However, poor viewing figures saw Bravo cancel first the weekly Gazetta Football Italia show, then announce it would stop showing Italian Football altogether after 23 December 2006 (it has since been taken up by Five). The channel's other highest-profile sports coverage is its exclusive UK rights to Ultimate Fighting Championship archives as well as recent events (live rights are now held by Setanta Sports), as well as related reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter. The network aired an Adult Swim block nightly at around midnight until 7 July 2008 when Adult Swim block ceased broadcast on Bravo. Recently the channel has acquired rights to show Blade: The Series, and The Kill Point.
From January 2007 Bravo's sister channel Bravo 2 had the exclusive UK rights to broadcast Total Nonstop Action Wrestling programming which consisted of only a two day delay from the American broadcast of the TNA weekly show "TNA Impact!" and a three day delay for the TNA Monthly Pay Per Views.[2] Since January 5, 2008 TNA Impact! was moved to Bravo, with replays of the show on Bravo 2. .[3] Bravo's original contract for TNA Wrestling Programming was an 18 month contract and was distributed by RDA TV, and the deal was extended on 1 July 2008 for another 18 months which was once again negotiated by RDA TV.[4]
As of 3 June 2008, Bravo along with all other Virgin owned channels have become widescreen (16:9) capable. This is coupled with a redesign of the on-screen graphic (the words BRAVO are shown as opposed to the logo).
Programming
References
- ^ http://www.ftp.funet.fi/pub/dx/text/NEWS/SCDX/scdx2184.txt
- ^ "TNA Wrestling to air on Bravo 2". http://www.tnawrestlingnews.com/headlines/169358481.shtml. Retrieved 2006-12-29.
- ^ "TNA confirms move to main Bravo channel". http://www.tnawrestlingnews.com/headlines/201322383.shtml. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
- ^ "TNA Wrestling extends deal with Bravo channels". http://www.kocosports.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.asp?a=22419&z=80. Retrieved 2008-07-01.
External links
- Official website
- Bravo On TV Ark
- The TV Room looks at presentation/branding on Bravo
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