Five USA

Five USA
Launched	16 October 2006
Owned by	Channel 5 Broadcasting
Picture format	576i (SDTV 16:9, 4:3)
Audience share	0.7% (0.2% for +1) (February 2009, BARB)
Country	United Kingdom  United States
Formerly called	Five.3 (working title)[1] Five US (until 16 February 2009)
Sister channel(s)	Five Fiver
Timeshift service	Five USA +1
Website	www.five.tv/usa
Availability
Terrestrial
Freeview	Channel 31
Satellite
Sky Digital	Channel 174 Channel 175 (+1)
Cable
Virgin Media	Channel 150
IPTV
Tiscali TV	Channel 30
Internet television
TVCatchup	Watch live (UK only)

Five USA is a free-to-view entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by Five, launched on 16 October 2006 as "Five US" and was the second digital channel to be launched by Five as part of their multi-channel strategy, the first being Fiver.^[2] Five USA concentrates on showing imported movies and programmes from the United States, originally broadcast from 4:00 pm to 1:00 am, extending its hours starting at 12 noon in June 2007. The channel changes its programme slots and shows from time to time. Five USA is shown on Freeview, IPTV, digital cable and Sky. It is not currently available on Freesat, but Five state on their website that they are "working on it".^[3]

The channel's highest ratings to date were on 12 February 2008 for the second part of the CSI/Without a Trace crossover. The show averaged 2.58m viewers between 10:00 pm and 11:00 pm, equating to a multichannel share of 13.9%.

Those numbers made the show the most-watched multichannel programme in its slot - beating every other channel (digital and analogue) aside from BBC One, and is currently one of the highest ratings for a multichannel in the United Kingdom.

British comedian Russell Kane was the 'face of the channel', presenting short clips between some programmes which acted as space fillers to comply with advertising regulations in the UK (UK regulation allows fewer minutes of advertising than in the US) until 16 February 2009. The music used during the idents until February 2009 was "The Dress Looks Nice On You" and "Jacksonville" by Sufjan Stevens. On 28 August 2007, Five USA launched a timeshift channel named Five USA +1 available on Sky Digital.^[4] On 22 January 2009 it was announced that Five US would be rebranded to Five USA on 16 February.^[5][6] This comes after Five and Fiver which rebranded in October 2008.

Programming

Current shows

• Breaking Bad
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
• CSI: Miami
• CSI: NY
• House
• IndyCar Series
• NASCAR
• NBA
• NFL including Super Bowl
• NHRA Powerade Drag Series
• NUMB3RS
• The Beast
• The Guardian
• Medical Investigation
• The Mentalist
• The Unit
• 'Til Death
• The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights
• The Whitest Kids U' Know
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? (US version)

Former shows

• 30 Rock - Now on Comedy Central.
• Californication - Now on Fiver.
• Conviction - Series discontinued and is in Syndication on the The Hallmark Channel.
• David Beckham's Soccer USA
• d!rt
• Everybody Hates Chris - Now on Five, Fiver, Comedy Central & Comedy Central Extra.
• The Fall Guy
• Happy Days - Now on Comedy Central.
• House MD - Now on The Hallmark Channel, Five & Sky1.
• Joey - Now on Fiver.
• Killer Instinct - Series discontinued.
• Mission: Impossible
• Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King - Series discontinued and is Syndicated on The Sci Fi Channel.
• The Nine - Series discontinued.
• Pimp My Ride (US version) - Series discontinued.
• Pros vs Joes
• Sex and the City - Now on Comedy Central, Comedy Central Extra, E4 and Fiver.
• Shark - Ended its run of 2 seasons.
• The Shield - Wrapped up after 7 seasons, but only season 7 was shown on Five USA.
• Vanished - Series discontinued.
• Whacked Out Sports - Now on Fiver.

Coming soon

• Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit & Law & Order: Criminal Intent^[7]
• NCIS^[8]

References

External links

• Five USA at five.tv
• Initial press release
• Official Five Press Release 25 August 2006