bbc radio 4 and bbc radio 4 extra . bbc four bbc four logo launched 2 march 2002 ; 14 years ago 2002 03 02 owned by bbc picture format 576i 16 9 sdtv 1080i hdtv audience share 0.82 % september 2015 2015 09 barb country united kingdom replaced bbc knowledge sister channel s bbc one bbc two bbc news bbc parliament cbbc cbeebies website www.bbc.co.uk bbcfour availability terrestrial freeview channel 9 channel 106 hd satellite freesat channel 107 sd hd channel 148 sd sky uk channel 116 sd hd channel 211 sd sky ireland channel 211 astra 2e 10773 h 22000 5 6 astra 2f 11023 h 23000 2 3 hd cable virgin media channel 107 channel 163 hd virgin media ireland channel 117 ziggo netherlands channel 64 kabeltex netherlands channel 164 wightfibre channel 18 iptv bt tv channel 106 hd swisscomtv switzerland channel arbitrary kpn netherlands channel arbitrary streaming media bbc iplayer watch live uk only tvplayer watch live uk only horizon go watch live ireland only watch live switzerland only bbc four is a british television channel operated by the british broadcasting corporation bbc and available to digital television viewers on freeview iptv satellite and cable . bbc four launched on 2 march 2002 1 with a schedule running from 19 00 to 04 00 . the channel shows a wide variety of programmes including comedy documentaries music international film original programmes drama and current affairs ... an alternative to programmes on the mainstream tv channels . 2 it is required by its licence to broadcast at least 100 hours of new arts and music programmes 110 hours of new factual programmes and to premiere twenty international films each year . 3 4 contents 1 history 2 organisation 3 bbc four hd 4 programming 5 programmes 5.1 original programming 5.2 imports 5.3 domestic repeats 5.4 films 5.5 music concerts 5.6 children classics shown in 2007 and 2015 5.7 sport 6 presentation 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit bbc four launched on 2 march 2002 at 19.00 gmt having been delayed from the original planned 2001 launch . bbc four began originally as a late schedule to bbc two before it received its own channel along with bbc three . curiously bbc four had to launch before bbc three as a result of the government delaying approval plans . the channel replaced bbc knowledge an educational and cultural channel which had undergone many changes throughout its lifetime ; in its final format it carried a schedule of documentaries and art programming essentially a test of the new bbc four schedule . bbc four would rebrand this channel and bring it into line with the well recognised bbc one and two brands at the same time . planning for the new channel along with the new bbc three had been in progress since october 2000 ; however the incumbent government delayed approving the new bbc digital plans . the bbc four plans were approved earlier and as a result launched before bbc three . bbc four was different from the old bbc knowledge the channel would be more heavily promoted with more new and original programming and the channel would not be broadcast 24 hours a day . this was because on the freeview digital terrestrial platform bbc four is broadcast in a statistically multiplexed stream in multiplex b that timeshares with the cbeebies channel which is on air from 6.00 until 19.00 . as a result bbc four broadcasts from 19.00 to around 4.00 each night with an hour s down time and promotions for cbeebies before the start of that channel s schedule . on 12 may 2011 bbc four was added to the sky epg in ireland on channel 230 . 5 organisation edit bbc four forms part of the bbc vision group and as a result the channel controller is answerable to the head of this executive department emma swain as of 2012 . the channel direction is determined by the channel s remit set by royal charter and the corporation s governing body the bbc trust and by the channel controller . in october 2013 following the departure of richard klein from the controllership the management of the channel changed with the role of controller of bbc four scrapped from this point the controller of bbc two would have ultimate oversight of bbc four as part of their role absorbing some of the former duties of the controller of bbc four but a new channel editor post reporting up to this controller would be created to take day to day charge of four . the controllers of bbc four from 2002 2016 had been 2002 2004 roly keating 2004 2008 janice hadlow 6 2008 2013 richard klein 7 2013 2014 janice hadlow as controller of bbc two and bbc four on an interim basis 8 hadlow had been controller of bbc two since departing bbc four in 2008 early 2014 adam barker interim controller of bbc two and bbc four following janice hadlow s departure to a new post 9 2014 2016 kim shillinglaw as controller of bbc two and bbc four 10 channel editors of bbc four have been 2013 present cassian harrison 11 bbc four has an annual budget of 54.3 million . 3 on 20 january 2016 kim shillinglaw announced that she has decided to leave the bbc as the controller of bbc two & bbc four . as a result of the reorganisation the post of controller bbc two and four will close after her departure later in 2016 . 12 bbc four hd edit bbc four hd logo . on 16 july 2013 the bbc announced that a high definition hd simulcast of bbc four would be launched by early 2014 . 13 the channel launched on 10 december 2013 though will roll out nationwide up to june 2014 as will bbc news hd and cbeebies hd . 14 the channel broadcasts on the bbc s new hd multiplex on freeview and shares its stream with cbeebies hd as they both air at different times . prior to launch the majority of bbc four s hd output was broadcast on the bbc hd channel before its closure on 26 march 2013 . programming edit main article list of programmes broadcast by the bbc bbc four s primary role is to reflect a range of uk and international arts music and culture . it should provide an ambitious range of innovative high quality programming that is intellectually and culturally enriching taking an expert and in depth approach to a wide range of subjects . bbc four remit bbc four share of viewing 2002 2013 barb figures the first evening s bbc four programmes were simulcast on bbc two . 1 bbc four is notable for first showing larry david s seinfeld follow up curb your enthusiasm 15 armando iannucci s cutting political satire the thick of it the chaser s war on everything flight of the conchords mad men and danish thriller the killing . the channel broadcasts a mixture of art and science documentaries vintage drama including many rare black and white programmes and non english language productions such as films from the artificial eye catalogue the french thriller spiral and the swedish detective series wallander . 16 bbc four further supports foreign language films with its annual world cinema award which has been running since 2004 . on weekdays at 19.00 and weekends at 21 00 the channel shows a 30 minute global news programme called world news today simulcast with and produced by bbc world news . it screens a number of documentaries such as the century of the self and the trials of henry kissinger . the channel is also home to many political travel shows such as holidays in the axis of evil which features investigative journalism . drama has given the channel some of its most popular programmes with the alan clark diaries 2003 and kenneth williams fantabulosa 2006 being among the highest rated with over 800 000 viewers . the highly acclaimed hattie broadcast in 2011 holds the record for bbc4 s best ever consolidated ratings of 2m 8 % . 17 before that the curse of steptoe brought the channel its highest audience figures estimated as 1.41 million viewers a 7 % share of multichannel audiences between 21.00 and 22.05 based on overnight returns . 18 the official audience figures for the broadcast including time shifting were later published as 1 625 000 . 19 another notable production was a live re make of the 1953 science fiction serial the quatermass experiment adapted from the original scripts into a single two hour version though on the night it in fact underran considerably lasting less than 1 hour 40 minutes broadcast on the evening of saturday 2 april 2005 . discounting bbc four s previous live relays of theatrical shakespeare productions this was the first live made for television drama to be broadcast by the bbc for twenty years . another notable programme broadcast on bbc four is charlie brooker s screenwipe which contains reviews of current shows as well as stories and commentary on how television is produced . the show is presented by broadcaster charlie brooker . the channel is also curator and leader of the bbc archive project whose aim is that the bbc s television archive is re broadcast as much as appropriate so that the archive can be enjoyed again and not isolated . 20 some output from bbc four documentaries rather than foreign films was for a time repeated on bbc two in a bbc four on two branded area although this was often in a late night broadcast slot after newsnight and has since been discontinued . according to barb the comedy panel game qi has the highest ratings of any show on bbc four . 21 at the edinburgh international television festival bbc four won the non terrestrial channel of the year award in 2004 2006 and 2012 . in 2012 dirk gently became the first continuing drama series produced for the channel . 22 bbc four is occasionally used to show live sports coverage . the channel aired additional games from the uefa euro 2016 football tournament and will temporarily extend its broadcast hours to show live action from the 2016 summer olympics . 23 programmes edit original programming edit the art of cornwall the ballad of mott the hoople bbc four sessions birds britania britain by bike britain s best drives can eating insects save the world charlie brooker s screenwipe children s tv trials churches how to read them the curse of steptoe detectorists dinosaurs myths and monsters dirk gently elegance and decadence the age of the regency the first world war frankenstein birth of a monster free will and testament the robert wyatt story goodbye bbc television centre the great war hattie hg wells war with the world hive minds how to build a dinosaur if walls could talk jerusalem the making of a holy city music for misfits the story of indie only connect racing at the bbc sandhurst the secret life of ice shock and awe the life of electricity singer songwriters at the bbc sings the ... the life of rock with brian pern the story of musicals the story of the national grid survivors nature s indestructible creatures talking children twenty twelve to kill a mockingbird at 50 walter s war world news today with philippa thomas simulcast on bbc four and bbc world news weekdays at 19 00 imports edit arne dahl the bridge borgen hostages inspector de luca inspector montalbano the killing minuscule the money salamander spiral trapped wallander domestic repeats edit africa all creatures great and small batman the bear family and me blue peter classics only the blue planet butterflies casualty 1906 casualty 1907 climbing great buildings cranford doctor who the classic series ever decreasing circles fawlty towers the