1995 01 30 closed 11 november 2009 2009 11 11 owned by bbc picture format 576i slogan great british entertainment country uk broadcast area europe the middle east replaced bbc world service television replaced by bbc entertainment website www.bbcentertainment.com bbc entertainment bbc prime was the bbc s general entertainment tv channel in europe and the middle east from 30 january 1995 until 11 november 2009 when it was replaced by bbc entertainment . contents 1 launch 2 programming 2.1 controversy 3 programmes aired on cbbc prime cbeebies 3.1 cbeebies and cbbc preschool programs 3.2 cbbc programmes 3.3 citv acquired programmes 4 funding 5 availability 6 replacement by bbc entertainment 7 notes 8 external links launch edit bbc prime was launched at 19 00 gmt on thursday 26 january 1995 when the former bbc world service television was split into two separate television stations bbc world a 24 hour english free to air terrestrial international news channel such as news bulletin information business and financial news magazine and current affairs programmes . now known as bbc world news . bbc prime a 24 hour english subscription lifestyle variety and entertainment channel such variety culture leisure lifestyle art and light entertainment programmes . now known as bbc entertainment . programming edit the channel broadcast drama comedy and lifestyle programmes which it repeated on a monthly basis . once it allocated six hours per day for educational programmes from bbc learning shown in the european small hours ; this practice was abandoned in august 2006 with the intention of improving the relevance and appeal of the channel to the widest audience . 1 it also included a special children s strand using the cbbc brand and idents by the name of cbbc on bbc prime or cbbc prime . when it first launched bbc prime also carried programming from the former itv company thames television as bbc worldwide had a joint venture known as european channel management with thames s parent company pearson and cox communications . 2 however this was dissolved in 1998 . 3 owing to rights issues much of the programming on bbc prime was from the corporation s archive . controversy edit the channel s emphasis on archive programming caused considerable annoyance to many british expatriate viewers who had much preferred the mix of bbc one and two previously offered by bbc tv europe and bbc world service television . however the bbc has defended the inclusion of older programmes in the schedule on the grounds that for the majority of our viewers this is the first chance to see these programmes and often the only way to view them . 4 consequently many people in mainland europe bought viewing cards to receive full broadcasts of bbc one and two from the uk when they became available on satellite in 1998 . this prompted gbc in gibraltar to end terrestrial retransmission of bbc prime in 1999 . even after the bbc switched to broadcasting unencrypted on a satellite with a much weaker signal many people in spain and elsewhere could still receive these signals particularly those who already had large satellite dishes . programmes aired on cbbc prime cbeebies edit cbeebies and cbbc preschool programs edit 64 zoo lane andy pandy angelmouse balamory barney becky and barnaby bear big cook little cook bill and ben binka bits and bobs bob the builder bobinogs bodger & badger boo boogie beebies brum charlie and lola clever creatures clifford the big red dog clifford s puppy days come outside clangers doodle do dr otter el nombre ethelbert the tiger fab lab fimbles fireman sam gordon the garden gnome jackanory joshua jones the koala brothers little red tractor little robots the magic key monty the dog the morph files mr. benn muffin the mule noddy s toyland adventures oakie doke pablo the little red fox paddington penny crayon pingu playdays postman pat radio roo razzledazzle the roly mo show rubbadubbers polka dot shorts poddington peas sergeant stripes the shiny show smarteenies something special spider spot starhill ponies step inside the story makers teletubbies tots tv tweenies tikkabilla wide eye wiggly park william s wish wellingtons yoho ahoy zingalong cbbc programmes edit animals of farthing wood arthur bananaman belfry witches the big knights blue peter bump camberwick green children in need dino babies the family ness the flintstones funnybones incredible games jimbo and the jet set rudyard kipling s just so stories the jungle book the adventures of mowgli the moomins the really wild show the ren & stimpy show rugrats smart superted taz mania trading places citv acquired programmes edit the blobs chorlton and the wheelies dangermouse hello kitty s furry tale theater huxley pig mr. men and little miss no. 73 the raggy dolls the ratties rupert the smurfs thomas & friends thunderbirds timon & pumbaa toucan tecs wow funding edit unlike the bbc s domestic channels and some of their foreign channels paid for by the uk foreign office bbc prime was funded by subscription available either as part of a satellite package or as a stand alone channel . it was also funded by adverts placed on the channel in breaks and because of this it was not available in the uk . much of bbc prime s programming was available to watch through bbc one two or the uktv network part owned by the bbc and showing archive programming . availability edit the channel was available in many areas through satellite and cable television in the netherlands and belgium the channel was available on cable alongside bbc one bbc two and bbc world news . it was available on digital terrestrial television dtt in the netherlands and malta . in gibraltar gbc relayed bbc prime on its vhf and uhf channels with opt outs . 5 in turkey it was available on t rksat cable tv and digiturk . in italy it was available on sky italia . in mena it was available on the orbit network . the south africa service was launched in 1999 and contained some different programmes to that broadcast in europe due to some programmes already being licensed to other channels . the asia service was launched on the 1 december 2004 and had a different schedule to that of the europe service to reflect the different time zones and cultural practices . it was available in hong kong on now tv s channel 529 thailand on truevisions channel 35 singapore on starhub tv s channel 76 and south korea on skylife s channel 334 . in order to cater to a wider audience who do not have english their first language bbc prime carried subtitles in swedish danish norwegian czech polish romanian hungarian italian hebrew and serbian . the asian service also had subtitles in chinese thai and korean . a similar channel called bbc japan launched in japan on 1 december 2004 but ceased broadcasting on 30 april 2006 owing to problems with its local distributor . replacement by bbc entertainment edit main article bbc entertainment in september 2006 it was announced that the bbc prime brand was to be phased out and replaced by bbc entertainment one of a number of new international channels planned by bbc worldwide . 6 the process began with the asian services which switched on the 6 october 2006 followed by the south african service on the 1 september 2008 . 7 bbc prime was completely replaced by bbc entertainment on 11 november 2009 . 8 notes edit bbc prime faqs why has bbc learning ended from us to them ; how the bbc became a world player the independent 11 october 1997 bbc to buy out int l partners variety march 16 1998 bbc prime faqs what is the reason for including older programmes in the schedule handbook commonwealth broadcasting association secretariat commonwealth broadcasting association 1997 page 59 clarke steve 7 september 2006 . bbc worldwide bows new channels . variety . retrieved 8 may 2008 . four bbc worldwide channels for dstv . bizcommunity.com . 11 june 2008 . retrieved 9 july 2008 . bbc prime rebranded as bbc entertainment external links edit bbc prime ident compilation bbc prime at tv ark v t e bbc television bbc uk channels bbc one in northern ireland scotland wales bbc two in northern ireland scotland wales bbc four bbc news bbc parliament cbbc cbeebies joint ventures and international channels bbc alba bbc america bbc arabic television bbc brit bbc canada bbc earth bbc entertainment bbc first in australia bbc hd international bbc kids bbc knowledge international bbc lifestyle bbc persian television bbc uktv australia and new zealand bbc world news community channel uktv uk and ireland services and programming blocks bbc iplayer bbc learning zone bbc news bbc schools bbc sport bbc three bbc weather cbbc cbeebies uk nations regions scotland wales northern ireland north east and cumbria north west yorkshire yorkshire and lincolnshire west west midlands east midlands east london south west south south east defunct channels bbc choice in northern ireland bbc food bbc hd uk bbc japan bbc knowledge uk bbc prime bbc select bbc three television channel bbc tv europe bbc world service television bbc 2w category retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bbc prime & oldid 739206592 categories international bbc television channelstelevision channels and stations established in 1995television channels and stations disestablished in 2009hidden categories use dmy dates from june 2011 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages e tinadanskdeutsch fran aisbahasa indonesiamagyarbahasa melayu norsk bokm lnorsk nynorskpolskisvenska edit links this page 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