be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . march 2016 channel 5 launched 30 march 1997 ; 19 years ago 1997 03 30 owned by channel 5 broadcasting ltd viacom international media networks europe picture format 576i sdtv 16 9 4 3 1080i hdtv audience share 4.04 0.33 % 1 september 2015 2015 09 barb country united kingdom formerly called five 2002 2011 sister channel s list mtv mtv base mtv classic mtv dance mtv hits mtv live mtv music mtv rocks vh1 viva bet 5star 5usa my5 comedy central comedy central extra nickelodeon nick jr. nick jr. 2 nicktoons spike timeshift service channel 5 1 website www.channel5.com availability terrestrial freeview channel 5 channel 44 1 channel 105 hd satellite freesat channel 105 sd hd channel 128 1 sky uk only channel 105 sd hd channel 171 sd channel 177 1 astra 2g 10964 22000 5 6 cable virgin media channel 105 channel 150 hd channel 155 1 upc cablecom switzerland channel 167 digital ch d wightfibre channel 5 streaming media tvplayer watch live uk only sky go watch live uk and ireland only channel 5 is a british commercial television network . it was launched in 1997 and was the fifth national terrestrial analogue network in the united kingdom after bbc one bbc two itv and channel 4 but before the now defunct six tv and seventh overall including welsh language channel s4c in wales . it is generally the fifth placed network in the country in audience share and has been since its inception . the station was branded as five between 2002 and 2011 when it was owned by the rtl group . richard desmond purchased the station from rtl on 23 july 2010 announcing plans to invest more money in programming and return to the name channel 5 with immediate effect and it was relaunched on 14 february 2011 . 1 2 3 4 on 1 may 2014 the channel was acquired by viacom for 450 million us 759 million . 5 channel 5 is a general entertainment channel that shows both internally commissioned programmes such as fifth gear big brother & celebrity big brother the gadget show the hotel inspector can t pay we ll take it away and gibraltar britain in the sun and foreign programmes . the station has been very successful with imports from the united states in particular including csi franchise ncis franchise the first 3 series in the law & order franchise . power rangers the mentalist body of proof once upon a time dallas and under the dome . 6 7 8 9 10 11 in july 2014 channel 5 announced plans to open up its production arm and allow it to create shows for other channels aping the bbc and itv studios . 12 contents 1 history 1.1 pre launch 1.2 the launch 1.3 re brand as five 2002 1.4 desmond takeover 2011 1.5 sale to viacom 2014 2 broadcasting and reception 2.1 channel 5 hd 2.2 channel 5 1 2.3 my5 3 branding 3.1 1997 2002 3.2 2002 2008 3.3 2008 2011 3.4 2011 2016 3.5 2016 present 4 audience share 5 programmes 6 most watched programmes 7 5 text 8 see also 9 notes 10 references 11 external links history edit this section is incomplete . december 2014 pre launch edit channel 5 broadcasting limited was licensed by the uk government in 1995 after a bidding process that started in 1993 and lasted throughout 1994 . the initial round of bidders which included a network of city tv stations planned by thames television and the italian politician and media tycoon silvio berlusconi 13 14 who a few months later retired his offer 15 was rejected outright and the itc contemplated not awarding the licence at all . the difficulty with the project lay in use of television broadcast frequencies that had been allocated to rf outputs from domestic videocassette recorders . to achieve national coverage large numbers of domestic video recorders which output at a nearby frequency had to be retuned or fitted with a filter at the bidding company s expense . the project was revived in mid 1994 when the itc re advertised the franchise . tom mcgrath then president of time warner international broadcasting put together a revised frequency plan with ntl and consulting engineer ellis griffiths involving less retuning and greater signal coverage . lord hollick then chief executive of meridian broadcasting later united news & media and ubm took up the project as lead investor as uk law prohibited time warner from owning more than 25 % . pearson television who by now owned original licence bidders thames television also came on board . when mcgrath left to become president of paramount time warner dropped out of the project and was replaced by clt known in the uk for radio luxembourg . other bidders for the licence included uktv led by canwest and select tv which bid 36m for the licence new century television owned by bskyb and granada who bid 2m virgin tv backed by virgin communications and associated newspapers who bid 22m the same as channel 5 broadcasting who won the licence 16 wolf olins and saatchi & saatchi were the main companies behind the pre launch advertising campaign give me 5 . 17 the channel would be both modern and mainstream . a logo a numeric 5 within a circle and visual motif a candy stripe bar of colours were used and an attempt was made to establish a collection of channel 5 faces ; through the spring of 1997 billboards of jack docherty were displayed along with other unknown characters . 17 a series of pre launch screens were displayed on the frequencies channel 5 would begin broadcasting on in the months before launch as well including a trailer for the channel and information screens . 18 after re tuning around 65 % of the population s televisions could view the channel on launch night . the launch edit the channel s launch on easter sunday 30 march 1997 at 6pm featured the spice girls singing a re written version of manfred mann s hit 5 4 3 2 1 as 1 2 3 4 5 . 19 20 presenters tim vine and julia bradbury introduced the nation to the uk s fifth sixth including s4c terrestrial channel with half an hour of previews . the rest of the channel 5 launch night schedule along with the official viewing figures were as follows 21 time show viewers in millions 6pm this is 5 2.49 6.30 pm family affairs 1.70 7pm two little boys 0.68 7.30 pm hospital 1.12 9pm beyond fear 1.70 10.30 pm the jack docherty show 1.16 11.10 pm the comedy store special 0.73 11.40 pm turnstyle 0.49 12.10 am live and dangerous 0.08 5.30 am give me 5 0.03 overall an estimated 2 490 000 tuned in to see britain s fifth free network launch a figure higher than that achieved by launch of channel 4 fourteen and a half years earlier . re brand as five 2002 edit on 16 september 2002 channel 5 re branded to five in a multimillion pound project directed by trevor beattie . the channel s director of marketing at the time david pullen said this campaign set out to achieve three key objectives to clarify the channel s creative strategy ; to refresh the channel s on screen identity ; and to address the gap between the common perceptions of five and the new reality of our programming stimulating viewers reappraisal of five s programmes and brand . channel 5 was a name ; five is a brand . five as a brand reflects the evolution the channel is undergoing in programming and in becoming a more confident and distinctive viewer proposition . on 27 february 2004 it was reported that five and channel 4 were discussing a possible merger . channel 4 and five announced in november of that year that merger plans were being called off . early in 2009 rumours started re surfacing about five channel 4 and itv conducting a three way merger . 22 pearson television and clt later merged becoming rtl group who became part of bertelsmann and control the network after buying ubm s 35.4 % stake for 247.6 million on 20 july 2005 . the acquisition was approved on 26 august 2005 . after holleck became involved he and mcgrath brought on board greg dyke later director general of the bbc as interim ceo during the application and launch phase of the project . 5usa s logo since 2016 5star s logo since 2016 on 18 november 2005 it was announced that five had bought a stake in dtt s pay tv operator top up tv . it was said that the investment may lead to the development of new free and pay services on dtt and other platforms . 23 following this five launched two new digital tv channels in autumn 2006 on freeview sky and virgin media 24 5 star launched on 15 october 2006 providing dramas films soap operas and popular factual and lifestyle shows . the channel previously aired pre school shows under the milkshake banner . the channel originally launched in 2006 as five life but was renamed fiver in 2008 5 in 2011 and eventually 5 star in 2016 . 5 usa launched on 16 october 2006 offering drama films sport comedy and youth programming from the usa . it originally launched in 2006 as five us but was renamed five usa in 2009 and 5 usa in 2011 . desmond takeover 2011 edit five was taken over by richard desmond s publishing group northern & shell on 23 july 2010 for 103.5 million . 25 26 27 desmond pledged to top up the broadcaster s total budget to about 1.5 bn over the next five years including new investment of 50m to 100m a year to boost programming and the equivalent of 20m promoting the channel and its shows in a marketing campaign in northern & shell publications . 28 the takeover was partly motivated by the opportunities for cross promotion of five from desmond s newspapers daily express and daily star and magazines including ok . one commentator warned that readers will be bombarded with references to five . the opportunity for cross promotion between his publications and tv channel are enormous . 29 upon completing his takeover of five on 23 july 2010 richard desmond remarked ; i prefer channel 5 to five but ... we haven t met with the team yet to discuss these sorts of details . 30 the day after desmond s daily express newspaper noted that the channel s name was to change from today the rather vague five five what days of the week fingers reverts to the much more informative channel 5 . 1 on 11 august 2010 desmond confirmed the restoration of the original name used from 1997 2002 . 2 the restoration was revealed onscreen on 14 february 2011 . the relaunch also saw investment in a range of new programming with the debut of the now cancelled nightly entertainment show ok tv . 31 32 audience figures for the relaunch were boosted with increased viewing figures for the main 5 news bulletins and improved figures for ok tv in the 6.30 p.m. slot over its predecessor live from studio five . 33 on 18 august 2011 channel 5 relaunched big brother starting with celebrity big brother 8 and followed by big brother 12 having bought the rights to air the programme following its cancellation by channel 4 in april 2011 . the deal was worth a reported 200 million . 34 the show helped the channel s viewing figures and audience share to rise slightly year on year from 4.4 % to 4.5 % in 2012 . it was only achieved by