citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . october 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message e4 e4 logo launched 18 january 2001 owned by channel four television corporation picture format 16 9 576i sdtv 1080i hdtv audience share 1.33 % 0.57 % 1 september 2015 2015 09 barb country united kingdom sister channel s channel 4 4seven film4 more4 4music box upfront the box box hits kerrang kiss magic timeshift service e4 1 website www.channel4.com e4 availability terrestrial freeview channel 28 channel 29 1 satellite freesat channel 122 channel 123 1 sky uk channel 136 sd hd channel 137 1 channel 202 sd sky ireland channel 137 channel 138 1 channel 202 hd astra 2e 10729 v 22000 5 6 cable virgin media channel 144 channel 145 hd channel 146 1 virgin media ireland channel 112 channel 113 1 cablecom switzerland channel 164 181 wightfibre channel 12 channel 13 1 iptv swisscomtv switzerland channel arbitrary streaming media all 4 watch live filmon watch live sky go watch live uk and ireland only e4 is a british terrestrial digital television channel funded by advertising . the e stands for entertainment and the channel is mainly aimed at the lucrative 15 35 age group . programming includes us imports such as the goldbergs the cleveland show the o.c. smallville veronica mars everwood what about brian desperate housewives how i met your mother 90210 one tree hill ugly betty scrubs rules of engagement the big bang theory 2 broke girls scream queens revenge and formerly friends . other programming includes british shows such as skins my mad fat diary misfits the inbetweeners the ricky gervais show shameless hollyoaks and made in chelsea . some us imports such as desperate housewives and ugly betty are screened on e4 up to one week ahead of their channel 4 broadcasts . its most successful broadcast to date was on 11 october 2010 when an episode of the inbetweeners pulled in over 3.7 million viewers . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 friends 1.2 channel programming 1.2.1 most watched programmes 1.3 e4 music 2 big brother coverage 3 promotions 4 see also 5 references 6 further reading 7 external links history edit e4 launched as a pay tv companion to channel 4 on 18 january 2001 . on 16 december 2004 channel 4 announced that the subscription channel would return to digital terrestrial television . from its launch until the closure of itv digital it was available as a bonus subscription channel . it became part of the top up tv subscription scheme until 27 may 2005 when the channel became available on freeview with the potential to increase advertising revenue by attracting a larger audience . e4 was also available as part of the basic sky satellite subscription channel package due to a long term contract with bskyb it only became free to air in 2008 . this change happened on 6 may 2008 and the channel joined freesat along with more4 . in may 2005 e4 introduced first look showing episodes of popular programmes such as come dine with me hollyoaks and drama series such as lost and invasion in advance of transmission on channel 4 . logo of e4 1 logo of e4 hd in october 2005 more4 was launched to complement channel 4 s digital channels . er and the west wing subsequently moved from e4 to more4 . e4 launched a republic of ireland service in june 2002 which has become the second most popular non terrestrial channel in ireland with 1.1 % of the audience ; sky1 is the most popular . 2 since 2006 e4 has sponsored the e4 udderbelly venue part of underbelly at the edinburgh festival fringe and brighton festival . the venue took the form of a giant upside cow in the purple colour of e4 s logo . in july 2007 it was announced channel 4 would be launching e4 radio the first of a network of channels to be broadcast on dab radio . the station was planned for launch in july 2008 and aimed at a similar demographic to its sister television channel 3 however this launch date was later delayed . in october 2008 channel 4 announced it was abandoning its plans for digital radio and thus scrapping the e4 radio proposal . on 14 december 2009 a high definition simulcast of e4 launched on sky hd channel 215 it was later added to virgin media on 1 april 2010 . 4 5 unlike the other standard definition channels from channel 4 which are free to air e4 hd is only available with a subscription to either sky s hd pack or virgin media s tv xl pack . similar to this the high definition simulcast of its sister channel film4 is only available to virgin media s tv l and xl hd customers . 6 e4 acquired the rights to several new us comedies throughout 2011 and 2012 a few of which were new girl suburgatory 2 broke girls the new normal and the mindy project . on 31 october 2013 e4 premiered a refreshed look as part of the channel s rebranding . this coincided with the debut of the seventh season of e4 s most popular show the big bang theory as well as the debut of new homegrown comedy drifters . 7 friends edit in 1996 channel 4 purchased the broadcast rights to the popular american sitcom friends . the series proved to be very popular amongst the uk audience and channel 4 acquired syndication rights and re ran the series for another 7 years after the show s original run ended . in october 2011 contract with warner brothers came to an end with comedy central purchasing the broadcast rights and began showing episodes from november 2011 in both standard definition and high definition . now all episodes of friends are broadcast on comedy central . channel programming edit main article list of programmes broadcast by e4 most watched programmes edit the following is a list of the ten most watched shows on e4 based on live 7 data supplied by barb up to 17 july 2016 . 1 the number of viewers does not include repeats or airings on e4 1 . rank show episode viewers date 1 the inbetweeners 3.05 will is home alone 3 721 000 11 october 2010 2 3.06 the camping trip 3 704 000 18 october 2010 3 3.04 the trip to warwick 3 619 000 4 october 2010 4 3.03 will s dilemma 3 572 000 27 september 2010 5 3.01 the fashion show 3 456 000 13 september 2010 6 3.02 the gig and the girlfriend 3 336 000 20 september 2010 7 the big bang theory 6.01 the date night variable 2 803 000 15 november 2012 8 9.05 the perspiration implementation 2 728 000 26 november 2015 9 9.12 the sales call sublimination 2 688 000 24 march 2016 10 9.04 the 2003 approximation 2 658 000 19 november 2015 e4 music edit in august 2005 following the close of that year s big brother e4 introduced the e4 music programming block . the slot initially ran through much of the morning daytime schedule though was later reduced to mornings only with the amount of scripted comedy and drama screened in daytime increased . prior to the launch of e4 music e4 was off air during daytime for much of the year only going on air in daytime for rolling coverage of reality shows such as big brother . the introduction of e4 music led to e4 broadcasting 24 7 all year round . initially e4 music would take a summer break to allow big brother coverage to replace it but in later years big brother coverage was reduced allowing a cut down e4 music to run during the summer . in 2008 the launch of 4music as a channel led to questions being asked about the future of e4 music . however e4 retained its commitment to music content stating that e4 music had been commissioned to run until at least the start of big brother in 2009 . 8 at 10am on thursday 4 june 2009 the day before the launch of the 2009 big brother series e4 music ceased broadcasting . big brother coverage edit between 2001 and 2010 when the reality series big brother and celebrity big brother were being transmitted on channel 4 e4 devoted much of its schedule to live coverage from inside the big brother house ; interactive features that gave access to additional camera angles have also been transmitted . the channel also had big brother voting options big brother spin off shows such as big brother live big brother s little brother big brother s big mouth diary room uncut and big brother highlights repeats . big brother coverage was among the highest rating programming on the channel and came at a time when most of the year s us imports had ended . past editions of the american and continental african versions of big brother have also broadcast on e4 . promotions edit programme trailers sometimes have the narrator repeating things that characters have said such as in a trailer for ugly betty that includes one character asking betty why are you crying in the bathroom the narrator immediately asks why is betty crying in the bathroom . and on another occasion he says oh no kerry katona must be double booked . commenting on a cameo by victoria beckham . sometimes the narrator appears to interact with the characters of the programme especially notable in trailers for miss match and what about brian . the announcers also occasionally gently poke fun at the series they introduce such as heralding an episode of life unexpected by calling it the show where no one except cate has a sensible name . films are usually gently ridiculed in their promotion such as with the voice of e4 telling viewers they probably will guess the ending of she s all that naming actress kim cattrall as that slaggy one from sex and the city when advertising big trouble in little china and re dubbing a scene from entrapment where the two characters are running along a rooftop before being caught in a helicopters search light with catherine zeta jones this is the old man recovery unit . there is also quite heavy use of british words which have generally fallen out of circulation such as ruddy and gaff . e4 s continuity often sent up the channel s friends reliant schedule while in the past announcements would generally be the same for example now it s time to relax with friends more recently when the announcers have been more inventive with phrases such as ... after an episode of friends we ve shown so many times the tape s gone a bit wobbly before a series 1 episode which indeed had a distorted soundtrack . there were only been a handful of days since the creation of e4 when friends wasn t shown . it was announced on 10 february 2010 that e4 and channel 4 would stop airing the programme in autumn 2011 9 although the series continues to be shown in britain on comedy central . on one occasion when a playout error caused part of an episode of desperate housewives to be repeated continuity announcer dominic o shea said i know we repeat ourselves a lot on e4 but that was of course a technical fault . hopefully we ll have it fixed by the time it s repeated on sunday 10 playing on the fact that many of e4 s imported american drama programmes are shown at least twice for each episode . following the us premiere of glee the first episode was aired as a sneak peek