UK TV is dominated by the BBC and ITV channels

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a public service broadcaster and provides a range of programming across its many channels.  BBC1 is the flagship channel and delivers mainstream entertainment , news and drama. It is the most watched TV channel in the UK. BBC 2  is considered a high quality TV channel that deals with a range of more unusual subjects that are not necessarily as popular as the BBC 1 output. BBC 3 is aimed at the 18-25 age group and BBC 4 provides programmes with an intellectual or specialist flavour. 

 

ITV is the UK’s most popular independent station. There are four channels with ITV 1 being the most popular. Here you will find live entertainment , popular shows news, sport and cutting edge drama.  ITV 2, ITV 3 and ITV 4 gives you a place to catch up with old favourites and see programmes you may have missed first time round. If you are a fan of Miss Marple or Murder She Wrote you will find it on these stations. 

 

Channel 4 is an independent station that is well known in the UK  for being controversial. Sister station Film Four shows non stop films , some only available via subscription. 

 

Channel 5 is less popular than the other stations but still has plenty of TV content that is worth watching. It provides a varied selection of viewing including kids programmes. 

 

BBC World News, Sky News, and Bloomburg are just some of the news channels that are freely available in the UK.. There are also some designated sports channels such as the Golf Channel and Sail TV.  Coverage of major sporting events such as football is shared equally between ITV and BBC. This includes  Champions League matches, football tournaments such as the FA Cup. Weekly Premier League highlights show Match Of The Day is available on BBC1. Film channels in the UK include Film Four, which is available on a pay to view basis and subscription channels such as Netflix and Lovefilm that require you to sign up for at least one month. Kid’s stations include BBC kids channels CBeebies and CBBC providing a range of viewing for all ages as well as Nickelodeon and Baby First Channel.

Watching TV online outside the UK can be problematic. Most stations require that you are based within the British Isles so if you wish to do this you need to look to the many proxy server services to make it happen. If you are within the UK, online TV is freely available both live and via catch up.