Channel 5
Britain's fifth - and final - terrestrial television network made its first broadcast on March 30, 1997.
In July 2005 the channel became wholly owned by European broadcaster RTL. It was purchased by Northern & Shell on July 23, 2010 and Chairman Richard Desmond immediately pledged to invest extensively in programmes to expand the channel's entertainment offering.
The channel has the fifth highest audience share in the UK. The Five family of channels represented a 5.62% share of all television viewing across 2010. In a typical month Channel 5 reaches three quarters of the UK population or 43 million people. Leading commissions such as The Gadget Show and Fifth Gear complement international hits including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Neighbours, Home and Away and acclaimed dramas The Mentalist and The Walking Dead.
Channel 5 has two digital TV channels. Fiver provides pre-school shows under the Milkshake! banner as well as drama, films, soaps, popular factual and lifestyle shows aimed at women. Five USA offers drama, films, sport, comedy and youth programming from North America.
Demand Five, the channel's leading digital catch-up service, enables viewers to watch high quality streaming video online, both through its own destination website and YouTube, with which it has a long-standing commercial partnership.
Following Northern & Shell's acquisition of Channel 5, the company confirmed it would invest significantly in YouView - the world's leading internet television platform - in which it is a key stakeholder.
