Channel 4 is a public service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom that began broadcasting on November 2nd, 1982. It has since expanded to include several digital channels such as E4, Film4, 4Seven, and More4. Channel 4 focuses on programming for minority groups that were not served by the BBC or ITV at the time. Some of Channel 4's most popular and long-running shows include Big Brother, The Inbetweeners, Dispatches, and Big Fat Gypsy Weddings. The broadcaster has faced controversies over biased documentaries on topics like global warming but maintains its public service remit to air alternative perspectives.

2. General Facts
• Channel 4 began broadcasting at 4.45pm on 2 November 1982
• The first advert to be shown on the new channel was for the
Vauxhall Cavalier 1600 GLS.
• Channel 4 moved into radio in 2006, launching a series of
podcasts and buying a stake in digital station Oneword. It will
launch a range of digital radio stations next year
• With a specific intention of providing programming to groups of
minority interests, 4 catered program’s that there
competitors, which at the time were only the BBC and ITV
hadn’t done at the time.

3. The most
popular
logo to
date, last
ing 14
years.

4. • E4
This channel is more for the teen
demographic. Launched in January
2001
• Film 4
4’s film channel, launched in November
1998
• 4
4’s main channel where many of the big
name shows are shown, launched in
November 1982.
• 4Seven
This channel shows all of 4’s old and
new shows all the time.
• More4
More shows that are for a old
demographic like 30+
Channel 4 was in talks about merging with
rival network Five, but the plan was
abandoned after its then-chief executive
Mark Thompson left to run the BBC in
2004. This summer, it bought a half-share
in the firm behind music TV channels The
Hits, Kerrang!, The Box, Q, Kiss, Magic and
Smash Hits.
In December 2007 C4 went HD on sky, and in
2009 C4 went HD on virgin too.
4oD, 4’s demand website which
you can watch 4’s channels
whenever you like, launched in
November 2006.

5. • Animation
• Sport
• Breakfast
• Documentaries
• News
• Food
• 4Docs
• Film
• Music
• School
• Entertainment
• Drama
• Comedy
• Children
First ever schedule for C4

6. • The majority of channel 4 is owned by the
government but is also owned by the channel
four television corporation.
• Channel four began in 1982 on the 2nd of
November and had straight away captured a large
audience.
• In 1998 channel 4 started expanding their
services and was known as the fourth service.
• With the channels expanding they were all linked
to channel four with the logo and name so they
would represent the ownership of the company.

7. One of the major programs is
dispatches. Dispatches is a program
explores the subjects that other may
not want to explore because of the
controversy surrounding the chosen
subject. The subjects can vary from
MMR: What they didn’t tell you, to
Ryanair caught napping.
Another major program is the
Inbetweeners which was shown on
channel 4’s sister channel E4. It was a
huge success and went onto make a
film. The first episode of the 3rd
series was shown on 2nd of April 2009
and received 1.2 million views, the
highest amount of viewers 4 received
that year over all channels, though
there was a American version of the
show it was not well received at all
and was cancelled after one series
Big Brother was originally on
channel 4 before it moved to
channel 5, It was the most viewed
show on channel 4 with 10,010,000
in 2002, and 50% of the most
popular show on 4 are Big Brother.
Big Fat Gipsy Wedding was another big
program for 4, it aired for 2 seasons and
in its opening weekend it got 7.4m
viewers.

8. Biggest shows that have been on
4, Big Brother (and CBB) being on
there 6 times, topping the
Paralympics!

9. On 8th March 2007 C4 aired a show
all about global warming called
‘The Great Global Warming
Swindle’ stating that it was ‘a lie’
and ‘the biggest scam of modern
times’. Commentators have
criticised it for being ‘one sided’
and that global warming was
backed by the biggest scientist.
There was 246 complaints to Ofcom
as of April 25, 2007, including that
the program was false data.
On 15 August 2013, Channel 4 aired a 45-
minute documentary on One Direction and
their fans dubbed as "Directioners".
Following the airing, fans from all over the
world, tweeted in rage against the
documentary arguing that this was not
them
With the ongoing Diana row, station
executives can be assured Channel
4 will continue to make headlines.
In 1987 presenter Jools Holland was
rapped for swearing during a live advert
for music show The Tube.