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ITV3 is an entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV plc which shows mainly older drama shows. It launched on the terrestrial (Freeview), cable (NTL and Telewest) and digital satellite (Sky Digital) on November 1, 2004. Originally speculation was rife over whether it would launch on the Digital Satellite platform immediately, but after a deal whereby the transmission of another ITV channel, Plus, was hastily ceased just 30 minutes prior to launch, ITV3 took its channel number and bandwidth meaning all platforms could launch simultaneously. Staff at Plus were given 15 minutes' notice. On satellite, it is available as a free-to-air channel, and as such does not require an active Sky Digital subscription. The channel had been available from launch on NTL Ireland, but was pulled on 22 March 2006. This is believed to have been at the request of ITV plc, which had previously barred Irish newspapers from publishing details of ITV channels and regions other than UTV and Men & Motors. The channel is mainly aimed at the over 35 audience, and the company are hoping to use it, and extra investment into its ITV2 channel to triple non-terrestrial revenue within five years. ITV's attempt to secure more ratings for the channel has led to the network purchasing the exclusive terrestrial television rights to a number of newer and in some cases popular US drama series, such as NUMB3RS and more recently Law & Order: Trial by Jury. ITV launched a one hour timeshift channel of ITV3 on Monday, 30 October. The company is looking to its digital channels to shore up revenues as its flagship channel ITV1 suffers a decline in viewers. ITV2+1 launched on the same day.
Some programmes shown on ITV3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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