Shortlived TV channels

[JK1985]

The Paranormal Channel, launched by Most Haunted creators Yvette Fielding and Karl Beattie on June 9th 2008.

It was filled with imported paranormal programming, including repeat runs of ITV Strange But True series and Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World.

The channel also had home produced shows from Antix Productions (Yvette and Karl's production company) with spin offs from Most Haunted.

The used to have round table discussion shows, which looked like it was filmed at a back office of Antix Productions, it made GB News looked professional.

The channel failed to gain an audience. Even though by 2008 Most Haunted and Most Haunted Live were pulling in millions of viewers on Living TV, their own channel scraped a few thousand. They needed the backing of a channel like Living TV to survive.

In August 2009 it was rebranded as The Unexplained Channel, but this was the kiss of death for it, as the channel gradually cut back its hours, from being 24 hours a day to around just 5 hours per day. 

The channel finally ended by the end of 2009, with the channel number slot on Sky handed to Information TV.

For some reason my parents watched this channel a lot while it was on air, so I was under the impression that it was decently popular and surprised when it rebranded/closed. Hearing the context that it actually didn't do well at all... honestly makes that brief period in 2008 a lot funnier in retrospect 

I think both Yvette and Karl felt there was appetite for more paranormal programming in 2008, and also it was interesting from people I have spoken to that in the summer of 2008, Yvette and Karl hinted that if their new Paranormal Channel was a success, Most Haunted and Most Haunted Live could leave Living TV and move to their own channel. 

This didn't go down well with Living TV who poured in millions of pounds of resources into both shows, especially Most Haunted Live, which by 2008 was multiple night extravaganzas, even coming from locations abroad. 

Now Yvette and Karl are relegated to YouTube, as Really TV who rebooted the show, with bought in newly made editions from 2014, ended their partnership with Antix Productions in 2019, after a lot of bad publicity, especially considering the production quality had dropped and the content was full to the brim of faked events. 

Maybe the 2014-2019 era of Most Haunted on Really TV is what the Paranormal Channel version of their show could have been, if they had have left Living TV.