Channel 5 launch 30th March 1997

[Keith]

So yes it was a big deal, because as above, most people did not have satellite or cable or whatever, it was purely terrestrial. reception (particularly on second sets). So a new channel was a big thing. That and the whole test transmissions, the retuning Channel 5 had to do because they were planned to launch in the part of the spectrum where most video players were tuned to (usually UHF channel 37) so interference from said units...

Probably worth adding that back then in most cases retuning TVs was still a manual process, not just press a couple buttons on the remote and sit back whilst the TV picked up all the channels. I seem to recall the original TV in my bedroom didn't even have a remote, meaning it was an entirely manual process of turning dials and pushing buttons on the TV. Therefore the launch of Channel 5 was a fairly big thing, at least for those who could receive the TV signal.

[Brekkie]

And it didn't have universal coverage at launch (think it was only around 60% from memory). We had three TVs picking up three different regions at the time and I think initially we could only get it in my mum and dads room - I've vagued memories of sitting there watching the "Give Me 5" loop. I think it reached all the regions we could get in time for launch, but there was the video retune issue as well.

[Neil Jones]

And it didn't have universal coverage at launch (think it was only around 60% from memory). We had three TVs picking up three different regions at the time and I think initially we could only get it in my mum and dads room - I've vagued memories of sitting there watching the "Give Me 5" loop. I think it reached all the regions we could get in time for launch, but there was the video retune issue as well.

It was tooted to be something like 75% I believe, though I suspect this was wildly optimistic.

Was able to get it with rooftop aerial, an indoor aerial was always temperamental anyway. IIRC Channel 5 came from Lichfield, and not Sutton Coldfield which further reduced the reach in some cases. It was only when digital TV became a thing that Channel 5 finally came from Sutton Coldfield. I believe Lichfield now doesn't do any TV transmissions, only radio.

[msim]

I think its very much a generational thing as to how Ch5 launching was perceived. I was 10 in 1997 so for me - having just got a 14" TV in my bedroom, only one other TV in the house and one VCR - it was amazing and hugely exciting to have another channel to view, especially in a non sky/cable house at that time. Getting the TV tuned in and watching that test transmission on loop. I don't think in Tyne Tees we had any problems with signal quality or interference with the VCR.

I watched the full launch night, which for a ten year old is quite something . The Spice Girls launch, Family Affairs, 5 News, and some drama about a kidnapped woman. Then in the weeks/months around that we as a family seemed to watch the channel a fair bit, things like the 100% quiz, the Sunset Beach Saturday afternoon omnibus, Whittle, House Doctor, Fort Boyard, Night Fever, the 9pm films, the Poltergeist series, Xena. Am I right in thinking it also chose not to air Diana's funeral or was that Ch4? Certainly I remember telling my mother that Diana was dead that Sunday morning having seen it on 5 News first.

As a kid it didn't seem low budget or tacky but it was a load of garbage for the most part and clearly launched too late to have the impact or budget it might have had even five years earlier.

[Steve Williams]

I think its very much a generational thing as to how Ch5 launching was perceived. I was 10 in 1997 so for me - having just got a 14" TV in my bedroom, only one other TV in the house and one VCR - it was amazing and hugely exciting to have another channel to view, especially in a non sky/cable house at that time. Getting the TV tuned in and watching that test transmission on loop. I don't think in Tyne Tees we had any problems with signal quality or interference with the VCR.

I also watched Channel 5 quite a lot in the early days. I stuck with Jack Docherty for quite a while because I liked the idea of it and thought it was quite cool to have a Letterman-style show in the schedules. I was just turning eighteen at the time and I was staying up later so it was exactly the right time for me. But eventually I realised I wasn't really enjoying it that much and I stopped bothering after about six months, which is about five months after Jack stopped bothering, by the looks of things.

As you say, in a house with four channels, it was quite big news, even though we got an extremely ropey signal from Winter Hill - it was watachable but covered in static and ghosting and I could only record stuff off it in monochrome. Funnily enough about three months later we got a leaflet through the door announcing C5 was now available from The Wrekin - we'd had nothing through the door when it launched so presumably C5 considered The Wrekin a more likely transmitter for us to use, but it turned out to be even worse from there. Then when I went to university in the autumn of 1997 I had a brilliant picture, but by that point I wasn't that bothered about it.

What did strike me in the early days was how cheap and homely some of it was, things like The Mag were clearly produced on tiny budgets in a way you didn't even really see that much on off-peak BBC2 and Channel Four.

[Markymark]

And it didn't have universal coverage at launch (think it was only around 60% from memory).

MB21 is your friend

https://tx.mb21.co.uk/info/625/channel5/tests.shtml

[Whataday]

What did strike me in the early days was how cheap and homely some of it was, things like The Mag were clearly produced on tiny budgets in a way you didn't even really see that much on off-peak BBC2 and Channel Four.

"Cheap and homely" hits the nail on the head for me. There was something very endearing about many of the productions in the early days. Though clearly produced on a budget, you really got the sense that a lot of care went into them.

[i.h]

And it didn't have universal coverage at launch (think it was only around 60% from memory). We had three TVs picking up three different regions at the time and I think initially we could only get it in my mum and dads room - I've vagued memories of sitting there watching the "Give Me 5" loop. I think it reached all the regions we could get in time for launch, but there was the video retune issue as well.

Arguably never did, at least through analogue terrestrial. Living on the "wrong" side of Cornwall (fairly high up but well within the Caradon Hill area, too far to try to get it from Redruth at low power) we had to wait until the Astra 1 service came along. Sort of repaid the favour when COM7/8 were on Caradon Hill only though. I think "we" got BBC DAB a number of years ahead of the west too

I don't think I even knew what Channel 5 was until I visited the rellies in Exeter, they had this new fangled "cable" stuff, and it was on there.

[Brekkie]

Wonder if they'll do much next year for the 25th Anniversary. It doesn't feel like they have as much to look back on as C4 did for their 25th back in 2007.

[James2001]

Start a repeat run of Family Affairs

[Humphrey Hacker]

Back in 1997 the idea of multi-channel tv was still for many a luxury. Yes channels launched all the time on Satellite but Channel 5 was a national terrestrial station and launching was a rarity of hens teeth level. For a while we couldn't receive the station on "button 5" of the remote so had to watch the feed on sky (which on the Pace Mss 100 we had was on station number 25) until I fathomed out out to retune the VCR.

[Robert Williams]

I've never really been able to regard Channel 5 as a 'main' channel at the same level as 1-4 - as I live in one of the areas that didn't get the channel on analogue (at least, not until 2003), my first exposure of it wasn't until digital terrestrial came to my area in 1999, when it arrived alongside the likes of ITV2 and BBC Choice. As such I still regard it as a kind of 'lower tier' channel, so the fact that Radio Times now lists it alongside the lesser channels, rather than with 1-4, feels very appropriate to me.

[technologist]

I've never really been able to regard Channel 5 as a 'main' channel at the same level as 1-4 …... …As such I still regard it as a kind of 'lower tier' channel, so the fact that Radio Times now lists it alongside the lesser channels, rather than with 1-4, feels very appropriate to me.

Thus should it be a PSB ??
It does not have the (watered down) requirement that itv has to live with
but is it more “PSB” …whatever that means than itv?
Does the uk require 4 PSB broadcasters ?

I think it did in 1997 …… but then at ATT was PSB because of the value of spectrum.
But the very spectrum availability ( and not annoying the French etc)
Restricted its coverage …and in the affluent south !

[Richard]

I've never really been able to regard Channel 5 as a 'main' channel at the same level as 1-4 …... …As such I still regard it as a kind of 'lower tier' channel, so the fact that Radio Times now lists it alongside the lesser channels, rather than with 1-4, feels very appropriate to me.

Thus should it be a PSB ??
It does not have the (watered down) requirement that itv has to live with
but is it more “PSB” …whatever that means than itv?
Does the uk require 4 PSB broadcasters ?

I think it did in 1997 …… but then at ATT was PSB because of the value of spectrum.
But the very spectrum availability ( and not annoying the French etc)
Restricted its coverage …and in the affluent south !

I believe that Channel 5 had a very small religious programming requirement that was dropped pretty early on, at the same time as ITV’s. I think there were other stipulations that were either dropped or watered down at the same time.

[WillPS]

I can't remember about being excited more about anything else in 1997. It was a huge event at the time.

It's a channel which seems to have no confidence in its brand position and has sought to change that roughly every 5 years since they launched - which has been interesting from a presentation nerd perspective but I don't think has overall done the channel any favours reputation wise.

The launch promised a lot and I think it's fair to say probably underdelivered. That said there was some great stuff in there - out of the gate the news set up was impressive (albeit lean) and turned the broadcast news sector on its head. It's a great shame they watered it down so much in the 00s. Milkshake surprised possibly even them with its popularity and provided a welcome bit of PSB children's content at a time when such things were still scarce unless you had a cable or Sky sub.