Film4
Film4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned by Channel Four Television Corporation launched on 1 November 1998, devoted to broadcasting films. While its standard-definition channel is available on Freeview and Freesat platforms, its high-definition variant is offered only as a pay television service.
This article is about the British television channel. For the film production company, see Film4 Productions. For the on demand service, see Film4oD.Country
United Kingdom
English
Film4 +1
1 November 1998
FilmFour (1998–2006)
Channel 14
Channel 47 (+1)
Watch live (UK and Ireland only)
The channel offered an online video on demand service, Film4oD until it was closed in July 2015.
History[edit]
1998–2001: Early years and launch[edit]
The network has its origins in Channel Four Films, a production company opened by Channel Four Television Corporation in 1982 which has been responsible for backing a large number of films made in the United Kingdom and around the world. The company's first production was Stephen Frears' Walter, which was released in the same year.
On 1 November 1998, the production company was re-branded as FilmFour to coincide with the launch of a new digital television channel of the same name on both Sky and ONdigital platforms, becoming Channel 4's second network. At its launch, it was a subscription-only service costing £6 a month, eventually rising to £7. The launch night (which also broadcasts on Channel 4) was hosted by Johnny Vaughan and the first film to be shown was What's Eating Gilbert Grape, as well as the launch evening also featured its British network television premiere of The Usual Suspects.
On 31 March 2000 at 6.00am, the analogue version of FilmFour shut down and later switched to digital.
2001–2006: Expansion[edit]
On 7 April 2001, FilmFour expanded with the launch of three additional digital networks. FilmFour World carried the best of international cinema and broadcast from 4:00pm to 10:00pm, while FilmFour Extreme carried "controversial and cutting-edge" movies, and broadcast from 10:00pm-4:00am, both of which operated on a timeshare. The other addition was the timeshift service FilmFour +1, which carried all of the main channel's films an hour later.[1] All three channels were initially exclusive to Sky Digital but were made available on NTL cable from November-December 2001.[2]
In July 2002, Channel 4 reduced FilmFour's budget from £30 to £10 million and cut 50 staff to curb mounting losses, reintegrating FilmFour as a division of its television operation to continue to invest in new films. The cuts were a consequence of FilmFour's unsuccessful attempts to compete with Hollywood. David Thompson, head of BBC Films described it as:[3][4][5]