ITV2

ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc.^[1] It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a claim now held by its sister service ITV3^[2] both of which are freely available to a majority of households.

For the second UK commercial television network (sometimes referred to as "ITV2") proposed during the 1960s and 1970s, see Fourth UK television service.

Country

United Kingdom
Isle of Man
Channel Islands

English

1080i HDTV
(downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed)

ITV2 +1

ITV plc

ITV Digital Channels

7 December 1998 (1998-12-07)

www.itv.com

Channel 6 (SD)
Channel 29 (+1)

Watch live (UK only)

Watch live (UK only)
Watch live (+1) (UK only)

The channel is primarily aimed at the 15/18–34 age group, just like BBC Three, E4 and Sky Max and is known for American programming such as adult animations Family Guy, American Dad! and Bob's Burgers; repeats of recently aired episodes of soap operas and other entertainment programming from ITV such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Family Fortunes and Catchphrase; 60-second entertainment news bulletin FYI Daily, which airs in-between films; original comedy such as Celebrity Juice and Plebs, and reality formats such as Big Brother and Love Island.

: Channel 113 (HD) & Channel 114 (+1)

Freesat UK

: Channel 118 (SD/HD), Channel 218 (+1) & Channel 816 (HD/SD)

Sky UK

Awards[edit]

ITV2 won Channel of the Year at the Broadcast Digital Awards in 2007^[40] and again in 2013.^[41] It was also named Non-Terrestrial Channel of the Year at the Edinburgh International Television Festival in 2007.^[42]

Criticisms[edit]

In 2014, the channel was subject to a controversy about one of its shows. Dapper Laughs: On the Pull was created by Vine comedian Daniel "Dapper Laughs" O'Reilly. The show was criticised for promoting violence against women^[43] and dubbed by one paper as "a rapist's almanac". Due to these criticisms, an online petition for the show's cancellation reaching 68,210 signatures^[44] and a sexist joke glorifying rape said by O'Reilly during one of his live shows,^[45] ITV chose not to commission a second series. A subsequent live tour was also cancelled.^[46]^[47] In the wake of the scandal, Stewart Lee criticised O'Reilly's Newsnight apology and said "what kind of person gets banned from ITV2? That's like being banned from a pub that's on fire."

In a 2009 episode of Screenwipe, Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker criticised the channel's programming as being "nihilistic worthlessness" and called it "a monument to cultural death" and "frighteningly meaningless".^[48]