UKTV G2 becomes Dave, joins Freeview

[nj2006]

UKTV G2 becomes Dave, joins Freeview
Thursday, September 20 2007, 10:26 BST

By Joanne Oatts, Media Correspondent


UKTV G2 is to be relaunched as Dave next month, focusing on a younger male audience.

Launching on October 15, Dave will be a comedy and factual entertainment channel and will be available on satellite, cable and - as we exclusively revealed last month - Freeview, replacing UKTV Bright Ideas on channel 19.

The name is based on the idea that "everyone knows a bloke called Dave". Marketing activity to launch Dave will begin on October 1, with an on-air campaign created by Red Bee Media airing on the UKTV and Virgin Media channels.

Dave channel head Steven North said: "With a schedule for which most broadcasters would give their eye teeth, UKTV G2 is an incredibly successful channel with 10 million viewers in pay homes each month, but with relatively low brand awareness. Changing the channel name to Dave enables us to create a strong and noisy personality for the channel that immediately aligns us with our core 16-34 male audience."

Julia Jordan, UKTV’s executive director for business and operations, said: "There’s a definite opportunity for a channel like Dave on Freeview. The younger male audience is of very high value commercially and this demographic is currently under-served in Freeview homes."

Earlier this month, Nuts TV, a joint venture between Turner Broadcasting and Nuts magazine publisher IPC Ignite, also launched on the DTT platform.

Dave will air between 7am and 3am on Freeview channel 19, Sky channel 111 and Virgin TV channel 125.

The relaunched channel will see UKTV History remain at channel 12 on Freeview, but its DTT slot changed to 7am-6pm. On Sky 537 and Virgin TV 203, UKTV History will be available from 7am to 1am.