Granada Plus

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Plus

Launched	October 1, 1996
Closed	November 1, 2004
Owned by	Granada Sky Broadcasting
Formerly called	Granada Plus, G Plus

Granada Plus was a satellite channel run by Granada Sky Broadcasting. It was launched on 1 October 1996 and was later rebranded as G Plus or G+ and then simply Plus. However it was generally still referred to by the public at large by its former name.

1 Launch and early years
2 Closure
3 Programmes
4 Logos

[edit] Launch and early years

At launch, the channel showed only programmes made originally by Granada Television and London Weekend Television (itself recently acquired by Granada Television.) Many of these programmes would have been unshown since their original transmissions, and as such the channel found itself showing rare classic programmes which may have looked badly dated, among them On The Buses, The Comedians, The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club, and Crown Court as well as classic Coronation Street episodes first screened in 1976. These early schedules lacked the commercial appeal of rival channel UK Gold, which had long since moved from showing little-seen gems to showing TV's 'greatest hits'.

It wasn't long before Granada Plus revamped their onscreen identity, and in order to look more contemporary, they started showing more recent programmes made by the ITV network (at the time, Granada were busy buying up old rivals such as Yorkshire Television and Tyne Tees Television, in preparation for a unified ITV PLC) as well as some programmes originally shown on the BBC but made by independent production companies. Many of the channel's programmes were cut by up to 5 minutes for commercial timing purposes, leading some viewers to comment that the channel should have been called "Granada Minus".

[edit] Closure

The story of Granada Plus's closure is of interest. Come November 1, 2004 — ITV3's launch date — it was looking increasingly likely that ITV3 would not be launched on Sky Digital. However, frantic discussions were going on beind the scenes: ITV wanted the 7 million or so Sky viewers available; Sky didn't want to give Freeview any advantage; and to further complicate matters, ITV wanted the new channel to be as high up on the EPG as possible.

At 3pm, just 6 hours before launch, ITV and Sky finally reached a deal: ITV would buy out Sky's 49.5% stake in GSB for £10 million.

ITV stopped broadcasting Granada Plus at 4:30 pm. Thus, ITV2 was to broadcast at channel number 118 in the EPG and ITV3 at 119.

Granada Plus were caught unaware; they had sent out their regular highlights email at 3:50 pm. Viewers would have seen Granada Sky Broadcasting disappear mid-programme at 4:30 pm, and ITV2 & ITV3 slides appearing at 5:15 pm.

The countdown to launch appeared at 8pm, with the launch taking place 1 hour later.

The channel's closure annoyed many viewers, as most programmes were not moved over to the new channel.