G.O.L.D.

Infobox TV channel
name = G.O.L.D.
logosize = 120px
logofile = Gold logo.png launch = 1 November 1992
share = 0.7% (0.4% for +1)
share as of = March 2008
share source = [http://www.barb.co.uk/viewingsummary/monthreports.cfm?report=monthgmulti]
owner = UKTV Network
(BBC Worldwide/Virgin Media Television)
slogan = “Go On Laugh Daily”
picture format = 16:9, 576i (SDTV)
sister names =
former names = UKTV Gold (until 7th October 2008)
UK Gold (until March 2004)
web = [http://laughdaily.co.uk/ laughdaily.co.uk]
terr serv 1 = Top Up TV
terr chan 1 = Channel 17 (18:00-23:30) and On Demand on Top Up TV Anytime
sat serv 1 = Sky Digital
sat chan 1 = Channel 110
Channel 133 (+1)
cable serv 1 = Virgin Media
cable chan 1 = Channel 126
Channel 127 (+1)| cable serv 2 = WightCable
cable chan 2 = Channel 46/112
cable serv 3 = UPC Ireland
cable chan 3 = Channel 120
adsl serv 1 = Tiscali TV
adsl chan 1 = Channel 16
|

G.O.L.D. (meaning "Go On Laugh Daily") is a British television channel that shows mainly classic BBC comedy programmes. It launched on 1 November 1992 and is currently available on Sky Digital, Virgin Media, Tiscali TV and terrestrial subscription via Top Up TV.

History

).

The channel's major drawbacks in its early years were the insensitive placement of commercial breaks in BBC shows, poor timekeeping, and the heavy-handed editing of BBC programmes to fit commercial timeslots. The channel joined Sky's basic subscription package in 1993.

Initially broadcast on an analogue transponder from a SES Astra satellite at 19.2°E which was not primarily intended for UK reception, the channel used to be notorious for being marred with 'sparklies' in large parts of the UK.

UK Gold's success led to the creation of UKTV (still part-owned by the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide) which operates several channels showing different types of archive programming. These included UK Arena (now defunct), UK Style (home and lifestyle), UK Drama, UK Play/PlayUK (music and comedy - now defunct), UK Horizons (now defunct) and UK History, as well as the time-shifted UK Gold +1, and UK Gold Classics, soon renamed to UK Gold 2. UK Gold 2 originally screened morning programmes from UK Gold time-shifted to the evening of the same day, but was relaunched with a completely new programme lineup and renamed UKG² on 12 November 2003. Another channel, UK Living, was renamed LivingTV when it broke away from the joint BBC-Flextech ownership (now solely owned by Virgin Media Television).

On 8 March 2004 all of the UKTV channels changed their prefixes from "UK" to "UKTV", and UK Horizons was split into two channels - UKTV Documentary and UKTV People.

UKTV still cuts programmes (mainly documentaries) for commercial timing on the UKTV's factual channels. The UKTV channels have broadcast in widescreen as of 31 January 2008, although some programmes made in 16:9 format are screened in the compromise 14:9 semi-letterbox ratio. These will be shown in 16:9 format later in 2008.

An analogue teletext service known as GoldText used to be available on this channel, but has since closed down.

The channel has been criticised by some, particularly in recent years, for featuring many recent programmes as opposed to 'classics' as was the original concept, with some shows appearing on the channel mere months or weeks after their first television broadcast.

UKTV Gold's then new look went live on 5 April 2007 - the same day that Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again premiered.

2008 rebrand

In 2008 UKTV began a process of rebranding and expanding its channels, removing "UKTV" from their name, following the rebranding of UKTV G2 as Dave in October 2007. On 7 October 2008 UKTV Gold became "G.O.L.D.", exclusively showing comedy, both old and new. This is reflected by its new slogan, which now represents Gold as an backronym - "Go On Laugh Daily" [cite news
title=UKTV to rebrand all channels
publisher=Broadcast
date=12 June 2008
url=http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/news/2008/06/uktv_to_rebrand_all_channels.html
accessdate=2008-06-13] . Unlike the complete name change for Dave, the Gold name was retained as having a resonance with viewers. The same day also saw the rebranding of UKTV Drama as Alibi, and the launch of a new channel, Watch.

Programming

The output of the channel is mainly British comedy programmes and sometimes feature length films. These are a combination of internally produced shows and repeats of shows from the BBC & ITV archive.

Current Programming

*"Absolutely Fabulous
*"As Time Goes By
*"Blackadder
*"Comedy Connections
*"dinnerladies
*"French and Saunders
*"Fawlty Towers
*"Gimme Gimme Gimme
*"Icons
*"Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again
*"Keeping up Appearances
*"Last of the Summer Wine
*"The Lenny Henry Show
*"Little Britain
*"Men Behaving Badly
*"My Family
*"My Hero
*"The New Adventures Of Old Christine
*"Neighbours
*"The Office
*"One Foot In The Grave
*"Only Fools and Horses
*"Only Fools and Horses Greatest Moments
*"Open All Hours
*"Porridge
*"The Royle Family
*"Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
*"Sorry!
*"Starstruck Classics
*"The Thin Blue Line
*"2 Point 4 Children
*"The Good Life
*"The Vicar of Dibley
*"The Two Ronnies
*"Victoria Wood As Seen On TV"
*"The Worst Week of My Life
*"Yes Ministercol-end

Former Programming

*"A Close Shave
*"A Grand Day Out
*"A Life of Grime"
*"A Question of Sport
*"Allo, Allo
*"The A-Team
*"Alas Smith & Jones
*"The Afternoon Play
*"Alistair McGowan's Big Impression
*"All Creatures Great and Small
*"Animal Park
*"Are You Being Served?
*"The Bill
*"Baywatch"
*"Bob's Full House
*"Big Break
*"Birds of a Feather
*"Blake's 7"
*"Blankety Blank
*"Blue Peter
*"The Blue Planet
*"Bullseye
*"Bottom
*"Brookside
*"The Brittas Empire
*"Canned Carrott
*"Carrie's War" (1974 version)
*"Casualty
*"The Catherine Tate Show
*"Charlie's Angels
*"The Changes"
*"Carrott's Commercial Breakdown
*"Carrott Confidential
*"Carrott's Lib
*"Celebrity Masterchef
*"Coast
*"Dad's Army
*"Dallas
*"Dancing With The Stars
*"Dangerfield
*"Defenders of the Earth
*"DIY SOS
*"Doctor Who
*"Dynasty
*"EastEnders
*"Eldorado
*"
*"
*"The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
*"Family Fortunes
*"Goodnight Sweetheart
*"Happy Famalies
*"Hi-de-Hi!
*"Holby City
*"The House of Eliott
*"The Imaginatively Titled Punt & Dennis Show
*"It Ain't Half Hot Mum
*"Inspector Morse
*"The Kenny Everett Television Show
*"Knots Landing"
*"Lovejoy
*"The Mary Whitehouse Experience
*"Match of the Day
*"Minder
*"The Morecambe & Wise Show
*"Murder, She Wrote
*"Newman and Baddiel in Pieces
*"Planet Earth
*"Prison Break Repeats of season 1 & 2
*"Rainbow
*"Record Breakers
*"Rentaghost
*"Red Dwarf
*"Robin Hood
*"Rutland Weekend Television
*"Shark
*"Seaside Rescue
*"Shooting Stars
*"Stars In Their Eyes
*"Spitting Image
*"Sons and Daughters
*"Tenko
*"The Sweeney
*"Top of the Pops"
*"The Tripods
*"Traffic Cops
*"Waiting For God
*"Who Do You Think You Are?
*"
*"The Generation Game
*"The Sullivans
*"The Weakest Link
*"The Wrong Trousers
*"The Young Ones
*"You Bet!
*"You Rang, M'Lord? col-end

On-Screen Identity

For the first few years, idents on UK Gold featured an animated dog mascot named "Goldie" posing with the UK Gold logo. Goldie was never name-checked as such on air, possibly owing to the death of the original Blue Peter dog Goldie some weeks before launch, although the late-night music video slot "Dog House" was originally listed as "Goldie's Video Bites" in initial pre-launch listings. The Goldie idents were kept until 1993 when they were replaced with a form-up of the first logo against a blue background. A re-branding in 1994 saw UK Gold adopt a more fitting identity: idents were based on the forging of gold bars, with the station's logo appearing to have been stamped into gold. Variations on this theme were used until 1997, when the channel received a revamp as part of the formation of the UKTV network.

The new network's corporate identity saw all its channels logos simplified to a boxed "UK" followed by the name (e.g. "Gold") in a simple sans serif font. The new network-wide ident theme would involve the splitting of the screen for different purposes. UK Gold's new idents depicted objects such as apples or leaves falling through the top half of the screen, with only the gold coloured ones reaching the bottom half of the screen. These idents were briefly adopted for UK Gold 2 when it launched in 2000. In 2000 the theme changed again, this time with idents featuring light beams and fireworks.

These channel idents were carried on through another network-wide re-branding of the logo in 2001, adopting a bolder font and merging UK into a single composite character. A range of live-action idents showing everyday activities from unusual perspectives appeared in 2002. From 2003 onward idents showed channel hopping viewers with their TV set "off stage" being brought to a halt by the appearance of a golden light accompanied by the channel's ident jingle. This new identity also featured a series of shifting yellow, orange and red blocks which suggested a gold bar at the centre of the screen.

On 4 April 2007, UKTV Gold unveiled a new on-air identity centred around a branded golden space hopper. [http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a44849/uktv-gold-bounces-back-with-gbp10m-new-look.html] playing to contemporary trends toward 1970s nostalgia, and emphasising the station's re-run content. 12 new live action idents featuring the branded space hopper began airing from 5 April 2007.

On 7 October 2008, following the rebranding, G.O.L.D.’s new ident presentation debuted.

Logos

References

External links

* [http://laughdaily.co.uk G.O.L.D.] – Go On Laugh Daily
* [http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/ukgold.html UKTV Gold at TV Ark]
* [http://thetvroom.com/uktv The TV Room] looks at presentation/branding on the UKTV channels