Showcase TV

Showcase TV is a television channel in the United Kingdom currently run by Information TV[1] and is used to offer smaller specialist channels a place to showcase their programmes, sometimes leading to a full channel launch. It is also used as a placeholder channel and has been used to hold on to lucrative EPG slots from defunct channels which are then sold on at a later date. It has ceased and restarted many times over the years.[2]

This article is about a British TV channel. For the Canadian TV channel, see Showcase (Canadian TV channel). For other uses, see Showcase.
Showcase TV
CountryUnited Kingdom
Programming
Picture format4:3, 576i (SDTV)
Ownership
OwnerInformation TV
History
Launched2008
Availability
Satellite
Sky DigitalChannel 191
Astra 2G
(28.2°E)		11597 V 22000 5/6

Not to be confused with a similarly named channel which ceased on 20 August 2007 Life Showcase TV or Showcase TV run by Classic Media Group in March 2017 which was just a programme slot on Sky channel 181[3]

Showcase TV 2008 lineup

The 2008 incarnation of Showcase TV started at 06:00 on 27 August 2008. It did not receive an official launch but instead, went from AnimeCentral to Pop Girl program block straight away. It showed a mixture of different content from other CSC Media Group channels such as Pop Girl, Chart Show TV, True Movies 2 and had retained some AnimeCentral programming, in its own block between 04:00 and 06:00 with repeats of Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Its licence first appeared on the Ofcom website in January 2007 (initially named Toon TV, this was changed to AnimeCentral in June 2007, to True Entertainment in June 2008 and to Showcase TV on August 26, 2008).

The original launch lineup for Showcase TV was a Pop Girl simulcast from 6am to 4pm, a Chart Show TV simulcast from 4pm to 8pm, a True Movies 2 simulcast from 8pm to 12am (two movies) and an AnimeCentral block from 12am to 3am, with the airtime from 3am to 6am sold for teleshopping.

This later changed; the teleshopping block was dropped, and the anime block was shortened and moved to 4am, such that the True Movies 2 section could extend to carry four movies between 8pm and 4am. At this point the simulcast of Pop Girl was replaced with a simulcast of Kix!. This new lineup then remained in place until the True Entertainment relaunch.

Start End Channel name
06:00 16:00 Kix!
16:00 20:00 Chart Show TV
20:00 04:00 True Movies 2
04:00 06:00 AnimeCentral

2009 Re-branded as True Entertainment

Showcase TV was replaced with True Entertainment. The rebranding was scheduled for 1 July 2009, but was later put "on hold until further notice".[4][5] The change eventually took place a month later, on 3 August 2009. From that date, simulcasting of content from other CSC channels ceased, and True Entertainment launched its own schedule.

Showcase TV reappears under new ownership

Information TV then relaunched the channel by renaming the Quest service from Discovery Communications Europe Limited in October 2009 [6] By 2010 it had expanded with a sister channel "Showcase 2" [7]

Timeline of Freesat, Freeview, and Sky EPG Changes

Because of its nature as a placeholder channel it has come and gone many times from various TV platforms. The following is a partial history of the changes constructed from a change log on the digital spy discussion forum.[8]

Timeline of EPG Changes
DateChange made
2010-07-05Moved to 403 on Sky
2012-09-19Moved from 402 to 401 on Sky
2013-03-19Showcase 2 launches on Sky 402
2014-10-06Showcase becomes Irish TV
2015-08-29Appears on Freeview on ch254 as iptv stream
2016-01-21Removed from Freesat
2016-01-21Removed from 402 on sky (to become "keep it country" the following week).
2016-01-29showcase+1 launched on sky 279
2016-03-21Showcase moved to Sky channel 212
2016-06-20Showcase returns to Freesat on channel 161
2018-08-02Moved to Channel 455 on Sky
2018-08-10Removed from Freesat again
2019-01-07Moved to Sky 192 and Freesat 161
2019-02-04Returned to Freesat 161
2020-01-31Removed from Freesat again
2020-11-23Moved to Sky 191

References
  1. "Showcase TV Website". information TV. Archived from the original on 2020-03-14. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  2. "Official Showcase TV facebook page". Official Showcase TV facebook page. Archived from the original on 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  3. "Showcase TV (Classic media Group)". Showcase TV (Classic media Group). Archived from the original on 2007-02-16.
  4. "Anime Central - Rebranding" (MS Word). AGB Nielsen Media. 2009-06-12.
  5. "Anime Central - Rebranding on hold" (MS Word). AGB Nielsen Media. 2009-06-30.
  6. "Ofcom Television Broadcast Licensing Update". Ofcom Television Broadcast Licensing Update. Archived from the original on 2020-07-20. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  7. "Showcase TV Schedule from July 2010". Showcase TV Schedule from July 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-07-17.
  8. "Digital Spy Discussion Forums change log". Digital Spy Discussion Forums. Archived from the original on 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
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