Channel One is no more.
Channel owners BSkyB pulled the plug on the channel in the early hours of the 1st of February 2011, as part of a number of branding changes for the Sky portfolio of channels.
The channel was originally known as Virgin 1 until Sky purchased it from Virgin. Channel One showed a number of top US shows including the various versions of Star Trek, and geeky spy drama Chuck. Many of these shows will still be available on the Sky platform on the new Sky Living channel, which launched on Sky on the 1st of February.
Channel One was one of the free channels forming the Freeview lineup – it’s been replaced on the Freeview lineup by quiz show Challenge.
Got a comment on the demise of Channel One? Have your say below
sorry – I mean to type ‘jibberish’ above and not ‘jiggerish’ which isn’t even a word – just jibberish…
I’m jabbering.
“Christopher Crossley Says:
February 1st, 2011 at 5:17 pm
It was with a sense of shock bordering on a terminal infarction that I became aware of the sad disappearance of Channel One. Imagine the scene, if you will, I am dressed in my Star Trek uniform waiting to see the great Kirk and his gallant spacemen friends when matron came in and told me the news. Words fail me. How could Mr Heath allow this to happen? Now that I am not allowed to see The Magic Roundabout any more what am I to do? Read books pray or even take up a hobby such as knitting? Such things I would suggest should not be allowed. I am not a religious man but were able I should wish to have a word in the ear of a holy man and see what he could do about it all.”
This made me laugh out loud! Crossley esquire should seriously consider a career as a teller of diverting tales and missives. Perhaps he could even find employment on one of these new-fangled wireless crystal set transmissions?
murdoch suck … i was really used to use that Chanel. i think i have got to use the internet now to catch up with my favorite shows
It should be illegal to buy a freeview channel just to effectively scrap it.
Trekkies with broadband that can stream might survive… but is there any hope for the rest of us with a snail connection? If anyone knows of a solution let the rest of us know!
Channel One had some of the only decent programmes still available for free. Now what is there? But more cheap game shows, chat shows, reality shows and boring English productions about villages whose only industry is weekly murders in flower borders!
And what..no warning to faithful viewers??! Just pulling the plug shows such a lack of respect to the public its just another egotistical greedy corporate move.
wha t a load of bullsh..t. im never gonna buy a virgin product again, nor any of skys either. to pull star trek from our hearts and minds so suddenly and without warning made me physically ill, im disgusted with virgin and sky for their greed and disrespect to millions of loyal fans who have now been left in limbo.i hope sky and virgin get some seriously bad press over this…
What a plonker – it’s all money money money. I worked for Sky in Ibrox and they treat their employes like sh*t, there’s not even windows in that call centre neither could we do anythnig for the customers that complained – it was a buffer zone so the bigwigs didnae have to hear anything against them. Channel ones afternoon starttrek was a treat for all of us, as well as the many other alternative type shows. I think it’s time someone pulled the plug on murdoch
once again sci fi bites the dust! (I remember what channel 4 did to babylon 5 or bbc2 with saab or even itv with seaquest DSV all ways the same story!)
AND THE LIGHTS WANT OUT ACROSS THE UNIVERSE!
Typical of Sky,if they can`t control it,buy it out and then close it down.So,on Freeview we now only get Sky 3 and Sky news.I believe these too, are to be withdrawn in the not too distant future.So,apart from the normal terrestrial channels +ITV 2,3 and 4 and BBC3 and 4,the only decent channels left are DAVE and Quest,but I can only watch so much of Mock the week,QI and Have I got news for you,and I have watched so much American Hotrod and Orange County Chopper that I could build my own hot Rod or Choppper.I will never subscibe to Sky,no matter what
SOMEONE AT SKY TOOK THE BLUE PILL!
I agree with all the above. I liked to watch prison break, sky brought it out same with lost, that ****** murdoch brought all the good shows, so we’d all switch to sky. It ain’t gonna happen ever. oh by the way when i was with sky and i unsubscribed they told me I still owed £400 pounds,
Just another example of why Private Eye Magazine always called Rupert Murdoch “The Dirty Digger” Most people think of the Digger as a Publisher with Political interests. Hes actually clearly a right wing politician with publishing interests. His hobbies include interfering in politics, grooming Junior Digger so he can take over daddies nasty little empire and of course Money, though not necessarily in that order. Its true that DD is a peddler of trash, soft porn and very biased views and its also true that part of the license fee is paid to murdoch via BskyB which he is currently trying to get majority control of. If you dont like balanced news you can always watch Sky News or the Fox Network which doesnt contain any. I suppose he would even put Mother Theresa behind a Pay Wall if he could.
Just done my bit and have cancelled my subscripcion to Sky (have to give 31 days notice that was not in the agreament I SIGNED). The only way that sky will act is we subsribing.
Hi-ya to anyone who can answer this !!.. Does anyone with Freesat have a problem with the now and next tv banner on on the bottom of the screen ?.., it keeps saying No events available.. Freesat say they dont have a problem but it works ok with my old Sky box… thanks…
Mr Murdock should invest his money saved by scrapping channel one in getting some much needed pr for his daughter in law Sarah, after her disastrous and stupid announcement of the wrong Australian top model last year…
all the money in the world cant buy you good publicity.. i for one am missing criminal minds, it was my wed night fix..what goes around comes around
To receive freeview we need an extra high antenna – we are told that when analogue switches off that the freeview signal wiil be strengthened as it is currently much reduced so that it does not affect the analogue. If this eventually works as well as digital radio here then a total waste of time! Switching off virgin1 is probably the start of a process that will leave BBC1 and 2 plus ITV1 with lots of shopping chanels. So then your TV is a waste of space because it may only work as a PC monitor. While not being the ultimate pessimist I suggest get a decent PC and use broadband to watch the news (You already can) and download films (does not cost much) so that with watching the sport (foreign free web sites) you can throw away your TV Licience. By the tine this happens it will be too late for anyone to fix by law changes so think ahead! PC + LCD Projector + White drop down screen + enhanced audio will be far better than anything now used. Everyone has broadband and a PC or 2 so probably a savinng and a better overall carbon foot print!
Challenge is not a replacement for Channel One. TV isnt about good quality programming anymore its about business. One of these days I’m going to switch off altogether.
Freeview is gradually losing its channels. What next? Five USA? Is this part of a subtle ploy to get us to move over to subscription services?
Now where am I gonna watch Fresh Prince of Bel Air?
I thought we had laws in this country preventing de facto monopolies from eliminating their competition by buying them out and shutting them down? It seems patently obvious that Sky are deliberately degrading Freeview by not only buying up and then closing down Channel 1 but also filling the limited Freeview slots with rubbish: not only Sky3 (just absolute rubbish – does anybody ever watch ANYTHING on that channel???) but also the beyond-pointless Sky3 + 1!!! This is a pretty thinly veiled abuse of their dominant position purely to disadvantage their competition, IMHO.
Furthermore it appears to be rumoured that Sky have secured the rights to the next series of Mad Men. How many popular shows have Sky stolen now from non-subscription channels? Stargate, Nip/Tuck, Lost, Prison Break… I think there should definitely be regulations vetoing later series of a successful show being shown exclusively on subscription channels *AFTER* its success has been established on a non-subscription channel. Fair enough that a subscription channel should be able to secure the rights to be the first to show the next series, but not exclusive rights when they didn’t do any of the heavy-lifting that made the show popular in the first place.
Finally, Sky’s effective monopoly of satellite broadcasting should be addressed by forcing them to split off the media operations (ie the part that creates and sells all the Sky TV packages to consumers) into a separate company from the broadcast platform operation (ie the part that owns and operates the satellite infrastructure that transmits the TV channels). That would at least enable other media companies to offer rival TV channel packages = REAL competition.
I seriously think these issues need to be brought to the attention of OFCOM or the Minister responsible for media. Then again, with the Tories so cosy with Murdoch, it does seem rather unlikely that they will stand in his way. Shame old Vince blew his chances…
it was one of my fav channels stoped cos rupert wanted the shows on a pay channels, when everone HAS digital tv with all these FREE channels how long will it be before the plug is plugged on a few and stick em on pay up or else, pity old rupert dont have to answer to any one, i think more folk should do what the pub landlord did and get tv from europe ruperts coffers would shrink.
lets all get tv from europe and stuff old rupert, if some people dont stand up and complain sky will run the lot there wont be any channels on FREE view worth watching as old rupert will buy the good uns, should be clauses stating if you buy a channel you have to run it as is, not stop with no notice or rub it down. this stinks the pub land lord down portsmouth way has the right idear
stinks of a political decision to me.Murdoch is held to account over his monopoly on tv and the news of the world phone tapping.he then holds the public hostage for his services tic for tac reminding us the general public who hold the strings.
I can’t believe this has happenend! Channel1 was my favourite of all the channels! I am really going to miss watcing StarTrek TNG. I also liked X Files but that was removed before the channel stopped. Challenge TV is rubbish! They are just trying to save money buy replacing a decent channel with a cheaper one and forcing people to buy Sky so they can watch what they want! grrrrrrrrrrrr I won’t be doing that, Ill just have to watch Star Trek online from now on! Nice try, Murdoch but you won’t be getting a penny of my money! lol
The free market is supposed to benefit the consumer, not cost them more to see the stuff that they already had, which is all Sky has ever done.
Once again the greedy SKY Bosses robb us again.
I would never be held to ransom by being a SKY Customer
I hope the merger also falls through
Sky is a business that is taking over the TV world. I for one will not subscribe to its huge coffers. Why was Virgin 1 allowed to be sold to Sky in the first place. So how much more of Freeview will be closed to Sky ? WIll Freeview survive, will there be anything else left to watch??
Another nail in the coffin of freedom of choice.
Maybe Sky got the hump over the likely decision over the cost of their ‘services’ to the pubs etc and decided to try and screw more money from the home consumer. Nothing new then!
OFCOM are too scared to take on the pay for view Sky monopoly.
At least we still have the home channels for a laugh!!
Well thats just typical of Murdoch’s Sky – monopoly is the word, so its goodbye to Star Trek. It makes me sad but also mad – as usual its all about money and control.
Murdoch Monopoly – what else is he going to take over????? As usual its all about money and control – what happened to the consumer choice – apparently there is none – if murdoch doesn’t like it then nobody else is allowed to!!!!! Grrrr
Has anyone tried ‘Quest’ on Channel 38 on Freeview? They show some American
shows. ‘The FBI Files’ is on now. No sign of ‘Star Trek’ in their schedules
yet, but who knows?…unless Murdoch has bought the sole rights to show it.
BTW…before all this digital nonsense started, all the ‘Star Trek’ series
were exclusive to BBC2. I don’t suppose there is any chance of the BBC getting
them back?
Freeview is going down hill fast. Sky sports news replaced by sky 3 +1 and now this challenge tat! Where can i watch medium now!
All of the above is true. I was with Sky for 18 years left that and went to virgin broadband but they don’t have cable here so had a freeview box. used to watch virgin all the time. yes typical murdoch becoming a monopoly. OFCOM should step in. I pay the stupid TV licence which has gone up again. But i generally haven’t watched TV for about 2 years. I hate the adverts and the series are so old as compared to other countries. Have seen the whole of S4 of Burn notice for instance and in the UK Season3 DVD hasn’t even come out yet only Region 1 USA has. All the latest series, 30 Rock, Hawaii 50 remake (just seen S01E16), parenthood which started in US in March 2010 gr8 series like gilmore girls and friends genre, big bang theory, 2&halfmen, mentalist, so many more directly streamed to TV.If you pay for Sky it still is not the latest episodes.
think that the new channel Challenge TV is ok but its a joke that in wales we only get it from 6am till 7pm should b same as everyone else.freeview just got nuthing good on it dont no why sky cant just let us have some of there channels not going harm no one plus sky only for the football really.
This is SO unfair.
there was so many great shows on there!!
Supernatural, Startreck, Medium and more.
They have to bring this channel back. I was up to Season 2 on Supernatural, but sky shows season 6!
and the cheek of replacing it with a quiz show. As if there isn’t enough of them going around already!
my daughter loved watched supernatural. I loved Medium, Friday nights just aren’t the same. There’s nothing to wind down the week with!
I am very disappointed that Channel 1 have stopped broadcasting. I loved watching Voyager, Star Trek TNG and Enterprise! I suppose I’m just going to have to ‘get a life’!
Star Trek loved by many people, I am gutted that it is no longer there. Came back off holidays no Star Trek, afternoons never the same again.
So everyone is p****d off, is anyone going to lead a fight via facebook or in main stream media? Or is this one of the many things that happen in the uk we bend over and take it without a fight??? Petrol, taxes, cost of living……
Good by to proper programs :( No more Nothing to Declare… No Star Trek… So Sad :(
Its all very good to the people that actualy have sky, but what about the rest with free view, we get left with bad channels!
That as***** Murdoch can close as many channels as he wants, I will never subscribe to that dross Sky. Freeview is a joke now, so much so that I have thrown my box in the bin. As for Freesat, no comment. I am just glad I have 100s of DVDs to watch and if I want the latest news, that is what the PC is for.
Is it true that Murdoch is really going to market this channel using the slogan: “Challenge – for the mentally challenged!”?
Crap I liked that channel ain’t life a bitch!
I watched channel one more than any other, loved the star trek and now there is nothing to replace it. Really miffed.
‘Star Trek’ and ‘The X-Files’ now appear on Sky Atlantic. Are such shows now
lost to those of us who can’t or won’t access Sky?
How can we sleep at night?