That's TV

In September 2012, the broadcast regulator Ofcom announced That's TV had been awarded a licence to broadcast local TV service for Oxfordshire.[5] Two months later, the company won a second licence for the Southampton and Portsmouth areas, in conjunction with newspaper publishers Newsquest and Johnston Press.[6] That's Solent began broadcasting on 26 November 2014 while a soft launch of That's Oxford took place on 17 April 2015.

Prior to the launch of the Solent station, That's TV gained a further three licences in the south of England in June 2014 for the Guildford, Reading and Salisbury areas,[7] followed a month later by a Basingstoke licence.[8] In June 2015, a ninth licence was gained to serve the Carlisle area, in partnership with the CN Group.[9]

The local TV licences for the Manchester and Preston/Blackpool areas were initially awarded to YourTV in February 2013, but both services failed to launch within the two-year timeframe permitted by the regulator.[10] That's TV took a controlling stake in YourTV in March 2015[11] with the licences subsequently re-awarded.[12] A soft launch of That's Manchester took place on 31 May 2015, followed by That's Lancashire on 24 August.

The founder of That's TV, Esther Rantzen, became the group's vice president when it opened its first station in Portsmouth and was lined up to present a weekly magazine programme. In May 2015, Rantzen resigned from the company along with former Meridian Broadcasting executive Mary McAnally.[13]

In March 2016, Ofcom placed three of the stations – Manchester, Oxford and Solent – on notice over persistent technical issues.[14]

In October 2016, it was announced That's TV had bought the licence for the York local TV service, formerly held by 'Hello York'.[15] The group also bought out Cambridge TV.

On 2 January 2017, five That's TV stations (Cambridge, Lancashire, Manchester, Oxfordshire, Solent) started to simulcast Talking Pictures TV for six hours each day.[16] In August 2017, That's TV bought Norfolk station Mustard TV.[17]

In May 2018, That's TV agreed to acquire the assets of STV's STV2 channel launching on the 15th of October.[18] In August 2018, That's TV bought Estuary TV's channel slots, covering North and North East Lincolnshire and the rest of the Lincolnshire area.[19]

In July 2019, That's TV announced the closure of 13 of its 20 studios in order to downsize to seven regional production centres producing content for its 20 local stations. The remaining centres were announced as being located in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, York, Cambridge, Salisbury and Swansea.[20]

In February 2021, That's TV started to broadcast nationally to viewers with a compatible internet connected HD television set, as it joined TV stations such as Spotlight TV and Yanga![21][22][23] on VisionTV's streaming service (found on Freeview channel 264).

That's TV's national channel launched as That's TV Gold. It began test broadcasts on 4 June 2021 on satellite frequency 11582 H DVB-S QPSK 22 5/6 under the label 52139. That's TV Gold will be on Sky channel 187.[24] In order to be listed in the entertainment section (below channel 200) and not with the music channels (channels 350 to 399),[25] That's TV started to acquire a number of documentaries and classic comedy series, in order that the national service was not a retro pop video network once the local news was taken out of the schedule.

On 9 July, That's TV Gold launched on Freeview channel 91, simulcasting its schedule with its 20 regional versions of That's TV on Freeview.[26] The channel largely keeps the pop-video hits format of its local service but drops the evening local news and the TJC simulcast in the mornings, adding documentaries and concerts largely drawn from the IMC Vision catalogue.[27][28][29][30]

On 11 October 2021, That's TV Gold launched on Freesat, broadcasting 24 hours per day on channel 178.[31]

On 4 January 2022, That's TV dropped the word Gold from its national channel branding when it changed back from its Christmas schedule, even though it was still licensed under the name of That's TV Gold at Ofcom.[32] On 30 June 2022, the national That's TV channel received increased coverage on Freeview after it moved into FreeSports' slot on channel 65 when that channel stopped broadcasting on Freeview.[33][34]

On 24 August 2022, That's TV increased its national operating hours on Freeview channel 65 by reducing its timeshare channel Classic Hits' music video schedule to 4am–7am.[35] This gave That's TV an extra hour of entertainment programming each night between 3am and 4am on Freeview which is not covered by local television scheduling commitments (as they usually run local news on channel 7/8 between 3am and 6am).[36][37][38] In addition to these changes, the company took over Country Music Entertainment's Freeview licence in Greater Manchester for their music video channel.

In July 2022, That's TV requested licences from Ofcom for services called That's Reality and That's Comedy.[39] In November 2022, they were granted licences for channels called That's 60s and That's 70s, ahead of the launch of an expanded suite of music video channels from the firm, with That's TV going on to acquire provisional licences for channels made up of 2000s and 2010s music videos as well.[40] In July 2023, it was reported that the licence for the forthcoming That's Reality channel had been changed to That's Cinema, whilst That's Comedy had not launched[41] and the main service had been taken off the Vision TV app.[42]

After being a channel focused on local news and weather, That's TV moved to a more 'networked' schedule with old films and cartoons broadcast during the day and a single news bulletin, shown on a loop during the evening and overnight, produced by each local station. After their deal with classic movie provider, Timeless [43] expired, That's TV started to simulcast various TV shopping and reality TV shows before bringing in more music programming in the evening.

By 2020, That's TV had become more of a music channel showing blocks of 1970s, 1980s and 1990s music videos throughout the day (when the service was not being used for home shopping/infomercials). According to official BARB ratings it had become the most viewed music channel on Freeview, beating AATW's channels based on the Now That's What I Call Music brand (Now 70s/Now 80s/Now 90s). On 12 November 2020, That's TV became That's Christmas[44] and mixed up its music programming, so that Christmas hits (by people like Mariah Carey, Jane McDonald and Mud) would be played alongside 'party classics' from the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s (for example Aqua, ABBA or Los del Río).

In November 2020, the newly rebranded That's Christmas was still showing TJC - The Jewellery Channel in the mornings, before broadcasting the "Retro Disco Christmas Party" the rest of the day with local news reduced to a 10-minute slot at 6 pm.[45][46][47][48] That's TV also announced an agreement with STV to show all 1,516 episodes of Take the High Road from 2021. Some episodes have been broadcast in February 2023.

In 2021, That's TV started to show music from the 1960s 'non-stop' each weekend, starting on Valentine's Day weekend with 48 hours of 60s music played back-to-back without adverts.[49][50]

In October 2021,[51] That's TV started to show Thames TV's early 1990s compilations of The Best of Tommy Cooper, which were previously shown on UKTV's Yesterday channel[52] and the BAFTA-winning The Kenny Everett Video Show,[51] a programme from 1978 which mixed music performances by people like Bryan Ferry with dance routines and comedy sketches. Both programmes were licensed from Thames TV rights holder Fremantle. On 19 October 2021, the channel started to show series 2 of Men Behaving Badly featuring the 'classic' line-up of Martin Clunes, Neil Morrissey, Caroline Quentin, and Leslie Ash. They did not schedule any of the episodes from series 1, featuring Harry Enfield as Dermot Povey, before that date[51] or show any of the episodes made for the BBC.

On 18 November 2021, That's TV Gold rebranded for the festival period as That's TV Christmas and launched its Xmas schedule with repeats of The Benny Hill Show. The channel will be showing a number of Benny Hill specials made for Thames TV between 1969 and 1989 simultaneously on Freeview channel 91 and its network of local channels, with Hill's programmes showing in full for the first time on a national TV channel in 20 years.[53][54]

Other comedians to be found on the channel over the festive period included Kenny Everett, Mike Yarwood, and Tommy Cooper, while the Carry On... team were seen in a number of Christmas TV specials. As well as programmes from Thames TV/Fremantle, That's TV also licensed the rights to LWT hidden camera show Beadle's About. This practical joke show was originally broadcast by ITV between November 1986 and September 1996, and like The Benny Hill Show, is another show which has not been repeated on British TV in a couple of decades.[55][56]

In 2022, That's TV licensed the rights to classic 1980s children's TV series Press Gang, written by Steven Moffatt and starring Julia Sawalha, Lucy Benjamin, and Dexter Fletcher in early roles.[57] Other rights picked up for rebroadcast by the channel in the first few months of 2022 included Sez Les with John Cleese, a Yorkshire Television sketch comedy show that starred Les Dawson alongside Monty Python member Cleese and Coronation Street's Roy Barraclough,[58] Hylda Baker's sitcom Not On Your Nellie, Russ Abbott's Madhouse and Autopsy, a programme with Dr. Michael Hunter from the Reelz Channel in America, turning up on the That's TV EPG under episode titles such as Larry Hagman: What Killed JR?,[59] Luther Vandross: Killed by Food?, Bee Gee Andy: Inner Demons[60] or Adam West: What Killed Batman?.[61][62]

After broadcasting a number of episodes of the Les Dawson variety comedy show Sez Les, That's TV acquired broadcast rights of Monty Python's Flying Circus alongside repeats of The Kumars at No. 42, Whose Line Is It Anyway? and Harry Enfield's Television Programme.[63][64][65][66] By the end of March 2022, their weeknight comedy schedule included Monty Python[1] every night alongside Hale and Pace[67][68] and The Mrs Merton Show[69][70]

On 4 September 2022, Till Death Us Do Part started airing on That's TV[71] as part of a nightly BBC sitcom double bill with The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin,[72] with four 'lost episodes' ("Intolerance", "In Sickness and In Health", "State Visit" and "The Phone")[73] included as part of the run by the channel.[74] On 8 September 2022, the run was temporarily interrupted as the channel and Classic Hits were taken off air for 24 hours as a mark of respect for Queen Elizabeth II.[75]

In June 2023, That's TV decided to re-run the full series of the BBC's 1970s sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum with all episodes being shown in full without edits to remove potentially offensive language.[76]

• Through the Keyhole (originally broadcast by ITV/Yorkshire TV in 1987/1988)[77][78]
• Rik Mayall Presents (originally broadcast by ITV/Granada Television International in 1993)[79]
• Harry Enfield & Chums/Harry Enfield's Television Programme (originally made by Hat Trick Productions)[80]
• The Benny Hill Show (Thames TV-era compilations)[81]
• Mike Yarwood Xmas Show[82][83][84]/Mike Yarwood: This is His Life (1984 documentary)[85]
• Carry On Christmas (Thames TV-era specials)[86][87]
• The Goodies (BBC and ITV series)[73]
• A Bit of Fry and Laurie
• The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
• Whatever Happened To the Likely Lads?
• The Kumars at No. 42
• Mafia Women with Trevor McDonald
• Serial Killer with Piers Morgan
• Dinner Date
• Till Death Us Do Part[71]
• The Jerry Springer Show[48][88][89]
• It Ain't Half Hot Mum[76]
• Benidorm[90][91]
• Sykes[92]
• Ronnie Corbett: Sorry![93]
• Rab C. Nesbitt[94][95]
• The Comic Strip Presents (shown out of order, so that Four Men in a Plane (Series 8 Episode 2 from 4 January 2000) would follow episodes originally made for Channel 4 the 1980s)[96]
• Julian Clary: Sticky Moments[97] (moved to a late night slot during its run and replaced by The Comic Strip)
• Fat Friends

As of October 2018, the company operates services in 16 areas, all licensed by Ofcom under the Local Digital Television Programme.[4][98][99]

• That's Cambridge – based at Cambridge
• That's Cumbria (was That's Carlisle) – based at Carlisle
• That's Hampshire – based at Basingstoke, north Hampshire
• That's Lancashire – based at Preston, also covering Blackpool, Chorley, Leyland and Lancaster
• That's Humber – based at Grimsby, also covering Hull, Bridlington, Scunthorpe, Lincoln, Skegness, Spalding, Mablethorpe, Louth, Sleaford and Boston
• That's Manchester – covering Greater Manchester (but not the Wigan area)
• That's Norfolk (was Mustard TV) – based at Norwich, covering most of Norfolk including Great Yarmouth, Cromer and Lowestoft
• That's North Yorkshire – based at Scarborough, also covering Filey and Whitby
• That's Oxfordshire – based at Reading
• That's Salisbury – based at Salisbury
• That's Scotland (was STV2) – covering Aberdeen, Ayr, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow
• That's Solent – based at Portsmouth, also covering Southampton, Winchester and the Isle of Wight
• That's Surrey – based at Guildford, also covering Woking, Epsom and Ewell, Spelthorne, Elmbridge and Waverley
• That's Swansea Bay (was Bay TV Swansea) – based at Swansea and covering the Swansea Bay area
• That's Thames Valley – based at Reading
• That's York – based at York

In spring 2022, That's TV acquired additional space on the limited-reach COM7 Freeview DVB-T2 multiplex and elected to launch a 24-hour music channel called That's Music.[121] The channel launched on Freeview channel 92 on 13 April 2022,[122] with the intention that when both this and the main That's TV network are broadcasting music, a different decade would be showcased on each, and with music continuing on the new channel when That's Entertainment[123] (the section usually made up of documentaries and old sitcoms) was being broadcast in the schedules.

On 30 June 2022, with the COM7 multiplex closing, the music channel's name was changed to Classic Hits and its Freeview broadcast arrangements were changed, with its channel number moving up one place to channel 91.[33][124] The channel moved to a more widely-available Freeview DVB-T broadcast multiplex, but would now broadcast on Freeview only at night.

The 24 hour version of Classic Hits subsequently reappeared on satellite, and launched on Sky channel 366 on 2 August 2022.[125]

On 24 August 2022, That's TV further reduced the hours of Classic Hits on Freeview to three hours a night, so they could run their main entertainment channel until 4am.[35] In tandem with reducing the hours of Classic Hits nationally,[35] That's TV entered into a deal where they would take on the Freeview licence[126] of channel operator Entertainment Television Channels,[127] who had a 24-hour slot on the Greater Manchester multiplex for their Country Music Entertainment (CME)[128] brand. This music channel was broadcast on linear Freeview to viewers in Manchester, but also could be accessed nationally via streaming operator On Demand 365 on Freeview channel 265 and as an online radio station. As a result of their deal with That's TV, from 24 August 2022, the 24-hour version of Classic Hits joined the channels available in the Manchester area, labelled Classic Hits MCR and listed on channel 91 (where the national late-night Classic Hits had been situated), with the part-time national Classic Hits channel moving up to the old CME slot on Freeview 88.[122] CME ceased to broadcast as a linear channel as a result, but could be still accessed nationwide as a streaming channel via On Demand 365.[129][130][131][128][122]

The satellite broadcast of Classic Hits was made fully available on the Freesat platform in December 2022.[132]

On 6 January 2023, Classic Hits was split into multiple decade-themed channels, branded as That's 60s, That's 70s, That's 80s and That's 90s, with the aim of competing with established services such as MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Now 70s and Now 80s. A 20-hour broadcast of That's 60s was made available on Freeview nationally in space freed up by the closure that day of the Smithsonian Channel.[133] A 'video playlist' presented by Tony Blackburn[134] was the first programme shown on That's 60s with "Flowers in the Rain" by The Move being the first performance,[135] played a reference to Tony Blackburn being the first presenter on BBC Radio 1 in 1967.[136] As the music video era did not really start for another decade, That's 60s uses mostly live band clips and performances taken from worldwide pop TV shows made in that era. In addition That's 60s have plans to have programmes presented by David Hamilton and Bob Harris in the future. In addition to launching on Freeview, That's 60s was launched onto Sky and Freesat, directly replacing Classic Hits on satellite.

The existing Classic Hits channels on Freeview - full-time in Manchester and part-time nationally - were replaced by That's 80s. A few days later, a broadcast of That's 80s began transmitting on the Astra satellite;[137] this was added to the Sky satellite EPG on 16 January.[138] Unlike its 60s sibling, That's 80s was not added to the Freesat EPG but the free-to-air broadcast can be manually tuned-in on Freesat equipment as with other free channels.

In addition to That's 60s and That's 80s nationally, slots for four channels - the 60s and 80s services running full-day, plus slots allocated for That's 70s and That's 90s - were placed onto Freeview in the Greater Manchester area, utilising the local multiplex originally established for the defunct Channel M service. The 60s and 80s channels are labelled with 'MCR' after their names to differentiate these from the nationwide feeds. That's 70s and 90s were not fully launched with programming at the time of their addition to the programme guide, instead running placeholders with a "Coming Soon" message.

In mid-March 2023, a video test feed for That's 70s began transmitting on the Astra satellite.[139] It went live as a 24-hour channel on 23 March[140] with national Freeview transmissions starting at 3am on 24 March 2023, broadcasting part-time in capacity shared with That's 60s. As That's 70s is only a part time channel nationally operating between 3am and 9am, a full-time That's 70s MCR operating full time on Freeview in the Greater Manchester area took the place previously allocated to the That's 90s placeholder on the same multiplex.[141]

The satellite broadcast of a 'That's 90s' feed began in August 2023, utilising capacity freed up by the earlier closure of Trace Hits.[142] This was added to the Sky electronic programme guide on Wednesday 30 August.[143] A placeholder for That's 90s was added to Freeview in the Manchester area on 23 August as part of a wider reshuffle of services on the Freeview guide, which also led to the broadcast hours and channel numbers of some other That's TV channels changing.[144] The channel began broadcasting on Freeview on 2 September, with its first day's schedule including Dave Pearce Dance Anthems as well as music blocks with names like More Music - Less Chat! and We Play More Music Than NOW 80s!,[145] a latter being a reference to a revival channel broadcasting on Freeview 271 via Channelbox.[146]

The availability of the That's Music channels as at September 2023[147] is as follows:

• Official website