Plus (TV channel)

Plus was a digital channel run by Granada Sky Broadcasting. It was launched on 1 August 1996 under the original name of Granada Plus, and during its availability it underwent successive rebrands as G Plus, G+ and then simply Plus. However, it remained widely referred to by the public at large by its original name. On 1 November 2004, it was permanently closed down by ITV plc in an attempt to bring its replacement, ITV3, on Sky.

History
Granada Plus was launched on 1 August 1996 at 19:00. From launch, the channel initially showed only programmes made originally by Granada Television and London Weekend Television (itself recently acquired by Granada Television), such as On the Buses, Crown Court, The Comedians and The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club. One of the channel's biggest attractions was a thrice-daily repeat of classic Coronation Street episodes from 1976. Broadcasting hours were shared with Granada Men & Motors.

Many of these programmes would have been unshown since their original transmissions, and hence were of value to those interested in classic television, but 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 on-screen 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 programme stock which had been originally shown on the BBC. Granada Plus also began screening many classic US shows popular with British viewers and airing promos with the stars of those shows (such as James MacArthur for Hawaii Five-O, Cheryl Ladd for Charlie's Angels, Philip Michael Thomas for Miami Vice and Ben Murphy for Alias Smith and Jones). The channel also aired British premieres of least three US series: 10-8, Fortune Hunter and the 1988 revival of Mission: Impossible.

Many of the channel's programmes were cut by up to 5 minutes for commercial timing purposes, which was not a popular choice with viewers. However, come 1 November 2004 — ITV3's launch date — it was looking increasingly likely that ITV plc's new channel would not be launched on Sky Digital. However, frantic discussions were going on behind 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. ITV looked into Plus, which was in a high EPG slot, channel 118.

At 15:00 on that day, 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. This meant ITV plc completely took full control of the two GSB channels, Plus and Men & Motors.

Shortly afterwards, ITV plc decided to close Plus, and moved ITV2 to channel 118 making room for ITV3 at channel 119.

An hour and a half later that afternoon, while in the middle of a commercial break, Plus suddenly cut to a closedown slide, and, on digital cable and satellite platforms, shortly afterwards disappeared. The final programme on Plus was Pie in the Sky, but only half of it was shown before ITV ceased transmission of Plus. Transmission of Plus officially ceased at 17:15, when it was replaced by holding slides for ITV2 and ITV3. The channel was replaced on digital cable and satellite, but on analogue cable, the closedown slide was not removed and a closedown slide continued to be available as late as 2010. However, this has since became inaccessible to areas which no longer support analogue cable.

The team at Plus were caught unaware; they had sent out their regular highlights email at 15:50. The countdown to launch ITV3 appeared at 20:00, with the launch taking place 1 hour later.

Programming

 * 10-8
 * A Bit of a Do
 * A Bit of Fry and Laurie (now on Gold)
 * A Family at War
 * The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (now on ITV3)
 * Agatha Christie's Poirot (now on ITV3)
 * Albion Market
 * Alfresco
 * Alias Smith and Jones
 * ''Allsorts
 * An Audience with... (now on ITV1, ITV3 & ITV4)
 * Aspel & Company
 * The Avengers
 * Batman (now on ITV4)
 * Beadle's About
 * The Benny Hill Show
 * Bewitched
 * Bless This House
 * Blind Date
 * Boon
 * The Brian Conley Show
 * Brian Conley: This Way Up
 * The Brittas Empire (now on Gold)
 * Brush Strokes
 * Bullseye (now on Challenge)
 * Cagney & Lacey
 * Canned Carrott
 * Carrott's Commercial Breakdown
 * Charlie's Angels
 * Classic Coronation Street
 * Cold Feet (now on True Entertainment)
 * The Comedians
 * Crown Court
 * The Dame Edna Experience
 * Dandelion Dead
 * Dempsey & Makepeace (now on ITV4)
 * The Dick Emery Show
 * The Dick Van Dyke Show
 * Doctor in the House
 * The Dukes of Hazzard
 * Duty Free
 * Elvis Presley
 * Emmerdale (now on ITV1, ITV2 & ITV3)
 * The Equalizer
 * Ever Decreasing Circles (now on Gold)
 * Faith in the Future


 * Fame
 * Families
 * Fortune Hunter
 * French Fields
 * Fresh Fields
 * George and Mildred (now on ITV3)
 * Gladiators (now on Challenge)
 * The Grumbleweeds Radio Show
 * The Gunners
 * Hadleigh
 * Hale and Pace
 * Happy Days
 * Hart to Hart
 * Hawaii Five-O
 * Heartbeat (now on ITV3)
 * The High Chaparral (now on TCM & TCM 2)
 * Hill Street Blues
 * Hogan's Heroes
 * Home to Roost
 * Hornblower (now on ITV3)
 * ''I Dream of Jeannie
 * In Sickness and in Health
 * Inspector Morse (now on ITV3)
 * The Jack Dee Show
 * Jeeves & Wooster (now on ITV3)
 * The Kenny Everett Video Show
 * The Krypton Factor (now on Challenge)
 * The Liver Birds (now on Gold)
 * London's Burning (now on DMAX)
 * Love Thy Neighbour
 * Magnum, P.I.
 * Man About the House
 * Me and My Girl
 * Miami Vice
 * Minder (now on ITV4)
 * Mind Your Language
 * Mission: Impossible (now on CBS Action)
 * Murder, She Wrote (now on Alibi)
 * My Favorite Martian
 * The New Statesman (now on Gold)
 * No Place Like Home
 * Not on Your Nellie!
 * Old Boy Network
 * Only When I Laugh


 * On the Buses (now on ITV3)
 * Peak Practice
 * Pie in the Sky (now on ITV3)
 * The Piglet Files (now on Comedy Central Extra)
 * The Professionals (now on ITV4)
 * The Rag Trade
 * Rich Tea and Sympathy
 * Rising Damp (now on ITV3)
 * Robin's Nest
 * The Rockford Files
 * Rory McGrath's Commercial Breakdown
 * The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (now on ITV3)
 * The Saint (now on ITV4)
 * Second Thoughts
 * Shelley
 * Shortland Street
 * Sorry! (now on Gold)
 * Spitting Image
 * Starsky and Hutch
 * Stay Lucky
 * Stingers
 * Surgical Spirit
 * Surprise, Surprise
 * The Sweeney (now on ITV4)
 * Sykes (now on Gold)
 * Taggart (now on Alibi & ITV3)
 * Terry and June (now on ITV3)
 * That's My Boy!
 * There's Nothing to Worry About!
 * Thomas & Sarah
 * Through the Keyhole
 * Till Death Us Do Part
 * The Two of Us
 * The Upper Hand
 * Up Pompeii!
 * Upstairs, Downstairs (now on ITV3)
 * Up the Garden Path
 * Van der Valk
 * Waiting for God (now on Gold)
 * Watching
 * The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club
 * Wycliffe (now on ITV3)
 * You Bet! (now on Challenge)
 * You're Only Young Twice