HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Bravo was a British and
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
television channel owned by
Living TV Group Living TV Group was a British television consortium originally called Flextech before becoming a subsidiary of Sky Group, British Sky Broadcasting, with Challenge (TV channel), Challenge still broadcasting. Living TV Group had several owned c ...
, a subsidiary of BSkyB. Its target audience was males in their 20s to early 40s. It broadcast a variety of both archive programming (such as ''
Knight Rider ''Knight Rider'' is an American entertainment franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The core of ''Knight Rider'' is its three television series: the original ''Knight Rider'' (1982–1986) and sequel series '' Team Knight Rider'' (1997–1998) ...
'' and ''
MacGyver Angus "Mac" MacGyver is the title character and the protagonist in the TV series ''MacGyver''. He is played by Richard Dean Anderson in the 1985 original series. Lucas Till portrays a younger version of MacGyver in the 2016 reboot. In both p ...
'') and original productions. The Bravo channel closed down on 1 January 2011, with the most popular programmes moved to other Sky channels.


History


Early history

Bravo was launched on 20 December 1985 as a cable only channel, created by United Artists Programming broadcasting black & white
B-movies A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
from the 1950s and 1960s and vintage TV series. Initially, the channel was a cassette-delivered service provided to cable headends for automatic play-out. In 1991, United Artists merged with their largest shareholder TCI ( Liberty Media), to form the largest cable operator in the United States. TCI and
US West US West, Inc. (stylized as US WEST) was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs, also referred to as "Baby Bells"), created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement (''United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc.'' 552 ...
announced a joint venture and, in 1992, the joint venture company became Telewest Communications. In 1993, talks were held with
Tele-Communications Inc. Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) was a cable television provider in the United States, and for most of its history was controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone. The company was started in 1958 in Bozeman, Montana as Western Microwave, Inc. and Co ...
which resulted in
Flextech Living TV Group was a British television consortium originally called Flextech before becoming a subsidiary of British Sky Broadcasting, with Challenge still broadcasting. Living TV Group had several owned channels, available in the United K ...
acquiring TCI's European programming business in exchange for shares. By January, the deal was complete with TCI, allowing it to acquire 60.4% of Flextech while Flextech acquired 100% of Bravo, 25% of UK Gold, 31% of UK Living, and 25% of the Children's Channel which increased its share in that channel. On 22 July 1993, Bravo launched on the
Astra 1C Astra 1C was a geostationary communications satellite launched in 1993 by the Société Européenne des Satellites ( SES), now SES Astra. The satellite remained in service until 2011 and is now derelict. History Astra 1C was the third commu ...
satellite in anticipation of the launch of
Sky Multichannels Sky Multichannels was a package of analogue television services offered by BSkyB on the Astra satellites at 19.2° east from 1 September 1993 to 27 September 2001, which started off with 15 channels before expanding to over 40. History Over ...
in September 1993. With the launch on Astra, the channel started broadcasting between noon and midnight (as opposed to 3pm to 3am). Its programming output was altered around the same time, when the channel obtained many of the
ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes. History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...
productions and other cult TV series including '' The Avengers''. In 1990, it upgraded its on-screen image with an elaborate station identifier of a modernist skyscraper under rolling thunderclouds and promoted itself as 'Timewarp Television'. It used both Roger Moore and
Tony Curtis Tony Curtis (born Bernard Schwartz; June 3, 1925September 29, 2010) was an American actor whose career spanned six decades, achieving the height of his popularity in the 1950s (Kansas Raiders, 1950) and early 1960s. He acted in more than 100 f ...
to feature in speciality shot trails.
Armstrong and Miller Armstrong and Miller are an English comedy double act consisting of the actor-comedians Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller. They have performed in two eponymous television sketch shows, the satirical ''Timeghost'' podcast, and many individual ...
made their first broadcast television appearance on Bravo in a series of presentation promotions during its Cult Weekend on 5 August 1995.


Reinvention as young-adult channel (1996-2000's)

In 1996, a policy change to withdraw the black & white shows contributed to the channel moving on to specialise in science fiction and horror with movies from the
Troma Entertainment Troma Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company founded by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz in 1974. The company produces low-budget independent films, primarily of the horror comedy genre. Many of them pl ...
catalogue. It then became known for showing crime documentaries by day and adult programming at night. On February 3, 1997, Flextech launched Trouble, which took over the channel's afternoon and early evening broadcast hours, meaning Bravo would broadcast between 8pm to 6am. During mornings,
European Business News Consumer News and Business Channel Europe (referred to on air simply as CNBC) is a business and financial news television channel which airs across Europe. The station is based in London, where it shares the Adrian Smith-designed 10 Fleet Pla ...
time shared with the channel on weekdays and
Living Living or The Living may refer to: Common meanings *Life, a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms ** Living species, one that is not extinct *Personal life, the course of an individual human's life * ...
on weekends until 2001. With the change in hours, Bravo was given a refreshed look, being branded as "an altered species of television", applying to the increased amount of adult-focused programs. The channel began to air
Extreme Championship Wrestling HHG Corporation, doing business as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), was a professional wrestling promotion and media company that was based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The promotion was founded in 1992 by Tod Gordon as National Wrest ...
's show ''
ECW Hardcore TV ''ECW Hardcore TV'' is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by the Philadelphia based promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) composed of footage from live shows and recorded interviews. It ran in syndi ...
'' around this time; as well as ECW's biggest events, including what were pay-per-views in the USA, up to January 2001.


Addition of sports and acquired programming

Over the later years, Bravo decreased the adult content shown and increased sports and imported shows such as '' Alias''. Bravo aired
World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nati ...
's flagship show ''
Nitro Nitro may refer to: Chemistry *Nitrogen, a chemical element and a gas except at very low temperatures, with which many compounds are formed: **Nitro compound, an organic compound containing one or more nitro functional groups, -NO2 **Nitroalkene, ...
'' during WCW's final year in business (2000–2001). On 28 August 2005, the channel started showing
Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...
Italian football Football ( it, calcio ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team is considered to be one of the best national teams in the world. They have won the FIFA World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), trailing only ...
, bringing back the
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
format ''
Football Italia ''Football Italia'' was a television programme in the United Kingdom, showing Italian football, that ran from 1992 to 2002 on Channel 4, and continued until 2008 on other channels. It was known as ''Football Italiano'' in its final season. The ...
''. On March 2, 2006, a sister channel called
Player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...
was launched, which originally aired as a late-night block on fellow-Flextech channel Challenge. Player aired programming aimed at a similar audience to Bravo, alongside the addition of gambling-related shows. On September 28, 2006, Bravo introduced a brand new graphics package to memorate its 21st birthday, which coincided with the full rebranding of Player as
Bravo 2 Bravo 2 was a British television channel. History Player The channel launched as "Player" on March 2, 2006, being a spin-off to a block that previously aired late-at-night on Challenge. Unlike the block, the channel functioned as a sister to B ...
. Poor viewing figures resulted first in the cancellation of the weekly ''Gazetta Football Italia'' show, then the announcement that Bravo would stop showing Italian Football altogether after 23 December 2006. The channel's other highest-profile sports coverage was
Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
archives, for which it held exclusive UK rights, as well as recent events (live rights are now held by BT Sport), as well as the related reality TV show ''
The Ultimate Fighter ''The Ultimate Fighter'' is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Pilgrim Media Group currently airing on ESPN+. It previously aired for fourteen s ...
''. From January 2007, Bravo's sister channel Bravo 2, which had launched three months earlier, had the exclusive UK rights to broadcast
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promo ...
programming, a two-day delay from the American broadcast of TNA's weekly show ''TNA iMPACT!'' and a three-day delay for TNA's monthly Pay Per Views. (On 3 February 2011, this programming moved to Challenge, and is now known as Impact Wrestling.) On 5 January 2008, ''
TNA iMPACT ''Impact!'' (stylized as ''IMPACT!''), also known as ''IMPACT! on AXS TV'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion Impact Wrestling (formerly known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)) th ...
'' was moved to Bravo with replays of the show on Bravo 2. Bravo's original contract for TNA Wrestling programming was for eighteen months and was distributed by RDA TV; the deal, which was once again negotiated by RDA TV, was extended on 1 July 2008 for an additional eighteen months. From 3 June 2008 onward, Bravo, along with the other VMT owned channels began broadcasting in widescreen (16:9). This was coupled with a redesign of the on-screen graphic; the word BRAVO was shown rather than the logo.


"Home of the Brave" and closure (2010/2011)

On 25 May 2010, Virgin Media Television unveiled new channel branding for Bravo to coincide with a major new series ''Spartacus: Blood and Sand''. It involved a new logo to "match the premium content and ambition of the channel" along with a new strapline, "Bravo: Home of the Brave". On 15 September 2010, BSkyB announced that it would close Bravo as well as its sister channel ''
Bravo 2 Bravo 2 was a British television channel. History Player The channel launched as "Player" on March 2, 2006, being a spin-off to a block that previously aired late-at-night on Challenge. Unlike the block, the channel functioned as a sister to B ...
''. For November 2010, Bravo rebranded as Brav-Mo to celebrate
Movember Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues, such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's suicide. It is a portmanteau of the Australian-Engli ...
. From 24 to 31 December 2010, Bravo celebrated its final week with a marathon of its most popular shows called "Bravo, We Salute You". On the morning of 1 January 2011, Bravo ceased broadcasting on all platforms. The last program aired was ''
World's Most Amazing Videos ''World's Most Amazing Videos'' was an American reality television series that ran on NBC from March 3, 1999 until 2001, as a filler program when other shows were cancelled and later revived on Spike from 2006 until 2008. The show showcases a ...
''. Since the closure, the Bravo programmes (as well as the Channel One programmes) were moved to
Pick TV Pick (formerly Sky 3 and Pick TV) is a British free-to-air television channel, owned by Sky UK. History Sky Three launched on 31st October 2005. It was essentially a barker channel for Sky's main entertainment channel Sky One and its other su ...
in May 2012.


Possible relaunch

In August 2013, it was revealed that BSkyB had registered the trademark for 'Sky Bravo'.


Programming


References


External links


Bravo on TV Ark
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bravo (Uk Tv Channel) Living TV Group channels Defunct British television channels Television channels and stations established in 1985 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2011 Men's interest channels 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom 2011 disestablishments in the United Kingdom