FTN (Flextech Television Network) was a

television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

from Virgin Media Television (formerly known as Flextech) transmitting free-to-air on

Freeview Freeview may refer to: *Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia *Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), a ...

and

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

, and as a subscription channel on

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

. The channel broadcast between 6pm and 6am daily. It launched at 6pm on 15 January 2003, the same day as its Freeview version,

UK Bright Ideas UKTV Bright Ideas was a digital television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom, which was part of the UKTV family of channels. The channel broadcast a variety of programmes, often originally aired on UKTV Style, UKTV Food and UKTV Gardens, an ...

, also partially owned by Virgin Media Television. FTN's schedule featured entertainment and reality programming, and also programming from other Virgin Media Television cable channels, such as

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 * Hu ...

Living2 Real Lives was a British television channel owned by Sky, a division of Comcast. It used to be the sister channel of Sky Living. It was originally known as LIVINGtv2 from the channel's launch in 2004 till 2007, and then was known as Living2 fro ...

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...

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 ...

, Trouble TV, and

Challenge TV Challenge is a British free-to-air television channel owned by Sky, a division of Comcast. The channel mostly transmits game shows from the UK and around the world, with some original productions. History The Family Channel The channel was ...

. This provided a preview to Freeview viewers of what the Virgin Media channels offered, in a similar fashion to

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

Sky Three 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 s ...

, a channel which was also on Freeview. FTN +1 launched on Sky and Virgin Media on 9 August,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

. Despite being a one-hour timeshift, FTN +1 only broadcast from 7pm until 1am, as ''Live Roulette TV'' which broadcast on FTN from 12am till 3am, couldn't be rebroadcast one hour later, for legal reasons.

Final Programming

Participation TV

Previously ''

The Great Big British Quiz The Great Big British Quiz (TGBBQ), which ceased operating on 4 May 2007 was an interactive quiz based channel on which viewers where invited to phone in to solve puzzles in return for cash and prizes. It broadcast from studios in Battersea, Lon ...

'' broadcast nightly between the hours of 00:00 and 03:00am. (''

Big Game TV Big Game TV (stylised as BIG Game TV!) was a live phone-in quiz channel that was broadcast via Sky Broadcasting in 2005. It released a spin-off, ''The Hallmark Channel Quiz'' on 6 March 2006, which was shown on The Hallmark Channel. The show use ...

'' took this spot until April 2007) Between November 2005 and November 2006 ''Quiz Night Live'' broadcast from 22.00 - 01.00 daily only to be replaced by Ostrich Media's ''

Quiz Call ''Quiz Call'' was a late night/early morning phone-in quiz TV show, produced by Ostrich Media (owned by iTouch) for Five, Five US and Five Life. History Launch ''Quiz Call'' was launched as a standalone participation television channel in ...

'' which ceased broadcasting on FTN on 1 January 2007. In June 2007, ''Live Roulette TV'' began broadcasting on FTN between the hours of midnight and 03:00am.

Closure

It was announced in the summer of 2007 that Virgin Media Television was to launch a new channel,

Virgin 1 Channel One was a British short-lived television channel owned and operated by Virgin Media Television and then Sky plc. The channel was launched on 1 October 2007 at 21:00 on Freeview, Virgin Media and Sky as Virgin1, replacing Ftn. The c ...

. The new channel launches on Monday

1 October Events Pre-1600 *331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela. * 366 – Pope Damasus I is consecrated. * 959 – Edgar the Peaceful becomes king of all England, in succession to Eadwig. * ...

. The channel was Virgin Media's attempt to rival

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

. As a result of this new channel, it was revealed the Ftn would close, leaving its EPG positions on Sky, Virgin Media and Freeview to Virgin 1. Ftn closed on Monday

at 6am, with Virgin 1 launching at 9pm on the same day.

References

Defunct British television channels Living TV Group channels Television channels and stations established in 2003 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2007 Television channels in the United Kingdom {{UK-tv-channel-stub