TeleG was established as the first daily digital

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

TV channel in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 31 October 1999, and was available on the Freeview platform until 23 May 2011. Programs were transmitted on TeleG between 6pm and 7pm each day. The channel slot was shared with the CITV channel (which broadcast from 6am to 6pm) and

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...

+1 (which broadcast from 7pm to 6am). The Broadcasting Act of 1996 required that programs aired would be repeats transmitted on analogue channels (many of which are first shown outside peak hours). The Communications Act 2003 created the

Gaelic Media Service MG Alba is the operating name of the Gaelic Media Service ( gd, Seirbheis nam Meadhanan Gàidhlig). The organisation's remit, under the Communications Act 2003, is to ensure that a wide and diverse range of high quality Gaelic programmes is m ...

which decides on the future development of Gaelic Broadcasting services. The broadcaster and service provider of TeleG was SDN, the company which holds the license for DTT multiplex A. SDN, then owned by NTL,

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...

and United Business Media, was awarded the Multiplex A licence in May 1998. Part of the capacity on Multiplex A was reserved for services provided by Channel 5,

in Wales and Gaelic programming in Scotland. SDN was purchased by ITV plc in 2005. TeleG initially continued to broadcast after the launch of

BBC Alba BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day with BBC Radio nan Gàidheal s ...

on 19 September 2008. At launch BBC Alba was only available on satellite television before later being added to cable. TeleG would continue to broadcast until the BBC Trust had reviewed the performance of BBC Alba and announced their decision on whether they would recommend carriage of BBC Alba on Freeview. In December 2010, the BBC Trust approved a plan put forward by BBC management which would see the thirteen BBC Radio stations which broadcast on Freeview removed from the platform in Scotland during the hours of BBC Alba's broadcast to free up capacity for the TV channel to operate. The radio services would not be affected outside Scotland, and the affected BBC radio stations would continue to be available on other platforms in Scotland including: DAB digital radio, FM/AM (where applicable), satellite and cable TV and online. A date for the change to be brought in has yet to be confirmed, and as the service would broadcast on the BBC's public service multiplex, the effect that this would have on TeleG was not clear. The plans were later revised to allow

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...

5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

and 6 Music to continue broadcasting alongside BBC Alba. It was confirmed on 22 May 2011, that TeleG would close on 23 May, with BBC Alba launched on 8 June 2011, using its old EPG number on Freeview.

External links

TeleG (Wayback Machine)
(Official website rchived
Media UK info on TeleG
{{Television in Scotland Scottish Gaelic mass media Defunct television channels in Scotland Television channels and stations established in 1999 1999 establishments in Scotland 2011 disestablishments in Scotland Television channels and stations disestablished in 2011