G.O.L.D..html



G.O.L.D.
Launched	1 November 1992
Owned by	UKTV Network (BBC Worldwide/Virgin Media Television)
Picture format	16:9, 576i (SDTV)
Audience share	0.5% (0.4% for +1) (September 2008, [1])
Slogan	“Go On Laugh Daily”
Formerly called	UKTV Gold (until October 2008) UK Gold (until March 2004)
Sister channel(s)	Watch Dave Alibi
Website	laughdaily.co.uk
Availability
Terrestrial
Top Up TV	Channel 17 (18:00-23:30) and On Demand on Top Up TV Anytime
Satellite
Sky Digital	Channel 110 Channel 133 (+1)
Cable
Virgin Media	Channel 126 Channel 127 (+1)
WightCable	Channel 46/112
UPC Ireland	Channel 120
IPTV over ADSL
Tiscali TV	Channel 16

G.O.L.D. (meaning "Go On Laugh Daily") is a British television channel that shows mainly classic BBC comedy programmes. It launched on 1 November 1992 as UK Gold, and is currently available on Sky Digital, Virgin Media, Tiscali TV and terrestrial subscription via Top Up TV.

History

UKTV Gold share of viewing BARB figures 1992-2007

Under the name UK Gold, the channel launched on 1 November 1992 as a joint venture between Thames Television and the BBC to show reruns of their 'classic' archive programming. As of October 2008, G.O.L.D. and its sister stations (see below) are part of the UKTV network, owned jointly by Virgin Media Television (formerly Flextech) and the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide.

The channel's major drawbacks in its early years were the insensitive placement of commercial breaks in BBC shows, poor timekeeping, and the heavy-handed editing of BBC programmes to fit commercial timeslots. The channel joined Sky's basic subscription package in 1993.

Initially broadcast on an analogue transponder from a SES Astra satellite at 19.2°E which was not primarily intended for UK reception, the channel used to be notorious for being marred with 'sparklies' in large parts of the UK.

UK Gold's success led to the creation of UKTV (still part-owned by the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide) which operates several channels showing different types of archive programming. These included UK Arena (now defunct), UK Style (home and lifestyle), UK Drama, UK Play/PlayUK (music and comedy - now defunct), UK Horizons (now defunct) and UK History, as well as the time-shifted UK Gold +1, and UK Gold Classics, soon renamed to UK Gold 2. UK Gold 2 originally screened morning programmes from UK Gold time-shifted to the evening of the same day, but was relaunched with a completely new programme lineup and renamed UKG²(now Dave on 12 November 2003. Another channel, UK Living, was renamed LivingTV when it broke away from the joint BBC-Flextech ownership (now solely owned by Virgin Media Television).

On 8 March 2004 all of the UKTV channels changed their prefixes from UK to UKTV, and UK Horizons was split into two channels - UKTV Documentary and UKTV People.

UKTV still cuts programmes (mainly documentaries) for commercial timing on the UKTV's factual channels. The UKTV channels have broadcast in widescreen as of 31 January 2008, although some programmes made in 16:9 format are screened in the compromise 14:9 semi-letterbox ratio. These will be shown in 16:9 format later in 2008.

An analogue teletext service known as GoldText used to be available on this channel, but has since closed down.

The channel has been criticised by some^who?, particularly in recent years, for featuring many recent programmes as opposed to 'classics' as was the original concept, with some shows appearing on the channel mere months or weeks after their first television broadcast.

UKTV Gold's then new look went live on 5 April 2007 - the same day that Jim'll Fix It Strikes Again premiered.

2008 rebrand

In 2008 UKTV began a process of rebranding and expanding its channels, removing "UKTV" from their name, following the rebranding of UKTV G2 as Dave in October 2007. On 7 October 2008 UKTV Gold became "G.O.L.D.", exclusively showing comedy, both old and new. This is reflected by its new slogan, which now represents Gold as a backronym - "Go On Laugh Daily"¹. Unlike the complete name change for Dave, the Gold name was retained as having a resonance with viewers. The same day also saw the rebranding of UKTV Drama as Alibi, and the launch of a new channel, Watch.

Programming

The output of the channel is mainly British comedy programmes and sometimes feature length films. These are a combination of internally produced shows and repeats of shows from the BBC & ITV archive.

Current Programming

Former Programming

On-screen identity

Goldie the UK Gold dog.

For the first few years, idents on UK Gold featured an animated dog mascot named "Goldie" posing with the UK Gold logo. Goldie was never name-checked as such on air, possibly owing to the death of the original Blue Peter dog Goldie some weeks before launch, although the late-night music video slot "Dog House" was originally listed as "Goldie's Video Bites" in initial pre-launch listings. The Goldie idents were kept until 1993 when they were replaced with a form-up of the first logo against a blue background. A re-branding in 1994 saw UK Gold adopt a more fitting identity: idents were based on the forging of gold bars, with the station's logo appearing to have been stamped into gold. Variations on this theme were used until 1997, when the channel received a revamp as part of the formation of the UKTV network.

The new network's corporate identity saw all its channels logos simplified to a boxed "UK" followed by the name (e.g. "Gold") in a simple sans serif font. The new network-wide ident theme would involve the splitting of the screen for different purposes. UK Gold's new idents depicted objects such as apples or leaves falling through the top half of the screen, with only the gold coloured ones reaching the bottom half of the screen. These idents were briefly adopted for UK Gold 2 when it launched in 2000. In 1999 the theme changed again, this time with idents featuring fireworks.

The fireworks theme was carried on in a new set of idents, alongside another network-wide re-branding of the logo in 2001, adopting a bolder font and merging UK into a single composite character. A range of live-action idents showing everyday activities from unusual perspectives appeared in 2002. From 2003 onward idents showed channel hopping viewers with their TV set "off stage" being brought to a halt by the appearance of a golden light accompanied by the channel's ident jingle. This new identity also featured a series of shifting yellow, orange and red blocks which suggested a gold bar at the centre of the screen.

On 4 April 2007, UKTV Gold unveiled a new on-air identity centred around a branded golden space hopper.[2] playing to contemporary trends toward 1970s nostalgia, and emphasising the station's re-run content. 12 new live action idents featured the branded space hopper aired from 5 April 2007 to 7 October 2008.

On 7 October 2008, following the rebranding, G.O.L.D.’s new ident presentation debuted.

Logos

UK Gold (2001-2004)

UKTV Gold (2004-2008)

G.O.L.D. (2008-present)

References

External links

• G.O.L.D. – Go On Laugh Daily
• UKTV Gold at TV Ark
• The TV Room looks at presentation/branding on the UKTV channels