UKTV to launch rebranded Blighty channel next month

LONDON - UKTV will launch Blighty, the rebranded UKTV People channel, on 17 February at 9am.

Blighty: rebranded UKTV People channel launches on 17 February
Blighty: rebranded UKTV People channel launches on 17 February

The channel is described as an "unashamed" celebration of all things British and launches with a variety of British-themed programming including When Louis Met... and Coast.

Blighty will be marketed with the strapline: "One nation under a channel" and aims to target young couples in the their 30s and 40s who are "interested in reconnecting with the country they live in and will also attract anyone who is secretly proud of Britain's landscape, heritage, music, sense of humour, or who loves the eccentricity of the British themselves".

A complementary website, Loveblighty.co.uk, will launch on the same day as the channel.
Blighty is the second of UKTV's factual channels to be rebranded, with Eden, formerly UKTV Documentary, launching yesterday (26 January). The third factual channel, UKTV History, will be rebranded as Yesterday in March.

UKTV, which is jointly owned by BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media, was the centre of speculation last week, when it emerged Channel 4 could potentially bid for Virgin's stake as a stepping stone in a potential merger with Worldwide.

At the Oxford Media Convention last week, culture secretary Andy Burnham said he would prefer Channel 4 to solve its funding deficit by linking up with BBC Worldwide rather than Five, as there were "obvious synergies" between the two. Channel 4 purchasing Virgin's UKTV stake is an example of a possible tie-up.

UKTV begins marketing Blighty today (27 January ) with a teaser campaign that will appear across its entire portfolio of 10 channels, followed by a 60-second launch promo from Friday 31 January.

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