ITV2 is a 24 hours a day free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, or terrestrial (Freeview) media. It is also available through analogue cable television.
The term can also refer to the continuum of proposals to create a second commercial television network, from the 1950s until the idea was realised with the start of Channel 4 and S4C in 1982 (see Background).
The channel airs repeats of ITV1 programming at a later time such as Soap operas Coronation Street and Emmerdale, imported American programming such as Judge Judy and Supernatural, extended coverage of Reality television programmes such as The X Factor and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! and original programming, with shows like Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Katie & Peter: Unleashed, to name but a few.
ITV2 won channel of the year at the Broadcast Digital Channel Awards 2007 on 9 June 2007, and on 25 August of the same year, ITV2 was named non-terrestrial channel of the year at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.
