Channel 4 has confirmed the date of its new digital entertainment channel, E4. It will launch on 18 January, broadcasting to a 16-34 year-old audience from 4pm to 4am.
New series of Friends and ER, which C4 poached from Sky last year (see Channel 4 Steals Friends And ER Rights From Sky), will premiere on the channel from launch, as will the new series of Sex and the City. The next series of The West Wing will be broadcast in the summer and repeats of The Sopranos, Party of Five and Oz will be included in the line-up.
Original programming will include spoof Japanese game show, Banzai, Generation E, a documentary strand following British youth culture, a twice-weekly interactive comedy strand and a daily pop bulletin. Each day’s schedule will include a three-hour teen strand which will include Dawson’s Creek, Shipwrecked and Hollyoaks as well as new shows such as Five Go Dating.
Themed evenings based around Ali G, David Blaine and Sex and the City are also planned, and spin-offs from favourite C4 shows include Shipwrecked Extra and Big Brother Revealed.
Announcing the launch Channel 4’s chief executive, Michael Jackson, said: “No other channel can match Channel 4’s long-standing pedigree as the home of the best new talent on British television and the entertainment channel of choice for younger audiences. E4 is Channel 4 entertainment for a digital world and we are very confident it will quickly establish itself as required viewing in multi-channel homes.”
E4.com will launch alongside the television channel, broadcasting online versions of the TV shows, as well as programme support for the channel and interactive games and shows. Through 2001 the website will be developed into a network of interactive channels focusing on comedy, games, music and underground culture.
E4 hopes to carried as a basic tier channel across all digital platforms. It has already arranged carriage with NTL (see Channel 4’s Entertainment Channel Secures NTL Carriage) and is in the process of negotiations with Telewest, Sky Digital and ONdigital.
E4: 020 7306 3621
