Cord Busters UK: Freeview And Freesat To Get UKTV’s Premium Eden Channel

Story from Cord Busters UK:

Nature and reality TV fans, get ready for some good news: Eden, UKTV’s premium factual channel, is breaking free from pay-TV and coming to Freeview and Freesat.

UKTV has confirmed to Cord Busters that Eden will soon be available on both free-to-air platforms (as well as on Freely), opening up its content to a much wider audience across the UK.

As part of this move, the channel will be rebranded as U&Eden, falling in line with UKTV’s recent ‘U’ makeover.

This shift is part of bigger changes at UKTV, including a fresh deal with Sky and expansion to other platforms. For viewers, it means more free content without shelling out for a Sky or Virgin Media subscription.

UKTV has been around since its inception in 1992, originally as a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Thames Television.

Now wholly owned by BBC Studios (the commercial arm of the BBC) since 2019, UKTV has evolved into a major commercial broadcaster with a diverse portfolio of channels and services.

The broadcaster operates a mix of free-to-air and premium pay TV channels, each with a distinct identity and target audience.

In July 2024, UKTV underwent a major rebranding effort, unifying its channels and streaming service under the ‘U’ master brand.

In line with this, the “UKTV Play” streaming service changed its name to just… ‘U’, while the free-to-air channels adopted the ‘U&’ prefix.

The rebrand aimed to create a more cohesive brand identity across UKTV’s various offerings, joining the ranks of All4, which transformed into Channel 4 last year, and My5, which is changing to “5” soon.

The free-to-air channels currently operated by UKTV, are:

• Dave (now U&Dave): Known for its comedy and entertainment programming
• Drama (U&Drama): Focused on British dramas and classic series
• Yesterday (U&Yesterday): Featuring history documentaries and factual programming
• W (U&W): Targeting a female audience with lifestyle and entertainment content

Eden: From Pay TV to Free-to-Air

Eden, launched in 2009, has traditionally focused on nature and science documentaries.

However, more recently, its programming has evolved to include more factual entertainment and reality shows from other UKTV channels.

Current offerings include Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, lots and lots of episodes of Inside The Ambulance, and nature shows like Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities.

As part of its upcoming move to free-to-air platforms, Eden will be renamed U&Eden, aligning with UKTV’s new branding.

While an exact launch date hasn’t been announced (other than “in the coming weeks”), it’s likely to coincide with one of the monthly Freeview update days, potentially in mid-October or mid-November.

This transition raises the possibility of improvements to the channel’s schedule and programming, although details remain unconfirmed at this time.

Freely and Beyond:

The addition of U&Eden to Freeview and Freesat follows UKTV’s recent expansion onto Freely, the new streaming platform aiming to succeed Freeview and Freesat.

U&Eden is expected to be available on Freely as well, likely as a standalone streaming channel and as part of the U app on Freely TVs.

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