Timeline of 5 (British TV channel)

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Timeline of 5 (British TV channel) — condensed version

1980s
- 1987: Government studies flag spare frequencies on the UHF band and spark talk of a fifth UK terrestrial channel.
- 1988: A White Paper proposes a fifth channel to break ITV’s monopoly and reduce advertising costs.
- 1989: The Independent Broadcasting Authority suggests the fifth channel’s headquarters should be outside London.

1990s
- 1990: Broadcasting Act sets licence rules; a fifth channel could cover about 74% of the UK.
- 1992–1996: The ITC invites bids; Channel 5 Holdings wins, and Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd is awarded the licence.
- 1997: Channel 5 launches on March 30; about 65% of the UK can receive it. Early hits include Family Affairs and The Jack Docherty Show, plus 5 News. The channel also debuts overnight sports and a new branding moment with the Spice Girls’ “5-4-3-2-1” theme. A satellite launch follows in April.
- 1998–1999: MLB on Five starts; OnDigital launches; The Jack Docherty Show ends; Euronews is briefly simulcast in the early hours.

2000s
- 2002: Channel 5 rebrands as Five (logo changes; digital on-screen graphic removed).
- 2004–2005: Merger talks with Channel 4 are floated and then called off; Sky News begins producing Five News from 2005.
- 2006: England cricket highlights become a Five staple; Five Life and Five US launch.
- 2007–2009: Several shows end or rebrand; MLB coverage winds down; Five USA becomes Five USA (later branded differently); Euro­pean football rights shift; Live from Studio Five debuts in 2009.

2010s
- 2010: Five ends live overnight sports; Five HD launches; Northern & Shell buys Five.
- 2011: Five returns to the Channel 5 branding; Big Brother moves to Channel 5.
- 2012–2014: ITN regains Five News; 5+1 launches; Channel 5 +24 debuts; Viacom buys Northern & Shell for about £450m.
- 2015–2016: Spike launches; Football on 5 revives with new shows; 5Star is rebranded; Five HD becomes available on more platforms; 5+24 becomes My5.
- 2017–2019: Spike becomes 5Spike; My5 is rebranded to 5Select; EFL highlights move away; Big Brother ends; cricket highlights shift to the BBC from 2020.

2020s
- 2020: 5Spike closes; remaining content moves to 5Action.
- 2021: A major outage hits Channel 5 and other networks; 5 News relaunched in a one-hour format.
- 2022: 5Action is relaunched; Neighbours ends its UK run.
- 2023–2025: My5 linked to Pluto TV plans are discussed; in 2024 Channel 5, Five, and My5 are rebranded to simply "5"; in 2025 the channel and My5 are again positioned under the “5” brand.
- 2026: A new weekday daytime schedule of six hours of live, talk-focused programming is introduced.