ITV2

ITV2 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned by ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a claim now held by its sister service ITV3 both of which are freely available to a majority of households. The channel is primarily aimed at the 16–34 age group, similar to BBC Three and E4, and is known for American programming such as adult animations Family Guy, American Dad! and Bob's Burgers; repeats of recently aired episodes of soap operas and other entertainment programming from ITV such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Catchphrase; original comedy such as Celebrity Juice and Plebs; and reality formats such as Big Brother and Love Island.

ITV2 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned by ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a claim now held by its sister service ITV3 both of which are freely available to a majority of households. The channel is primarily aimed at the 16–34 age group, similar to BBC Three and E4, and is known for American programming such as adult animations Family Guy, American Dad! and Bob's Burgers; repeats of recently aired episodes of soap operas and other entertainment programming from ITV such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Catchphrase; original comedy such as Celebrity Juice and Plebs; and reality formats such as Big Brother and Love Island. ==Broadcasting== ===Satellite=== Freesat UK: Channel 113 (HD) & Channel 114 (+1) Sky UK: Channel 118 (HD) & Channel 218 (+1) ===Terrestrial=== Freeview UK: Channel 6 (SD) & Channel 29 (+1) ===Cable=== Virgin Media: Channel 115 (HD), Channel 315 (+1) ===IPTV=== Freely: Channel 6 (HD) ==Most watched programmes== The following is a list of the six most watched shows on ITV2, based on Live +28 data supplied by BARB up to 10 January 2019. Before Love Islands successful return, the highest rated show on the channel was episode 7.01 of Celebrity Juice, starring Phillip Schofield, on 9 February 2012. ==Criticisms== In a 2009 episode of Screenwipe, Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker criticised the channel's programming as being "nihilistic worthlessness" and called it "a monument to cultural death" and "frighteningly meaningless." In 2014, the channel was subject to a controversy about one of its shows. Dapper Laughs: On the Pull was created by Vine comedian Daniel "Dapper Laughs" O'Reilly. The show was criticised for promoting violence against women and dubbed by one paper as "a rapist's almanac". Due to these criticisms, an online petition for the show's cancellation reaching 68,210 signatures and a sexist joke glorifying rape said by O'Reilly during one of his live shows, ITV chose not to commission a second series. A subsequent live tour was also cancelled. In the wake of the scandal, Stewart Lee criticised O'Reilly's Newsnight apology and said "what kind of person gets banned from ITV2? That's like being banned from a pub that's on fire." In October 2024, in the midst of the Gaza war, an episode of the series Big Brother was edited by the channel to remove all images of a watermelon symbol, which has been used as a symbol of Palestinian solidarity, that appeared on the shirt of contestant Ali Bromley. Writing for The Intercept, Nikita Mazurov compared the action to George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, from which the series Big Brother takes its name, arguing that the editing of the episode represented a "key tenant of the novel: old media being edited and original versions destroyed, leaving no trace of any modification having taken place." ==Subsidiary channels== ===ITV2 +1=== The timeshift channel ITV2 +1 launched 30 October 2006, along with its sister channel, ITV3 +1. It was allocated channel number 211 on Sky. On 6 May 2008 it was announced that ITV2 +1 would swap with Men & Motors on the Sky EPG making a jump from 184 to 131. This channel is often unable to broadcast certain programmes "for legal reasons", but the programme in question might still be listed on the EPG. ITV2 +1 currently resides on Sky channel 218, and is also available on Freeview channel 29 Freesat channel 114 and Virgin TV channel 315. ===ITV2 HD=== ITV2 HD, a high-definition simulcast of ITV2, launched on 7 October 2010 on Sky channel 225. The channel was initially available through Sky's pay subscription service in a non-exclusive deal, before being added to Virgin Media's service on 14 March 2013. Original HD programming includes entertainment shows, Britain's Got More Talent, The Xtra Factor and I'm a Celebrity: Extra Camp; original drama such as the third and fourth series of Secret Diary of a Call Girl; and acquired content including The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl and a range of movies. On 1 November 2022, in the lead up to the launch of ITVX, the encryption was dropped on ITV2 HD at around 11am that day and so became free to air. Later that day, Freesat data had been added to ITV2 HD, indicating that the channel will be made available on Freesat soon. On 8 November 2022 the HD version replaced the SD version on Freesat channel 113. ===Former logos=== File:ITV2 logo 2001.svg|First logo, 19 November 2001 to 28 October 2002 File:ITV2 logo 2003.svg|Second logo, 14 July 2003 to 15 January 2006 File:ITV2 logo (2006-2008).svg|Third logo, 16 January 2006 to 19 August 2008 File:ITV2 logo 2008.png|Fourth logo, 20 August 2008 to 13 January 2013 File:ITV2 Logo 2013.svg|Fifth logo,14 January 2013 to 11 August 2015 File:ITV2 HD logo 2013.svg|First HD logo, 14 January 2013 to 11 August 2015 File:ITV2 +1 logo 2013.svg|First +1 logo, 14 January 2013 to 11 August 2015 File:ITV2 logo 2015.svg|Sixth logo, 12 August 2015 to 14 November 2022 File:ITV2 HD Logo 2015.svg|Second HD logo, 12 August 2015 to 14 November 2022 File:ITV2 +1 Logo 2015.svg|Second +1 logo, 12 August 2015 to 14 November 2022 ==Programming== The channel nowadays is known for American programming such as adult animations Family Guy, American Dad! and Bob's Burgers; repeats of recently aired episodes of soap operas and other entertainment programming from ITV such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, and Catchphrase; original comedy such as Celebrity Juice and Plebs, and reality formats such as Big Brother and Love Island.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1372887790 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.