[nwtv2003]

When the CITV Channel closed, ITV handed back two licenses to Ofcom, and due to *that* a few years ago, it can't be some sort of Irish version. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the second license could be the ex-GMTV2 license. (As it was technically a different channel, just on the same EPG number as the actual CITV Channel)

It’s essentially a legacy that any service launched on DTT using ITV’s space had to be fairly shared between the existing licensees. So when it came to ITV2 v1.0, you had the main ITV2 that was ran between Carlton, Granada and UNM, you had S2 ran by STV, TV You/UTV2 ran by UTV, and then you had GMTV claiming its spot at breakfast time. GMTV2 as we know outlived S2 and UTV2, but built a decent audience for airing kids shows, before being folded into the CITV Channel and ITV4 breakfast.

This logic (if you can call it that) was why you never saw the ITV Sport Channel in Northern Ireland initially or on air before 9:30am. It was also why ITV News Channel was blacked out during GMTV hours for a short while on DTT when it moved to the D3&4/PSB2 MUX. GMTV never had any intentions of broadcasting on those services during those hours, but they had a right to. I believe they did have an MHEG caption signposting to GMTV. However, the ITV NC blackout was short lived and a deal was reached. It didn’t effect the launch of ITV3, 4, Be etc.

I don’t know if this is my mind playing tricks, but I want to say there was a GMTV3 licence, but obviously never materialised.