[ViridianFan]

I'll never forget the freaky 'Watch . . .' idents with people oddly dancing around in black leotards. They only lasted 18 months.

The diamond 'W' idents were OK because they matched the premium style of the channel they were targetting. They were very nice, even if the name was odd.

Then it all fell apart when they went FTA, and used the logo from the frontage of a disused Woolworths store, with cheap programming to match.

Don’t forget the launch idents which had the massive inflatable eye at one point which was just odd and felt very much like a rip off of the 2006/07 bbc one Christmas snowball ident.

This is me pondering aloud, you don’t think that BBC studios are preparing to sell off the UKTV channels to help generate money and rebranding it U would make it more appealing to oversea investors? Are they something which makes money or do they make a loss? Will stress not read anything suggesting this but what with money being tight would these be something they look to off load?

[Blubatt]

The change is going to happen on the 16th of July, according to RXTV. Whoopee.

[dbl]

The idea that Watch / W has ever been “premium” is hilarious. As a channel it has never had any cut through. Nobody outside of here would ever be able to name you a show that’s been on it.

Correct

The Honourable Woman and a few US dramas was as far as they got, but quickly realised that 'premium shows' didn't rate and blue light shows, did. Hence the move towards the downgrade. So W was stuck with a premium look for 6 years before the 2022 rebrand.

Money talks

[Brekkie]

If anything it was launched as their kind of general channel - a destination for content that didn't fit elsewhere in their pay-TV portfolio - and I guess to offset the channels switching to free to air at the time as well.

[James2001]

Basically, it's the BBC Radio 5 (not Five Live) of UKTV.

[Thomanory]

Correct

The Honourable Woman and a few US dramas was as far as they got, but quickly realised that 'premium shows' didn't rate and blue light shows, did. Hence the move towards the downgrade. So W was stuck with a premium look for 6 years before the 2022 rebrand.

Money talks

They had Grimm for a bit (2012-19), Really also showed it in 2014, then it was snatched up by 5USA in 2018 then Sky. I also recall them having some other mildly obscure US dramas. It's sort of strange how they had some of the US dramas on Watch and other dramas on Drama, as far as I can remember. Wouldn't have it been less counterproductive if they had it all on one channel? Preferably, a channel more people could access?

[IanJRedman]

I can only ever recall watching a couple of things on Watch - one was the ill-fated (but IMO, decent) Canadian spin-off from Primeval, New World, and the other was the Doctor Who 50th anniversary tie-in series, The Doctors Revisited. Both of those aired in 2013, and I believe they were originally Watch exclusives as far as the UK was concerned.

[dbl]

They had Grimm for a bit (2012-19), Really also showed it in 2014, then it was snatched up by 5USA in 2018 then Sky. I also recall them having some other mildly obscure US dramas. It's sort of strange how they had some of the US dramas on Watch and other dramas on Drama, as far as I can remember. Wouldn't have it been less counterproductive if they had it all on one channel? Preferably, a channel more people could access?

Drama and W are completely different audiences.

Drama is much older (+55) watch the channel for longer and it's the biggest on the network (and it's not Dave, ha) - W is a bit more scattered, and doesn't have as much of a loyal audience.

[Stuart]

Drama and W are completely different audiences.

Drama is much older (+55) watch the channel for longer and it's the biggest on the network (and it's not Dave, ha) - W is a bit more scattered, and doesn't have as much of a loyal audience.

I enjoy watching some programmes on Drama, and I'm certainly not 55+. They just show some well made programmes. I enjoy ITV3 for the same reason.

I like many of the programmes on Dave, but W just wandered off into the wilderness in terms of programming and got lost! Everything decent they had, such as Torchwood or New Who, is now all available on iPlayer for an eternity.

[London Lite]

I mainly watch W for repeats of Catherine Tate, Miranda and My Family, plus Inside the Ambulance. My mother likes the blue light programming on that channel.