[WillPS]

Analogue cable definitely had rough time shares on the same channel numbers.

ONdigital never seemed to manage it either - they had a few timeshared channels ('UK Style Horizons', 'Discovery K[ids]+W[ings]' etc). They did have ITV Sport Select which borrowed time off another channel when broadcast (I think only a handful of times) but I imagine that was manually reconfigured each time. CBBC/Cbeebies timesharing with different LCNs to Choice/Knowledge was the first daily one I knew of on DTT, and it seemingly involved 5-10 mins of downtime each switch over to do it initially.

[nwtv2003]

Without wanting to go too off topic, but there was often a little blip in the picture on the likes of Living when it switched to TVX. You also had the time when The Christian Channel, Sky Travel, Sky Soap, The History Channel, The Sci-Fi Channel and Sky Sports 2 all on the same frequency. That madness didn’t last too long though.

When they launched CBBC and CBeebies I do recall there was a minor technical switching issue for the first day or two when they reverted back to Choice and Knowledge respectively at 7:00pm, but the issues were quickly ironed out.

[Rex]

I really liked the “Under construction” idents, makes me wish more channels did transition idents more often.

The Under Construction ones are underrated and reflected just how huge the move from Choice to Three was. Towards the end the schedule had BBC Three previews in preparation for launch, the final day was just an entire preview of the BBC Three schedule.

By then BBC Choice was just Three in all but name because they had to rework the BBC Three proposals into something that wouldn't significantly affect the likes of Sky One, ITV2 and E4's audience share.

[Stooky Bill]

Without wanting to go too off topic, but there was often a little blip in the picture on the likes of Living when it switched to TVX.

That was possibly the encryption turning off, UK Living was part of Sky Multichannels, the first 10 minutes of TVX was free to air and then after that it was subscribers only. I'm not sure what the situation was later on but when both channels came from it's original home in Teddington it was the same TX suite for both, there was just a minute or so of caption between the two.

Going back to the encryption, in the TX suite they had an off air monitor that showed a receiver without a subscription card. If they saw TVX in the clear they had to immediately go into a breakdown as it was a no no to be transmitting it in the clear


There was a big glitch of static on analogue satellite between Eurosport and Quantum. The two channels not only had different playout locations but uplink ones too. The changeover involved one uplink site cutting it's carrier and another bring it up, all with a conference call between the 4 and Astra

You also had the time when The Christian Channel, Sky Travel, Sky Soap, The History Channel, The Sci-Fi Channel and Sky Sports 2 all on the same frequency. That madness didn’t last too long though.

Yes that was what I was thinking of, crazy now but then it helped Sky bump up it's selling power as they could count them as channels

[JAS84]

There was a lot of transponder sharing back then, but usually only two or three channels, not six! For example, Sky 2 and Fox Kids - then when Sky 2 closed a year later it was replaced by National Geographic. Nickelodeon and Paramount shared too, as did Cartoon Network and TNT (later TCM). Trouble and Bravo shared, as did TCC and Family Channel (later replaced by TV Travel Shop and Challenge TV). I remember there was a Sky Sports Gold at one point, I think it was on weekends instead of Soap and Travel? Sky Sports 2 had moved to it's own transponder by that point.

[James2001]

CBBC Choice on Saturday afternoons was a very different thing. Think the idea was to provide an alternative to sport. The main programme was The Dog and Dinosaur Show which was programmes linked by an animated Dog and Dinosaur characters. These were live animated a bit like the Rats character that was on Live and Kicking and pre recorded so was, and looked, very cheap.

I've heard a fair bit about the Dog and Dinosaur show, but I don't think there's ever been any clips online. TV & Radio Bits had a screenshot at one point, but that's the most I've ever seen of it.

[Robert Williams]

I've heard a fair bit about the Dog and Dinosaur show, but I don't think there's ever been any clips online. TV & Radio Bits had a screenshot at one point, but that's the most I've ever seen of it.

up.metropol247.co.uk 

I did watch at least part of some early episodes, though given it was merely linking material between various CBBC shows, being not too bothered about the programmes it was linking I didn't see much point in tuning in regularly.

It was in fact the second programme in that Saturday lunchtime slot, having been preceded by something even more obscure called The Crew Room, which I never saw as it ended before I even had access to digital television: genome.ch.bbc.co.uk 

Broadcast - BBC Programme Index
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[Stooky Bill]

The idea behind the Choice Saturday afternoon programmes was to continue kids programmes after Live and Kicking finished. Hence The Crew Room and Dog and Dinosaur started at 12:10 immediately after.

They showed a cut down version of that morning's Live and Kicking later in the afternoon. It was an eclectic schedule other than that, with old comedy dramas like Rentaghost and Jossys Giants

[VMPhil]

The idea behind the Choice Saturday afternoon programmes was to continue kids programmes after Live and Kicking finished. Hence The Crew Room and Dog and Dinosaur started at 12:10 immediately after.

They showed a cut down version of that morning's Live and Kicking later in the afternoon. It was an eclectic schedule other than that, with old comedy dramas like Rentaghost and Jossys Giants

Was it promoted at the end of L&K then? I know when analogue and digital still had separate playout areas, they were able to put more promos in for the digital channels.

[lookoutwales]

Think I recall Dog and Dinosaur had a format quite reminiscent to Tricky - right down to the low-grade CGI. It managed to stay on air for around a year.

The Crew Room was more of a live magazine show - and a BBC Scotland production at that, presented from a spare office or two at Queen Margaret Drive (apparently, Kate Heavenor - whose presence alone was a sure sign of where the show was originating - was involved in it)

We got digital fairly early on around February 1999 and within weeks, The Crew Room was quietly axed.