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Channel 4 has announced finalised launch details for new factual station More4.
The channel, which is backed by a programme budget of £33 million, will launch at 8pm on Monday, October 10 with the More4 News.
The half-hour bulletin, produced by ITN, will be anchored by Sarah Smith. Airing from Monday to Friday, the show promises to bring "new and challenging perspectives on events at home and abroad".
The Last Word, a topical talk show hosted by a rotating lineup of presenters, will occupy the 11pm slot from Monday to Thursday. The programme features an array of journalists, cultural commentators and comedians covering culture, politics and the big issues of the day in "an irreverent, entertaining and intelligent way".
From the US, The Daily Show With Jon Stewart will air on a one-day delay while new seasons of The West Wing and Curb Your Enthusiasm also find a home at the station.
Once a month the channel aims to feature an expensive "landmark event", beginning with A Very Social Secretary, a satirical dramatisation of a recent political scandal. Other planned events include Animal Research, a drama documentary on animal experimentation and the premiere of Downfall, a film portraying life in Hitler’s bunker.
"These are programmes of a scale and an ambition that would not seem out of place on Channel 4 itself and yet are very thin on the ground elsewhere in the digital TV universe," said Peter Dale, Head of More4. "They sum up what we want More4 to be: a lively, outspoken and above all entertaining channel for discerning viewers who want more from digital TV than repeats, football and back-to-back acquisitions."
Documentaries, both original and acquired, will feature on several nights a week. Meanwhile, viewers will be offered the "second chance" to see appropriate shows from Channel 4, including The Queen’s Sister, Jamie’s Great Escape, The Year London Blew Up, Priest Idol, The Unteachables and the second series of David Starkey’s Monarchy.
Announcing the launch at the Edinburgh TV Festival, C4 CEO Andy Duncan said: "No other commercially funded broadcaster in the UK would contemplate launching a channel of this scale and ambition. More4’s annual programme budget is similar to that of BBC 4 at launch, and well over half of that sum is committed to original UK dramas and documentaries, and a daily news service. This won’t be another digital repeats channel; More4 aims to make a significant public service contribution in its own right."
The channel will be complemented by a one-hour timeshift channel from the off on Sky, Freeview and NTL.
