UKTV Gold splits into two channels

UKTV Gold has split into two new channels and UKTV Drama has become crime-focused channel Alibi as part of a shake-up of the BBC Worldwide-Virgin Media Television joint venture's channel portfolio.

UKTV Gold, which first went on air in 1992, has become two distinct services: Watch, a general entertainment channel feauring Richard and Judy's heavily-trailed New Position chat show, and G.O.L.D., a channel focusing on British sitcoms with the strapline "Go On Laugh Daily".

The changes have gone into immediate effect on the Sky and Virgin Media EPGs. On Sky, the affected channels are now numbered as follows:

109 Watch
110 G.O.L.D.
111 Dave
132 Alibi
133 G.O.L.D. +1
155 Watch +1
158 Dave +1
209 Alibi +1

On Virgin Media's digital cable service, the channels have been shuffled to keep +1 timeshifts next to the main channels; however, UKTV History +1 and UKTV Documentary +1 are no longer carried on the platform:

124 Watch
125 Watch +1
126 G.O.L.D.
127 G.O.L.D. +1
128 Dave
129 Dave +1
130 Alibi
131 Alibi +1

A Virgin Media spokesperson confirmed that the two timeshift channels "are being dropped in favour of new launches".

Next year, the broadcaster's factual channels will undergo a similar revamp.