10 Facts About ITV3

ITV3 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc.

ITV3 is the sixth-largest UK television channel by audience share and the largest after the five main terrestrial services, the position which was previously held by its sister station ITV2.

ITV3 was launched on the terrestrial, cable and digital satellite on 1 November 2004 at 9:00pm, with the UKTV premiere of Ian Rankin's Rebus.

ITV took full control of Granada Sky Broadcasting, and ceased broadcasting the Granada Plus channel, thereby allowing ITV3 to take the channel number, bandwidth, and programme rights, meaning all platforms could receive the channel from launch.

ITV3 was the only channel in the ITV brand not to simulcast CITV breakfast, until ITV launched two channels in 2014, ITVBe and ITV Encore.

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ITV3 returned to UPC Ireland in the Republic of Ireland on 4 January 2010.

On 1 April 2011, ITV3 was removed from UPC Ireland along with ITV2 and ITV4 due to the expiry of a carriage agreement between UPC and ITV.

On 25 August 2015, ITV3 +1 extended its hours on Freeview to 18:00 till 06:00 and then in March 2016 it went back to closing at midnight.

High-definition simulcast of ITV3, ITV3 HD, was launched on 15 November 2010 alongside the sister channel, ITV4 HD on Sky.

ITV3 HD offers most of the ITV3 catalogue of recent drama in high definition, including Lewis and Agatha Christie's Marple and factual series such as Joanna Lumley's Nile and Martin Clunes' Islands of Britain.