5Star Explained

5Star
Picture Format:576i SDTV
Parent:Paramount Networks UK & Australia
Owner:Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited
Country:United Kingdom
Language:English
Former Names:Five Life (2006–08)
Fiver (2008–11)
5* (2011–16)
Sister Channels:
Timeshift Service:5Star +1
Terr Chan 1:See separate section
Online Chan 1:See separate section

5Star (stylized as 5STAR) is a British free-to-air television channel owned by Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited,[1] a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global, which is grouped under Paramount Networks UK & Australia division. It originally launched as the female-orientated Five Life on 15 October 2006, and was relaunched as Fiver on 28 April 2008 with a revised version of the same concept. The channel later re-branded as 5* on 7 March 2011, and later to its current name on 11 February 2016. The network focuses on documentaries, comedy and drama, with a range of original content such as Rich Kids Go Skint and Young, Dumb & Banged Up in the Sun, along with some American and Australian imports.[2]

History

2006–08: Five Life

The channel was intended to be a female-orientated channel with an emphasis on lifestyle programming.[3] Channel 5 announced that programming on launch would include The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Love My Way, Windfall, Angela's Eyes, and a weekday double-bill of the chat show Trisha Goddard. On 16 October 2006, a day following the channel's launch, Australian soap opera Home and Away began airing from episode 4212 (Season 19, Episode 112). New episodes are shown Monday to Friday in a 'First Look' screening with episodes following the Channel 5 airing. Repeats of popular female-skewing dramas, both nationally and internationally produced, were soon acquired. Following the channel's launch, a time-shift version of the channel was launched in summer 2007.[4]

2008–11: Fiver

Five Life was repositioned and relaunched as Fiver in April 28, 2008 while still targeting female audiences, the channel was re-positioned with a "younger, faster, louder" concept, meant to compete with Sky Living. On-air presentation reflected this shift with a "cursor" motif, typing out words reflecting programs and current events.[5]

2011–16: 5star

In 2011, the channel was re-launched again, as 5star (stylized as 5★ or 5*, pronounced "Five Star"). The new brand focused on a "fun-loving" concept, with initial acquisitions including $#*! My Dad Says, Better with You and Parenthood.[6] On 11 April 2011, 5star reduced its broadcast hours to 13:00 to 00:00, replacing the hours withdrawn with more teleshopping. When some of these new programs failed to make much of an impact in the channel's ratings, several were dropped and replaced by new locally produced and acquired programming. These included the American series 8 Simple Rules, 10 Things I Hate About You, Alphas and The Lying Game.[7]

In 2012, in consort with C5's acquisition of the series, 5star began airing the Big Brother companion show Big Brother: Live from the House, which aired 60 minutes of live feed following every eviction show. In 2013, after Live from the House set ratings records for the channel, the programme was expanded to two hours nightly.[8] However, ratings were at a share below that of the channel's average, with just 70,000 watching the first live feeds.[9] Subsequently, the live feeds were shut down and the spin-off show last aired in June 2013.[10] Also in 2013, American Idol moved to 5star from ITV2.[11] Continuing the channel's venture into reality based programming, Tallafornia was acquired from Ireland's TV3 and this was soon joined by Bar Rescue, World's Worst Tenants and Top 20 Funniest in 2014.[12]

The 5star schedule included a variety of programming, including the aforementioned reality series, as well as the first-run rights to Helix, the second-run rights to American series Falling Skies, Under the Dome and The Walking Dead, and Australian soap operas Home & Away and Neighbours. Popular documentary series shared with C5 air throughout the daytime and primetime hours, such as The Gadget Show.

The time-shift version of the channel was shut down on 3 February 2014 to make way for Channel 5 +24.[13] The channel returned later, launching on Freesat on 16 September 2014 and Sky in the UK and Ireland on 4 November 2014, replacing BET +1 on the platform. The addition of the channel in Ireland was an error, thus it was removed on 6 November 2014.

On 11 February 2016, as part of an overall re-branding of Channel 5's networks following their acquisition by Viacom, the channel was re-branded as 5Star.[14]

2016 to date: 5Star

After initially being positioned as a younger skewing channel (in a manner similar to E4), 5Star has dropped a lot of its drama and comedy programmes from the schedules and replaced them with blocks of reality TV programming with medical shows such as Skin A&E, 999: Critical Condition and Don't Tell The Doctor showing on Thursday nights in September 2021,[15] and nights devoted to crime and cleaning showing on other days.

The channel still had a number of drama shows listed in its schedules for 2021 with imports such as Departure[16] and Wentworth: The Final Sentence[17] broadcast after the watershed and its Australian soaps still broadcast in an hour block from 6pm (though the 3pm repeat has been replaced by episodes of Police Interceptors from Paramount Network). Also 5Star picked up the free-to-air television rights of streaming series The Act (from StarzPlay via Amazon) which increased its viewing figures on 5Star with each episode broadcast,[18] [19] and Dirty John (also available on Netflix).[20]

Australian soap opera Home and Away is a programme which has episodes debuting on the channel before being repeated on Channel 5, with other channel premieres including episodes of Killer at the Crime Scene[21] and The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door, as well as a number of romcom films shown at lunchtime. 5Star have usually decided to schedule feature films each Friday, Saturday and Sunday night, with the whole Saturday daytime schedule usually given over to family films. However, the quality of some of the films broadcast by 5Star has been picked up by Kermode and Mayo's Film Review on BBC Radio 5 Live, who have nominated many titles due to be broadcast on the channel, for their 'TV Movie So Bad it's Bad' feature on the show.[22]

On 20 October 2021, their scheduled Love at Lunchtime TV movie premiere[23] [24] slot[25] [26] was discontinued and replaced by back-to-back repeats of various emergency services documentaries with episodes 6[27] and 7[27] of Traffic Cops[28] replacing the already announced premiere of Love's Last Resort on that date.

Programmes debuting new episodes on the channel in November 2021 included Filthy House SOS[29] [30] [31] and Oxford Street 24/7,[32] [33] [34] while Nick Knowles' Better Homes[35] is a new show from the presenter of Channel 5's Big House Clearout[36] and Our Secret World was a new commission produced by Viacom Studios UK,[37] featuring Babestation stars like Atlanta Moreno and Jess West enjoying their leisure time in a reality TV format. New-to-Freeview episodes of drama series The Act[38] [39] (from American streaming service Hulu), are debuting weekly on 5Star at 10pm on a Thursday night before being repeated late night on 5Select a few days later.[40]

From 8 November 2021, after Ofcom approved an hour-long 5 News at 5 on the main channel to fit in Eggheads[41] at 6.30pm,[42] [43] [44] the early evening repeat of Home and Away[45] moved to 5Star, with the Australian soap now being broadcast in an hour-long slot from 6pm, with the repeat scheduled back-to-back with the 'first look' episode (though the soap went on its regular winter break on Monday 22 November, with the slot being used for repeats of Shoplifters & Scammers: At War with the Law and family films, until a new episode of the soap was broadcast on New Year's Eve).[46] [47] [48]

From 4 December 2021 to 7 November 2022, 5Star began repeating season 11 of Judge Judy in the mornings, at the same time that season 17 was seen on CBS Reality and, due to a simulcast agreement, nine Local TV channels in the UK.[49] [50] [51] A month later, on 4 January 2022,[52] more retro programming from the archives of ViacomCBS appeared on the network, when Zalman King's Red Shoe Diaries (originally broadcast on the American Showtime channel in 1992 and then on Channel 5) started a repeat run in the United Kingdom on 5Star.

Availability

Cable

IPTV

Online

Satellite

Terrestrial

Ratings

The launch of Five Life was at the time ranked as the worst received multichannel launch for a terrestrial broadcaster, only managing to achieve a primetime share of 0.21%.[53] Following the channel's relaunch as Fiver in 2008, the all-day share for the channel has been between 0.5–0.6%. The highest rated series airing on the channel are Home & Away, Neighbours and the weeknight showings of primetime movies. The highest rating for the channel is held by Big Brother: Live from the House, when it received just over one million viewers and an audience share of over five percent in 2013.

Current programming: 5Star

First–run

Second–run

Former programming: 5Star

First–run

Second–run

Former programming: Fiver and 5*

Notes

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ofcom | TV Cable and Satellite. static.ofcom.org.uk.
  2. Web site: 5STAR.
  3. News: five autumn highlights 2006 . Five . 12 October 2006 . https://web.archive.org/web/20061207220006/http://www.five.tv/media/pdf/11896740.pdf . 7 December 2006 . dead.
  4. Web site: Five launches +1 services. 5 July 2007. Digital Spy. Joanne Oatts.
  5. News: Five Life to relaunch as Fiver . The Guardian . 6 April 2008 . 6 April 2008. Mark . Sweney. https://web.archive.org/web/20080323200142/http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/20/channelfive.television. 23 March 2008 . live . London.
  6. Web site: Fiver rebrands as 5*, acquires new shows. Digital Spy. 3 February 2011.
  7. Web site: Munn . Patrick . 'The Lying Game' Makes The Jump Back To 5* . TVWise . 26 April 2013 . 5 May 2013.
  8. Web site: Sperling . Daniel . Big Brother 2013 to have nightly live feed . Digital Spy . 14 May 2013 . 29 June 2013.
  9. Web site: Darvill . Josh . Big Brother 2013: 70,000 watch first live streaming on 5* . Telly Mix . 15 June 2013 . 29 June 2013.
  10. Web site: Nissim . Mayer . Big Brother live feed axed by Channel 5 . Digital Spy . 26 June 2013 . 29 June 2013.
  11. News: Channel 5 to show American Idol. 27 September 2012 . London. The Guardian. John. Plunkett. 27 September 2012.
  12. Web site: TV3 sells hit series 'Tallafornia' to UK's Channel 5. Independent.ie.
  13. Web site: Eames . Tom . Channel 5 to launch catch-up channel +24 . Digital Spy . 17 January 2014 . 3 February 2014.
  14. News: Channel 5 tilts at Channel 4 with 'emotional' post-Richard Desmond rebrand. https://web.archive.org/web/20160210064113/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/channel-5-tilts-at-channel-4-with-emotional-post-richard-desmond-rebrand-a6863441.html . 2016-02-10 . limited . live. Sherwin. Adam. 11 February 2016. The Independent. 11 February 2016.
  15. Radio Times 25 September-1 October 2021, page 109
  16. Radio Times 25 September-1 October 2021, page 79
  17. Radio Times 25 September-1 October 2021, page 89
  18. Web site: The Act Season 1. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  19. Web site: TV listings guide. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  20. Web site: Dirty John Season 1. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  21. Radio Times 25 September-1 October 2021, page 99
  22. Kermode and Mayo's Film Review on BBC Radio 5 Live, various episode dates to Friday 17 September 2021
  23. Web site: Hint of Love (2020). Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  24. Web site: Cup of Love (2016). Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  25. Web site: TV listings guide. Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  26. Web site: TV listings guide. Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  27. Web site: Traffic Cops Season 2. Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  28. Web site: TV listings guide. Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  29. Web site: My5. 2021-11-27. Channel5.com.
  30. Web site: Filthy House SOS Season 3. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  31. Web site: Filthy House SOS (TV Series). 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  32. Web site: Oxford Street 24/7. 2021-11-27. Rare TV. en-US.
  33. Web site: My5. 2021-11-27. Channel5.com.
  34. Web site: Oxford Street 24/7 (TV Series). 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  35. Web site: Nick Knowles' Better Homes Season 1. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  36. Web site: Heath. Olivia. 2021-08-17. EYNTK about Nick Knowles' Big House Clearout. 2021-11-27. House Beautiful. en-GB.
  37. Web site: Viacom International Studios UK. 2021-11-27. viacomstudiosuk.com.
  38. Web site: Herzog. Kenny. 2019-05-03. How The Act's Actors Compare to Their Real-Life Counterparts. 2021-11-27. Vulture. en-us.
  39. Web site: My5. 2021-11-27. Channel5.com.
  40. Web site: TV listings guide. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  41. Web site: TVZone. 2021-11-17. CHANNEL 5 ORDER SECOND SERVING OF EGGHEADS. 2021-11-27. TVZoneUK. en.
  42. Web site: Ofcom Approve Changes to Channel 5 News. Tvzoneuk.com. 24 September 2021.
  43. Web site: Home and Away to lose evening slot on Channel 5. Digital Spy. 24 September 2021.
  44. Web site: Channel 5 extends evening news. Advanced-television.com. 24 September 2021.
  45. Web site: Home and Away (TV Series). 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  46. Web site: Shoplifters & Scammers: At War with the Law Season 1. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  47. Web site: TV listings guide. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  48. Radio Times Christmas Double Issue 2021, channel listings for 5 Star on 31 December 2021: page 243
  49. Web site: Judge Judy Season 11. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  50. Web site: Judge Judy Season 17. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  51. Web site: TV listings guide. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  52. Radio Times 1–7 January 2022: 5Star listings for 4 January 2022, page 81
  53. News: Slow start for Five Life . Digital Spy . 9 November 2007 . 17 October 2006.
  54. Web site: TV listings guide. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  55. Web site: Adults Only! (TV Series). 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  56. Web site: TV listings guide. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  57. Radio Times Christmas Double Issue 2021, channel listings for 5 Star: various dates
  58. Web site: Adults Only Season 1. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  59. Web site: Ambulance: Code Red Season 2. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  60. Web site: My5. www.channel5.com. 18 December 2022.
  61. Web site: My5. www.channel5.com. 18 December 2022.
  62. Web site: Cold Case Killers Season 1. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  63. Web site: TV listings guide. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  64. Web site: Greatest Ever Movie Blunders (TV Series). 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  65. Web site: TV listings guide. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  66. Web site: Media. Bionic. INSIDE THE MIND... – Abacus. 2021-11-27. Abacus Media Rights. en.
  67. Web site: Inside The Mind... – World Content Market. 2021-11-27. ru-RU.
  68. Web site: Inside the Mind of Michael Jackson. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  69. Web site: TV listings guide. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  70. Web site: Killer at the Crime Scene Season 1. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  71. Web site: TV listings guide. Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  72. Web site: Plastic Surgery Knifemares Season 1. Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  73. Web site: Skin A&E Season 2. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  74. Web site: Britain's Parking Hell (TV Series). Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  75. Web site: My5. Channel5.com. 23 January 2022.
  76. Web site: My5. Channel5.com. 23 January 2022.
  77. Web site: Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts Season 3. 2021-11-27. Radio Times. en.
  78. Web site: Fights, Camera, Action! Season 3. Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  79. Web site: Red Shoe Diaries Season 1. Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  80. Web site: My5. www.channel5.com. 18 December 2022.
  81. Radio Times 1–7 January 2022: 5Star listings for 5 January 2022),: page 91
  82. Web site: My5. Channel5.com. 23 January 2022.
  83. Web site: 10 Years Younger in 10 Days Season 2. Radio Times. 23 January 2022.
  84. Radio Times 1–7 January 2022: 5Star listings for Bank Holiday Monday (3 January 2022),: page 71

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "5Star".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.