That's TV is a network of local and national British free-to-air television channels in the United Kingdom, broadcasting via Freeview, carrying only a small number of both local and national regions.
That's TV started off as the owner of a number of local television licences in several conurbations, but even though some local news can still be found via these services, these channels simulcast the schedule of the national That's TV channel for most of the day, but with some variations.
That's Television Ltd is owned by That's Media Ltd, which is based at The Flint Glass Works in the Ancoats neighbourhood of Manchester.
History
In September 2012, the broadcast regulator Ofcom announced That's TV had been awarded a licence to broadcast local TV service for Oxfordshire. Two months later, the company won a second licence for the Southampton and Portsmouth areas, in conjunction with newspaper publishers Newsquest and Johnston Press. That's Solent began broadcasting on 26 November 2014 while a soft launch of That's Oxford took place on 17 April 2015.
Prior to the launch of the Solent station, That's TV gained a further three licences in the south of England in June 2014 for the Guildford, Reading and Salisbury areas, followed a month later by a Basingstoke licence.Ofcom awards Maidstone and Basingstoke local TV licences, OFCOM, 30 July 2014 In June 2015, a ninth licence was gained to serve the Carlisle area, in partnership with the CN Group.
The local TV licences for the Manchester and Preston/Blackpool areas were initially awarded to YourTV in February 2013, but both services failed to launch within the two-year timeframe permitted by the regulator. That's TV took a controlling stake in YourTV in March 2015 A soft launch of That's Manchester took place on 31 May 2015, followed by That's Lancashire on 24 August. By February 2020 it was airing half an hour of local news per day.
The founder of That's TV, Esther Rantzen, became the group's vice president when it opened its first station in Portsmouth and was lined up to present a weekly magazine programme. In May 2015, Rantzen resigned from the company along with former Meridian Broadcasting executive Mary McAnally.
In March 2016, Ofcom placed three of the stations – Manchester, Oxford and Solent – on notice over persistent technical issues.
In October 2016, it was announced That's TV had bought the licence for the York local TV service, formerly held by 'Hello York'. The group also bought out Cambridge TV.
On 2 January 2017, five That's TV stations (Cambridge, Lancashire, Manchester, Oxfordshire, Solent) started to simulcast Talking Pictures TV for six hours each day. In August 2017, That's TV bought Norfolk station Mustard TV.
In May 2018, That's TV agreed to acquire the assets of STV's STV2 channel launching on the 15th of October. In August 2018, That's TV bought Estuary TV's channel slots, covering North and North East Lincolnshire and the rest of the Lincolnshire area.
In July 2019, That's TV announced the closure of 13 of its 20 studios in order to downsize to seven regional production centres producing content for its 20 local stations. The remaining centres were announced as being located in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, York, Cambridge, Salisbury and Swansea.
In February 2021, That's TV started to broadcast nationally to viewers with a compatible internet connected HD television set, as it joined TV stations such as Spotlight TV and Yanga! on VisionTV's streaming service (found on Freeview channel 264).
That's TV's national channel launched as That's TV Gold. It began test broadcasts on 4 June 2021 on satellite frequency 11582 H DVB-S QPSK 22 5/6 under the label 52139. That's TV Gold will be on Sky channel 187. In order to be listed in the entertainment section (below channel 200) and not with the music channels (channels 350 to 399), That's TV started to acquire a number of documentaries and classic comedy series, in order that the national service was not a retro pop video network once the local news was taken out of the schedule.
On 9 July, That's TV Gold launched on Freeview channel 91, simulcasting its schedule with its 20 regional versions of That's TV on Freeview. The channel largely keeps the pop-video hits format of its local service but drops the evening local news and the TJC simulcast in the mornings, adding documentaries and concerts largely drawn from the IMC Vision catalogue.
On 11 October 2021, That's TV Gold launched on Freesat, broadcasting 24 hours per day on channel 178.That's TV Gold joins Freesat line-up Broadband TV News. 11 October 2021. Accessed 31 October 2021
On 4 January 2022, That's TV dropped the word Gold from its national channel branding when it changed back from its Christmas schedule, even though it was still licensed under the name of That's TV Gold at Ofcom. On 30 June 2022, the national That's TV channel received increased coverage on Freeview after it moved into FreeSports' slot on channel 65 when that channel stopped broadcasting on Freeview.
On 24 August 2022, That's TV increased its national operating hours on Freeview channel 65 by reducing its timeshare channel Classic Hits' music video schedule to 4am–7am. This gave That's TV an extra hour of entertainment programming each night between 3am and 4am on Freeview which is not covered by local television scheduling commitments (as they usually run local news on channel 7/8 between 3am and 6am). In addition to these changes, the company took over Country Music Entertainment's Freeview licence in Greater Manchester for their music video channel.
In July 2022, That's TV requested licences from Ofcom for services called That's Reality and That's Comedy. In November 2022, they were granted licences for channels called That's 60s and That's 70s, ahead of the launch of an expanded suite of music video channels from the firm, with That's TV going on to acquire provisional licences for channels made up of 2000s and 2010s music videos as well. In July 2023, it was reported that the licence for the forthcoming That's Reality channel had been changed to That's Cinema, whilst That's Comedy had not launched and the main service had been taken off the Vision TV app.
In December 2023, That's TV announced that they had acquired the Chart Show brand from the Trace Group in addition to its remaining Sky EPG slot which had been vacated by Trace Vault. The company used the slot to launch a new music channel under the Chart Show brand, named Chart Show Retro, which launched on Sky on 4 March 2024.
In 2024, it was reported that the parent company, That's Media, was planning to launch a new streaming app with the company also launching That's Memories and That's Dance on 12 June 2024. Whereas That's Dance is a rebranded channel, That's Memories uses the old The Community Channel slot, as That's Media bought the TCC Broadcasting licence from A&E Networks (who had been using the slot overnight to show programmes from Blaze after that channel had gone off air every night at 2am). In addition to these channels getting national slots on Freeview, they added simulcast channels in Greater Manchester of these services using the bandwidth they acquired when That's Media bought MTN (the Manchester Television Network) in 2023.
On 21 August 2024, That's TV launched That's Melody, That's Rock and That's TV3 in the place of That's 80s, That's 90s and That's Memories.
In April 2025, That's TV took over the local television licencesFreeview launches new channel update - full list of changes of Sheffield Live!Sheffield Live in South Yorkshire and Northern Visions Television in Belfast, with the former continuing to run its community radio station and the latter having provisions in the takeoverNVTV Local TV for BelfastNVTV - Community Media for its programmes to be shown by That's TV Belfast.Uncertain future for independent local Freeview channels
On 8 December 2025, That’s TV UK and That’s TV2 went off air on Freeview and began displaying a message: "This service is currently not available". However, the channel was still broadcasting normally on other TV platforms such as Freesat and Virgin Media. According to RXTV, "the broadcaster had not responded to enquiries about the loss of service..... Both That’s TV UK and That’s TV2 are carried by one multiplex operator. The unaffected channels – That’s TV3, That’s Christmas and That’s TV local – are carried by different operators. The nature of the current outage indicates a technical, legal or contractual issue between That’s TV and a multiplex operator." That’s TV UK and That’s TV2 both came back on air on Freeview on 12 December.
On 25 June 2026, the That's TV channel was removed from Freesat. It was removed from Virgin Media on 11 July 2026, and was removed from Sky on 30 July 2026. However, both the Freeview national and local channels remained.
Programming On 12 November 2020, That's TV became That's Christmas and began broadcasting Take the High Road after it announced an agreement with STV to show all 1,516 episodes.
In 2021, That's TV started to show music from the 1960s 'non-stop' each weekend, starting on Valentine's Day weekend with 48 hours of 60s music played back-to-back without adverts.
In October 2021, That's TV started to show Thames TV's early 1990s compilations of The Best of Tommy Cooper, which were previously shown on UKTV's Yesterday channel and the BAFTA-winning The Kenny Everett Video Show, a programme from 1978 which mixed music performances by people like Bryan Ferry with dance routines and comedy sketches. Both programmes were licensed from Thames TV rights holder Fremantle. On 19 October 2021, the channel started to show series 2 of Men Behaving Badly featuring the 'classic' line-up of Martin Clunes, Neil Morrissey, Caroline Quentin, and Leslie Ash. They did not schedule any of the episodes from series 1, featuring Harry Enfield as Dermot Povey, before that date or show any of the episodes made for the BBC.
On 18 November 2021, That's TV Gold rebranded for the festival period as That's TV Christmas and launched its Xmas schedule with repeats of The Benny Hill Show. The channel will be showing a number of Benny Hill specials made for Thames TV between 1969 and 1989 simultaneously on Freeview channel 91 and its network of local channels, with Hill's programmes showing in full for the first time on a national TV channel in 20 years.
Other comedians to be found on the channel over the festive period included Kenny Everett, Mike Yarwood, and Tommy Cooper, while the Carry On... team were seen in a number of Christmas TV specials. As well as programmes from Thames TV/Fremantle, That's TV also licensed the rights to LWT hidden camera show Beadle's About. This practical joke show was originally broadcast by ITV between November 1986 and September 1996, and like The Benny Hill Show, is another show which has not been repeated on British TV in a couple of decades.
In 2022, That's TV licensed the rights to classic 1980s children's TV series Press Gang, written by Steven Moffatt and starring Julia Sawalha, Lucy Benjamin, and Dexter Fletcher in early roles. Other rights picked up for rebroadcast by the channel in the first few months of 2022 included Sez Les with John Cleese, a Yorkshire Television sketch comedy show that starred Les Dawson alongside Monty Python member Cleese and Coronation Streets Roy Barraclough,EPG: Sez Les with John Cleese at 9 pm on That's TV on 12 February 2022 Hylda Baker's sitcom Not On Your Nellie, Russ Abbott's Madhouse and Autopsy, a programme with Dr. Michael Hunter from the Reelz Channel in America, turning up on the That's TV EPG under episode titles such as Larry Hagman: What Killed JR?,EPG: Larry Hagman: What Killed JR? at 2.50 pm on That's TV on 12 February 2022 Luther Vandross: Killed by Food?, Bee Gee Andy: Inner DemonsEPG: Bee Gee Andy: Inner Demons at 9.10pm on That's TV on 11 February 2022 or Adam West: What Killed Batman?.