This is a timeline of the history of Channel 4.
1970s 1977 3 February – The Annan Committee on the future of broadcasting makes its recommendations. They include the establishment of a fourth, independent television channel, the establishment of Broadcasting Complaints Commission and an increase in independent production.
1979 With the approach of the 1979 general election both the Conservatives and Labour include plans for a fourth channel in their election manifestos. Labour favours an "Open Broadcasting Authority" community service aimed at minority groups, while the Conservatives plan is for the channel to be given to ITV. Both main parties also pledge to launch a separate Welsh language television service for Wales.
1980s 1980 13 November – The Broadcasting Act 1980 paves the way for a fourth television channel in the UK. The channel is established as a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). A subscription is levied on the ITV companies to pay for the channel; they sell Channel 4's airtime in return.
1981 1 January – The Channel Four Television Company is established to provide the fourth channel service for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland – Wales' fourth channel will be a Welsh language service called S4C although it will broadcast some Channel 4 programmes during off-peak hours.
1982 2 August – Test broadcasts commence. These mainly consist of showing the IBA's testcard ETP-1 between 9am and 8pm. 2 November – Channel 4 launches across most of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland – Wales' fourth channel, S4C, had launched the previous evening. However, some areas are unable to receive the fourth channel at launch because the required engineering at many relay transmitters had not been carried out and it wasn't until later in the decade that all transmitters were carrying the fourth channel. 4:40pm: Continuity announcer Paul Coia launches the channel with the words "Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to be able to say to you: Welcome to Channel 4". 4:45pm: The first programme airs. It is the gameshow Countdown and presenter Richard Whiteley starts by saying "as the countdown to a brand new channel ends, a brand new countdown begins." It remains on the air to this day. 7pm: The first edition of Channel 4 News, the UK's first hour-long news programme. 8pm: The first edition of Channel 4's soap opera Brookside is broadcast and would run until 2003. 10:15pm: The Comic Strip Presents...Five Go Mad In Dorset, first of six comedies parodying the Famous Four and their dog doing some detective work while on holiday in the West Country, is broadcast. It captured the Broadcasting Press Guild prize for 'best comedy'. 5 November – The first edition of music programme The Tube is broadcast. 7 November – Coverage of American football is shown for the first time on Channel 4, beginning the channel's long association with the sport. 8 November – Channel 4 shows live sport for the first time when it broadcasts coverage of a match from Division One of the National Basketball League. It shows highlights of the first half of the game and live coverage of the second half Coverage of both sports is part of Channel 4's remit to showcase so-called minority sports which do not get coverage on the BBC or ITV. 14 November – The viewer complaints programme Right to Reply launches. It is the only programme that Channel 4 produces in-house. December – MP John Carlisle calls for the Home Secretary to withdraw the station's licence following a planned televised party for homosexuals, One in Five. 26 December – Premiere of The Snowman on Channel 4. 27 December – Channel 4 airs its first theme night, Fifties to the Fore. The evening includes episodes of ABC and ATV shows such as Armchair Theatre and Oh Boy!.
1983 30 January – Channel 4 becomes the first broadcaster in the UK to screen the Super Bowl live. 18 March – Channel 4 broadcasts in-vision teletext pages for the first time. Two magazines are shown, 4-Tel on View and Oracle on View – and in fifteen-minute bursts which are repeated several times each day prior to the start of each day's transmissions. Teletext pages are only shown on weekdays. 24 May – Channel 4 (and S4C in Wales) become the new home of Engineering Announcements. They had previously been broadcast on ITV.
1984 22 March – Horse racing coverage is broadcast on Channel 4 for the first time, resulting in the launch Channel 4 Racing. 15 October – Weekday afternoon broadcasting starts at 2:30pm, instead of 5pm. and weekend programming begins an hour earlier at 1pm. November – Two years after going on the air, Channel 4 is now available from all 51 ‘main’ transmitters. 19 November – Channel 4 wins its first Emmy Awards for Heart of the Dragon and The Tragedy of Carmen.
1985 2–4 January – Channel 4 airs A Woman of Substance and secures an audience of 13.8 million, its largest to date. 5 October – The first weekend horse racing is shown on Channel 4 when ITV transfers coverage of horse racing to Channel 4 ahead of the end of World of Sport.
1986 The Peacock Report recommends that the channel should be given the option to sell its own airtime. Viewers' campaigner Mary Whitehouse lobbies advertisers to boycott the channel over its content, with some success. February – For the first time, animated graphics are seen during teletext transmissions. This is made possible by transmitting 4-Tel on View from a disc rather than live. 19 September – Channel 4 begins to show a red triangle at the start of and during films with adult themes, with the first being French film Themroc. After lobbying from newspapers and pressure groups this method of identifying such material was phased out within a year. 18 October – Channel 4 starts weekend morning broadcasting with weekend transmissions now beginning at around 9:30am.
1987 23 April – Channel 4 starts broadcasting into the early hours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights when it launches Nightime. One of the programmes is the discussion show After Dark which was broadcast live and with no scheduled end time. 24 April – Music show The Tube is shown for the final time. 3 May – The first of two series of groundbreaking youth television show Network 7 starts. The programme is shown live at Sunday lunchtime. 14 September – ITV Schools programmes transfer to Channel 4 resulting in an expansion of the channel's weekday broadcasting hours. The programmes are broadcast in the same 9:30am to midday slot. 21 September As part of the expansion of programme hours, a new weekday lunchtime schedule is introduced. The first edition of a weekday business and financial news programme Business Daily is broadcast and this is followed by a new children's slot called Just4Fun. At 1pm, a one-hour block of programmes from the newly formed Open College begins. 30 October – The first edition of Channel 4's flagship current affairs documentary series Dispatches is broadcast. December – The IBA completes its roll-out of Channel 4 and the fourth channel is now available from all of the UK transmitter network.
1988 11 January – The first episode of the long-running quiz show Fifteen to One is broadcast. 15 February – Channel 4 starts broadcasting into the early hours every night, closing down between 2am and 3am. Previously, Channel 4 had closed down between midnight and 1am. 17 September–2 October – Channel 4's only broadcast of the Olympic Games takes place when it broadcasts the overnight and breakfast coverage of the 1988 Olympic Games. ITV shows the daytime coverage.
1989 February – Channel 4 begins broadcasting in Nicam digital stereo, initially from the Crystal Palace transmitter, prior to a national transmitter-by-transmitter rollout during 1990. 31 March – The last Oracle on View transmission takes place. 3 April – Channel 4 launches its breakfast television service The Channel Four Daily. From this date, 4-Tel on View is shown in a single 40-minute block rather than in 15-minute bursts. It is also shown at the weekend for the first time. 21 November – Television coverage of proceedings in the House of Commons begins and Channel 4 launches The Parliament Programme, which airs four day a week.
1990s 1990 The Broadcasting Act 1990 maintains Channel 4's status as a publicly owned entity, but allows it to sell its own airtime from 1993. It also sets out the remit of its funding formula with ITV from 1993, with ITV agreeing to fund Channel 4 if it falls below 14% of total TV advertising revenue. 19 February – The first edition of Channel 4's documentary series Cutting Edge is broadcast. 31 July – The final edition of Engineering Announcements is shown at 5:45am.
1991 17 January – Midnight Special is launched to provide extended coverage and analysis of the Gulf War. It ends when the War concludes but the format is resurrected for future major events, including for the duration of the 1992 General Election campaign. 8 April – Channel 4's three-week Banned season features a series of films and programmes which had previously been banned from British television or cinema. The season includes network television showings of Scum, Monty Python's Life of Brian and Sebastiane. There is also a second broadcast of the controversial 1988 Thames Television documentary Death on the Rock which investigated the shooting of three members of the IRA by the SAS in Gibraltar. The season proves to be controversial and Channel 4 is investigated by the Obscene Publications Squad and referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
1992 25 June – The final edition of Business Daily is broadcast although the early morning business news bulletins continue to be aired for another three months, until the end of The Channel Four Daily. 6 September – The first edition of Football Italia is broadcast as part of Channel 4's deal to show Serie A, with live coverage of Sampdoria v Lazio. The channel continues to show Italian football for the next ten years. 25 September – The final edition of The Channel Four Daily is broadcast. 28 September – The first edition of The Big Breakfast is broadcast. 2 November – The FourScore theme used in the idents is replaced. 31 December – Channel 4's testcard ETP-1 is shown for the final time.
1993 1 January – Channel 4 becomes an independent statutory corporation. Instead of fully closing down, 4-Tel on View is shown throughout the channel's overnight downtime. The channel makes a payment of £38 million to ITV under terms of its funding formula. 28 June – The final ITV Schools programmes are broadcast. 20 September – Schools programmes continue to be shown on Channel 4 under the branding of Channel 4 Schools. 25 December – Channel 4 airs its first "Alternative Christmas message". The broadcast features a contemporary, often controversial celebrity, delivering a message in the manner of The Queen. The first alternative message is delivered by Quentin Crisp.
1994 16 January – The first edition of archeology series Time Team is broadcast. 6 July – The channel moves into its new headquarters at 124 Horseferry Road, London.
1995 23 October – The first episode of the soap opera Hollyoaks is broadcast.
1996 The Broadcasting Act 1996 maintains Channel 4's public status. Channel 4 signs a home video deal with Video Collection International to handle retail sales of the FilmFour catalogue on VHS, while FilmFour themselves would handle rentals. 11 October – After nearly 14 years, Channel 4 unveils a new presentation package. Gone were the original multi-coloured blocks, instead the familiar logo would be placed in one of four circles against different backgrounds. This look would last for just three years.
1997 Chris Smith, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, announces that Channel 4's funding formula with ITV will be abolished from 1998. 6 January – Channel 4 starts 24-hour broadcasting, resulting in the end of 4-Tel on View.