topic U & Dave etc in What's On

U & Dave etc

Wibbly-Woo — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 14:56:30 GMT

Why are they bothering to change the names of Dave, Yesterday etc ?

Seems to be a total waste of time and money ?

Most people will just continue to call the channels Dave, Yesterday etc etc.

Re: U & Dave etc

Padam_Padam — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:01:36 GMT

@Wibbly-Woo wrote:
Why are they bothering to change the names of Dave, Yesterday etc ?
Seems to be a total waste of time and money ?
Most people will just continue to call the channels Dave, Yesterday etc etc.

That would be a question for UKTV. Sky have nothing to do with how a group of channels choose to identify themselves.

Re: U & Dave etc

Annie+UK — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:02:44 GMT

Ask the BBC as all UKTV channels are 100% owned by them

Re: U & Dave etc

Daniel0210 — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:02:44 GMT

@Wibbly-Woo

I have not read they are changing. These are not Sky channels. I believe they are owned by UKTV.

Re: U & Dave etc

Annie+UK — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 15:14:11 GMT

@Daniel0210 wrote:

@Wibbly-Woo

I have not read they are changing. These are not Sky channels. I believe they are owned by UKTV.

https://www.cordbusters.co.uk/uktv-big-revamp-new-u/

Re: U & Dave etc

lettice — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 16:06:10 GMT

Here is the official press release;

https://corporate.uktv.co.uk/news/article/uktv-to-launch-masterbrand-u-on-16th-july-2024/

Must agree, it does seem a pointless and odd rebrand.

Using the & within a its names, seems just not right.

Re: U & Dave etc

MarkGoldsmith — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 16:14:29 GMT

I'm guessing its just a way for them to one a single identity across their channels, like back in the day when it was UKTV Gold, UKTV History and UKTV Gardens. I always hated the initial rebrand they did creating channels like Dave and Eden, and thought removing the UKTV part just created loads of separate identities amongst the channels.

Re: U & Dave etc

TimmyBGood — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 16:16:49 GMT

According to UKTV’s Chief Marketing Officer, Penny Brough, this move aims to address the previously disjointed nature of their offerings, ensuring a more integrated viewer experience.

As part of this rebranding, UKTV’s family of free-to-air channels will undergo name changes to align with the new ‘U’ brand. The channels will incorporate the ‘U’ prefix, transforming into:

U&Dave
U&Drama
U&Yesterday
U&W

The streaming service, UKTV Play, will change its name to just ‘U'

Re: U & Dave etc

Timelord2018 — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 16:21:47 GMT

I don't understand why some are lower case and other capitals/capital letter , the pay channels are getting 'U&' at a later date aswell

Re: U & Dave etc

MarkGoldsmith — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 16:17:34 GMT

@TimmyBGood wrote:
According to UKTV’s Chief Marketing Officer, Penny Brough, this move aims to address the previously disjointed nature of their offerings, ensuring a more integrated viewer experience.

As part of this rebranding, UKTV’s family of free-to-air channels will undergo name changes to align with the new ‘U’ brand. The channels will incorporate the ‘U’ prefix, transforming into:

U&Dave
U&Drama
U&Yesterday
U&W
The streaming service, UKTV Play, will change its name to just ‘U'

Yeah - what horrible names and branding in my opinion. I wonder how much they spent on brand consultants to come up with that 😀

Re: U & Dave etc

nigea99 — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 16:36:46 GMT

@MarkGoldsmith wrote:

@TimmyBGood wrote:

According to UKTV’s Chief Marketing Officer, Penny Brough, this move aims to address the previously disjointed nature of their offerings, ensuring a more integrated viewer experience.

As part of this rebranding, UKTV’s family of free-to-air channels will undergo name changes to align with the new ‘U’ brand. The channels will incorporate the ‘U’ prefix, transforming into:

U&Dave

U&Drama

U&Yesterday

U&W

The streaming service, UKTV Play, will change its name to just ‘U'

Yeah - what horrible names and branding in my opinion. I wonder how much they spent on brand consultants to come up with that 😀

I agree @MarkGoldsmith

I don't like any of it myself but find the rename of UKTV play to just U to be the most bizaree

I wonder who on earth (assuming they did) they used as as part of any Focus groups

I perhaps understand they feel the need to highlight the channels form the UKTV group of channels but, personally, I think they would have been better reverting back to UKTV in the names that had it & adding to those like Alibi that I don't think had.

P.S. Maybe I am biased as I possibly watch UKTV channels the most of any

Re: U & Dave etc

Padam_Padam — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 16:37:38 GMT

It's all just marketing piffle.

Re: U & Dave etc

lettice — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 08:04:10 GMT

@Timelord2018 wrote:
I don't understand why some are lower case and other capitals/capital letter , the pay channels are getting 'U&' at a later date aswell

What a mesy design display that is.

Mix of fonts, colour and font case

Re: U & Dave etc

redsky88 — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 13:03:58 GMT

Stunningly awful re-brand. Right up there with Channel 4's decision to move away from the actually quite good 4OD and All4 streaming names and go with Channel 4.

Re: U & Dave etc

Wibbly-Woo — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 13:16:27 GMT

If the channels are 100% owned by BBC - It will be the licence payer (ie us) who pays for this rebrand - I wonder how much this rebrand cost ?

Re: U & Dave etc

Annie+UK — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 13:20:53 GMT

@Wibbly-Woo wrote:

If the channels are 100% owned by BBC - It will be the licence payer (ie us) who pays for this rebrand - I wonder how much this rebrand cost ?

No if it's BBC Studios as that is a private company, not everything run by the BBC is licence fee supported

Re: U & Dave etc

Wibbly-Woo — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 13:25:34 GMT

You can bet that a fair percentage of the cost was met by licence fees - otherwise why would BBC hide it ?

"The exact cost of this rebrand hasn’t been publicly disclosed, but it represents a significant step in UKTV’s transformation and commitment to providing quality content for viewers"

Re: U & Dave etc

TimmyBGood — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 14:23:50 GMT

@Wibbly-Woo

As @Annie+UK indicates, BBC Studios owns and operates a whole raft of assets intentionally kept separate from Licence Fee funding, although profits are supposed to go back to the BBC itself and so reduce the License Fee cost to UK households.

Re: U & Dave etc

TimmyBGood — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 15:12:50 GMT

@Wibbly-Woo wrote:

You can bet that a fair percentage of the cost was met by licence fees

That's specifically not permitted by the Charter: Licence Fee income mustn't go to BBC Studios operations . One might however suggest that bogus branding exercises do reduce a profit margin which would otherwise help subsidise the License Fee itself.

https://www.bbcstudios.com/about-us/about-bbc-studios/

Re: U & Dave etc

lettice — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 13:45:17 GMT

Must admit, I had no idea that UKTV came under BBC Studios.

I thought, not sure why it's sat under the Discovery arm somehow, not that I recall ever really looking.

I watch a fair bit on the UKTV channels, Drama, Yesterday and Alibi mostly, never watch Dave or W and if I'm really struggling to find anything, will watch a repeat/repeat/repeat of Only Fools from UK Gold.