| Ownership | |
|---|---|
| Owner | TV Travel Shop |
| History | |
| Launched | April 1998 |
| Closed | 16 April 2004 |
| Replaced by | Top Up TV encrypted channels |
| Links | |
| Website | www.tvtravelshop.com (now points to Expedia) |
| Availability At time of closure | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 17 (1) |
TV Travel Shop was a British television channel that sold holidays.
It launched in April 1998, primarily on satellite and cable, broadcasting between 6am and 5pm, sharing space with Challenge. In 1999, the channel began broadcasting 24 hours a day.
In 2000, the channel launched on ONdigital, using capacity from ONrequest 2 (later ITV Select 2), and broadcast 6am-12pm weekdays, and 6am-10am weekends, free to air on channel 44. Its hours were extended in January 2002 to be broadcast from 6am-6pm daily. However, after the demise of ITV Digital, TV Travel Shop made a deal with the multiplex operator, SDN, to carry the channel 24 hours a day using the newly freed up capacity. It moved to channel 17 at the launch of Freeview.
However, by December 2003, Top Up TV were looking to buy slots for their new subscription platform, and acquired the slot and LCN occupied by TV Travel Shop. The channel went off air on 16 April 2004, and its stream was replaced in April 2004 by a Top Up TV subscription stream.