Channel 5 rebrands

The new Channel 5 logo, copyright Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd
UK television channel 'FIVE' relaunches with a new brand identity and reverts to their original launch name 'Channel 5' from Valentine's Day (February 14th 2011). The station was bought from RTL by Richard Desmond in July 2010.

Originally launched back in 1997 the Channel aimed to bring something different, fun and exciting to the terrestrial television market. They were the 'fifth' channel, sitting alongside the existing BBC1, BBC2, ITV and Channel 4 stations.

The outgoing Channel 5 logo, copyright Channel 5 Broadcasting Ltd
In 2002 Channel 5 rebranded as five in a bid to become more mainstream and appear more mature, or as they put it, "to address the gap between common perceptions of Five and the new reality of our programming". Channel 5 initially gained a reputation for poor reception and poor programme quality which presumably they tried to shake off with the rebrand to FIVE. The FIVE logo appeared in lowercase letters until 2008 when a refreshed brand had a logo with all uppercase letters.

The new brand aims to bring "fun and great British eccentricity" back to the new season and be "more informative".

Three new video idents are also running from the launch date. Visit thisisfive for more.


Channel 5's other stations are to undergo rebrands too: Fiver is to become 5 Star and Five USA is to change to 5USA.

What do you think? We think it looks like a US or Australian cable channel to us. Have they gone back to their roots? Does the new brand reflect the quality and direction of their programming? Let us know your comments.

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