Description
ITVBe is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. The channel was first announced on 12 February 2014 and launched on 8 October 2014. ITVBe broadcasts reality and unscripted shows, including US acquisitions such as The Real Housewives franchise, Million Dollar Listing New York, and Botched; and original programming such as The Real Housewives of Cheshire, Dinner Date, and The Only Way Is Essex. The channel has also occasionally aired feature films, particularly from the romantic comedy genre, and from May to September 2023 also broadcast female-skewed comedy and drama such as Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
A high-definition simulcast, ITVBe HD, launched on Virgin Media on 19 November 2014, along with a one-hour timeshift feed, ITVBe +1. Both channels were exclusive to Virgin until the ITVBe +1 service was made available on Sky and Freesat on 15 December 2014, and the ITVBe HD service on 12 December 2023. As part of a number of changes to ITV's broadcasting, ITVBe +1 was removed from Sky and Freesat on 13 April 2021. ITVBe +1 is also available on Freeview, broadcasting between 2am and 4am.
On 19 September 2022, ITVBe and other ITV digital channels simulcast ITV's coverage of the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey.
On 7 October 2022, ITVBe’s Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts were removed in order to streamline the ITV channels for an upcoming rebrand that happened on 15 November. On the same day, the majority of videos uploaded on ITVBe’s YouTube account were moved to the ITVX YouTube account.
