TV3 (Euro Republics)

TV3 is a Euroish national commercial television channel, launched on 13 April 1989. TV3 is the Euro Republics’ biggest commercial broadcaster, and is also the most watched channel in the country, a position it has held since 2005, and had held on an on/off basis for many years prior.

TV3 is a general entertainment channel owned by EuroMedia, with a significant news and current affairs element under the banner of Three News. It's schedule consists of a wide ranging mix of light entertainment, dramas, comedies, reality shows and competitions, gameshows and quizzes, news and current affairs, arts and cultural and children's programmes.

The channel also operates heavily online, with the TV3 subpage on EROOM and streaming service 3 Vision.

Thanks to EuroMedia's deep pockets and income, TV3 notably has one of the largest budgets in the television industry, and is valued at about €2.5 billion.

Pre-launch
Applications to apply for a warrant to operate the Euro Republics’ third English-language national television network opened in 1985. The Broadcasting Authority of the Euro Republics (BAER) announced in 1987 that TV3 had won the warrant. Originally, it was envisaged that the channel would run solely on cable & analouge MMDS, however the channel later was permitted to broadcast terrestrially.

Advertisements for TV3 began to broadcast on ERTV1 & ERTV2 in January 1989, in addition to newspaper ads & leaflets. Test transmissions for the channel began in the same month.

Jeremy Chambers left his role as ERTV's Director of Entertainment to take up the position of the director of programmes, presentation and marketing (effectively the controller) of TV3, working alongside chief executive Eddie Mitchell. In this role Chambers would sign off all of TV3's new programmes and be responsible for acquiring the output of the channel that would be bought in from other countries. He would also be responsible for deciding the image of the channel. The network would enter the scene with a programme lineup targeted at families but also at young adults. As a result, the channel would aim to blend middle of the road family entertainment and more experimental and risk-taking material for a young adult audience catered for poorly by the EBC, such as a range of new sitcoms, including All We Wanted, Within Time, Me Me Me Me Me, Call My Agent, and Clock Suckers. The channel also commisioned Family and Friends, a family-oriented drama series following three closely intertwined families, and Vetinary Pratice, which was loosely based on the Australian soap A Country Practice.

The channel also saw itself with a commitment to fulfil with current affairs programmes. TV3 would launch Weekend World as a weighty and in-depth Sunday lunchtime analysis programme, whilst 60 Minutes would offer a more sensationalist view of world affairs on Sundays at 6pm. Clint Jennings was poached from the EBC to present the main evening news bulletin for TV3, going head-to-head with the ERTV bulletin.

The channel also brought the long-standing US tradition of late night chat shows to the Euro Republics, with EBC Radio 3 personality Bob Larbey brought in to present Bob Up Late, every weeknight at 11.30pm.

The channel invested in an extensive news organisation, imported series, youth programmes and new drama/comedy series. The premiere was seen by around 7 million viewers across Europe. The channel also had it's own theme song which played at the start and end of each day and lasted until 1995, by which time it was only heard at closedown.

Early years (1989-1993)
TV3 launched on 13th April 1989 at 6:35pm with a large launch party at the channel's headquarters in Euro City, beginning the premiere episodes of Barcroft, Three National News & a four-hour special programme showcasing more of the channel's output, along with special performances from musicans. TV3 was also one of the first channels to be broadcast on the Astra 1A satellite when that launched in 1989, allowing it to broadcast all over Europe.

Imported programmes at launch included a selection of popular imported soaps such as Coronation Street, EastEnders and Neighbours, which had all previously been broadcast on ERTV1. TV3 continued to invest in British drama in it's early years, winning the rights to broadcast The Bill and Casualty from ERTV in 1990 and 1991 respectively. Another series which TV3 acquired at launch was Home and Away, which similarly proved successful. Sitcoms such as Cheers and Married... with Children were also part of the launch schedule.

In the autumn of 1989, talks were held for the broadcast rights for the newly formed Football League Euro for five years, from the 1990 season. ERTV were the current rights holders and fought hard to retain the new rights. ERTV had increased its offer from £18m to £34m per year to keep control of the rights. TV3 joined forces with upstart satellite televison company ET1 for the rights to broadcast matches from the league. TV3 was given the highlights of most of the matches and 30 live matches, while ET1 paying £304m for the Premier League rights, would give them about 30 other matches. When the new FLE was launched in August 1990. TV3 shown matches every Sunday evening and provided full match replays for Monday and Tuesday night matches.

This was seen as a massive lure for viewers, strengthened by TV3's acquisition of The Simpsons which began airing on the channel in January 1991. The series proved a runaway success for TV3, and became one of the main shows to be associated with the channel to this day. The series was scheduled to initially air at 7.30pm on Sunday nights - which at the time was ERTV's "god slot" and the home of long running religious programme Faith Fulfillers. The mix of Simpsons and football was what Chambers described as "ratings dynamite" successfully luring the family audience that TV3 had been hoping to attract, obliterating ERTV's opposition with upwards of 17 million viewers tuning to TV3, more than half of what ERTV1 was attracting.

One of the later acquisitions by Chambers in 1991, Seinfeld initially struggled from its debut when it ran in a late night slot on Tuesdays, but grew to become one of TV3's top-rated shows after it was moved to Thursdays in the time slot following Cheers. Seinfeld retained it's Euroish ratings dominance throughout it's decade and ended it's run as the top programme on Euroish television.

One of the scripted comedy programs that premiered early in the decade, Call My Agent, arguably became TV3's flagship series of the 1990s; although it was not commercially as successful as programs airing on ERTV and Network 2, the show —which followed the daily lives of a talent agency dealing with stars of theatre, television and cinema — enjoyed a cult status and critical acclaim, and received multiple nominations and wins for many major television awards (including four Euroish Academy Television Awards). The use of celebrity guest stars portraying themselves, the absence of laugh tracks now synonymous with single-camera sitcoms and its use of embarrassment-structured comedy (as later popularised by American comedy series such as The Office, Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm).

TV3 also recognised the importance of "shiny floor" entertainment programmes, and in the channel's first five years the channel found success with family-oriented gameshows and light entertainment formats, including Blockbusters, Catchphrase, The Price is Right, You've Been Framed! and Stars in Their Eyes. 1993 was a major year for the channel's entertainment department, with the debuts of Gladiators and Bob's House Party, the same year also saw the channel break a deal with the then new Euroish National Lottery to show their live programmes & draws on TV3 on Friday & Saturday nights. The draws premiered with an 2 hour-long special event on 8 October 1993.

As Bob Larbey moved from Up Late to the House Party, the channel also lured over Terrence Atkins from the EBC following the axing of his long-running evening chat show, 7 O'Clock Rock, to present a replacement show at the same time, 11.30pm, with Terrence Tonight making it's debut on 1 November 1993, in the same style as the older programme with an emphasis on cosy chat. Simon Groves and Neil McCole, two members of The Audiowave Reception Sound Experiment on 3FM, defected to TV3 to host The Tomorrow Show, a more offbeat and adult orientated late night comedy show, which launched in January 1994.

The channel also continued to make inroads with US acquisitions with the likes of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Home Improvement becoming venerable ratings successes, along with drama series such as NYPD Blue, Law & Order, Beverly Hills, 90210, In the Heat of The Night, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and The X-Files.

Groves and McCole played major parts in This Hour Has 22 Minutes, which launched in January 1995. The daring faux-news format was another sign that despite being primarily aimed at a family audience, that TV3 was still willing to broadcast irreverent and edgy programming. This attitude could also be sensed in much of the channel's most influential comedy output including Me Me Me Me Me, Full Frontal, Hyperactive and Call My Agent, as well as dramas including the controversial Red Lights, which focused on three prostitutes on the streets of Faulkshire.

Around the autumn of 1994, rumours began to spread spread that TV3 was planning a new channel. It was unknown about the target audience & what it was called. The Euroish Independent Broadcasting Commision gave the go ahead to a fourth channel in November 1994, on the condition that it have a remit to appeal to a certain audience not already well catered for by other mainstream channels. TV3 confirmed more details about the new channel in March 1995. The channel - known as Channel 4 - would be a National Service broadcaster, and would “cater to the youth and minorities of the country, reflecting the issues & interests of the target demographic with original content made for (and in some cases by) young people of the Euro Republics, news, live sports, feature films, popular drama, comedy & music-based programming."

Channel 4 launched on 31 October 1995. Aimed towards a younger demographic than the main channel, it would take over a lot of TV3's remit for carrying risky and innovative material, allowing TV3 to fully set it's sights towards families. At the same time, TV3 rebranded with the start of the "Better On Three" campaign. Channel 4 would be used to grow new programmes and concepts which would be given the freedom and patience to grow and eventually move to TV3 in the event of being major successes.

Beginning in 1997, TV3 launched Super Saturday, an experimental Saturday night block of children's programmes. It still runs today on the 3C children's channel after TV3 ditched it twice to focus on entertainment programmes on a Saturday evening. For a time, it was also seen on TV4.

1998 rebranding (1998-2001)
A large programme relaunch was announced in September 1997 and took place in January 1998, which saw the launch of many successful series for the channel, the rebranding of Three National News as 3 News, the launch of The Midday Report & a new presenter lineup for Nightline. Other new series included the post-apocalyptic drama How Did It All Come to This?, topical comedy panel show The News Show and Skitshow, a comedy sketch show. There was also new branding and graphics, including - for the first time in TV3's existence, a DOG displayed during programmes.

TV3 announced in mid-2000 that after tests to broadcast on HDTV had been successful, that many programmes shown on the channel would be broadcast in high definition within the next five years. At first, TV3 only broadcast few HD programmes, with live coverage of the 2001-02 UEFA Champions League season, as live games ran on TV3 on Tuesday nights.

Sunrise and This Morning began to be broadcast in HD in November 2002, followed by Barcroft the following month.

TV3 launched a high-definition channel in February 2003. HD3 was available exclusively as a pay-TV channel and broadcast high definition content as seen on TV3, Channel 4 and Spark. Premiere launched it's own premium HD service the same month.

The noughties (2001-2007)
In addition to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, the network entered the 2000s with hits held over from the previous decade such as The News Show, Friends, Full Frontal, Skithouse, Cover, Banked and new series such as The Eleventh Hour presented by Alex Robertson, which replaced Terrence Tonight.

TV3 suffered a massive blow in November 2003 when it was announced that Network Two had outbid the channel for the rights to broadcast Australian soap  - which TV3 had shown since launch, beginning in 2005. This same fate occured with the New Zealand medical soap Shortland Street in 2010, after a 16-year run on TV3.

TV3 gave ETV a historic ratings low when on 5th November 2004, an hour-long episode of Barcroft, The News Show and the premiere of Who Wants To Be A Super Millionaire? gave the channel an unprecedented 25 million viewers, which was unheard of at the time for a quiz show.

This was despite what turned out to be a heavily successful lineup across ETV1 and Network Two (with US series such as Cold Case, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NUMB3RS, Arrested Development and NCIS) that Autumn, and across the board a poor year for TV3. TV3 in an attempt to retain their position as the number one network in the country, initiated a major revamp for the network which took place in September 2005 intended to truly compete against the public broadcaster. Noting that the likes of CSI and NCIS were aimed towards older upmarket audiences, TV3 decided to also edge itself more upmarket but position itself to a more cutting edge younger demographic.

Lost and House premiered on free to air television, and the channel acquired some of the more popular contemporary US series - primetime soaps such as Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy as well as sitcoms such as the American version of The Office and the return of Family Guy. From the UK, Doctor Who and Extras premiered. The channel also switched to HD production for sitcoms and dramas, including Silverthorne, a new detective comedy-drama series.

The channel also acquired the rights to produce the Euroish versions of popular international formats Deal or No Deal, The X Factor, The Apprentice and Dancing with The Stars. There was also a new series of Super Millionaire. Barcroft was moved to a new scheduling format on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7.30pm, alternating with long running UK soap Coronation Street.

The new schedule paid off massively for the network. Ratings went up, and the channel overtook EBC One as the country's biggest channel.

We Love TV (2007-2020)
In 2007, it was announced that, in spite of high ratings and a replenished reputation for quality programming, the flagship TV3 channel would be refocused to primarily target families with children, with a schedule consisting of mainstream entertainment, drama, films and sport. Despite this, some series falling out of this remit, such as The News Show, remained in the schedule.

The new programming direction led to TV3 revamping it's image that October with a "female friendly" brand, and a new slogan, We Love TV. ZTV was rebranded on the same day as TV4, which by stark contrast had an upmarket male focus and a remit for cutting-edge comedy, documentaries, sports, movies, arts, drama and more experimental programmes. Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy were seen as flagships for the new schedule and the channel had began to openly search for new homegrown series that could be seen as comparable.

On 1st January 2009, Complications, a female-oriented medical drama series, debuted on TV3. The new medical drama quickly became TV3's most successful homegrown drama series to date in terms of viewing figures and international sales. It also saw it's closest competitor in the medical drama field, ETV One's Lifeline - which had been on the air since 1988 - rapidly lose audiences and get axed in 2011.

TV3 rebranded on 3 December 2009, introducing a new logo in the process.

Schedule revamp (2020-present)
On 28th October, 2020, TV3 unveiled a new schedule lineup & branding package set to launch in December 2020, along with the return of "The One To Watch" as a slogan.

Schedules

 * 9th January 1998

News and information

 * Three News
 * 3 News at 12 (2011-present)
 * 3 News at 3 (2011-present)
 * 3 News at 7 (1989-present)
 * 3 Nightline (1991-present)
 * Sunrise (1990-present)
 * Early Sunrise (1997-present)
 * Sunrise Extra (2006-present)
 * Liquid News (2001-present; weekly editions)
 * 60 Minutes (1989-present)
 * Weekend World (1989-present)

Rights

 * WarnerMedia/HBO
 * The Walt Disney Company
 * 20th Century Studios
 * Marvel Comics
 * Pixar
 * Lucasfilm
 * NBCUniversal
 * StudioCanal
 * A24
 * Film4
 * Entertainment One
 * Amblin Partners

Light entertainment & game shows

 * Euroish Got Talent (2008-present)
 * Stars In Their Eyes (1991-1996; 1999-2007; 2016-present)
 * The Euroish Lottery: Winning Streak (1995-present)
 * Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? (1999-2005; 2021-present)
 * The Weakest Link (2003-2011; 2023-present)
 * Dancing With The Stars (2005-present)
 * Euroish Idol (2002-2004; 2021-present - runs bi-annually)
 * Love Island (2020-present)
 * Gladiators (1993-2000; 2022-present)
 * Come Dine With Me (2006-present)
 * Educating.... (2014-present)
 * Gogglebox (2022-present - moved from TV4)
 * The 1% Club (2023-present)

Competitive reality & dating

 * Big Brother (2001-2012; 2022-present)
 * The Great Euroish Bake Off (2015-present)
 * The Traitors (2023-present)
 * FBOY Island (2023-present)
 * My Mum, Your Dad (2023-present)

Drama and soap

 * Complications (2009-present)
 * Inside the Box (2017-present)
 * In Blue (2018-present)
 * Buckingham Avenue (2020-present)

Comedy

 * You've Been Framed! (1991-present)
 * The News Show (1998-present)
 * Would I Lie to You? (2011-present)
 * Impressionable (2019-present)
 * First Take (2020-present)
 * The Cheap Seats (2021-present)
 * Mixup (2022-present)
 * F Off (2023-present)
 * Pandemonium (2023-present)
 * Guttered (2023-present)

Magazine

 * This Morning (1989-present)

Talk show

 * Open Air (2023-present)

Lifestyle and factual

 * Let's Do Lunch (2008-2013; 2023-present)
 * Homes Under the Hammer (2005-present)
 * Ready, Steady, Cook (2007-2013; 2023-present)
 * Educating... (2016-present)

Arts

 * Opus (2020-present; moved from Spark)
 * The Culture Vulture (2001-present)

Sport

 * The Goal Rush (2001-present)
 * (1992-present)

Programming blocks

 * 3C (2011-present)

Carriage rights for films and TV series

 * Picturehouse Movies
 * Warner Bros. Discovery
 * The Walt Disney Company
 * Walt Disney Pictures
 * 20th Century Studios
 * Pixar
 * Lucasfilm
 * Marvel Studios
 * NBCUniversal
 * Universal
 * Illumination
 * DreamWorks
 * StudioCanal
 * A24
 * Entertainment One
 * Amblin Partners
 * Film4
 * Shondaland

News and current affairs

 * BBC News (UK) (1995-present)
 * ITV World News (UK) (1995-present)
 * CNN (US) (1989-present)
 * 60 Minutes (US) (1989-present)

Reality

 * (UK) (2014-present)
 * (US) (2002-2016; 2018-present)

Drama and soap

 * (UK) (1989-present)
 * (UK) (1989-present)
 * (AUS) (1989-2022; 2023-present)
 * (US) (1990-present)
 * (US) (2000-present)
 * (US) (2005-present)
 * (UK) (2005-present)
 * (US) (2012-present)
 * (UK) (2013-present)
 * (US) (2014-present)
 * (US) (2016-present)
 * (US) (2017-present)
 * (US) (2018-present)
 * (US) (2018-present)
 * (US) (2019-present)
 * (UK) (2019-present)
 * (US) (2020-present)
 * (US) (2021-present)
 * (AUS) (2022-present)
 * (US) (2022-present)
 * (US) (2023-present)

Comedy

 * (US) (1991-present)
 * (US) (1995-present)
 * (US) (2000-present)
 * (UK) (2008-present)
 * (US) (2008-present)
 * (US) (2010-present)
 * (UK) (2012-present)
 * (US) (2016-present)
 * (US) (2018-present)
 * (US) (2018-present)
 * (UK) (2019-present)
 * (US) (2022-present)
 * (US) (2022-present)
 * (US) (2022-present)
 * (US) (2023-present)
 * (UK) (2023-present)

News & information

 * Inside Edition (1991-2005)
 * The Midday Report (1998-2010)

Entertainment and reality

 * Bob's House Party (1993-1997; 2000-2002; 2018)
 * Terrence Tonight (1993-2000)
 * Don't Forget Your Toothbrush (1996-1999; 2003-2005)
 * CD:Live (1999-2009)
 * Popstars (2001-2006)
 * Live with Paul Mellor (2002-2003)
 * Soapstars (2003)
 * Talking To Mimi (2004)
 * The X Factor (2005-2012)
 * The Masked Singer (2019)

Comedy

 * Within Time (1989-1991)
 * All We Wanted (1990-1993)
 * Me Me Me Me Me (1991-1999)
 * Call My Agent (1992-1998)
 * Hyperactive (1994-1997)
 * Full Frontal (1995-2001)
 * Turned World (2006-2009)
 * The Eleventh Hour (2000-2005)
 * Matt Hughes's TV Burp (2005-2011)
 * Some Guys (2016-2021)
 * Sharp Cut (2003-2012)
 * Skitshow (1998-2005)
 * ZYX (1999-2003)

Game show

 * Are You Smarter than a 10 Year Old? (2008-2012)
 * Beat the Star (2008-2013)
 * The Chase (2011)

Drama and soap

 * Barcroft (1989-2020)
 * (UK) (1989-2020; moved from and back to ETV1)
 * (AUS) (1989-2005; moved to Network Two)
 * (UK) (1989-2005)
 * (UK) (1990-1995, moved to TV4)
 * (US) (1990-1995, moved to TV4)
 * (UK) (1990-2011)
 * (NZ) (1994-2010; moved to Network Two)
 * (AUS) (1992-1994)
 * (US) (1993-1995, moved to TV4)
 * (US) (1994-2005)
 * (US) (1994-2002)
 * (US) (1995-2001)
 * (US) (1997-2005)
 * (US) (1998-2003)
 * (US) (1998-2010)
 * (UK) (1999-2022)
 * (US) (1999-2005)
 * (US) (2003-2010)
 * (US) (2003-2008)
 * (US) (2005-2011)
 * (US) (2005-2012)
 * (US) (2005-2010)
 * (US) (2005-2014)
 * (UK) (2006-2009)
 * (US) (2007)
 * (UK) (2008-2010)
 * (UK) (2008-2013)
 * (US) (2009-2015)
 * (UK) (2009-2011)
 * (US) (2010-2013)
 * (US) (2012-2018)
 * (US) (2014-2020)

Programming blocks

 * The Fix (1989-2010)

International availability

 * In the UK & Ireland, TV3 and other EuroMedia FTA channels can be manually tuned on BSB.

Slogans

 * 1989-1990: Come Home To Entertainment
 * 1990-1993: The Entertainment Network
 * 1993-1995: Three Is The Magic Number
 * March-October 1995: Gotta Be Three
 * October 1995-August 1996: Better On Three
 * 1996-1998: It's Here On 3
 * 1998-1999: It's All New, It's All Great, It's TV3.
 * 1999-2007: The One To Watch (first incarnation)
 * 2007-2012: Power of Three
 * 2012-2016: The Nation's Favourite
 * 2016-2020: Gottaloveit
 * 2020-present: The One To Watch (second incarnation)

Key people

 * Controller of TV3: Connor Stoneway
 * Stoneway is responsible for the overall programme lineup of TV3, supervising and making primary decisions regarding scheduling, commissioning and on-screen presentation.
 * Director of Daytime and Unscripted: Jane Gorman
 * Gorman serves as an executive producer on TV3's daytime programmes Sunrise, This Morning and Today, and since September 2018 has been ultimately responsible for the commissioning and scheduling of TV3's daytime programming, as well as lifestyle, factual entertainment and reality shows. She was responsible for the commissioning of The Masked Singer, My Mum, Your Dad and The Traitors for TV3, and brought Love Island to the channel after 3 popular series on TV4.
 * Director of Drama: Maxine Chambers
 * Chambers started her career at TV3 as a writer for Barcroft, before moving to Complications as becoming it's head writer and eventually executive producer, under which she launched Critical Condition and Hospital Life as spin-offs. She was promoted to TV3's head of drama in 2017, continuing to oversee both shows as well as all new drama commissions. She notably axed Barcroft in 2020 and launching it's replacement, Buckingham Road. Chambers also works with Controller of Acquisitions, Patrick Cooper, with the acquisitions of international drama series and soap operas.
 * Director of Comedy and Light Entertainment: Thomas White
 * White joined TV3 in 2018 from TV4, which he had controlled from 2014. He was also the assistant controller of Network Two from 2010 to 2014. During his time at TV3, he has launched Impressionable, The Cheap Seats, Mixup, Pandemonium and F Off, as the well as the initial pilot for First Take. He ws also responsible for commissioning the revivals of Big Brother and Euroish Idol and for promoting Gogglebox from TV4, which he had originally commissioned for them in 2016.
 * Director of News and Current Affairs: George Edwards
 * Edwards began his career at ETV News in 1998, jumping ship to TV3 as creative director for the 7 o'clock bulletin in 2002, and was quickly promoted to executive director for the impending relaunch of 3 News which took place in 2005. He expanded his purvue in 2009 to cover sister programmes Nightline and The Midday Report, before taking up his current position in 2014, giving him responsibility over 60 Minutes, 60 Seconds, TV4 News, Liquid News & The Rundown.
 * Director of Acquisitions: Patrick Cooper
 * Patrick Cooper began his career at Complications in 2008, becoming the show's first executive producer. His time at the show led TV3 to promote him to the director of acquisitions in 2012. During his time, he has acquired the Euroish television rights to Line of Duty, the One Chicago franchise, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Newsreader, The Rookie, Ghosts, Our Flag Means Death and Julia. He was also a major face in the deal signed between TV3 and Shondaland in 2015 which gave TV3 lifetime rights to Grey's Anatomy. He has also successfully negotiated life-of-series deals for Doctor Who and the stable, and secure the rights to a first choice of new and popular programmes and movies from ABC Signature, 20th Century Fox Television, Warner Bros. Television and Universal Television.
 * Controller of TV4: Jamie Harrison