UKTVs History Channel rebrands as Yesterday

UKTV is rebranding its factual channel UKTV History as Yesterday with a remit to target upmarket 30-something couples.

The channel will rebrand on 2 March together with a complementary website www.visityesteryear.co.uk. The new channel proposition and name was developed in-house and the on-screen identity was developed together with Red Bee media.

It will try to present history programmes as more accessible and entertaining with a “new emphasis on living history”. It will include programme son popular culture with the aim of making the channel “feel more immediate and more personal”.

The programming will end with the line “Where the past is always present” and the launch week includes Andrew Marr’s History of Modern Britain, The Alan Clark Diaries, House of Cards and Antiques Roadshow.

Director of factual, lifestyle and new media Jane Mote says: “Yesterday will challenge traditional beliefs of what a history channel should be by taking a more inclusive, accessible and entertaining approach to the past and making it more immediate and relevant to viewers.”

UKTV has already rebranded several of its channels with the names Dave, Gold, Watch and Alibi. Factual channels that have been rebranded are Eden and Blighty. The lifestyle channels will be rebranded by the end of June.

The company is an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Virgin Media.