BBC Parliament
| BBC Parliament | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 1992 (as The Parliamentary Channel) |
| Owned by | BBC |
| Picture format | 576i (16:9 SDTV) |
| Audience share | 0.05% (September 2015, BARB) |
| Formerly called | The Parliamentary Channel (1992–1998) |
| Sister channel(s) |
BBC One BBC Two BBC Four BBC News CBBC CBeebies |
| Website | bbc |
|
Availability
|
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| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 131 |
| Satellite | |
| Freesat | Channel 201 |
| Sky (UK only) | Channel 504 |
| Astra 2E | 10788 V 22000 5/6 |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media | Channel 605 |
| WightFibre | Channel 26 |
| Streaming media | |
| BBC iPlayer | Watch live (UK only) |
| TVPlayer | Watch live (UK only) |
BBC Parliament is a British television channel which broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Select Committees of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Scottish Parliament, the London Assembly, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Welsh Assembly. The channel also broadcasts reports from the European Parliament and the annual conferences of the main political parties and the Trades Union Congress. On average, 1.2% of the UK's total population watch the channel for more than three minutes at least once per week; these viewers watch for an average of just over two hours each over the course of the week. On 14 October 2016, the channel received a new look and new idents, its first revamp since 2009.
Before being taken over by the BBC, the channel was known as the Parliamentary Channel, operated by United Artists Cable and funded by a consortium of British cable operators. The Parliamentary Channel launched as a cable-exclusive channel in 1992. The channel was purchased by the BBC in 1998, retitled BBC Parliament and relaunched on 23 September 1998. It now broadcasts on cable, satellite, and Freeview.
The channel ran as an audio service via DAB from launch until 14 November 2000.
Due to capacity limitations on the digital terrestrial television platform, now known as Freeview, from launch until 30 October 2002, the channel ran as "audio only". Then on Freeview from October 2002 until 13 November 2006 the channel was only able to broadcast a quarter-screen picture. After receiving "thousands of angry and perplexed emails and letters", not to mention questions asked by MPs in the House itself, the BBC eventually found the bandwidth to make the channel full-screen.
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