S2 (TV channel)

S2

Country	Scotland
Broadcast area	Scotland (Central and Northern)
Headquarters	Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Programming
Language(s)	English
Picture format	576i (SDTV)
Ownership
Owner	SMG plc
Sister channels	Scottish TV, Grampian TV
History
Launched	30 April 1999; 25 years ago (30 April 1999)
Closed	27 July 2001; 23 years ago (27 July 2001)
Replaced by	ITV2, ITV Sport Channel
Links
Website	stv.tv
Availability (at time of closure)
Terrestrial
ITV Digital	Channel 6

S2 was a television station broadcast throughout the Scottish and Grampian ITV regions by SMG plc, the holder of the Scottish and Grampian region ITV franchises. The channel existed for two years, from April 1999 until July 2001.

S2 launched on the digital terrestrial platform ONdigital (The channel was also broadcast on cable television services NTL and Telewest) on 30 April 1999. Broadcasting from 4 pm and 2 am, the channel was targeted towards a 15- to 34-year-old youth audience and aired a mixture of drama and documentary programmes from the Scottish and Grampian libraries and a spree of new programmes. The channel's flagship programme, an entertainment programme named S2 Live, aired every night, presented by Sarah Heaney. S2 also broadcast sports coverage, including Scottish rugby.^[1]

By the beginning 2001, the channel had all but lost its original intentions after removing almost all of its Scottish programmes and mostly became a simulcast of ITV2, but covered the ITV2 graphic with an opaque S2 graphic. This change caused controversy.^[2]

Eventually, SMG signed a deal with Carlton Communications and Granada plc to add the standard ITV2 to the newly-rebranded ITV Digital service, and S2 was effectively replaced with ITV2 and the ITV Sport Channel on 27 July 2001.^[3]

• ITV2
• STV
• STV2
• Sky Scottish
• UTV2

• Official Website - at launch (archived)
• Official Website - at closure (archived)

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