RealityXtra

RealityXtra (formerly CBS Drama) is a British free-to-air television channel that centres its programming on American television shows produced by CBS. It is the sister channel of CBS Reality and is owned in partnership by AMC Networks and Paramount Networks.

RealityXtra
Broadcast areaUnited Kingdom
Programming
Picture format576i 16:9 SDTV
Ownership
Owner
Sister channels
List
History
Launched16 November 2009 (2009-11-16)
ReplacedZone Romantica (Europe) *Zone Club (Poland)
Former namesCBS Drama (2009–2022)
Links
Websiterealityxtra.co.uk
Availability
Terrestrial
Freeview (UK)Channel 68
Streaming media
Virgin TV AnywhereWatch live (UK only)

History
CBS Drama logo, used until 30 June 2022.

CBS Drama

On 14 September 2009, it was revealed that the international arm of CBS, CBS Studios International, struck a joint venture deal with Chellomedia to launch six CBS-branded channels in the UK during 2009. The new channels would replace Zone Romantica, Zone Thriller, Zone Horror and CBS Reality, plus timeshift services Zone Horror +1 and Zone Reality +1.[1][2] On 1 October 2009, it was announced that CBS Reality, CBS Reality +1, CBS Drama and CBS Justice (replacing CBS Action in 2018) would launch on 16 November 2009 replacing Zone Reality, Zone Reality +1, Zone Romantica and Zone Thriller. On 5 April 2010, Zone Horror and Zone Horror +1 were rebranded by Horror Channel and Horror Channel +1, following the rebrand of the portfolio's other three channels in November 2009.[3]

On 1 August 2012 Chellomedia revealed that all European versions of the Zone Channels would be rebranded into CBS Channels.[4] CBS Drama replaced Zone Romantica on 3 December 2012 (in Poland replaced Zone Club).[5]

CBS Reality launched on Freeview on 1 April 2014 followed by CBS Action on 1 October 2014 and as of July 2014, CBS Reality +1, CBS Action, CBS Drama & Horror Channel are available on the YouView platform as part of TalkTalk TV's Entertainment Boost, but were removed from the EPG on 2 June 2015.

CBS Drama closed in Poland on 31 December 2016.[6] It had broadcast UK shows such as Bad Girls, Waterloo Road and Footballers Wives, American shows such as Dallas, Beverly Hills, 90210, CSI and Knots Landing, as well as Australian shows such as Return To Eden and Bondi Rescue.

RealityXtra

On 30 June 2022, the British arm of the AMC-Paramount partnership revised their channel line-up with all CBS branding, with the exception of CBS Reality, being dropped and new channel Legend taking CBS Justice's slot and Horror's programming. In the reshuffle, CBS Drama was renamed Reality Xtra, becoming a sister channel to the current (CBS) Reality channel.[7]

With the rebrand and reshuffle of channels, RealityXtra changed frequencies on Freeview and became a limited-reach channel for viewers who could receive the range of Local channels on channel 7 or 8.[8][9]

Current programming on RealityXtra

RealityXtra2
RealityXtra2
Broadcast areaUnited Kingdom
Programming
Picture format576i 16:9 SDTV
Ownership
Owner
Sister channels
List
History
Launched26 October 2022 (2022-10-26)
Links
Websiterealityxtra.co.uk
Availability
Terrestrial
Freeview (UK)Channel 69

RealityXtra2 launched on 26 October 2022 on Freeview channel 69[10] with the channel only broadcasting two episodes of Donal MacIntyre's Murder Files from 12:00am until 2:00am. It is deemed[11] to be a placeholder channel, a channel operating until more space can be found for another one of the network's channels.[11] RealityXtra2 uses the on-screen bug of the RealityXtra channel (CBS Justice from 26 October until 11 November) but with the channel ident used on-air.[12] The channel hours had been changed to between 3:00am until 5:00am by 2023, with the channel showing random episodes of The Fugitive[13] and Written In Blood[14] by April 2023, the month it was announced that the channel's slot on Freeview would be used for HorrorXtra, with channel 69's operating hours changed to have a full daytime schedule.[15]

Current programming on RealityXtra2

See also

References
  1. "CBS FINALChello Zone partnership press release". Chello Zone. 14 September 2009. Archived from the original (DOC) on 24 July 2011.
  2. "CBS to launch UK channels with Chellomedia". Broadcastnow. 14 September 2009.
  3. "Zone Horror rebrands as Horror Channel". Broadband TV News. 31 March 2010.
  4. "CBS and Chellomedia take entertainment across EMEA". Broadband TV News. 1 August 2012.
  5. "Kanały CBS w Polsce. Co w ramówce?". Media2.pl. 30 November 2012.
  6. "CBS Drama kończy nadawanie w Polsce" (in Polish). 26 November 2016.
  7. "CBS name dropped in major channel change". 18 June 2022.
  8. "Freeview channel switch-off completes". 30 June 2022.
  9. "Freeview Updates (via Wayback Machine)". 15 September 2022 [30 June 2022]. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022.
  10. "Freeview Updates". 26 October 2022 [26 October 2022].
  11. "Freeview changes: new services for October". 26 October 2022.
  12. "RealityXtra 2 - Continuity (27th October 2022) - YouTube". YouTube. 27 October 2022.
  13. "The Fugitive on RealityXtra". www.realityxtra.co.uk.
  14. "Written In Blood on CBS Reality". www.cbsreality.tv.
  15. Newsdesk1, RXTV (24 April 2023). "New channels for Freeview viewers from 26th April > RXTV info". RXTV info.
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