.tv

Background
.tv was a British television channel dedicated to technology that was owned by British Sky Broadcasting. The channel began broadcasting as The Computer Channel and broadcasted at 18:00 to 20:00 on Granada Good Life (later known as Granada Breeze). The broadcasting hours were expanded to midday-midnight when The Computer Channel (later .tv) started broadcasting on BSkyB's digital satellite platform Sky Digital in 1998. The channel ceased transmissions on 1 September 2001 due to low audience ratings.

(1996-1998)


Logo: We fade into a bright white flash, with a silhouette-like person in the middle raising his arms while holding / flags in both hands, as lights and trails appear all around him, with a drawing of a coconut in a circle flashing twice. It flashes twice once more as inverted-like effects appear as we cut to the side view of the coconut being chopped off from its side, and we cut to two more people, one of which is a girl holding the same / flags. We cut to various shots of more people with more effects popping up, alongside some other things such as an apple, star and banana appearing briefly. Then the flash dies down to reveal the same person from the start with the said aforementioned things changing quickly at the top as the background shows effects all around it, as the stacked text "THE computer CHANNEL" blurs in, slightly out of position from each other (with "computer" being the biggest, and "THE" and "CHANNEL" being the smallest and spaced out). Then the channel's URL appears below.

Opening Variant: After a few seconds, the logo described above disappears as some fruits (such as strawberry, watermelon, lemon, apple and strawberry again) appear flashing and changing quickly through a vortex-like effect. Then a flash brightens up to reveal the guide for the channel, with the time put on the fruit and the program shown below.

Technique: Primarily live-action with CGI effects added in.

Music/Sounds: A techno tune with beeps and piano notes. The opening also has a man announcing the programs.

Availability: Extinct.

Legacy: This is a very nicely done logo.

(1998-2001)
Logo: On a black background, a light flashes and then transforms into a rotating  globe while digital stuff and lights appear in the background. The logo then fades into a digital eye with a metal border on a dark red background. There is another fade, and then we see another digital globe (sliced horizontally) which emits lights. The globe fades out and then another globe (a little darker this time) appears and the other globes emit from it. The digital stuff/lights disappear and the background changes into a one. "Courier" and the channel's URL appears via a "blur" effect below the globes.

Variants: Two other idents for the channel's programming blocks have been made.
 * family.tv: We see a kid in a shirt and  pants playing a game on a portable game console with his dog in a  bubble, but the game console explodes into 3 TV tube-like shapes in three colors (,  and ), and the camera pans into a father on a pink bubble as he looks at the shapes. The dog chases these shapes and the camera pans more, as a person on a transparent  bubble appears in front of the dog, and the dog jumps, and it meets a girl on a  bubble, which shows the dog a teddy plush. The camera zooms back so we can see all the members of the family. The  bubble is also bigger than usual. The shapes then move below and form the text "Courier", and the shapes return to the kid.
 * internet.tv: Against a map-like background, we see a  sphere with the map of the Earth on it rotating quickly. As it zooms back, the continents morph into a --esque gradient as a bright light begins to burst in the middle of the sphere, growing more larger. The circle then transforms into a spinning lens-like circle while dark cloud-like things appear throughout. The circle morphs into a disco ball-like thing, and then a live-action hand comes in from the left, grabbing the ball onto it as a bright light briefly flashes, making the background white and the ball inside containing data-like things with a  glow around it. As it starts to zoom closely, the text forms "Courier" underneath it as the data-like things continue inside the sphere before cutting to black.

Technique: Not bad animation for 1998.

Music/Sounds: First a take-off sound is heard. Then a funky theme plays, then there's an ascending sound and a female announcer says "Dot TV".

Music/Sounds Variants:
 * On the "family.tv" variant, a playful theme is used.
 * On the "internet.tv" variant, an atmospheric drum & bass theme plays, and a swoosh is heard when the result forms.

Availability: Extinct.

Legacy: The beginning may surprise a few, but like the previous logo, it's a nicely done one.