UKTV Food to Become Good Food

LONDON: UKTV is continuing its rebranding efforts, licensing the name Good Food for its UKTV Food channel from BBC Worldwide, owner of the existing Good Food magazine brand.

The agreement permits UKTV to rebrand its dedicated UKTV Food channel and associated websites, while taking the new channel brand for all related commercial and promotional activities. The channel relaunches as Good Food on June 22 at 9 a.m., alongside the website goodfoodchannel.co.uk.

With the tagline "We have fun with food," Good Food will target the 25-to-44 set. The channel’s grid will be made up from 80 percent commissions and exclusive acquisitions, including Optomen’s Market Kitchen, Cactus TV’s Rachel Allen: Bake!, IWC’s James Martin’s Brittany, plus Ace of Cakes, Dinner Impossible and Oliver’s Twist.

The companion website will operate as a wholly independent commercial website, with its online ad sales run by IDS. BBC Worldwide will continue to run its bbcgoodfood.com website, live events, books and licensing businesses, while the Virgin Media- and BBC Worldwide-owned Good Food channel and associated website will remain independently controlled, both editorially and commercially, as at present.

UKTV’s controller, Matthew Littleford, said, “We are thrilled to mark our tenth and final channel rebrand with a completely different approach: licensing an established brand name that has both heritage and credibility associated with it. By relaunching our new food channel as Good Food, UKTV gains valuable brand equity while also completing our ambitious 18 month strategy to create a network of truly multiplatform brands.”

UKTV’s director of lifestyle, factual and new media, Jane Mote, added, “UKTV Food is hugely successful in both the linear TV world and online, so this rebrand is about building on its strengths while incorporating it into the new-look UKTV portfolio. We’re really looking forward to bringing the Good Food brand to life in a way that only TV can, while also making it appeal to a broader audience who love watching food shows for entertainment but wouldn’t necessarily describe themselves as foodies.”

Alfie Lewis, the publishing director of BBC Good Food magazine, commented, “We have established and maintained a close relationship with UKTV over recent years. The licensing of Good Food to UKTV is a natural development of this relationship and we look forward to continuing to grow the brand together.”

Good Food’s channel head, Richard Kingsbury, said, “By commissioning the best U.K. talent and scouring the world for the most entertaining food programming, we’re able to offer a constant stream of fresh content for our food-loving audience. This rebrand gives us a brand name with the stature to match the quality of the channel offering.”