ITV shuts down major channel after 11 years of broadcasting - with huge reality shows facing mega schedule shake-up
ITV is set to shut down a major channel after 11 years of broadcasting and reality shows will face a huge schedule shake-up.
The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE), The Real Housewives of Cheshire and Real Housewives franchises will all be moving from ITVBe which first launched in 2014.
Instead they will air on ITV2, which is set to become the new home of reality TV, following ITVBe's closure in June 2025.
Amongst ITV2's 'supercharged' offering of programmes are Olivia Attwood: The Price of Perfection, Family Guy and G'Wed.
While Love Island will return to the channel in the summer and Big Brother in the autumn, according to ITV.
TOWIE's move falls at the same time as the show's 15th anniversary and it originally aired on the channel for its first 12 series.
The Only Way is Essex (TOWIE), The Real Housewives of Cheshire (pictured) and Real Housewives franchises will move from ITVBe which first launched in 2014
Instead they will air on ITV2, which is set to become the new home of reality TV , following ITVBe's closure in June 2025
It comes as ITV2 secures its place as the 'UK's most watched digital channel for 16-34 year olds' so far this year, the broadcaster claimed.
Love Island and spin offs have attracted 2.2 billion streams, while all the versions of Big Brother have been streamed more than 100million times since 2023.
New shows are also set to join the channel, including Sam & Billie: Sister Act featuring siblings Sam Faiers and Billie Shepherd.
The retirement of ITVBe will see the channel transformed into ITV Quiz instead.
It comes as Celebrity Big Brother's launch night on ITV1 earlier this month pulled in the highest 16-34 audience of the night, more than all four competitor channels combined.
However, it did attract the lowest launch show ratings in the show's history
Overnight figures showed that the series pulled in a peak of 2.1 million viewers, with an overall average of 1.8 million.
This was down on last year's peak of 3.2 million viewers, when the series returned for its first celebrity incarnation since 2018.
It comes as Celebrity Big Brother's launch night on ITV1 earlier this month pulled in the highest 16-34 audience of the night , more than all four competitor channels combined
The iconic reality show kicked off its new series on on April 7, with Hollywood stars Mickey Rourke and Jojo Siwa joining names including Trisha Goddard and Chesney Hawkes in the famous house.
While this number was down on the previous year, fans have taken to X to note one key issue with the figures.
They noted that Celebrity Big Brother typically has a younger audience, and many of them likely watched the launch on ITVX.
This year, the CBB launch was also streamed live on YouTube, and neither of these viewing figures would have been included in the overnight ratings.
