Channel 4 was launched on November 2, 1982. Wales has it's own version of the channel called S4C.

The first show to air on the network was the daily game show called Countdown which is still being made to the current day. The network shows a mixture of entertainment and factual series as well as showing many of the top shows from America. The network's most popular shows in recent years have been the reality show Big Brother and the game show Deal Or No Deal. Current American series that are shown on the network include Desperate Housewives, The Simpsons and ER.

The network launched the satellite and cable channels E4 in January 2001 and More 4 in October 2005. FilmFour was launched in November, 1998

As of September, 2006 the channel was attracting an average 8.6% audience share.