ITV shuts down major channel with huge TV shows in chaos

ITV shuts down channel after 11 years as huge shows face schedule change

ITV has announced the closure of reality channel ITVBe, which has been the home of The Only Way is Essex, The Real Housewives of Cheshire and other franchises since 2014

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ITVBe: Reality TV channel launches in 2014

ITV has announced that reality channel ITVBe will be retired from June 2025 after 11 years. The channel has been the home of shows like The Only Way is Essex, The Real Housewives of Cheshire and Real Housewives franchises since being established in 2014.

These shows will now be moved to ITV2 as ITVBe shuts down. They will be joined by “exciting new commissions” which are set to debut on the channel later this year. “As the flagship commissions move across to their ITV2 broadcast home, ITV will retire the ITVBe brand from its portfolio in June 2025,” ITV said in a statement.

ITV has shut down its reality channel ITVBe after 11 years (Image:

PA)
Instead, the channel slot will turn into ITV Quiz – which will feature ITV’s most popular quizzes and gameshows.

It’s not the first time that TOWIE has aired on ITV2, with the channel being the reality show’s original home when it first aired in 2010.

The show, which started the careers of Mark Wright, Joey Essex, Lucy Mecklenburgh, Sam Faiers and Dab Osborne, aired on ITV2 until 2014, when it became one of the flagship programmes on ITVBe.

Since launching in 2014, ITVBe has seen the launch of shows like The Real Housewives of Cheshire and Dinner Date, while comedy fans have previously been able to watch American shows like Jane the Virgin and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on the channel.

The Only Way is Essex will be moving back to ITV2 after 11 years on ITVBe
The huge news coincides with Celebrity Big Brother airing its second week of the competition on ITV2, having received over 1,000 Ofcom complaints following Mickey Rourke’s stint on the show.

The show received 1,010 Ofcom complaints during its 9 April show, during which Mickey received a formal warning from Big Brother after using a homophobic slur when speaking to lesbian contestant JoJo Siwa.

In the episode, the Hollywood star told JoJo that she would not longer be gay after a few days in the house with him and later told other housemates that he “wanted to get the lesbian out”.

He later said that he “needed a fag” before pointing at JoJo and saying: “I’m not talking to you.”

Apologising in the diary room afterwards, Mickey said: “I don’t have dishonourable intentions – I’m just talking smack you know. I wasn’t taking it all so serious. I didn’t mean in it any bad intentions and if I did, sorry.”

Mickey was eventually kicked out of the Celebrity Big Brother house after aggressively confronting fellow housemate Chris Hughes and making sexually crude comments to TOWIE star Ella Rae Wise.