Court TV Expands UK Footprint with Launch on Freesat

Just weeks after debuting in the United Kingdom, Court TV has grown its UK presence further thanks to a new carriage agreement with Freesat, the UK’s free-to-air satellite platform. The deal adds an additional two million homes to Court TV’s viewing base in the UK via Freesat channel 177. View a promo of Court TV.

The network’s UK launch in September offered audiences primetime access to, and analysis of, the most explosive real-life courtroom dramas taking place in the US today, live and gavel-to-gavel. Court TV’s roster of forthcoming trials available for UK audiences in early 2021 promises to be just as gripping, with cases including:

  • The Death of George Floyd - Four Minneapolis police officers will be tried in the death of George Floyd, which launched a national movement on race in America.
     
  • The Killing of Ahmaud Arbery - Three white men are accused of murder in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man who was shot while jogging through a South Georgia neighborhood.
     
  • The Case of The Doomsday Cult Mom - Lori Vallow and her husband, Chad Daybell, are facing charges after authorities discovered the bodies of their two children in their backyard. Daybell, a former gravedigger, has authored numerous doomsday books and is rumored to have built a cult-type following.
     
  • “The Jinx” Murder Trial - Robert Durst, a wealthy New York City real estate heir, faces first-degree murder charges in California, as police allege he killed his longtime friend, Susan Berman. Authorities suspect Durst in the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathleen McCormack, and investigators believe that Durst, the subject of the HBO documentary “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” killed Berman because she knew what happened to McCormack.
     
  • The R. Kelly Sex Abuse Case - Entertainer R. Kelly, currently in a federal prison in Chicago, faces numerous racketeering and sex trafficking charges involving five women, with legal problems ignited by the television show “Surviving R. Kelly.”

Complementing the live coverage are a team of anchors, legal correspondents and veteran crime and justice journalists - all of whom are lawyers – who offer in-depth legal reporting and expert analysis to take viewers through the proceedings and help them understand the intricacies of the US judicial system. They include Emmy-Award-winning lead anchor Vinnie Politan, as well as Julie Grant, Ted Rowlands, Michael Ayala. Meanwhile, legal correspondents and crime reporters Chanley Painter and Julia Jenaé will be reporting from the courts. The Court TV regulars are joined by some of the brightest lawyers, most-experienced investigators, and experts who provide additional legal insights, opinion, discussion, and debate.

Viewers can also follow along on social media: @CourtTVUK.

Court TV is part of Katz Networks and The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP).

For more information, please contact:

Chris Charlton
chrischarlton1968@gmail.com
Tel: 07720 598 007

About Katz Networks

Court TV is part of Katz Networks, targeted, demo-specific brands leading a new generation of fast-growing, multi-platform networks that super serve consumers with diverse and entertaining programming available to be seen everywhere, on over-the-air, cable, satellite television, via over-the-top services, on mobile devices and on the web.

About Scripps

The E.W. Scripps Company (NASDAQ: SSP) is one of the nation’s leading media companies, focused on creating a better-informed world through a portfolio of news, information and entertainment brands. Scripps will become the nation’s largest television broadcaster, reaching 73% of U.S. television households through 108 stations in 76 markets, pending regulatory approval of its acquisition of ION Media. Committed to serving local audiences through objective journalism, Scripps operates 60 local TV stations in 42 markets. It is creating a national TV networks business that will include ION Media’s entertainment programming, Newsy’s straightforward headline and documentary news content and the five popular Katz broadcast networks including Bounce and Court TV. Scripps runs an award-winning investigative reporting newsroom in Washington, D.C., and is the longtime steward of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Founded in 1878, Scripps has held for decades to the motto, “Give light and the people will find their own way.”

About Freesat

Freesat is the UK’s subscription-free satellite television platform, offering brilliant free recordable TV, together with the latest streaming services, including catch-up and pay-as-you-go. First and foremost, we’re about giving our viewers content, choice and amazing value. But we’re also innovative, ambitious and agile, whether that’s adding new services on our platform, finding new ways to help the channels that work with us, or exporting our technology to broadcasters in new territories. We invest our profits back into the business, helping to maintain a great user experience for all our customers. Established in 2007 by the BBC and ITV, Freesat reaches 2 million homes each week and is available via TV and set-top box. Our customers have access to a wide range of channels providing entertainment, news, and children’s programming and on-demand and catch-up favourites such as BBC iPlayer, ITVX, YouTube and Netflix. Our user interface and management platform, Metaphor, provides international TV companies with connected TV solutions. We are a founding member of the Free TV Alliance in Europe and in 2016 we launched an audience analytics and insight service in association with TVbeat. www.freesat.co.uk

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Note to Editors:

Court TV is also available on Sky Television Channel 179.

Find out about the latest scheduling news at www.courttv.uk. Over the next few weeks, viewers can get a taster of Court TV’s most recent explosive trials including:

  • Florida vs Amato – runs from 30/11-10/12 Grant Amato is on trial for the murders of his father, mother and brother in late January of 2019. The bodies of 59-year-old Chad Amato, 61-year-old Margaret Amato and 31-year-old Cody Amato were found in their Seminole County home on January 25. The prosecution claims Grant killed his family after an argument over his obsession with a webcam model, which had caused turmoil in the family for months. The defence claims Grant couldn't have possibly killed his family, suggesting an unknown killer.
     
  • Wisconsin vs McCandless – runs from 11/12-18/12 and then continues from 04/01-13/01 22 year old Ezra McCandless stands accused of murdering 24-year-old Alex Woodworth in the town of Spring Brook in Wisconsin. McCandless, a woman who sometimes identifies as male claims her actions were in self-defence. Prosecutors say she intentionally lured Woodworth to his death to rid herself of inner turmoil. If found guilty, she faces a lifetime in prison.
     
  • Tennessee vs Guy – 12/12-25/12 32-year-old Joel Michael Guy Jr. stands accused of murdering and brutally dismembering the corpses of his parents on Thanksgiving weekend in 2016 while visiting from Baton Rouge. Guy Jr., a 28-year-old college dropout at the time, reportedly became irate when his parents said they were going to financially cut him off.
     
  • Ohio vs Groves – 28/12 – 01/01 Daniel and Jessica Groves are facing life in prison in the death of their two-month-old son, Dylan. The couple is facing multiple charges, including murder and gross abuse of a corpse. They were arrested in June after Dylan Groves’ decomposed body was found at the bottom of a 30-foot well near their home.