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Break out the tiny sandwiches: On June 2, WETA launches WETA UK, a specialty channel that will show British programming seven days a week. D.C. area residents with the required technology (a newish television or an older TV with a digital-to-analog converter) can watch the channel for free over the air on channel 26.2.
From the press release, which already has me shopping online for a TV:
Among its many offerings, WETA UK will present a host of dramatic miniseries — including MI-5, Hustle, Waking the Dead, Primeval and New Tricks, several of which currently air in Britain — in addition to such popular classics as All Creatures Great and Small, Ballykissangel, vintage Doctor Who, Inspector Morse, Monarch of the Glen, Prime Suspect, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes and productions from the series Masterpiece (including classics such as I, Claudius). Each Saturday night, the WETA UK Movie will present the best in feature film-length contemporary drama, and beginning this fall, WETA UK will feature major specials.
These programs will air alongside an impressive roster of British comedies new and old, such as Chef!, Doc Martin, Outnumbered, Miranda, Fawlty Towers, My Family, Vicar of Dibley, Keeping Up Appearances, To the Manor Born, Last of the Summer Wine, Waiting for God, Are You Being Served?, and Red Dwarf. Each Friday, WETA UK will present comedy programming around the clock. The channel will also include episodes of the original BBC series Antiques Roadshow, which helped inspire its namesake — and antiques mania — in America.
Cable subscribers can watch the channel on Comcast 265, Cox 800, FiOS 474, and RCN 39.
Update: Sommer Mathis asks, What will happen to Create TV/WETA How-To, the cooking and lifestyle network that currently airs on Channel 26.2? According to WETA’s Craig Henderson, Create TV will be moved from 26.2 to Channel 26, and its programming will only show on weekends. Some Create programming already airs on weekends on Channel 26, but there will be more of it.