Horror Channel, which is owned and operated by the CBS AMC Networks UK Channels Partnership, announced today that it is launching on the UK’s most-watched digital TV service, Freeview on Friday, 13th March. It will be available on Freeview channel number 70 and is currently carried on Sky channel 319, Freesat channel 138, and Virgin channel 149.

The launch will result in a 90% DTT coverage in the UK, making Horror Channel available in 17 million Freeview homes*. Horror Channel is already the second largest free to air movie channel in cable and satellite homes**.

Recent Horror Channel premieres include Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof and Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, while iconic series such as the channel’s highest-rated series** classic Doctor Who and The Incredible Hulk remain firm favourites. The spring line-up will include the “Apocalypse Season” on Horror Channel with Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror and Stephen King’s The Stand.

Tanya Gugenheim, Chief Business Development Officer, AMC Networks International – Zone said: “Horror Channel has become the third channel in the CBS AMC Channel portfolio to launch on Freeview within a year, joining CBS Reality and CBS Action and underscoring the demand for our content offering. The channel already boasts a loyal fan base, and we’re pleased to introduce it to a broader audience through Freeview.”

Guy North, Managing Director at Freeview said: “We’re excited to welcome another member of the CBS channel family to Freeview. Horror Channel will provide the bravest of our viewers with plenty of thrilling programmes alongside cult classics and fantasy favourites for the more faint-hearted.”

Mike Finchen, Director, Digital Terrestrial Television at Arqiva said: "We are delighted to welcome Horror Channel to the Freeview platform. Arqiva is committed to broadcasting a variety of content to offer viewers the best possible channel and programme choices - Horror Channel is a great addition."

* there are 19 million (main and second set) Freeview homes in the UK as of March 2015, Freeview
** amongst Horror Channel’s key 16-44 age group, based on average 000s, day part 0900-2829, BARB-Tech Edge
** within the last 2 years – so far 3 million adults have tuned in to see Who on Horror, BARB-Tech Edge

Fans of Doctor Who are set to find the TARDIS materialising at a new location this Easter as a selection of the Time Lord’s classic adventures in space and time start screening on Horror Channel. The UK’s prime home for fans of horror, fantasy and sci-fi has completed a deal with BBC Worldwide to broadcast 30 adventures from the Classic series which ran 1963 to 1989 featuring the first seven Doctors, starting with William Hartnell and concluding with Sylvester McCoy.

This specially curated season give fans old and new a chance to get re-acquainted with favourite companions Jamie McCrimmon, Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith, rogue Time Lords such as The Master, Omega and The Rani and all those iconic monsters including Daleks, Cybermen, Sea Devils and Ice Warriors.

Launching on Friday 18th April (Good Friday) the season begins with the very first story An Unearthly Child, starring William Hartnell as the Doctor. It then leads into a special WHO ON HORROR weekend - a classic marathon featuring one story from each of the Doctors across the Easter weekend. There will then be weekday double-bills in daytime and evening slots with stories shown in chronological order starting on Easter Monday 21st April. Horror Channel is screening some of the most memorable adventures that the show produced including The Mind Robber, The Daemons, Genesis Of The Daleks, The Talons Of Weng Chiang, The Caves Of Androzani, Attack Of The Cybermen and The Curse Of Fenric.

Many emphasise the horror elements of the programme from the first scary moments the Daleks appeared, to encounters with giant spiders and maggots, and even battles with Mary Whitehouse over the violent content of the show during Tom Baker’s era.

Alina Florea, Director of Programming, said today: “Doctor Who is an iconic series and we are proud and excited to welcome this giant of British television to our channel. The line-up will include some of the most revered from seven classic Doctors – stories that terrified, thrilled and captured the imagination of children and adults through the decades. Doctor Who joins a long line of well-loved classic series we have endeavoured to showcase on Horror Channel over the last few years.”

Sam Tewugwa, Commercial Director, TV and VOD Sales at BBC Worldwide commented: “This is a great new way for fans to enjoy classic Doctor Who stories. Our discovery of missing episodes of Doctor Who last year highlighted the fans’ appetite for classic episodes to be made more widely available and we’re delighted to be able to extend that through the series available on the channel"

The classic Doctor Who series complements the growing segment of cult television series available on the channel. Wonder Woman, Xena: Warrior Princess, New Twilight Zone, Star Trek and The Invaders fill the daytime schedule, reflecting the expansion of the channel acquisitions into the fantasy, adventure, and science fiction genres. Doctor Who will have been the first taste of frightening television for many Horror Channel viewers, and following on from the show’s record-breaking 50th anniversary celebrations last year, they will now have the opportunity to relive those terrifying moments and exciting cliff-hangers again.

Do not miss an episode starting April 18th. #WHOonHorror