The rights to the BBC programmes previously were held by the BSB entertainment channel Galaxy, prior to the merger with Sky Television to form BSkyB in November 1990.

[3][4] Flextech's main reason for increasing its stake in UK Gold was in participation of new talks with the BBC.

[6][7] On 30 June 2002, UKTV announced the launch of a one-hour timeshift service of the network, entitled UK Gold +1.

It initially only broadcast during the evening from 7:00pm–7:00am, much like UK Gold 2[9] but on 12 November 2003, the channel gained a full 24-hour slot.

[10] The channel rebranded as such on that day, and alongside that UK Gold +1 expanded to a full 24-hour schedule to match its parent network.

The channels had always been the main rivals to Gold due to the direct mix of archive BBC and ITV programming.

ITV3 currently has a higher viewer share, often put down to the fact that the terrestrial platform Freeview shows ITV3 but not Gold.

According to the trade magazine, Broadcast, Gold "has secured a budget running into "double-digit millions" to create a raft of new comedy shows over the next two years".

[12] UKTV executive Jane Rogers stated to Broadcast that the commissions would be high-quality, as "they would need to sit confidently alongside classics such as Only Fools And Horses and The Vicar of Dibley".

She also added: "Gold is well entrenched in the UK's psyche as the home of national treasure comedies, so we cannot afford to look cheap next to those programmes.

"[12] The first programme announced as part of the investment was a reboot of the BBC sitcom, Yes, Prime Minister, to be based on the 2010 stage production and written by original writers Sir Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn.

The reboot was the second classic BBC sitcom to be resurrected by a UKTV network, following the two Dave-commissioned series of Red Dwarf.

[12] The channel was removed from Digital Terrestrial in 2013, along with Home as part of the closure of Top Up TV and was replaced with Drama in July 2013.

Gold and Home were not available to watch on Freeview boxes and televisions due to them being encrypted as subscription channels on Top Up TV.

[15] The new network's corporate identity saw all its channels logos simplified to a boxed "UK" followed by the name (e.g. "Gold") in the Gill Sans font, which had also been adopted by the BBC.

[15] The theme changed again, this time with idents featuring fireworks making shapes in the air, was launched in April 1999.

The fireworks theme was carried on in a new set of idents, alongside another network-wide rebranding of the logo in 2001, adopting a bolder font and merging UK into a single composite character.

This new identity also featured a series of shifting yellow, orange and red blocks which suggested a gold bar at the centre of the screen.

[15] On 4 April 2007, UKTV Gold unveiled a new on-air identity centred around a branded golden space hopper, playing to contemporary trends toward 1970s nostalgia, and emphasising the station's re-run content.

[16] On 7 October 2008, following the rebranding, Gold's 2008 presentation debuted, featuring cartoon objects making a giant chain, in Heath Robinson fashion, which triggers an event to herald the next programme.