| 5USA | |
|---|---|
| Launched | 16 October 2006 |
| Owned by | Northern & Shell (Richard Desmond) |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV 16:9, 4:3) |
| Audience share | 1.0% 0.1% (+1) (August 2011, BARB) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Formerly called | Five.3 (working title)[1] Five US (2006-2009) |
| Sister channel(s) | Channel 5 5* |
| Timeshift service | 5USA +1 |
| Website | Channel5.com/5usa |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 31 |
| Satellite | |
| Freesat | Channel 129 Channel 130 (+1) |
| Sky | Channel 174 Channel 175 (+1) |
| Astra 1N | 10964H 22000 5/6 10964H 22000 5/6 (+1) |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media | Channel 153 Channel 154 (+1) |
| Smallworld Cable | Channel 143 |
| IPTV | |
| TalkTalk TV | Channel 30 |
| Internet television | |
| TVCatchup | Watch live (UK only) Watch live (+1) (UK only) |
5USA is an entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by Northern & Shell. It was launched on 16 October 2006 as "Five US" and was the second digital channel in the UK to be launched by RTL Group (the former owner) as part of their multi-channel strategy, the first being Five Life (now 5*).[2] 5USA concentrates on showing imported movies and programmes from the United States, originally broadcast from 16:00 to 01:00, extending its hours starting at 12:00 in June 2007. The channel changes its programme slots and shows from time to time. 5USA is shown on Freesat, Freeview, IPTV, digital cable and Sky.
It is a sister channel of Channel 5 and 5*.
The channel's highest ratings to date were on 12 February 2008 for the second part of the CSI/Without a Trace crossover. The show averaged 2.58m viewers between 22:00 and 23:00 equating to a multichannel share of 13.9%.
Those numbers made the show the most-watched multichannel programme in its slot - beating every other channel (digital and analogue) aside from BBC One, and is currently one of the highest ratings for a multichannel in the United Kingdom.
British comedian Russell Kane was the 'face of the channel', presenting short clips between some programmes which acted as space fillers to comply with advertising regulations in the UK (UK regulation allows fewer minutes of advertising than in the US) until 16 February 2009. The music used during the idents until February 2009 was "The Dress Looks Nice on You" and "Jacksonville" by Sufjan Stevens. On 28 August 2007, Five US launched a timeshift channel named Five US +1 available on Sky.[3] On 22 January 2009, it was announced that Five US would be rebranded to "Five USA" on 16 February.[4][5] The channel rebranded for a second time as "5USA" on 7 March 2011.[6]
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