UK broadcaster shuts down for hour, asks viewers to exercise


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: Less than a minute

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

LONDON (AP) — One of Britain's leading broadcasters has blacked out its programs for an hour in hopes of spurring viewers to get some exercise.

ITV shut down broadcasts on several of its channels Saturday morning as part of its effort to entice UK citizens to sports clubs, which are being opened for free this weekend as part of a national event called "I Am Team GB."

Many viewers lauded ITV's challenge to couch potatoes, describing on social media the activities they'd been inspired to do.

Others, predictably, stuck to their sofas and poked fun at the gesture, describing the blank screens as the best entertainment they'd ever seen on ITV. One viewer said his remote-control thumb had a good workout.

ITV is sponsoring the weekend's sports-promotion activities alongside the National Lottery.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Most recent Features stories

The Associated Press

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast