From the 7th of November, apparently they have the first five years. So they'll be 6 years and week behind. They'll be editing out the phone in competition but it will fill the hour slot nicely and there won't be too many edits.

Surely it'll be 45 minutes? Those episodes were nearly all 45 minutes long, with the odd exception like some of the primetime episodes, and the additional ad time available will be cancelled out by editing out the LTL.

Can see them airing these as 90-minute double-bills.

But those original shows didn't have a lot of ads, expect more ads in each break with one more possibly squeezed in?

Anyway as fas as I'm aware it's an hour slot.

This is actually brilliant news Some of these shows haven't had a single repeat since 2005! It should be really cool seeing the early episodes again, with the old set and radically different Banker offers. I'd be amazed if they actually commit themselves to show every single episode of the first five years...will they show them in order or just randomly? Given how many hundreds of episodes there are, even if they show two a day it'll take them two and a half years to get through them all!

This might be a tad off-topic - but if Challenge are showing DOND and have previously shown Fifteen-to-One, then why not Countdown?

Yes, I was always under the impression C4 refused to sell Countdown because it might dilute interest in the show - which seemed fair enough, but it seems strange they've given them Deal if that was their argument. 2 hours of DOND on TV every weekday? However, it will be good to see some of the 2005 episodes again.

I hope Challenge bring back 15-to-1 soon - been getting addicted to that again on YouTube lately

Oh my god, this sounds amazing. I need to get Sky! (Thought More 4 might have done this at some point mind you). I've never seen most of the early 2006 episodes!

But new DoND is clearly different to old DoND in a way I don't think you can say with Countdown. Countdown relies on the playalong factor, which works in repeats to a point that might undermine new episodes; DoND relies on the wing banter and the connection with contestants over time.

Of course the real reason might be not wanting to draw unfavourable comparisons with the age of Richard Whiteley. Indeed I'm sure it is.

wow if this is true then i cant wait!!!!!

I wouldn't jump the gun just yet. Challenge picked up the rights to the first series of Pointless but didn't show two episodes. One being the very first episode. Also when they picked up later series of 8 Out of 10 Cats they also left out certain episodes.

Sky must have paid Endemol and Channel 4 a fortune (possibly millions?) for the rights.When the channel was owned by Flextech and Virgin Media they refused to sell the archived rights to any channel. In terms of a digital channel buying archived rights and episode numbers. This is the biggest since CBS Drama picked up Dallas a few weeks ago. They secured the rights to show over 350 episodes, one per weekday.

Early schedules state the show are airing two episodes each day between 8pm and 10pm. I don't think that is correct as there is too much ad time to fill a 38 minute show. I suspect they will air it at 8pm-8.50pm and use the extra ten minutes for Aunties Smalls or something like that.

When the show had their first summer break in 2006 they used More 4 to repeat the show from the very beginning over five weeks in the 6.10pm slot (remember that?). When the show returned, they used a vacant slot to continue airing the 2005 episodes for a few more weeks.

I can't wait either, considering I haven't seen ANY of the '05 episodes (apart from parts of the 1st game).

So are they going to repeat every single one or just a few of the classic ones?

Brilliant news! Can't wait!

If you have Freeview, it's on Channel 46 although you may have to retune your digibox

My stupid Freeview box won't pick up Challenge or anything that's on frequency channel 67 in my area.

what about freesat?

No chance.

e4, more 4 or channel 4?

My Freeview doesn't actually have a channel 46.