ITV4 TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On ITV4 Tonight

ITV4 launched on 1 November 2005, taking over ITV’s off-peak Freeview slot from the ITV News Channel before absorbing what was left of the old Men and Motors the following spring. Two decades on, it’s ITV plc’s channel for live sport and archive action, running everything from live racing to reruns of classic drama and American sitcoms. Sunday 16 August brings the channel’s live football fixture of the week: the French Super Cup pits RC Lens against Paris Saint-Germain at 7:30pm, played at Lens’ own Bollaert-Delelis stadium rather than a neutral venue. ITV Racing Live covers the Sky Bet Sunday Series through the afternoon from 3:30pm, and the day’s archive strands run from Cadfael and Sharpe to English Football League Highlights and three overnight episodes of Two and a Half Men before the football takes over.

ITV4 Schedule: Sunday 16 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete ITV4 schedule for Sunday 16 August 2026, on Freeview 26.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Primetime

Late night

What’s on ITV4 today

Sunday’s overnight hours run through three back-to-back episodes of Two and a Half Men, from 1:45am to 3am, before teleshopping fills the small hours to 6am. Football Rivalries revisits Manchester United against Liverpool at 6am, River Monsters catches up on old adventures at 6:15am, and Motorsport Mundial rounds up the world’s motor racing series at 6:45am ahead of a new Auto Mundial at 7:15am. British Touring Car Championship Highlights takes most of the rest of breakfast from 7:45am, running into English Football League Highlights at 9:10am and Football League Legends at 10:45am. Cadfael, the medieval monk-detective drama starring Derek Jacobi, occupies the late morning from 11am, River Monsters returns at 12:40pm, and Sharpe fills much of the early afternoon from 1:10pm. ITV Racing Live: Sky Bet Sunday Series then takes over from 3:30pm through to 7pm, covering the day’s major race meetings before River Monsters leads into the evening’s live football.

ITV4 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the ITV4 primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 16 August 2026.

River Monsters — ITV4, 7pm

Jeremy Wade’s old case files fill the pre-match half hour, a series 3 catch-up before the football takes over.

French Super Cup: RC Lens v PSG — ITV4, 7:30pm

RC Lens host Paris Saint-Germain in the Trophée des Champions, France’s season curtain-raiser between last term’s Ligue 1 winners and the side that lifted the Coupe de France. Lens get home advantage at their own Stade Bollaert-Delelis, the venue settled on after original plans to stage the match abroad fell through. PSG go in as favourites against opponents who rarely get a shot at silverware on their own turf.

Nijinsky’s Triple Crown — ITV4, 9:55pm

A short archive piece looks back at Nijinsky’s English Triple Crown in 1970, ridden by Lester Piggott, before the late film.

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory — ITV4, 10pm

Steven Seagal returns as Casey Ryback for the 1995 sequel, swapping the first film’s battleship for a hijacked train. FYI Daily breaks in with a short entertainment-news bulletin at 11pm before the film picks back up at 11:05pm and runs to a 12:05am finish.

What kind of shows are on ITV4

Live sport: racing, rugby and darts

ITV4 carries the bulk of ITV’s live sport rights outside of ITV1’s biggest occasions. ITV Racing has been the channel’s anchor since horse racing moved to ITV from Channel 4 in 2017, running near-daily meetings alongside the showpiece Saturdays. The Nations Championship, rugby’s new global competition launched in July 2026, means ITV4 now shows live rugby through the summer months, when British fans wouldn’t normally get much international action on terrestrial TV. The channel has also carried live darts in recent seasons, including instalments of the World Series of Darts.

Motorsport, rally and archive sport

Beyond the live fixtures, ITV4 fills its schedule with motorsport digest shows. World Rally Championship Highlights and Motorsport Mundial both round up international series that rarely get UK coverage elsewhere, and the channel runs nightly highlights through Isle of Man TT race week each spring. Archive strands such as The Big Match Revisited and Goals of the 1990s dig into old football footage.

American reruns, action and wrestling

The rest of the schedule fills out with imported American comedy and reality (Two and a Half Men, American Pickers) and classic British crime drama reruns such as Minder. None of it demands your full attention. All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite airs weekly in the late-night slot, with a repeat the following Saturday.

How to watch ITV4

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find ITV4 across the main UK television platforms:

ITV4 is free on all of the above platforms, with no subscription required. Virgin Media and Freesat’s +1 position can move about more than Freeview and Sky, so your on-screen guide is the definitive source if it doesn’t line up exactly.

Streaming online

ITV4 streams live and free through ITVX at itv.com/watch and via the ITVX app on smart TVs, mobiles, tablets and streaming devices including Amazon Fire TV and Roku. You need a free account. Most of the archive and clip-show programming sits in the ITVX library afterwards, though racing and rugby rights usually mean shorter catch-up windows on the live sport.

ITV4 +1 and sister channels

ITV4+1 runs the same schedule an hour behind. Switch on to find Formula E Highlights already under way and +1 will start it again from the top an hour later.

ITV4 sits alongside ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITVBe in ITV plc’s channel family, all streaming through ITVX. ITV1 carries the network’s biggest live sport occasions, ITV3 leans into drama and period pieces, and ITV4 gets the more male-skewing sport and action mix.

Frequently asked questions

What channel is ITV4 on Freeview?

ITV4 is on Freeview channel 26. ITV4+1 is on Freeview channel 59. Both are free with no subscription needed.

What channel is ITV4 on Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat?

Channel 120 on Sky, channel 118 on Virgin Media, and channel 117 on Freesat. ITV4+1 is on channel 220 on Sky; check your on-screen guide for the exact +1 position on Virgin Media and Freesat.

What’s on ITV4 tonight?

Sunday 16 August 2026: live football is the headline act, with the French Super Cup between RC Lens and Paris Saint-Germain kicking off at 7:30pm from Lens’ own Bollaert-Delelis ground. River Monsters leads in at 7pm, and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory closes the night from 10pm, broken by a short FYI Daily bulletin at 11pm before the film resumes to a 12:05am finish.

What is ITV4+1?

A timeshift channel showing the ITV4 schedule exactly one hour later, on Freeview 59 and Sky 220.

Is ITV4 free to watch, and does it have adverts?

Yes, entirely free to air with no subscription fee on any platform. As a commercial ITV channel it carries advertising breaks, the same as ITV1.

Can I watch ITV4 online for free?

Yes, live and free through ITVX at itv.com/watch and via the ITVX app. A free account is required.

Verdict

ITV4 does one thing very well: live sport, without a subscription in sight, from a broadcaster that’s covered racing, rugby and darts for years. Ed Chamberlin and Francesca Cumani’s ITV Racing coverage usually anchors a Sunday afternoon here, but tonight the channel hands over to something rarer on terrestrial TV: a European football final, live from northern France. The archive filler and American reruns around it are functional rather than exciting, and Steven Seagal’s late film is for the established fanbase rather than anyone new to it.

Sunday’s evening leans on that one live fixture too. River Monsters fills the pre-match hour from 7pm, the French Super Cup kicks off at 7:30pm between Lens and Paris Saint-Germain, and Under Siege 2: Dark Territory closes out the night from 10pm, broken only by a short FYI Daily bulletin at 11pm. It’s a football-first evening rather than the racing-heavy afternoon that preceded it, and reason enough on its own to tune in before 7:30pm.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | ITV1 TV Guide | Film4 TV Guide | Films on TV This Week