[Brekkie]

And who love their "local" "news" read from street corners.

What do That's TV do news wise? I know they get away with a 10 minute bulletin then the rest being a ticker over music videos but is the bulletin anchored at all?

[Neil Jones]

People who want to watch old sitcoms with the lowest picture quality possible without having to change their TV channel higher than channel 7 or 8.

So, yeah…

I fail to see how repeats of Steptoe and Son or whatever (or copious amounts of TalkTV simulcasts) contributes to "localness" in any way, shape or form. Maybe if it was occasional part of the rest of the schedule it wouldn't be a problem. TalkTV airs like 18hrs a day on whatever the Birmingham operation is calling itself this week.

And this farce is going to run for another ten years? The bandwidth might as well just be poured down the drain.

[Brekkie]

I don't even get how their can be a pretence these are a continuation of the licences first issues when the local content on That's TV barely amounts to an hour a week. The Local TV "That's" network is a bit better with longer blocks for content, even if it is looped, but in no way are they delivering for viewers or the communities they serve.

Some of the independent ones still put in a bit of effort - I guess they're still there so they must be getting some reward for their offerings.

[Spencer]

Given local TV was the ill-conceived brainchild of the now second most senior member of the government, I can’t say I’m shocked they’ve chosen not to scrap it.

[Brekkie]

It's so frustrating when the likes of KMTV and Notts TV fulfil the original idea with a proper daily news programme and a number of local programmes. Whilst I do think some of the initial quotas were unsustainably high (i.e. more news hours than any PSB broadcaster) a bare minimum of at least an hour of genuine local content a day doesn't seem an unreasonable condition to hold the licence.

[lookoutwales]

It's so frustrating when the likes of KMTV and Notts TV fulfil the original idea with a proper daily news programme and a number of local programmes.

The few indie stations still seem to make the effort at least - what is Sheffield Live's output like nowadays? (and come to think of it, Latest TV in Brighton)

There is an irony about how That's TV has found its niche with archive programming (and even then, some of their acquisitions could be considered reactionary in nature - repeats of Little Britain, for instance)

I always felt one of the mistakes Big Centre TV made early on - asides not being seemingly ready for launch - was going too heavy on TV nostalgia, whether it was buying up Crossroads episodes or churning out stuff like The David Hamilton Show.

Probably would've been great for a Talking Pictures-type operation, but not when you're supposedly running a low budget local channel. There was some worthwhile stuff but I suspect it was fuelled by more than a little self indulgence on Kaleidoscope's part (as much as they otherwise do good archive work)

[Humphrey Hacker]

And who love their "local" "news" read from street corners.

What do That's TV do news wise? I know they get away with a 10 minute bulletin then the rest being a ticker over music videos but is the bulletin anchored at all?

Reminded me of Morecambe and Wise's "Morny Stannit" sketch.

Seriously though I don't understand this obsession with delivering news in unusual ways. Behind a desk, fine, sitting on a sofa, Ok, even standing in a studio a' la Kirsty Young but on a street corner?

[Neil Jones]

I always felt one of the mistakes Big Centre TV made early on - asides not being seemingly ready for launch - was going too heavy on TV nostalgia, whether it was buying up Crossroads episodes or churning out stuff like The David Hamilton Show.

Probably would've been great for a Talking Pictures-type operation, but not when you're supposedly running a low budget local channel. There was some worthwhile stuff but I suspect it was fuelled by more than a little self indulgence on Kaleidoscope's part (as much as they otherwise do good archive work)

In fairness Kaleidoscope were caught on the hop, because the only reason they ended up with the licence at all was because the original winner, City8, went out of business, and Kaleidoscope had to cobble it together quickly in something like three months, whereas the original winner had had something like two and a half years.

Mind you it looked like ATV/Central in the ident they had, and IIRC they had some ex ATV/Central staff as well.

City 8 (which started as City TV) promised the earth and then some more:

We will be focusing on local news and current affairs which includes business news. We will also have a schedule of local arts, entertainment and lifestyle programming and local sports programmes balanced with acquired, commissioned and advertiser-funded programming.

Although as things panned out it probably wouldn't have made any difference to the eventual outcome, it would have either become a TalkTV simulcast or the That's route.

[Brekkie]

Have to agree Big Centre TV were far too stuck in the 80s - the original City TV style pitch was much more modern (well, late 90s C5 perhaps).

At least Made tried in their early years - what were the initial That's TV local schedules like?

[lookoutwales]

Have to agree Big Centre TV were far too stuck in the 80s - the original City TV style pitch was much more modern (well, late 90s C5 perhaps).

At least Made tried in their early years - what were the initial That's TV local schedules like?

IIRC, the Manchester station launched - the day before OFCOM's deadline to get on air - with a succession of studio-based chat shows and the odd news bulletin.

Most striking thing about those chat shows was that to begin with, it was literally the presenters taking it in turns to interview each other.

Hardly matching the quality of Channel M - can recall seeing some clips of how they looked in their very early years (this was well before they launched on Sky, moved to Urbis or even started their local news operation) and it looked fairly slick even then.

Solent's effort boiled down to a daily chat show of some sort with Chrissie Pollard of TVS fame, a local news bulletin and a presenter-led music video show. The original line-up didn't last long at all, AFAIK.

On the subject of Big Centre, Lee Bannister's put together a fairly detailed history of the station up until Made all but shut down its Birmingham operation, just months after moving studios (he's now a director on Midlands Today)

www.lee.bannister.org.uk 

The Story of Big Centre Television – LEE BANNISTER
Elsewhere on this website there are various "Box Sets" of a number of …
  Source: www.lee.bannister.org.uk