channel upstart
by graham brown-martin on oct 16, 2003, 01:21
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the uk’s digital expansion of television media now boasts more than 20 music tv broadcasters each vying for your eyes, ears and maybe your wallet too.
new kids on the block, channel u have been broadcasting since this february and have quickly gained respeck from dalston to peterborough for their back to back airplay of urban music’s most blinging video’s. not bad when you consider that this is a start-up business managed by 3 people in a soho rent-a-space.
channel u is the result of an investment of around £750k in the development of a jukebox broadcasting platform, the brainchild of stewart lund, the chief executive of video interactive television plc the company that owns the channel u brand.
lund comes from the telecoms sector having previously been a boffin at redstone plc - the corporate telco provider that rode the dot com boom to bust ride in spectacular fashion. from what lunds tells me he didn’t do too badly out of the deal presumably flogging pre-ipo stock at a premium.
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| darren platt pic: bbc |
perhaps more interesting is his co-founding silent investor, darren platt who also runs nexus telecommunications plc. platt recently appeared on the bbc news as a consequence of being busted twice for spamming and scamming on mobile phones by the premium rate regulator icstis.
other investors include high net worth individuals from a media buying background.
so perhaps that was the coded message in the email inviting me to meet the guys running tings at channel u. “the pirate radio spirit allowing budding uk artists to have their home made videos aired” and no doubt they and their mates can pay £1 a minute to view the sucker. but you never know who else is watching.
pirates. zeen...
you see lund and platt are all about the ‘mobile telecom space’ i.e. premium rate lines, sms, ringtones, etc. these are the clever guys who, while everyone was masturbating over their no-income internet business models, saw that the real dough was in the mobile phone with it’s built in billing mechanism.
these guys are smart. channel u is literally a tv station in a box, a jukebox to be precise. the jukebox hard disc is loaded up with about 200 videos at any given time plus all the station ident material and any advertising. production manager kate barker, the only one in the team with any previous tv experience, makes sure it all comes together.
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| thanks for the calls y'all |
the vids get uploaded from their rack in buckinghamshire to the satellite that beams across the uk and a fair bit of the european mainland. viewers bid for their favourite video via premium rate phone lines at calls costing £1 a minute and when the video is playing you can get the ringtone. sweet.
the jukebox jury is, charlie beuthin, channel u’s programming and marketing manager.
after a scoring a degree in music industry management beuthin worked his way from graduate placement to product manager at warner music, mainly looking after urban acts. he’s also been known to spin some vinyl. there’s no questioning his passion for the music but he inevitably faces the challenge of choosing between the commercially viable and often lo-budget local talent.
he's doing a good job. channel u have received props for the availability of uk videos on the channel. at least it gives a fighting chance for this community to get it’s material aired alongside the high budget promo’s that are the mainstay of u.s. product.
he also has to consider what can be played before the 10 o’clock watershed. given the amount of tits and arse in much of what passes for urban music videos this presents a certain commercial challenge or at least a busy work experience kid with a pixelator. they’d have to give epilepsy warnings on pixelated dancehall video’s, then.
the result of a bug in the jukebox software which has since been fixed, the channel was recently ticked off by the independent television commission for broadcasting unsuitable material before the kids were in bed.
tut tut...
however the station claims that it’s not burning cash, not bad given a standing start in february in a bombed out media ghetto caused by falling advertising rates. in fact while other channels were scratching for ad revenue these guys were taking cash on mobile transactions. it’s only a matter of time before they’ll be beaming video clips into your ghetto fabulous video phone.
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| all it takes is a phone call... |
having reached this stage of the plan channel u is now hedging it’s bets on making it’s own programming by calling in hip hop heavy weight tim westwood to do a one hour show and then with a nod to new talent shows by 1xtra’s ras kwame and ace & invisible.
the actual content of how these shows are going to fix up is unclear but beuthin tells me that westwood has a personal cameraman that follows him around, presumably filming. the concept being that you have a reality style tv experience of living the gangster lifestyle with westwood showing his major league u.s. hip hop dons a good time around town and going to strip clubs or soho house to bling a bit. no doubt compulsive viewing.
it’ll come as a relief to his guests that channel u are stumping up for this because sources close to the big dawg suggest he’s a bit slow getting the wallet out.
cristal all round, my bredren
channel u can be found on channel 467 on your sky digibox.
visit channel u website
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