June 2013
Nottingham will have its very own TV channel next year. Notts TV will deliver news, sport, entertainment, business, politics and plenty more to homes right across the county, seven days a week.
THE short clip of Prince Harry grinning into the camera and saying “ey up mi duck” has been seen by millions around the world.
The flame-haired royal also read a news report about local music star Jake Bugg as part of his recent visit to the city, before pulling a lever which triggered a short film about Notts TV.
This was the first glimpse of Nottingham’s very first TV channel, which will be launching in April 2014.
It will broadcast on Freeview Channel 8, seven days a week, initially from 4pm to midnight, to homes across the county, delivering a broad range of programmes.
These will include news, sport, entertainment, politics, business, weather, travel and more.
The consortium behind Notts TV includes the Nottingham Post, Nottingham Trent University, Confetti Media and Inclusive Digital.
“Everyone is welcome to get involved,” says Confetti Media chairman Craig Chettle, who is also chairman of the Notts TV consortium.
“They can come up with ideas for programmes, be part of presenting teams, be among the writers... there are a whole host of ways they can get involved.”
A core of about 15 staff will run the station with input from Post journalists, broadcast journalism students at Nottingham Trent University and students at Confetti Media, a hub for film, TV and music creativity in the city.
Says Craig: “We need to get the blend of experience and professionalism balanced with the student input. It’s something we’ve got 20 years of experience of doing and Trent can do that as well.
“It’s a great opportunity for people wanting to learn about all manner of things in the television industry.
“But we want to dispel the notion that it’s going to be student-run TV. That is definitely not the case.”
Local organisations, community groups and businesses will also contribute heavily to the schedule to ensure that Notts TV delivers content that is relevant to everyone across the county.
Garry Smith, commercial director at Nottingham Trent University says: “It’s not envisaged that we will produce all of the programmes ourselves. We will be commissioning local companies and people who have ideas that fit in with what we are trying to do.
“It could be a documentary, an animation... quite literally any kind of programme that you would now see on TV.”
Programme ideas are still being worked on now but so far they include a weekly arts programme called Notts On, a weekly sports round up called Notts Sports, plus regular documentaries on local issues, monthly programmes on local politics, business, community activities, outdoor interests, science and history, and a monthly debate programme called Notts Debate.
There are plans to cover local concerts and other arts events.
Says Craig: “We’ve had ideas for quiz shows, game shows, dramas... we’re hoping to get as many ideas as we possibly can.”
“We’re not going to be making Downton Abbey; people in Nottingham are already getting programmes like that,” says Nigel Dacre, director of Inclusive Digital, the London-based company that will be delivering a lot of the news content for Notts TV.
“What they don’t get at the moment are TV programmes about local news, sport, business, shopping, arts, property and the like. And that’s what we’ll be delivering.”
Nigel is a former editor at ITV News, in charge of News at Ten and the 24-hour ITN News Channel. He also oversaw ITV’s coverage of two General Elections and Princess Diana’s funeral.
“News is regarded as a really important part of the service for all local TV channels because it’s what is missing in every city,” says Nigel.
“You have very good television news at a national and regional level but you don’t have local TV news.”
Garry agrees: “From the government’s point of view, the news is key. Research from around the world shows that the reason people watch local TV is for local news. And it’s one of the main things we are bringing to the table, with our centre for broadcast journalism.
“We have nearly 200 broadcast journalism students and a professional TV studio in the city centre. All the equipment is industry standard.”
Notts TV News will be journalism-led and have a broad agenda. It will be produced by a team of video journalists and broadcast from the studio at Nottingham Trent University, with headlines and interviews from the Post newsroom.
The channel, one of up to 30 to launch next year around the UK, will have £150,000 of government funding in its first year but the long-term aim is to generate income from advertising, sponsorship and possibly teleshopping.
Says Nigel: “It’s impossible for a lot of businesses to advertise on television because it’s so expensive. Notts TV will give them an affordable opportunity to do that.”
Says Craig: “Confetti’s role will be the non-news side; culture, music, light entertainment and drama. That’s what we’re most well placed to do, whereas Nottingham Post, Inclusive Media and Nottingham Trent University, with their centre for broadcasting and journalism, are all really well placed to run the news side of things, and other spin-offs like sport.
“We’ve been working with DHP’s George Akins and BBC Radio Nottingham’s Dean Jackson about how we can have a Nottingham music show. It would be remiss not to have something like that at the heart of the channel.”
He adds: “There is often the perception that local means low quality but those two things don’t have to go hand in hand. I know people are imaging the worst; wonky sets and rubbish acting, but it’s a commercial channel. If it’s rubbish then people won’t watch it and if people don’t watch it then businesses won’t advertise.
“Our aim is to produce shows of such a high quality that they can be shown on national television.”
Prince Harry’s visit to confetti was to launch the Notts TV Institute, where local creative talent will be trained to work on Notts TV and it helped boost the profile of Notts TV around the world.
“He was a really good sport and within a few hours that clip of him reading the news was all over the internet. It was shown on TV in America, Australia... it’s amazing how quick these things can evolve.
“Everyone was so enthused by his attendance and support for what we are doing.”
To find out more about Notts TV and how you can get involved got to nottstv.com.
Nottingham will have its very own TV channel next year. Notts TV will deliver news, sport, entertainment, business, politics and plenty more to homes right across the county, seven days a week.
THE short clip of Prince Harry grinning into the camera and saying “ey up mi duck” has been seen by millions around the world.
The flame-haired royal also read a news report about local music star Jake Bugg as part of his recent visit to the city, before pulling a lever which triggered a short film about Notts TV.
This was the first glimpse of Nottingham’s very first TV channel, which will be launching in April 2014.
It will broadcast on Freeview Channel 8, seven days a week, initially from 4pm to midnight, to homes across the county, delivering a broad range of programmes.
These will include news, sport, entertainment, politics, business, weather, travel and more.
The consortium behind Notts TV includes the Nottingham Post, Nottingham Trent University, Confetti Media and Inclusive Digital.
“Everyone is welcome to get involved,” says Confetti Media chairman Craig Chettle, who is also chairman of the Notts TV consortium.“They can come up with ideas for programmes, be part of presenting teams, be among the writers... there are a whole host of ways they can get involved.”
A core of about 15 staff will run the station with input from Post journalists, broadcast journalism students at Nottingham Trent University and students at Confetti Media, a hub for film, TV and music creativity in the city.
Says Craig: “We need to get the blend of experience and professionalism balanced with the student input. It’s something we’ve got 20 years of experience of doing and Trent can do that as well.
“It’s a great opportunity for people wanting to learn about all manner of things in the television industry.
“But we want to dispel the notion that it’s going to be student-run TV. That is definitely not the case.”
Local organisations, community groups and businesses will also contribute heavily to the schedule to ensure that Notts TV delivers content that is relevant to everyone across the county.
Garry Smith, commercial director at Nottingham Trent University says: “It’s not envisaged that we will produce all of the programmes ourselves. We will be commissioning local companies and people who have ideas that fit in with what we are trying to do.
“It could be a documentary, an animation... quite literally any kind of programme that you would now see on TV.”
Programme ideas are still being worked on now but so far they include a weekly arts programme called Notts On, a weekly sports round up called Notts Sports, plus regular documentaries on local issues, monthly programmes on local politics, business, community activities, outdoor interests, science and history, and a monthly debate programme called Notts Debate.
There are plans to cover local concerts and other arts events.Says Craig: “We’ve had ideas for quiz shows, game shows, dramas... we’re hoping to get as many ideas as we possibly can.”
“We’re not going to be making Downton Abbey; people in Nottingham are already getting programmes like that,” says Nigel Dacre, director of Inclusive Digital, the London-based company that will be delivering a lot of the news content for Notts TV.
“What they don’t get at the moment are TV programmes about local news, sport, business, shopping, arts, property and the like. And that’s what we’ll be delivering.”
Nigel is a former editor at ITV News, in charge of News at Ten and the 24-hour ITN News Channel. He also oversaw ITV’s coverage of two General Elections and Princess Diana’s funeral.“News is regarded as a really important part of the service for all local TV channels because it’s what is missing in every city,” says Nigel.
“You have very good television news at a national and regional level but you don’t have local TV news.”
Garry agrees: “From the government’s point of view, the news is key. Research from around the world shows that the reason people watch local TV is for local news. And it’s one of the main things we are bringing to the table, with our centre for broadcast journalism.
“We have nearly 200 broadcast journalism students and a professional TV studio in the city centre. All the equipment is industry standard.”
Notts TV News will be journalism-led and have a broad agenda. It will be produced by a team of video journalists and broadcast from the studio at Nottingham Trent University, with headlines and interviews from the Post newsroom.
The channel, one of up to 30 to launch next year around the UK, will have £150,000 of government funding in its first year but the long-term aim is to generate income from advertising, sponsorship and possibly teleshopping.
Says Nigel: “It’s impossible for a lot of businesses to advertise on television because it’s so expensive. Notts TV will give them an affordable opportunity to do that.”
“We’ve been working with DHP’s George Akins and BBC Radio Nottingham’s Dean Jackson about how we can have a Nottingham music show. It would be remiss not to have something like that at the heart of the channel.”
He adds: “There is often the perception that local means low quality but those two things don’t have to go hand in hand. I know people are imaging the worst; wonky sets and rubbish acting, but it’s a commercial channel. If it’s rubbish then people won’t watch it and if people don’t watch it then businesses won’t advertise.
“Our aim is to produce shows of such a high quality that they can be shown on national television.”
Prince Harry’s visit to confetti was to launch the Notts TV Institute, where local creative talent will be trained to work on Notts TV and it helped boost the profile of Notts TV around the world.
“He was a really good sport and within a few hours that clip of him reading the news was all over the internet. It was shown on TV in America, Australia... it’s amazing how quick these things can evolve.
“Everyone was so enthused by his attendance and support for what we are doing.”
To find out more about Notts TV and how you can get involved got to nottstv.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment