New TV station announced for Oxfordshire

12:03pm Wednesday 7th November 2012 in News

A NEW TV station for Oxfordshire has been announced this morning.

Broadcasting regulator Ofcom has revealed it is to give a licence to Abingdon-based That's Oxford.

The newsdriven channel will be based at Oxford Brookes University and is the brainchild of Daniel Cass, 37, who ran SIX TV until it went off air in 2009 after 10 years.

The station could use media department students to run the schedule, and is expected to show a mix of politics, entertainment and kids' shows with a local twist.

Oxfordshire was selected by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in December as one of the 21 pilot areas where local TV would arrive first.

The station would be broadcast from the Beckley transmitter, so it would be picked up in Didcot, Witney, Wantage, Faringdon and Oxford on channel eight.

Comments(16)

mrsutton says...
3:15pm Wed 7 Nov 12

What is the point sixtv was rubbish and there was no point to it at all.
Waste of money!!

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snert says...
3:18pm Wed 7 Nov 12

The bits that I did watch were generally about Oxford itself rather than Oxfordshire as a whole.

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jonny1976 says...
3:23pm Wed 7 Nov 12

I only watched 6tv because there was a fit bird on there

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Myron Blatz says...
5:04pm Wed 7 Nov 12

SIX TV was a total waste of space, and doubtless the Brookes version will waste more money - and like we need another tv channel anyway?

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rfr says...
6:11pm Wed 7 Nov 12

"Regular presenters to include Esther Rantzen CBE, her daughter, Rebecca Wilcox; former SIX TV and radio presenter Danny Cox; and model Angie Best. Stories, characters and fun competitions to brighten the weekend."

("Esther Rantzen, Vice
President (programming) – producer and presenter of one of the most
successful magazine formats in UK television history, responsible for
training staff and volunteers to deliver compelling magazine programming
which engages and enthuses That’s Oxford’s audience".)

Selectively quoted from That's Oxford's application at http://licensing.ofc
om.org.uk/binaries/t
v/local-tv/applicant
s/Oxford_8_Oxonian_L
_DTPS.pdf

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rfr says...
6:13pm Wed 7 Nov 12

Sorry wrong link, http://licensing.ofc
om.org.uk/binaries/t
v/local-tv/applicant
s/Thats_Oxford_L_DTP
S.pdf

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carfax cabby ox1 says...
7:27pm Wed 7 Nov 12

rfr, that take me back to the early 90s when I had an account job to pick up Rantzen. It was all the way from the Old Parsonage Hotel to Le Petit Blanc (as it was then) Walton St. She got in the cab and growled at me "and you can turn that off" followed by "you know where I'm going don't you" and when we arrived she got out the cab not a word of thanks, in fact not a word at all, just slammed the door and off she went. A thoroughly unpleasant and distasteful woman. Give me the drunks from Fuzzy ducks anytime.

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JPOX28 says...
8:07am Thu 8 Nov 12

I thought we all had to be using digital, either sky, virgin or freeview by now??? I'm guessing channel 8 refers to the old analog signal. Waste of money if you ask me, cant see it lasting long.

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EMBOX1 says...
9:26am Thu 8 Nov 12

No its channel 8 on digital. There are no analogue broadcasts anymore - thats where the new 4G mobile is going..

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JPOX28 says...
11:01am Thu 8 Nov 12

So it will only be available for people who watch freeview. I will give it 6 months to last.

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online_reader says...
11:05am Thu 8 Nov 12

It could work if the colleges use it to allow students who want to work in television to cut their teeth. There could be all sorts of original programmes, it doesn't have to be the run-of-the-mill "review" programs advertising local Indian restaurants and hairdressers that you usually get. There could be proper writing and producing opportunities. We'll see.

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online_reader says...
11:06am Thu 8 Nov 12

*by colleges I meant Brookes; for some reason I thought Oxford & Cherwell was involved too.

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the ock says...
11:17am Thu 8 Nov 12

Sounds like a good idea. From what I've read, the only 'public' money going into this is £25m top sliced off the BBC licence fee that will go towards the 'playout facilities' and that amount applies across all the new Local TV stations (total of 64) going up around towns and cities across the UK on Channel 8 on Freeview over the next few years, not just Oxford, the rest is private investment.

What's wrong with having a properly funded digital TV channel dedicated to the area and its interests, cultural, political, news, sporting etc mixed with some general entertainment? Useful platform for many different types I would have thought. The simple answer to the predictably sneering remarks on this page is don't watch it if you don't like it.

I would say it is in part about viewer expectations. These stations aren't setting themselves up as a new E4, Sky1 or Dave, let alone BBC1 or ITV1, if that's what people are expecting, I'd say they'll be disappointed. However, if the understanding is there about what these channels are about and what people can expect from them then there's every chance they can work.

And obviously if it isn't any good then it will shut down and you'll all be really pleased that someone with the guts and energy to launch a business venture has had to close.

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Andrew:Oxford says...
1:09pm Thu 8 Nov 12

So what is going to be on the other streams in this multiplex?

Even at low power, surely there must be the opportunity for another 3 or so channels? On a proper "multiplex" there is space for up to 11 channels.

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the ock says...
1:33pm Thu 8 Nov 12

Thats right, looks like the area will get two or three other channels as well as part of this process.

Who knows, maybe one or two decent channels that aren't currently on Freeview but are on Sky or Virgin may buy up the extra channel space so they can pick up the extra viewers and presumably therefore advertising revenue that comes with the bigger audience that Freeview will bring them.

Think all those homes out there that don't have either Sky or Virgin, thats about 40% of homes from what I can make out, stand to benefit from this whole Local TV malarkey. All seems like a pretty positive initiative.

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EMBOX1 says...
2:02pm Thu 8 Nov 12

I hope they show Earth TV for 3 mins before the news *hint*

Something no other UK TV station does, but is awesome :-)

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