launching channel

8/7/2019 Launching Channel

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a guide to launching a tv channel in the uk

Whilst the re s no d oub t tha t the TV landscape is eve r-cha ng ing, andmoving towards web-based delivery, broadcast te levision rem ains the

most p owerful and effec tive wa y of reac hing a n aud ience.

The last ten yea rs have see n an explosion of telev ision channe ls (there

are now over 400 on Sky), and a significant number are from new

ma rket entrants, many of who m ha ve limited b roa dc asting experienc e.

This guide is designed to help new com ers launc h and run te levision

channels whilst avoiding some of the pitfalls that can make it a difficult

and costly process.

At etv, weve launched eight channels on the Sky platform and also

launc hed c hannels on Freeview and cab le, so w e have a g ood trac k

record of helping clients navigate the complexities and relationships of

UK television b roa dcasting.

starting off

There a re lots of goo d idea s for TV channe ls, but perhaps the f irst thing isto d ec ide is wha t ma kes your channe l different a nd how are you go ing

to tell pe op le ab out it, so that they w ill co me in suffic ient numbers to

make it a suc cess. This thinking should und erp in your business p lan.

Ide ntify your financ ial and aud ienc e o bjec tives for three years and wo rkout your end g am e for the c hannel.

getting d own to business

It is just that - a business. Be hard-headed about it, ask the right questionsand seek a dvice from spe c ialists if you nee d it, we are happ y to po int

you in the right direc tions if you want:

What a re the reve nue stream s tha t will d rive the c hannel: advertising,d irec t sales, subsc ription, ga ming, interac tivity (via te lepho ny or red

button). There may b e multiple c ompo nents to the revenue m od el and

you need to b e c lear as to how they will comb ine to m ake your channelprofitable:

Will the channel be freely ava ilab le to the a udience ( free-to-airsome times referred to as unenc rypte d ) or ac cess controlled through

subsc ription o r som e othe r limited access?

What will be the transmission hours of the channel? Normally satellitespa ce is bo ught for 24 hour transmission but running the channel for this

length of time m ight not suit the audience or the prog ram me g enre,

and there a re alternatives.

How will the c ontent for the channel be g athered ? Will this be anoriginal produc tion channel, or a library cha nnel whic h buys

prog ramm ing from other distributors or producers and re-pa ckag es it, or


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a mixture o f the two . This de c ision w ill have a n impa c t up on b udg etsand timescales to launc h.

How will you market the channel to its aud ience c ost-effec tively? Whilstelec tronic p rog ram me guides are effic ient a nd easy to use, aud ienc es

can b e slow to respo nd to ne w c hannels and you need to exc ite their

interest.

If you are p lanning a shopping c hannel you need to think ab out howyou w ill hand le fulfilme nt - in-house or outsource d and how you w ill

cope with the inevitable issues surrounding this.

If your cha nnel req uires subsc ription ma nage me nt then you will need tofac to r in the costs and c om plexities of m anaging subsc ribers in-house o routsourc ing to a third-pa rty spe c ialist c ompa ny.

the Dig ital Television Landsc ape in the UK

There s go od new s and there s less go od new s you can launch yournew channel into over 35% of UK hom es with little troub le and

ma nage ab le costs, the other 65% of UK hom es are p erhap s a d ifferentstory

There a re c urrently a numb er of ways to rec eive d igital television in the

UK; sa te llite, cab le, freeview and IPTV. Currently the numbers rec eiving

the services on the ir p rima ry TV in the house a re:

Sky 8.3 million

Ca ble 3.2 million

freev iew 9.0 million

Other sa te llite 0.9 million

IPTV 270,000 Source: Ofcom and others 2008

FreeviewBy 2012 all ana logue TV will be switc hed off in the UK. At this point a ll

televisions will need a set-top b ox or have a n integ ra ted d igital tuner to

rec eive a ny television at all. Digita l television ma kes muc h mo re e ffic ient

use o f broadc ast spe c trum (so m ore c hannels can be squeezed into thesam e spa ce) and the Government will sell off the a nalogue freq uenc ies

to the highest b idders. This ma y no t just b e television c hannels butcompeting services for mobile and wireless broadband will also be able

to b id for spe c trum.

Currently the Freeview service available today uses small bits of unused

spe c trum from b etween the existing analogue servic es to b roa dc astd igita l telev ision. This service will expand significantly from 2012 and

Freeview c hannels should b e p art o f every new c hannels future

strategy e ven if it is full up today with a round 40 channels of te levision.


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There a re only limited wa ys of de livering subsc ription rather tha n free-to-a ir te levision c urrent ly but his will expand by 2012. Freeview is controlled

as a joint venture be twe en the te rrestria l broa dcasters.

Sky

Sky delivers sa te llite telev ision to 8.3 million ho me s today a nd is a

grow ing p latfo rm. Apart from p lanning restric tions, Sky is ava ilable to

a lmost every home in the UK. Sky offers over 450 channels to subsc ribers

all ava ilab le through a simp le to use e lec tronic programme guide (EPG).

Sky subsc ribers pa y from about 15 per month to a round 45 per month.

There a re a lso about a million fo rmer Sky subsc ribers who still have a d ish

and a Sky box and can still get the free to a ir channels via satellite .

Ofc om (the te lec omm unicat ion regulator) has ruled that Sky is an

op en platform a nd that it must allow a ny bone fide broadc asteraccess to the p latfo rm a nd to the EPG via a pub lished ratec ard . This has

ma de Sky the most p op ular platform for new c hannel launc hes, but youwill have t o fa c to r into your plan, tho se a ssoc iated costs for the EPG

services p rovide d by Sky, and perhap s the for ac qu iring a n EPG p osition

from a third pa rty.

In 2007, Sky announc ed tha t tec hnica l issues in their set -top bo xes

mea nt that the p lat form is now full and new c hannels have to launch by

ac quiring channels alrea dy on the p latform. There is a buoyant ma rket

in the b uying a nd selling of channels (or EPG p ositions) on the p latfo rm

and this has not g rea tly affec ted the a bility of new channels who w ant

to launc h on Sky.

Sky charge in ac cess of 79,000 pe r annum for a free-to -air c hannel tobe on the Sky EPG (and a lloc ate c hannel numb ers seq uentia lly so that

you ge t the next ava ilab le one in the most ap propriate p rog ram ming

ge nre - general enterta inment, shopping, news etc ). If you b uy a pre-existing channel in the right g enre you can take over that c hannels

number.

Negot iating and signing a Sky Electronic Prog ramm e Guide Agreement

is the sec ond step you nee d to take in launching a channel (unless you

are ab le to b uy such an agreeme nt along w ith your purcha se of a n

unwanted channel.

Freesat

Freesat has just been launched by a joint venture be tween the BBC a nd

ITV and is a free to a ir sate llite system with its own EPG. The sate llite d ish

looks at the same signa ls as the Sky system b ut w ill not rec eive the

cha nnels tha t a re enc ryp ted b y Sky (e.g. Sky sports, Discovery).

Freesat has two ma jor ma rkets; homes tha t c annot rec eive Freeview b ut

wa nt free multicha nnel television and the d elivery of High Definition

television. Satellite is a muc h b et ter wa y o f d elivering HD television tha nFreeview a t the m ome nt and the te rrestrial broad casters do not w ant t o

be just p art o f the Sky system , althoug h the BBC a nd Cha nnel 4 dobroadcast in HD on Sky.


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A furthe r EPG c ost is payable to Freesat fo r inc lusion on this p lat form.

Cable

There a re just over three million c ab le hom es in the UK and this number is

growing very slowly de spite the fa c t that only cab le c an o ffer high

speed broad ba nd and phone service to subsc ribe rs.

Just a bout a ll cab le in the UK is ow ned by Virg in Med ia. Virgin is a c losed

system m ana ge d b y the ope rator: tha t mea ns as a c hannel provide r

you have to go and ag ree c omm erc ial terms for your channel to b e on

cab le a nd if they dont wa nt it, they c an say no a nd theres nothing you

can do . The c ab le system is op erating at full ca pa c ity tod ay so b ringing

on a new channel to Virgin mea ns losing one of their existing c hannels. It

is a d ifficult route for most initial channel launc hes.

IPTV

Althoug h theres lots of no ise from BT Vision, Tisca li TV, Orange a nd

others, this is a sma ll p latfo rm a t the mo ment a nd likely to be o f limitedimp ac t ove r the next co uple of yea rs. In time ho weve r, it might b e tha t

more television is delivered this way.

a note a bout High Definition TV (HD)

Whilst HD plasma televisions are flying o ff the shelves of reta ilers, most TV

today is still b roa dcast a s Sta ndard Definition (SD). HD is significantly

mo re expensive to p rod uce than SD television as the e quipment is mo re

expensive a nd t he q uality c ontrol required to produc e HD is muc h

greater.

Perhaps more imp ortantly HD req uires a muc h g rea ter ba ndw idth ove r

satellite to ge t to the end user. This could b e a s muc h as four to e ight

time s the req uirem ent of SD television and as the sate llite c osts are

charged b y the band width required, dee p p oc kets are needed to

broad cast in HD toda y.

Also, no t m any set -top bo xes can receive HD (Sky currently ha ve 465,000such bo xes) and although this ma rket will grow to b ec ome the only wa y

to ma ke a nd transmit te levision in a few ye ars time it is a d ifficult

financ ial equa tion to m ake work in 2009. If you a re making

prog ramm ing tha t ha s a shelf live of som e years you should de finitely

consider making this p rog ram ming in HD even if you conve rt it dow n to

SD fo r transmission in 2009.

regulation

All b roa dcast te levision services in the UK are regula ted by Ofc om and

a ll b roa dcasters req uire a licenc e to b roa dcast. This is som ething of a


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forma lity fo r any UK c itizen o r corpo ra te o rga nisat ion a nd ta kes three toeight weeks to c lear. While it s possible to do o n your own, som e

spe c ialist knowledg e a bo ut wha t s req uired for the a pp licat ion c an help

immeasurably.

This licenc e is an essentia l pre-req uisite fo r any c onversa tion w ith the

telev ision p latfo rms and should be d one as ea rly as possible. All licenc esare d eta iled on the Ofc om website, however this step takes you into the

pub lic d omain with your ide a.

Onc e you b roa dcast, UK and Europ ea n legislation imposes a w hole raft

of restric tions upon the c ontent of the programm ing and ad vertising you

broadc ast. There a re nume rous do cuments on the Ofc om web site tha tdeta il all of these restric tions (the O fcom Codes) and it is rather outside

of the scope o f this introd uc tion to d eta il them.

Advertising restrictions are well understood by the advertising industry

and should no t p resent too muc h of a prob lem. Edito rial restric tions are

often m ore problema tic a nd you should not a ssume that just b ec auseyour programm ing has been previously b roa dc ast in the UK tha t it is

autom at ica lly safe for you to re-transmit. You w ill definitely need leg a l

adv ice and he lp in this a rea . Particular p rob lem a rea s currently are

gambling, premium rate calls and childrens television.

your c hannel from A-Z

There a re a numb er of steps to delivering a television c hannel. Let s

assume you have b oth your Ofcom b roa dc ast licenc e and a n EPG

Services Ag reeme nt w ith Sky, here s wha t e lse you ll need to have tolaunc h your cha nnel on the Sky platform;

Conte nt. It seem s ob vious, but it s ea sy to ge t c aug ht up in the processand forge t the consumer proposition they say content is king and forviewers tha t is wha t its all about. It doesn t ma tte r whe ther you a re

launc hing a home -shop ping c hannel, a ne ws channel or a p remium

movie channel, the c ontent ha s to eng ag e with its aud ienc e.

As part of your sky EPG agreement (and/or Conditional AccessAgreement) you will have ag reed to b road cast a minimum o f twelve

d ifferent hours of p rog ramm ing in each week (six hours minimum for a

channel listed in Shop ping). This means you c annot re-b roa dc ast thesam e p rog ram ming ove r and over again (your viewe rs would p rob ab ly

notice too !) so you need to b uy, borrow, beg or create a vo lume o f

programm ing tha t a t least me ets your contrac tual req uireme nts and

ma ybe muc h more if you need to c ap tivate a nd grow your aud ience .

Sched uling. You w ill be required by b oth the platfo rm a nd the regulatorto have a m inute by minute sched ule of your programm ing and the

p lat forms will want this informa tion two we eks befo re transmission. There

are a number of c ompute r prog ram mes that provide this service, so thatyour sta ff ca n sched ule the c hannel and that informa tion ca n be sent

to Sky in the forma t the y req uire.

Playout . This is the proc ess whe reb y the p rog ram mes you w ant totransmit a re fo lde d into the sched ule a long with ad vertisements and

programm e p romotions to provide a sea mless strea m of p rog ram ming


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as it will be rec eived by the eventua l end user. Som e o f theseprogramm es and ad s will be in a d igital forma t and some might b e on

videota pe . This playout service c an b e mana ged in-house or can b e

sub-contrac ted out to third pa rties. For eac h c hannel the c ost-benefit

ana lysis will be slightly d ifferent.

Signa l Transportat ion. Once the stream of television has been c rea tedthe next e lement in the cha in is to transport it to the viewer. Things rea lly

ge t c omplicate d here, but all of this de livery is sub-contrac ted to a sma ll

numb er of spec ialists who ma nage the p roc ess on your beha lf. The

prog ramm e stream is delivered to a satellite uplink centre where it is

comp ressed and effectively blended with other channels to m ake thedelivery as eff icient a s possible. This is ca lled multip lexing , and the na ture

of your cha nnel will tend to de termine the a mount of c omp ression tha tyou c an g et a wa y with and still deliver good qua lity television to the

viewer.

This is impo rta nt as you p ay for the ba ndwidth you use a nd yo u wa nt thismultiplexing to be a s effec tive a s possible to red uc e c ost. This newcombined strea m ha s da ta ad de d to it so tha t the EPG informa tion is

include d, and the Sky platfo rm know s its eventua l destinat ion. If the

signa l is to e ncrypte d then tha t happ ens here to o.

From here the m ultiplexed strea m is bo unce d up to a geo-sta tionarysate llite suc h a s Astra or Eurob ird (the re is fleet of such sate llites parked

next to ea ch other in spa ce, all with subtle d ifferenc es de pe nding up on

your need ). The sate llite then re-transmits the signa l dow n to the UK (and

othe r ad jacent c ountries) where it c an be rec eived v ia roo f-top satellite

dishes with the right decoding equipment installed in the set-top box.

Easy.

Other Plat forms: Most new c hanne ls choose to launc h on Sky firstbe c ause there is a c lea r proc ess and a high deg ree o f certainty to the

on-air da te. With ca ble there is often a long period of neg otiation

(rem em be r they can choo se not to list you a t a ll) and there is little or no

spa ce on the Freeview platfo rm at this po int in time. Neg otiating

carriage o n Freesat is relat ively simple o nce yo u have yo ur Sky channel

organised.

So tha t s an introduc tion to launc hing a c hannel on television in the UK

(one of the mo st liberalised telev ision markets in the wo rld). We

spe c ialise in guiding new broad casters to launc h and be yond. We can

produce your content, and a rrange everything youve read ab outab ove. We re c onfide nt tha t our skills and experienc e c an save you

money and t ime and if youre serious ab out launc hing a channel on TV(and on IPTV or the we b too ) then g iving us a call to see if we can help

might be your be st first step .

Conta c t: Mark Cullen

0207 820 4472/ 07710 571 475ma [email protected]

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