They ain't half old, mum ...

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Publication: The Daily Telegraph
Date: 1992-10-21
Author: Jane Thynne
Page: 18
Language: English

UK Gold is challenging Sky with a channel of 'classic' repeats. Jane Thynne assesses its prospects

THERE MUST be some people who want to see The Onedin Line again. Somewhere, perhaps, faithful fans of The Goodies still linger and there are possibly even devotees keen enough to relive years of backdated Dallas, EastEnders and Neighbours. But judging by the moans which inundate ITV and BBC about "repeats", an entire channel devoted to them might expect a bleak reception.

Next month, however, UK Gold, an unprecedented joint venture between the BBC and Thames TV, will begin broadcasting 20 hours a day of "classic" repeats on the Astra satellite. It is the first of a new cast of contenders, backed by established broadcasters, that are reaching for the skies on satellite.

Since the dramatic merger of BSB and Sky two years ago, satellite television has, for most viewers, become synonymous with British Sky Broadcasting. Whether it's Premier League football, feature films or 24-hour news, it is largely Sky's six channels that sway potential customers to invest in a dish.

A clutch of advertising-supported English language channels thrives outside the Sky fold, including CNN, Screensport, MTV and the Children's Channel, but UK Gold, which launches on November 1, is the first mainstream challenge to Sky's dominance of the satellite world.

Broadcasting between 6 am and 2 am every day, and free to dish owners, the service has the best possible pedigree. It has access to the two most extensive programme libraries in Britain, including 120,000 programmes from the BBC and 10,000 hours' worth from Thames.

Derek Lewis, UK Gold launch co-ordinator, says the channel hopes to draw a new audience to satellite, including young people who didn't see the shows the first time round.

"Even if people do complain about repeats, they still watch them in droves," he says. "There's a strong demand for the shows that have come to be seen as classics, or dramas which

viewers were too young at the time to appreciate.

"Unlike the only other all-entertainment channel, Sky One, which has a very imported American bias, we will be genuinely British."

UK Gold will also break new ground by providing a "middle market" schedule: the entertainment offered by Sky tends to be perceived as "downmarket".

An important part of the UK Gold schedule is the fixed daily slots devoted to comedy, drama, or children's programmes. "People like to know that if they turn on at 6 am they'll get children's programmes, at 7.30 am there are soaps like Neighbours or Sons and Daughters, and at 9.30 am, drama like The Duchess of Duke Street.

"We think that this kind of scheduling is extremely important because it makes viewers feel immediately comfortable with the channel."

BUT AS UK Gold prepares for its glittering launch party, other ITV companies are studying the possibility of their own rival "best of ITV" satellite channel. ITV is keeping quiet about its plans, but UK Gold claims an ITV channel would be little more than a "spoiling" tactic for its own service.

"We frankly doubt if they would have enough programmes," says Lewis. "UK Gold is filling a gaping hole in general entertainment, but I think after us will come services of only a very specialist nature."

Step forward the BBC, to whom the success of UK Gold is critical for an entire programme of satellite expansion, including another four or five channels to exploit its huge programme libraries. Under broadcasting law, however, the BBC cannot be sole owner of a satellite licence, and the corporation may also face a hitch because of a continuing dispute with the actors' union Equity, but it still has dreams of co-partnering a drama channel, an outlet for popular wildlife programmes, and a non-fiction documentary service.

All would carry advertising, be part of a subscription package, and plough their profits back into BBC programme making. The BBC's satellite empire is also intended to encompass a 24-hour television news channel, although the idea of joining forces with Sky News has faltered over the question of which broadcaster should retain editorial control. Another BBC customer for the Astra satellite could be Radio 4: the BBC governors have announced that satellite transmission could supplement the service which, after 1994, will be broadcast only on FM.

Alongside the BBC, the next big name to join the ranks of celestial broadcasters will be Channel Five. The Independent Television Commission is still deciding whether to award the franchise for the fifth channel to Thames TV, the sole bidder. But if it goes ahead, the service, aiming for a solid diet of feature films, local news and music, has a space reserved on the Astra satellite for 1994.

The idea of brodcasting the fifth channel on satellite — as well as through terrestrial transmitters — should some way to solving a major headache for Channel Five: as it signal covers only 70 per cent of the country it cannot describe itself as a national channel.

While smaller independent companies are, queuing up with ideas like The Game Show Channel — wall to wall quizzes and cash prizes — Hugh Williams, programming dire or of the satellite World Service Television, and formerly director of programmes for the defunct BSB, thinks that satellite is now an irresistible option for established broadcasters.

"As the Astra market grows in Britain it will become unstoppable," he says. "Once you've got that subscriber base, it's a brilliant means of distribution. You have a large audience on tap for a very low cost."

Added to this, a major technological breakthrough now means that the cost of satellite broadcasting is about to become even more competitive. Renting an Astra channel costs between £4 and £5 million, but a new technique, digital compression, will enable the satellite operators to squeeze four channels into the space of one — with the prospect of hundreds of satellite channels available by the end of the century.

The chief winners of all this activity are the Luxembourg-based owners of the Astra satellite, whose dominance of the skies over Britain is unlikely to be challenged. They already broadcast British Sky Broadcasting and are expecting to play host to all the other new enterprises being planned. So far they have had little problem filling their 32 existing channels and will be offering another 32 when their next two satellites launch.

"It's getting more exciting day by day. The interest in accessing the British market has been snowballing in the past year," says Jonathan Hart, managing director of Astra marketing. "We're now reaching 38 million homes throughout Europe, of which more than three million are in the UK."

By 1997, half the homes in Britain are expected to be receiving programmes broadcast from Astra, whether by dish or cable.

What does remain in the balance is the extent to which British Sky Broadcasting will profit from the growth of rival satellite channels because of the extensive management system for subscribers it has already established. The system processes applications, accounts and dish rentals and issues the all-important "smart cards" by which viewers operate their own sets.

AFTER an initial introductory period of unscrambled broadcasting, UK Gold faces the important decision of whether to join in a subscription package with BSkyB or establish a rival subscription service with non-BSkyB partners like CNN and. Screensport, so that dish owners could choose to buy their package, instead of BSkyB's.

"Obviously all of us outside the Sky fold have been talking about the options open to us," says Lewis. "I think the way the market goes over the next six to 12 months will decide whether people will opt for the advantages of being marketed alongside the Sky channels, or going it alone."

It is a decision British Sky Broadcasting, the rough and ready pioneers of satellite broadcasting in Britain, will be watching with interest.

Caption: The Tardis touch: the BBC, with its eyes on a satellite empire, has joined Thames TV in an attempt to attract a new audience with a 'middle-market' diet of old programmes

They ain't half old, mum ...

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