MTV Hit for Six?
Date: (04/06/2001)
By Richard Draycott rdraycott@scotsman.comDundee is traditionally the home of the three Js - jute, jam and journalism. However, the City of Discovery might soon be adding another J to its list by becoming the home of Scottish jocks, or video jockeys to be precise, following the launch of Channel 6, Dundee?s very own 24-hour music television channel.
Channel 6, which went on air at 11:59pm on Thursday, is the brainchild of Dave Rushton. Rushton is considered by many as the forefather of local television after playing an integral part in rewriting the legislation for the 1996 Broadcasting Act, which saw more than 60 local television licences made available by the Independent Television Commission for community service broadcasters.
The new free-to-air terrestrial channel is broadcasting to a potential audience of 125,000 people living in and around Dundee who can receive the service, which will deliver pop and rock music videos, arts programming, student animations, video productions and live bands from studios in the heart of the city, simply by retuning their television sets.
Already Rushton is keen to boost the potential core audience of 13-to-35 year olds by transmitting to the north of Dundee and into Angus, which could eventually see viewer figures swell to around 160, 000.
He says: "Local television is definitely a growing concept and the Local Broadcasting Group (LBG) is soon to launch another seven stations throughout Scotland. It has taken a lot of people a lot of time and effort to get Channel 6 to where it is today and there is great interest and enthusiasm around Dundee for the station."
Rushton has invested £500,000 in Channel 6, but it is by no means his first foray into running a local TV station. He was also responsible for setting up Edinburgh TV, which went on air last March. However a poor transmission signal across the city meant he was unable to achieve the viewing figures he wanted, therefore he decided to sell the licence to LBG along with the licences for Glasgow, Perth, Stirling, Inverness, Dumbarton, Ayr and Aberdeen and invest the money in setting up in Dundee.
LBG is part-owned by broadcast, video and film group VFG, which has already invested £4.75 million in developing a local TV network and is looking to raise a further £50 million to develop the channels across the UK which it aims to have up and running in two years time - drawing an overall daily audience of up to 4 million.
Rushton, who will continue to manage the Edinburgh TV station until September when he hands the reins over to LBG says he decided to go to Dundee for political reasons.
"I believe Dundee is a city which is fired up by cultural investment," says Rushton, "and there is already a very strong cultural and creative base here with the Contemporary Arts Centre and the Dundee Repertory Theatre, and a high number of animation and graphics students in the city. The council have also been very supportive of us coming here and it is also a city where we can get a very good signal, which is vital. If you are looking to set up a local TV station then you have to be able to give viewers high-quality content - that is one of the reasons we decided to make Dundee a music station, because there is a lot of quality music content out there and also because there is a lot of musical talent in this city."
Channel 6 will initially feature videos of new music releases alongside animation for a younger audience, but Rushton and Bernadette Kesting, facilities and marketing co-ordinator, are both keen for the station to act as a platform for developing Scottish bands."
Kesting says: "We will be very content driven and while music videos will be the majority of our content we do aim to bring in local talent from Dundee and throughout Scotland. We want to hear from new bands, we want to hear from people who fancy themselves as the next big VJ. We want to get rid of the stigma that local means twee. We want to be able to put a music video made by a Dundee band up alongside a video by Madonna and not be able to notice the difference."
Channel 6 also offers a full Teletext service, which operates much like Ceefax beneath the picture. Rushton is offering this as a free advertising platform to local businesses as well as offering viewers local information such as What?s On guides, bus and train timetables and local council information. He is also keen to offer small-to-medium enterprises operating in the Dundee area the opportunity to advertise on television, something which has until now been out of their financial reach.
"We are pioneering a different kind of TV advertising. We want advertisers to use our Teletext service free of charge to compliment their advertising and we want them to commit to an annual contract. For just £3650 per year they can get ten ads on Channel 6 per day. We are treating ads as programmes and are encouraging advertisers to make their ads into mini soap operas much like the Gold Blend ads. That way the ads also act as content for us. The nature of our programming will, I hope, attract the same sort of advertisers which use MTV, such as the big drinks and sports brands. We are also looking at developing sponsorship opportunities within our programming."
Rushton has also helped to establish a small production company called ABQ which produces advertising at a price comparable to the charges made by Channel 6, enabling advertisers to regularly update and change their commercials.
Already Rushton is in talks with some of the city?s colleges to ensure the channel?s facilities are used as a training ground for TV production and animation students and he is also talking to a city nightclub to link up for programming live from the club, which can then be mixed with live studio bands, interviews and music videos.
With Channel 6 employing only seven full-time staff, MTV may not yet have much to worry about, however over the next 18 months with more local stations coming online its dominance as the number one youth music station could come under threat. This story appeared in the Scotsman on Monday 4th June 2001 ©2002 scotsman.com
Contact: Dave Rushton
Phone: 01382 202002
Email: Channel.6@virgin.net