It’s the Capital’s first 24-hour Television Channel and it is on air!
London Live says during its broadcasts it will be offering fresh and new content devoted exclusively to an estimated 9 million diverse viewers.
However, its the 18 – 34 age group it is targeting. It hopes they will pick up their remote controls, press 8 on Freeview, 117 on Sky or 159 on Virgin to view their new channel.
The new 24 hour TV channel promises it will be smart, fun and “inside London” making a big difference to Londoners lives. It is backed by the Russian owner of the Evening Standard and The Independent, Evgeny Lebedev. He believes it will succeed even though previous attempts failed.
London Live won a licence last year. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport awarded 19 new local TV channels at the same time.
Some critics have no doubt that London Live will fit in with the TV landscape but there’s lots of competition out there for people’s attention. But there are some who believe that local TV broadcast through the television screen is not going to have a long life.
But I’m afraid that in the end it’s going to be about advertising and sponsor revenue and not the current BBC model – if they DO NOT get to the correct target market for the London area then when their ‘free funding’ dries up they will then be out in the real World????
Well, unless the Russian puts his own money in there of course, otherwise it could be history repeating itself???
Already you can see the presenters have lost some of their ‘happy ‘ style. Many of them are looking tired and overworked.
But what is unfortunate about its output is that it cuts off everyone over 34 years of age.