Ofcom awards Birmingham local TV licence to Kaleidoscope

MEDIA regulator Ofcom has awarded the local TV licence for Birmingham to Kaleidoscope TV. The move follows the collapse into administration in August of former licence holder, City TV.

Kaleidoscope, fronted by former ATV continuity announcer Mike Prince, has been told by the watchdog it must begin broadcasting by the end of February. Prince was formerly controller of programming at the now defunct City TV.

The tight timeframe is due to the launch date for local TV in Birmingham being pushed back by the previous licence holder due to a lack of funds. It had been expected to air at the beginning of this month but its collapse negated this.
The terms of the licence will see the station broadcast to 1.2m households, giving it a potential audience of 2.3m within Birmingham, Walsall, Dudley and parts of Wolverhampton.

Kaleidoscope has said it will fulfil the terms of the licence and will broadcast more than the minimum level of local programming required by Ofcom.

The schedule will be a mix of news and ultra-local programming designed to reflect the communities in the area.

The move to award the licence to Kaleidoscope is something of a surprise because when the company was selected as the preferred bidder for the licence by City TV administrators Duff & Phelps in October, Ofcom declined to approve the deal.

However, the watchdog appears to have decided that the time it would take to re-advertise the licence was likely to push back the broadcast date even further.

The Birmingham licence is the largest outside London and the regulator is thought keen to get the project up and running as quickly as possible.

Ofcom awarded the original Birmingham licence to City TV in November 2012 and the project, headed by former Birmingham City Council spin doctor Debra Davis, was expected to be the first local TV station to launch.

However, burdened by debt the company collapsed in August, owing around £170,000.

Andrew Taylor, head of corporate recovery at Shakespeares, who has been advising the City TV administrators (Duff & Phelps), said: “This is a win-win for digital broadcasting in the region. We are delighted that Ofcom recognises the care and attention given to this bid and has decided to back it.

“This decision has unlocked the process and means we can now proceed with the transfer of the licence to broadcast to Kaleidoscope TV. These discussions are already well underway and we will continue to work closely with the administrators to ensure that the new licence holder is able to begin broadcasting as soon as possible.”