Redmond’s TV bid is a ‘philanthropic intervention’

PHIL Redmond sees his bid for a local TV licence in Liverpool as a philanthropic intervention, spurred by a desire to prevent a “land grab” by national groups.

Mr Redmond and his wife Alexis are behind Our-TV, one of five bidders for the Merseyside franchise that will be available to 800,000 homes on Freeview’s channel eight.

Former Lime Pictures managing director Sean Marley is on board to lead the station if it is picked by Ofcom which should announce the winner in the coming months.

Mr Redmond, who made his name with Grange Hill and Brookside, told TheBusinessDesk.com that he thought his time in TV was over, but he decided to table a bid after seeing the prospect of a truly local TV station overshadowed by applications from larger groups.

“This is a philanthropic intervention, it’s not about a land grab for media frequencies. If we don’t get it we’ll be philosophical and try to keep pursuading people to use local TV as a tool for social intervention, rather than financial gain,” he says.

“It does come back to the fact that Alexis and I weren’t going to be bothered, we felt we had done our days in TV. But the more this moved on and became a reality, the more you could see the same old agenda running along. The potential for local oportunity was going to be smothered by national groups making a land grab.”

Mr Redmond made a personal fortune when he sold Mersey TV to All3Media in 2005 for around £35m. He will finance Our-TV in its first three years, although it will have a small production base, employing around 12 staff.

“We don’t want to be a production house. We want to be the platform,” says Mr Redmond who will make each half-hour available for £150. Production companies, community groups, and other bodies will be encouraged to pitch ideas and make the content themselves.

He sees this as an opportunity for new media businesses in Liverpool, who could win work form large public bodies such as the NHS, or pitch their own series supported by a local sponsor. It is also part of his plan to democratise the media and give ordinary people a voice.

Our-TV is up against bids by Bay TV, Made in Liverpool, Canada-based Metro8 and Your TV. Both Metro8 and Your TV are applying for eight licences.

“Following our bid against Granada [Mersey TV’s 1991 bid to win the franchise] we were told it was fantastic quality but not the quality they were looking for,” said Mr Redmond. “We might be told that local telly needs to work nationally, but to me a national network of local TV is an oxymoron.

“If we don’t win, I’ll work to remind everybody that whoever does is providing the third leg of the localism agenda.”

More detail about Our-TV’s schedule will be unveiled at an event at John Moores University today.