Media UK

Channel M - news archive

This is an archive of news about Channel M. Some links may no longer work, due to the transient nature of the internet.

Clear Channel Makes 350 HD2 Stations iTunes Tagging Compatible
From radio.about.com. Posted June 30 2008, 1.00am
Clear Channel Radio just announced that all of its HD2 stations are iTunes Tagging compatible. This completes a rollout that began with the company's 350 HD radio stations. Combined, that... (more)

Peter Dale: More4 chief steps down to launch production company
From Media Guardian. Posted June 3 2008, 5.13pm
Peter Dale, the head of Channel 4 digital channel More4, is to leave to set up an independent production company. By Leigh Holmwood (more)

BBC mistakenly announces verdict reached in Nisah Patel-Nasri murder trial verdict
From Media Guardian. Posted May 22 2008, 4.46pm
The BBC has landed itself in hot water for another on-air gaffe after the BBC News channel mistakenly announced that a verdict had been reached in a murder trial. By Tara Conlan. (more)

NATO launches new TV channel at summit
From Media Network Weblog. Posted April 2 2008, 4.26pm
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen launched a new web-based television channel meant to improve understanding of the Alliance roles, operation and missions at the NATO Summit in Bucharest. The new TV channel is the result of close cooperation between the NATO Public Diplomacy Division and the [...] (more)

Rapture TV mulls appeal on Sky charges
From Digital Spy. Posted April 1 2008, 6.54pm
A tribunal's ruling on Rapture TV gets a mixed reaction from DS readers; channel may appeal. (more)

'Jhoom' movie mayhem on Sony TV in April
From Biz Asia. Posted March 21 2008, 1.11pm
Sony Entertainment Television Asia has lined up a spectacular movie line-up for April. The movie highlight is Yash Raj Film's 'Jhoom Barabar Jhoom', which released last year and did fair business at the box office. The Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Lara Dutta, Preity Zinta and Bobby Deol starer will be shown on Sunday 27th April at 20:00. Over on sister channel MAX, comedy drama 'Aur Pappu Paas Ho Gaya' starring Krishna Abhishek and Kashmira Shah will be shown on Saturday 26th April at 20:00. There's also 'Partner' starring Govinda and Salman Khan on Saturday 12th April at 20:00 and the repeat telecast of 'Namastey London' starring Akshay Kumar on Saturday 19th April at 20:00. (more)

Arabic children’s channel makes UK launch
From Biz Asia. Posted March 17 2008, 9.05pm
A channel aimed at Arab children has launched on Sky Digital. The conveniently named Al Jazeera Children's Channel (JCC), presents a range of discovery and learning programs to provide children with information about other cultures, environments, and the world they live in. JCC has made its debut on channel 831 on the Sky Digital platform replacing Mez TV which previously occupied the slot. JCC is a free-to-air channel meaning no subscription is required to view the channel. Related links: Al Jazeera English celebrates one year on-air Al Jazeera English in talks with Virgin Media Al Jazeera English up for Digital Award Al Jazeera to launch new documentary channel Al Jazeera English makes official launch (more)

Orange, T-Mobile to pilot 3G mobile TV
From Digital Spy. Posted February 12 2008, 3.22pm
Orange and T-Mobile are to pilot a 24-channel mobile TV service over their 3G network in West London. (more)

T-Mobile and Orange to test 100-channel mobile TV
From Media Guardian. Posted February 12 2008, 12.01am
Orange and T-Mobile announce partnership to run six-month commercial trial of new mobile TV technology (more)

Virgin makes EPG leap on BSkyB
From Rapid TV News. Posted January 31 2008, 1.14pm
UK cable operator Virgin Media has craftily used its multichannel might to place a channel high on BSkyB’s satellite EPG. (more)

MTV Flux to close after 15 months
From Media Guardian. Posted January 23 2008, 11.33am
MTV is to close its user-generated content driven TV channel MTV Flux after just 15 months and replace it with a one-hour timeshift of its main music service. By Mark Sweney (more)

ZEE Next to launch in December in India
From Biz Asia. Posted November 29 2007, 9.11pm
ZEE TV's sibling general Hindi entertainment station ZEE Next is likely to launch in India on Monday 17th December, according to reports. ZEE Next is being targeted to a much younger audience compared to the flagship channel ZEE TV. It will have mixed programmes that include thriller, comedy, reality and action among others. Online portal IndianTelevision has reported that the channel's brand tagline will be "Manoranjan Ka Agla Andaaz. The brand philosophy for the channel is Dil Wahi, Dhadkan Nayi. ZEE Next business head Punit Goenka said, "ZEE Next is a family viewing channel meant largely for the younger audiences with a very traditional outlook. Slated to be launched by the end of the year, we have ensured that we carry forward the heritage and philosophy of ZEE Network on to this new offering. The channel will live up to its value of Dil Wahi Dhadkan Nayi and have something for all the members of the family, from the children to the grandparents." "While ZEE TV concentrates on stories inside the home, the new channel will narrate stories from outside. The channel will address more contemporary issues especially in its portrayal of women. Although its main target will be the youth demographic, it will not alienate the housewife," Goenka had said. ZEE Next is expected to launch in the UK sometime in 2008. Related links: Ofcom approves four new licences for ZEE UK New ZEE Network channel branding revealed ZEE TV's sibling station to launch in India ZEE India to launch new entertainment channel (more)

Three channels bid for BCCI's IPL cricket
From Biz Asia. Posted November 19 2007, 8.57am
Three channels - ESPN STAR Sports, Sony Entertainment Television Asia and Nimbus have made their initial presentations towards the bidding process for the upcoming BCCI Twenty20 cricket series called Indian Premier League (IPL). The presentations will be followed by the floating of tenders on Saturday 24th November, which will be finally opened on Friday 7th December when the rights will be granted. BCCI ensured that each channel made separate presentations, and officials of none of the channels are prepared even to say what the parameters of judging the strengths were that the cricket body was looking at. "We have been told to maintain confidentiality strictly by BCCI, and even if we disclose the parameters of the presentation, it would make us liable for breach of confidentiality, as these parameters would go into framing of the tender conditions," said a top official of one of the channels. IPL's rival team ICL (Indian Cricket League), which is formed by ZEE Network launches its tournament on Friday 30th November. The tournament will be shown live on ZEE Sports in India and ZEE TV in the UK. Related links: ZEE's Indian Cricket League teams confirmed Indian cricket board "blacklists" ZEE & Ten Sports More names added to ZEE's cricketing team Laloo Yadav support ZEE's cricket league ZEE signs up Brian Lara for cricket league Kapil Dev to head ZEE cricket league ZEE buys 50% stake in Ten Sports ZEE denies signing players for 'rebel' cricket team ZEE Network ditches BCCI offshore cricket deal ZEE signs up cricket legends for new league ZEE Network to form own Indian cricket league (more)

Sony & MAX announce Christmas movies
From Biz Asia. Posted November 16 2007, 9.15pm
Sony Entertainment Television Asia and sister channel MAX have lined up some of their best movies for the upcoming Christmas break. For the first time in months, flagship channel Sony TV will screen a matinee movie (Monday - Thursday) throughout December to coincide with children taking time off from school for the festive season. Every week, Sony TV will air a special "Matinee Madness" season, which includes Bollywood Beauties, Bollywood Gold, Bollywood Royalty and Bollywood Epics. Some movies a part of the bumper movie festival include 'Zeher', 'Omkara', 'Junglee' and 'Mughal-E-Azam'. Furthermore, Sony TV will also screen the World TV Premiere of Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif's romantic comedy caper 'Namastey London' on Sunday 30th December at 20:00. Over on its network movies channel MAX, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's hard-hitting drama 'Provoked' will get its World TV Premiere on Saturday 15th December at 20:00. The other premiere on MAX is 'Mr Ya Miss' starring Ritesh Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani and Antara Mali on Saturday 1st December at 20:00. (more)

Visiware’s Minikids TV debuts in Canada
From Rapid TV News. Posted October 23 2007, 9.04pm
French TV game producer Visiware has announced the launch in Canada of new edutainment kid’s channel Minikids TV, on digital platform Bell ExpressVu. (more)

Saroj Khan signs new NDTV dance show
From Biz Asia. Posted October 9 2007, 11.29pm
Bollywood's much loved choreographer Saroj Khan has confirmed to Mumbai Mirror that she will be launching her own dance reality show to rival STAR Plus' 'Nach Baliye'. Initially when STAR approached the star dancer, she refused to be a part of it, this explains why. Details remain sketchy on Saroj's new show but did say that the programme will air on NDTV's upcoming entertainment channel, launching early 2008. Says a source, "Saroj is unarguably the best choreographer in Bollywood. Her dance reality show will invariably rock. She has been working very hard on this project." Saroj said, "I have signed a contract under which I'm bound not to speak a single word about the show until the channel makes a formal announcement from their side." Related links: Plans on for UK launch of new NDTV channel NDTV looking to dislodge STAR Plus from top Confirmed: STAR's Sameer Nair to join NDTV It's official! Top bosses quit STAR India 'KBC' and 'Koffee With Karan' to move to NDTV? UK set up for new NDTV Entertainment channel Dharma Productions buys stake in NDTV channel (more)

BBC HD may be delayed on Freeview
From Digital Spy. Posted September 25 2007, 2.23pm
The BBC Trust gives a provisional go-ahead to BBC HD; however, the channel may not join Freeview for a while. (more)

SES Astra expands its interactive TV service to the Arab World
From Media Network Weblog. Posted September 11 2007, 11.42am
SES Astra has signed a new contract for its interactive TV service Blucom for the Arab World. MBC, the leading free-to-air multi-channel media group in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, will use Blucom for voting, greeting, downloading, and other enhanced TV-applications for its flagship channel MBC1, its news channel Al Arabiya, and [...] (more)

Noor TV gears up for launch in October
From Biz Asia. Posted July 23 2007, 2.44pm
A Birmingham-based Islamic educational channel is gearing up for its launch on Sky Digital Noor TV will broadcast from Aston in Birmingham and was expected to launch earlier this year but was delayed to reasons unknown. Due to the channel missing its proposed launch date, Noor has had to wait six months due to Sky's long cue of new channels wanting to launch on the platform. According to an insider at the channel, Noor TV will commence broadcasting on Sky Digital on Monday 1st October, with tests beginning on Friday 14th September. Related links: Noor TV begins testing on Sky ahead of launch Noor TV delays launch of channel on Sky EXCLUSIVE: Noor TV launch details emerge Fifth Islamic channel set for UK launch (more)

Sony announces MAX changes from May
From Biz Asia. Posted April 26 2007, 9.35pm
Sony Entertainment Television Asia's movies and events channel MAX will be changing its schedule in May. As announced on BizAsia.co.uk last month, the current 21:00 primetime slot for films will be shifted back by an hour to 20:00. The change will also affect other screening times on the channel. From 1st May, movies and events on MAX will air 00:00, 03:00, 06:00, 08.30, 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00. On Sky Digital, non-subscribers are treated to one hour freeviews, which from May will air at the following times 12:00, 16:00 and 20:00. The change is being applied to MAX feeds internationally including India. MAX will also be airing a month-long movies spectacular of Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan in a festival called 'Ab Tak Bachchan'. The 'Big B' movies will be broadcast every weeknight at 20:00. There's also the World TV Premiere of last Diwali's box office dud 'Jaan-E-Mann' starring Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and Preity Zinta. The film will be screened on Saturday 26th May at 20:00. Related links: MAX to premiere Amitabh Bachchan festival 'Kabhi Alvida Na Kenha' & 'Jaan-E-Maan' on Sony (more)

The Big Q: Will this channel make money?
From Biz Asia. Posted April 26 2007, 9.22am
The big question that everyone is asking about this recently launched Asian TV channel is - will it make money? In recent times the advertising pie is becoming increasingly fragmented and with another channel joining the fray, things won't get easier for the others and for the the new entrant. The latter is free-to-air, which doesn't help from a revenue perspective. The UK partnering company with this Indian channel has seemingly tendered a huge MG (minimum guarantee) amount to the latter, which might be difficult to recoup. Let's wait and watch what becomes of this broadcaster! (more)

UK's first Asian news channel to launch in June
From Biz Asia. Posted April 17 2007, 10.31pm
Parent company of upcoming regional channel Mana Telugu, U-Like Media has confirmed to BizAsia.co.uk that it has dropped plans to launch a Tamil channel opting instead to launch the UK's first Asian news channel. Earlier this year, U-Like Media owner Kumar Vupalla exclusively revealed to BizAsia.co.uk that it was looking at launching a Tamil and Telugu channel. However, the company has decided against the Tamil channel due to it not being commercially viable. Plans to launch Mana Telugu and the news service are in advance stages. The news channel will be known as UNN (U-Like News Network) and will broadcast live bulletins round the clock from its London based studios. The channel will also feature job advertorials, technology related shows and documentary-type segments. U-Like Media has also told BizAsia.co.uk that it has been given a provisional launch date of Monday 11th June to launch its channels on Sky Digital. According to an insider at U-Like Media, the two channels are more than likely to launch on Monday 11th June but could be given temporary EPG numbers of delayed completely due to an EPG reshuffle taking place in the 'International' genre. A source at Sky has told the broadcaster the following: "There is a risk that when you launch into the EPG on 11th June 2007, it may be necessary to temporarily list the channel in a separate 'overspill section' of the EPG. This 'overspill section' would be situated between programme numbers 890 and 898...Alternatively, we can also offer you the option of delaying the launch of your channels until the re-organisation of the International genre has been completed. Any channels that launch into the 'International overspill section' after 11th June 2007, will be listed below your channels once the genre move has been carried out." The channels are expected to begin testing 2-3 weeks prior to launch. Updated: 22:38 Related link: EXCLUSIVE: New Sky EPG changes for Asian TV (more)

MAX to premiere Amitabh Bachchan festival
From Biz Asia. Posted April 11 2007, 9.06pm
Sony Entertainment Television Asia's movies and events channel MAX is all set to run a month-long movie festival featuring Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. (more)

Channel M Launching Bikers Show
From Merry Media. Posted March 15 2007, 2.15pm
Channel M is launching a new show aimed at bikers, in conjunction with Manchester based bikeanimal.com.. (more)

CITV channel celebrates first birthday
From Digital Spy. Posted March 13 2007, 3.13pm
Kids channel marks its first anniversary with new idents and 'birthday' song. (more)

Virgin Media's TV-on-demand service launches without ITV
From Media Guardian. Posted February 20 2007, 12.00am
2pm: Virgin Media's TV-on-demand service has gone live with one key channel missing - ITV. By Katie Allen. (more)

Jack Dearden to Present Show on Channel M
From Merry Media. Posted February 5 2007, 10.25pm
Jack Dearden is the latest presenter to join Manchester based TV station Channel M. Jack will be the new face of Channel M's weekly Rugby League Show, Code XIII.. (more)

New Football Show on Channel M
From Merry Media. Posted February 1 2007, 4.27pm
The Latics Football Show is a programme for all Wigan Athletic Fans on Manchester's local tv station Channel M.. (more)

Channel M Launch New Shows for February
From Merry Media. Posted January 23 2007, 11.22am
Manchester’s Channel M is launching a number of new programmes during February.. (more)

'Men and Motors' sale on the cards
From Digital Spy. Posted December 14 2006, 11.01am
Reports suggest ITV-owned channel may be sold off to allow the broadcaster to concerntrate on ITV4. (more)

Sky signs TV deal with Al Gore station
From Media Guardian. Posted October 6 2006, 1.00am
9.30am: Sky is making its first major move into the user-generated content market with a deal to bring Al Gore's Current TV, the channel made up of viewer-created clips, to the UK and Ireland. By Mark Sweney. (more)

Sparrowhawk appoints Bose to Hallmark marketing role
From Brand Republic. Posted September 21 2006, 3.09pm
LONDON - Sparrowhawk Media, owner of the Hallmark network and new channel Movies 24, has appointed Maya Bhose as its new marketing director. (more)

Sparrowhawk appoints Bhose to Hallmark marketing role
From Brand Republic. Posted September 21 2006, 3.09pm
LONDON - Sparrowhawk Media, owner of the Hallmark network and new channel Movies 24, has appointed Maya Bhose as its new marketing director. (more)

Hewlett joins Channel M
From Press Gazette. Posted August 24 2006, 12.00am
Steve Hewlett has been appointed non-executive chairman of Guardian Media Group’s Manchester television station, Channel M. (more)

Made for TV channel Movies 24 launches on Sky
From Brand Republic. Posted June 30 2006, 11.06am
LONDON - Movies 24, a new channel showing made-for-television films launches tomorrow on Sky, backed by a £1m national advertising campaign. (more)

GMG unveils new ad campaign for Channel M
From Brand Republic. Posted June 28 2006, 11.06am
LONDON - Guardian Media Group has launched a new advertising campaign to promote its Manchester TV station Channel M. (more)

More4's Russian great bear ad bloody but not bowed
From Brand Republic. Posted June 21 2006, 8.06am
LONDON - An ad campaign for Channel 4 digital channel More4's 'State of Russia' season, which featured a picture of a bear lying in the snow surrounded by traps, one of which was covered in blood, picked up 32 complaints and was described as shocking, offensive, and gratuitously violent. (more)

Beckham helps ITV match Big Brother in ratings war
From Brand Republic. Posted May 24 2006, 12.05pm
LONDON – ITV's screening of a documentary about David Beckham helped the channel match the audience of Channel 4's 'Big Brother'. (more)

Five set to launch women's lifestyle channel in August
From Brand Republic. Posted March 24 2006, 9.03am
LONDON - Five looks set to launch a women's lifestyle channel this August, which would see it go up against Living TV, making it the final UK terrestrial broadcaster to expand into the multichannel market. (more)