A new local TV channel run by regional publishing group Archant will finally go live on Freeview this evening.
Norwich-based Mustard TV has been broadcasting online since January last year but from this week will be available on Channel 8.
Mustard TV is the second local TV channel to go live in the UK, following the series of licences awarded by broadcast regulator Ofcom.
It will launch at 5.30pm today with the inaugural broadcast of Mustard News, followed by a short welcome programme This is Mustard TV, and will broadcast to more than 300,000 homes in the county.
Prime time programming will include The Mustard Show, a daily news magazine, local history series Archive Half Hour, and Wildlife programme Wild East which will focus on local flora and fauna.
Fiona Ryder, managing director of Mustard TV, said: “We want to redefine what people think of as local television. We hope to engage the community in ways that other stations covering wider patches just can’t.
“We will put Norfolk and Norwich at the heart of everything we do, celebrating the best of our county and concentrating on the issues that really matter to our communities.
“As well as being informative and entertaining, Mustard TV will provide a new voice for the people of Norfolk.”
Fiona, pictured, said the channel was named Mustard TV as a nod to the Colman family, which helped found Archant and is famous for producing Colman’s Mustard in Norwich.
Archant also publishes Norfolk’s two daily newspapers, the Eastern Daily Press and the Norwich Evening News.
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As video producer for another local title (nowhere near Archant’s patch, by the by) I’ve been keeping an eye on Mustard’s developments and think they’ve been putting out a pretty decent offering so far.
The question is whether or not they can make it work as a TV station, which – in my view – is a very different kettle of fish from a website that shows videos on demand.
I can see how the latter could generate a following but I’m not convinced there’s enough going on in your average patch, even one that’s big enough to sustain a daily newspaper, that will consistently fill a day’s worth of airtime with compelling material.
Still, they’ve done pretty well so far, and good luck to them. I hope they can prove me wrong.
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I hope it works. There have been enough seasoned Archant journalists jettisoned to help pay the Mustard set-up bills.
Will it generate enough of an audience quickly enough to attract and keep the advertisers that will sustain it?
Or will it burn through cash so quickly that the plug is pulled?
Mustard TV is a nice worthy idea but it’s a big gamble and the clock starts ticking on Monday.
Will Mustard TV prove to be an expensive vanity project (another case of the king’s new clothes) or could it be a flash of inspiration? We’ll find out soon enough.
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If there were still only 4 national TV channels, it may have a chance. As there are probably more than 400 on Sky etc, it’s probably going to attract audiences as small as The God Channel.
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Hard to imagine Archant not making a hash of this… given the inexorable decline of the publisher’s core title EDP and the total collapse of the ABC and editorial standards of the Evening News, my view is that this vanity project is little more than a distraction
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I wonder if this will go the same way as local radio for publishers, i.e. not good.
Will technology overtake the rush to broadcast TV. There is an increasing number of people watching TV on catchup services through apps on Smart TV’s. As Smart TV’s become the norm I wonder if publisher’s creating and fulfilling a TV base App is the way to go. Could be a couple of video bulleteins a day with maybe hourly updates.
Certainly a lot cheaper and more accessible, no license to buy, you can update when you want or are able and different ‘unrestricted’ advertising methods to support it.
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