Our team here at Underscore are getting comfy on the sofa in preparation for the arrival of London’s first exclusive TV station.
Details have recently been unveiled of London’s first dedicated TV station, London Live, is set to launch March 2014.
As one of 19 channels to be launched as part of a roll out of local TV stations across the United Kingdom, London Live plans to provide an alternative to TV broadcasting as we know it.
Rejecting celebrity driven formats in exchange for an alternative channel formula, London Lives’ head of news and current affairs, Vikki Cook speaks of plans to create a “noisy, knowing celebratory platform for new creative thinking and risk taking formats that puts young Londoners and the London creative community at the heart of our offering”.
London Live plan to collaborate with Londoners, to collate a true representation of the city from the streets up. Discovering and nurturing fresh talent, reflecting urban, modern London life, and becoming a forum for the issues London citizens care about.
The channel promises five hours of “hyper local” news a day and at least one hour of original current affairs programming. The channel will also feature a flagship documentary strand, Platform 8. After 11pm, Platform 8 will highlight experimental creative content, including short films, music videos and animation showcasing provocative contemporary, distinctive perspectives on London life, with mainstream audience appeal.
Ahead of the launch in spring 2014, London Live has been working with creative agency Kemistry and artist Yoni Alter to develop brand identity and imagery. Capturing the vibrant essence of London life in a series of animated illustrations, the stunning graphic design will go on air in spring next year with a stated ambition of “championing new talent”
The London channel will be brought to us by ESTV, owned by Evgeny Lebedev, who is also the owner of The Independent and London Evening Standard newspaper. London Live plans to share the newspapers offline channel as a way of developing a cross over in communication with their audience over a range of media platforms, creating a more accessible, interactive modern day TV station.