Zinc Media Regulatory News (ZIN)

17 Oct 2008 07:00



17 October 2008

Kent TV celebrates first year 

Ten Alps, the factual media company, today celebrates the first birthday of Kent TV, the first UK council-funded internet TV channel, launched in September 2007 by Bob Geldof.

Visits to the Kent TV site (www.kenttv.com) have rapidly increased over the year, underlining its success and popularity. Over the past three months visits were four times higher than in the first quarter of its operation.

Kent TV provides coverage of local issues, the arts, business, education, health, leisure, local government, tourism and travel and today launches 'What's On in Kent', the first online interactive video based listing available on www.kenttv.com/whatson/

Kent TV is unique because it provides:

Genuinely regional and local TV news in an era when broadcasters such as ITV are substantially cutting back

Local news covered differently - Kent TV covers in-depth the smallest story to the largest and gets under the skin of local issues 

User-generated content offering an inclusive platform for engagement by everyone , but particularly popular with the young, in local news

'How to films' convey basic information to the people on services such as recycling

Particularly popular Kent TV items in the first year included:

'Boris Island' - Mayor Johnson's plan to build an airport on an artificial island off the coast of the Isle of Sheppey

Fireworks above Dover that launched the biggest ever celebration of culture in Kent and highlighted Kent's campaign to be the place of entry into the UK for the Olympic torch in 2012

'How to' videos including 'How to spot Norovirus' and 'How to get through Clearing'

User generated films of local free running enthusiast in action in Kent

'By the Way, I'm Gay.'  A film about youngsters coming out at school made by KCC and given to Kent TV

Peter Gilroy, Chief Executive of KCC said:

"We are delighted by the response to Kent TV. One of our primary objectives was for Kent TV to be a community channel. Uploading films offers individuals and community groups the opportunity to get their message across too, and this has been especially popular with the younger population, illustrating that this method of communication really is the future."

Alex Connock, CEO of Ten Alps, added::

"Kent TV is a trailblazer - a local authority funded online TV channel. It delivers journalism local enough to be really relevant, and engages younger people in politics and society in the way they respond to - which is online. Plus, with ITV withdrawing from genuinely local TV as fast as it can, Kent TV is filling a major gap. We think many councils could follow Kent's lead."

Contacts

Kent County Council

Tanya Oliver 

Telephone : 01622 694817

Tanya.Oliver@kent.gov.uk

Ten Alps Plc 

Alex Connock, CEO, c/o Moira McManus

Telephone: 020 7878 3211

moira@tenalps.com

www.tenalps.com

Pelham PR

Alex Walters / Francesca Tuckett

Telephone: 0203 008 5509 / 020 3178 6244

alex.walters@pelhampr.com / francesca.tuckett@pelhampr.com 

Notes on Kent TV

Kent TV is the internet TV channel for people living and working in Kent. Launched in September 2007 by Kent County Council (KCC), the channel is operated independently by Ten Alps Digital, part of media company, Ten Alps. 

The channel also has its own independent board selected by KCC, and voluntarily chooses to be monitored by Ofcom. 

There are 1363 films on Kent TV covering a range of topics of interest to people who live, work, study or visit Kent.

Although Ten Alps produces content for the site, many of the films have been produced by and with local people or organisations.

Kent TV received 129,413 visits in September, bringing the total of visits since its launch to 802,940. A visit is counted whenever a web site user requests one or more files from the web server. If the user becomes idle for more than 20 minutes, a new visit is generated when they come back.

Kent TV embeds its films on other sites, and because the Kent TV player has been developed which provides a direct link back to the Home Page, a considerable number of these viewers also click through to Kent TV.

Notes on Ten Alps

Ten Alps Plc is a factual media company - on TV, online and in print.

As a multi-platform producer, it engages with audiences and customers across all media outlets.

Ten Alps has market-leading positions in all its three key areas of output:

On TV it produces for Dispatches, Panorama and other key factual programmes for Channel 4, the BBC and international broadcasters. One of its companies is preferred supplier for a major five-year government contract to operate the Teachers TV channel.

Online it produces Kent TV, the first fully local authority-funded broadband TV service in the UK, alongside B2B websites and online TV projects, such as Vets TV. It also produces online TV advertising. 

In Print it is one of the UK's largest contract and specialist publishers, with a growing portfolio of 740 titles across specialist media sectors including finance, environment, public sector and international trade. 

Ten Alps was founded in 1999 by Alex Connock and Bob Geldof.

It has over 550 staff with main offices in London and Manchester, and smaller offices in Edinburgh and Gateshead.

Ten Alps has had seven consecutive years of growth since listing on AiM in 2001, with turnover rising from £2m to £81.4m in the financial year to March 31 2008.

During that period, nineteen acquisitions have been made: in factual TV (including leading producers Brook Lapping, Blakeway and Films of Record), online (video advertising producer MMA, CSR specialists DBDA) and in print (McMillan Scott, Mongoose, Atalink, Camerons, Sovereign - which now have substantial online portfolios). One equity funding has been made since 2001.