New UK channel, Fame TV, wants your pictures and videos to broadcast

Link: Fame TV Turns Couch Potatoes into National Stars within 15 Minutes

This is interesting — the first TV channel to be fully dependent on user content.

05 October 2006 – Press Dispensary – UK based media company Fame TV Ltd is launching the UK’s first user generated TV channel on 6 November, 2006. The channel will be fully interactive and rely entirely on members of the public for its programming content.

On Fame TV, viewers will be able to create their own moments of fame by uploading video clips, pictures and texts via mobile phones and the internet. Broadcasting will take place all year round, 24/7, and be available to Sky customers in the UK and Ireland.

Fame TV aims to broadcast all video submissions live on air within 15 minutes of the user submitting the content. Viewers are invited to send in their own music selection which will play as the backing soundtrack to clips during broadcast.

The public will have full control over what they see on screen and can vote via SMS for the clips they want to view. If a piece they don’t like is playing, they can vote it off screen in a matter of seconds and choose the next clip to air.

Each viewer may have their own signature tag that appears on screen every time they interact by SMS or MMS, allowing them to build their own interactive broadcast community and communicate with others while watching.

John Hayes, head of development, says: “We are moving into a new era of television where user generated content and viewer interaction are key to the programming. The mobile phone will become the new remote control and we’re expecting to generate a vast library of diverse content, courtesy of the British public.”

The concept is similar in principal to that of the currently en vogue MySpace website and will provide viewers with a platform for communicating with friends and promoting themselves. Aspiring actors, models and unsigned bands will be able to showcase their talents and launch their careers on national TV in an instant.

Users are advised to visit the website for more information about the channel and to upload videos prior to launch

I think if they can get the style and message to consumers right, it could be wickedly popular. Exciting times!

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Side comment here, unrelated to FameTV: Ages ago I used to subscribe to Broadcast magazine because we did a lot of TV related work. The subscription lapsed at least 2 years ago but I am still on their daily newsletter. I usually open it up and have a quick scan. I never click on anything as the headlines are very much industry related and, for example, about how many million people viewed yesterday’s [whatever] show on ITV. However today I saw the FameTV story in the middle of the headlines …….. and clicked. Only to be told I need a £150/year membership to view premium content. It’s a fair fee, I suppose, for anyone working in the medium as it looks like Broadcast produces a heck of a lot of relevant and useful content.

However I wanted to read the story and link you all to it. Couldn’t, obviously. Couldn’t even read half of it or a few paragraphs. In fact I could even link you to a page with a one paragraph ‘teaser’ followed by a ‘please sign up link’.

So I typed Fame TV into Google News and the first link was the above press release. Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. Broadcast’s free newsletter alerted me — yet I got the full details I wanted from Google because I didn’t want to pay £150 for a subscription — and also, because that’s totally useless to me since I want to quote a bit of their article here for you all — and then I want you all to be able to go and look at it, without ‘please pay’ friction. Interesting time to be a content owner.