New TV channel sets out to lure lucrative under-35 audience from BBC and ITV, writes ALISON BOSHOFF
THE first new terrestrial television channel for 15 years unveiled the programmes which lie in store for its viewers yesterday, promising a film every night, the rebirth of the chat show, and news as politician-free as they can make it.
"We are going to be very modern and very different," said Dawn Airey, Channel 5's director of programmes, describing how she hopes to win viewers from BBC, ITV and Channel 4 when it starts broadcasting on March 30.
Its scheduling is devised to ensure that the same programmes will be in the same slots on weekdays.
The "modern mainstream" programming is aimed at the under-35 audience which is so appealing to advertisers.
There will be a film every night from 9pm-11pm, which may hit ITV particularly hard as it comes under perennial pressure from advertisers to move News at Ten, which interrupts films.
A daily soap opera, Family Affairs, set in Maidenhead and produced by Mal Young, formerly of Brookside, will also be on twice every weekday. The lunchtime episode will be a repeat.
News will come from 6am-7.30am, then on the hour throughout the day with the main news at 8pm, anchored by Kirsty Young.
Pioneering the idea of "news readers with legs", presenters will not be desk bound, but will roam around their brightly-coloured newsroom.
"This will be a channel for the going-to-be's, not the has-beens, said Ms Airey. "I've nothing against Cilla Black and Michael Barrymore but they are not for this channel." She said they had decided not to steal their competitors' programmes or their talent.
Ms Airey is convinced that Channel 5's news will revolutionise the output of other stations and show the way for the BBC when it re-assesses their coverage after the election.
"Look at the 9 O'Clock News or News at Ten and it comes from a bloody mausoleum. It does not have to be that way," she said.
David Elstein, chief executive of Channel 5, said that he was not worried about launching a terrestrial channel just before the advent of digital services. "The point is that this is a free service which 90 per cent of the country will get," he said.
"On those grounds, it will always be attractive to advertisers. You don't need boxes, decoders or satellites to see it.
"Murdoch's biggest deal last year was to buy 10 or so terrestrial stations in big cities in America. I think that tells you a lot, when the media mogul's deal of choice is to buy into free, commercial TV stations."
The channel has specific plans for different areas of coverage. They include:
NEWS: less politics, more consumer, sports and entertainment news, promises Tim Gardam, the controller. On election night, for example, there will be no special programme devoted to politics, just a "clear analysis" of the results during regular news updates. Mr Gardam said: "People under 45 do not like watching the news much and that is not good for democracy. We want to be sure and tell people what the news means for their everyday life.
"I think that the centre of economic power has shifted back about 10 years so that generation are crucial but they are not well served."
Coverage will start at 6am with Scott Chisholm, formerly of Sky News, and Patricia Adudu, the sports anchor. Chisholm vowed yesterday to wear jeans, no tie and be "extremely firm" with any political guests. The newsroom is colour-coded. Sport is orange, politics are green and money is pink.
SPORT: Channel 5 scored its first major coup by landing the rights to the England vs Poland football World Cup qualifier on May 31. It will also be showing the England v Argentina rugby international, live from Buenos Aires.
David Elstein said he was interested in the rights to the England-Italy match this autumn and might sell coverage of the match to the BBC regions which cannot receive Channel 5's signal.
"People in some areas can't see Channel 5 so there are a lot of possibilities for us. The BBC breaks itself down for Scottish internationals, so why can't we do it for English internationals?" Channel 5 will show sport, including baseball on Wednesdays, from 12.15am to 4am every weekday. Turnstyle, with Gail McKenna, will preview sporting events on Saturday morning and round up the results on Sunday night.
DRAMA: Family Affairs, the soap, is Channel 5's only homegrown drama serial. Set in Maidenhead, but filmed in Hayes and a television studio, it follows the Hart family who are middle class and suburban.
Mal Young, executive producer, said: "I think I am partly to blame for what is happening in soaps now. I wrote the bodies under the patio story in Brookside. After that, everything else seems boring, but I want to get back to the ordinary dramas of everyday life."
FOREIGN FODDER: Glossy American series Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place and Sunset Beach are Channel 5's big buys. Dawn Airey said of Sunset Beach: "It is like Baywatch but bigger. Bigger hair, bigger babes, bigger bikinis and bigger breasts."
Sunset Beach is produced by Aaron Spelling, the man responsible for Charlie's Angels and Dynasty. On Saturdays at 6pm, the new channel will be screening the cult-ish action adventure series Hercules.
ENTERTAINMENT: Jack Doherty will present a chat show five nights a week at 11pm. Ms Airey says: "People said the sitcom was dead and then along came Men Behaving Badly." The Late Shift, after Doherty's show, will feature stand-up comedy and slots with Tony Slattery and Lee Hurst.
Exclusive! is Channel 5's five-nightly gossip slot with Jono Coleman of Virgin Radio and Julia Bradbury, of GMTV. Mariella Frostrup will present Brunch, a Sunday morning arts show.
