More4 Set For Debut Broadcast Tonight
Tonight sees Channel 4 launch its second digital entertainment channel, with More4 due to begin broadcasting to Freeview, Sky and Cable households at 8pm this evening.
The new channel, which will broadcast daily from 4pm to 6am after tonight’s launch, has already courted controversy, with its launch schedule including a satirical drama on former home secretary David Blunkett’s affair with Spectator publisher Kimberly Quinn.
The programme has been the centre of legal action from Blunkett, who is understood to have sought an injunction against Channel 4 to prevent its broadcast. Such a legal ruling has not surfaced, however, meaning that tonight’s high profile launch should go ahead.
The Blunkett drama, cheekily entitled A Very Social Secretary, is the beginning of a series of “landmark dramas and documentaries” planned for More4, which will air monthly on Monday nights.
Billing itself as an “adult entertainment” channel, More4 offers an outlet for Channel 4’s public service broadcasting in addition to the main terrestrial channel. Speaking at the Edinburgh International TV Festival earlier this year, Channel 4 chief executive Andy Duncan explained that the new offering would allow more value to be extracted from the broadcaster’s one off dramas and big budget documentaries.
Duncan also believes that the new channel will provide a service which is not currently offered by rival broadcasters.
Explaining Channel 4’s strategy to offer genuine variety through its digital portfolio, the broadcast boss said that many digital offerings “aren’t doing anything different.”
“I think there’s a place for us there, and it will squeeze other people, and there will be a shakedown,” he said.
Nearly two-thirds of More4’s £33 million programme budget will be spent on original, British content allowing the channel to run its own daily news bulletin and a late night topical talk show.
Sarah Smith will continue the standard of quality journalism set by Channel 4 News in her role as anchor for More4 News, a half-hour bulletin broadcasting Monday to Friday at 8pm and mixing updates on the day’s main news stories with more detailed analysis of key issues.
Elsewhere, quality acquired programming will feature in the More4 schedule, although the broadcaster is keen that it does not dominate. Intelligent US shows such as The West Wing will finds their permanent home on More4, while Larry David’s quirky US comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, will also enjoy a peak-time slot.
The launch of More4 comes just weeks before ITV’s planned broadcast of its latest male-focused offering, ITV4. The broadcaster recently lifted the lid on its programme schedule, with viewers treated to a mix of American series, films and sports coverage on all digital platforms from 1 November (see ITV4 Lifts Lid On Launch Programmes).
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