A draft schedule for the soon to be launched Channel 5 was leaked to the press a few weeks ago *Karaoke Show Tops C5 Primetime Schedule.
Channel 5 said that although the leaked information was generally correct, some of the facts were distorted. The station has now officially released further information on its programming.
The channel claim to have developed a new method of scheduling for terrestrial TV. Channel 5 will adhere to a rigid discipline of stripping and stranding to enable viewers to become familiar with and find their way around the schedule quickly and easily. If a show is stripped it will mean that it runs at the same time on consecutive days. Stranding is where different programmes belonging to the same genre appear in the same slot across the schedule.
Daytime on 5 will feature a mixture of drama, serials and soaps. The channel has filled its ‘necessary’ quota of bikini-clad babes and hunks in trunks in The Bold and the Beautiful and Sunset Beach, which comes from the Melrose Place programme stable. While for younger kids, there are a selection of pre-school programmes ‘stranded’ across the morning. In the afternoon Josie D’Arblay will present The Mag, an entertainment show full of sport, celebrity interviews and gossip. Channel 5 has also bought USA High, made by the team behind Saved by the Bell.
Moving on to prime-time, sport will make-up an important part of the schedule. Live and Dangerous promises five-action packed hours of sport, including the best of extreme sport and baseball live from the States. Jenny Powell, Trish Adudu and Helen Chamberlayn constitute part of the presentation team. The male presenters have yet to be revealed. Gail McKenna fronts Turnstyle the Saturday sports preview show and on Sundays there will be a topical sports’ debate.
It is a condition of the licence that the fifth channel delivers news programming, but Channel 5 claims to be about to reveal a completely new approach to news. There are to be bulletins every half-hour and a prime-time news programme hosted by Kirsty Young. Breakfast news will be hosted by Scott Chisholm, Becky Anderson of FT TV and sports presenter Trish Adudu. There are also a number of specially commissioned documentaries that will take the viewer inside modern institutions, like supermarket and gyms.
Following a deal with Hollywood studios the channel is able to offer a movie every night at 9. Independence Day, Speed and Mrs Doubtfire make-up part of the line-up. There will also be a show-biz news slot stripped through every evening and a comedy slot. Tony Slattery, Lee Hurst and Mark Lamarr are among the celebrity comics preparing to bring in the laughs.
Channel 5: 0171 550 5535
