Live TV, the cable television channel launched by the Mirror Group in 1995, has been closed down and the carriage space and licence sold off to the Cable Programme Partners 1 (CPP1) consortium. The axe fell on the channel, famous for its News Bunny and Topless Darts, after Mirror Group merged with Trinity earlier in the year (see Trinity And Mirror Seal Merger In £2bn Deal). The channel ceased broadcasting last Friday evening.
CPP1 has bought the carriage space from Trinity Mirror for £10 million and has paid a further £5 million for the ITC licence to broadcast a service. Whilst Live TV has now closed, the licence to broadcast is still active and, due to Live’s exemption from ITC minimum carriage requirements (see Live TV Will Be Exempt From Minimum Carriage), runs until 2005. This makes the purchase particularly valuable to the CPP1 consortium, whose members include NTL, Telewest Communications and Cable & Wireless Communications shareholder, Bell Atlantic.
It is expected that the Live TV licence and carriage space will be used by one, or some, of the CPP1 consortium members to launch a new interactive and entertainment channel; NTL is understood to be preparing for such a launch, although no official details have been released yet.
The cable and satellite licences issued by the ITC do not require specific quotas of programming content to be met, unlike the terrestrial TV licences which must meet targets for current affairs, original programming and so on. This means that NTL could launch a brand new service on the Live TV capacity as long as it fell within the ITC’s Programme Code.
Hello. We have downloaded cookies on your device. Some of these cookies are essential for the website to function. Others are non-essential and are used for analytics and advertising.
We need your consent for these types of cookies.
To withdraw your consent or change your cookie choices, please do this through your browser settings.
Otherwise, click OK to accept and continue.AcceptPrivacy policy
