Wire TV

Wire TV

Infobox TV channel
dummy parameter=
name=Wire TV
logofile=
logosize=
logoalt=
launch= 1992
closed date=1995
owner= CPP1 Consortium
availability note = at time of closure
sat serv 1 = Intelsat
sat chan 1 = Intelsat 601, 11.095H
cable serv 1 = Cable North West
cable chan 1 = Channel 6

Wire TV was a short-lived British cable television channel produced by United Artists Cable and featured a range of entertainment, lifestyle and sports programming. Branded "The Cable Network", the channel was originally set up and funded with £25m [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950314/ai_n13971195 The bus broke down, but the show goes on] The Independent, 14 March 1995] by Cable Program Partners (CPP1), a consortium of UK cable operators including NYNEX, US West and Comcast, to bolster alternative content to the satellite-dominated multi-channel environment of the time.

Broadcast from a converted unit in The Galleries shopping centre, Bristol, Wire TV broadcast on weekdays and weekends from 1pm to 11pm (GMT).

Programming

Daytime schedules consisted of talk-based "Afternoon Live", quiz shows such as "Lingo", soap operas and comedies. Evenings included phone-ins and "Sportswire" which featured Vauxhall Conference football and boxing. Weekend schedules consisted of 'best of' repeats and omnibus editions of weekday soaps including "Richmond Hill", "The Bold And The Beautiful" and "Santa Barbara".

Presenters included Kathryn Apanowicz, Nino Firetto, Fenella George and also Femi Oke who co-hosted "Soap On The Wire" with TV and soap opera expert Chris Stacey. The show proved popular with students and housewives alike and towards the end of 1993 was taking over 200 calls in the 4 hours it was on air. Producers tried to revamp it into a daily show but Stacey had other commitments and the other experts didn't fair too well with viewers. One letter to the management of Wire TV said that there was a magic with Oke and Stacey - they were the Richard and Judy of cable television.

As part of a revamp in 1994, Mike Morris and Georgey Spanswick went on the road in a bright yellow-liveried bus which was converted into an outside broadcast unit and toured the country, spending a week at a time in different cable franchise areas. Sports programming was expanded in a deal with Chrysalis Sport. [ [http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/company-structures-ownership/7529251-1.html Sporting push for UK cable-only channel] Screen Digest, 1 March 1994] Additionally, the live broadcast rights to screen Lennox Lewis's WBC title fights and the 1996 Cricket World Cup were secured.

Closure

Plans to hive off "Sportswire" into a separate channel came to nothing. In 1995, Wire TV was sold to Mirror Television, a Mirror Group plc subsidiary, and closed in order to make way for L!VE TV. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950216/ai_n13966309 Mirror Group buys cable TV channel] The Independent, 16 February 1995]

Trivia

*Although branded "The Cable Network", Wire TV relied on satellite distribution to cable headends across the UK. Intelsat 601 was used and Wire TV was broadcast alongside both The Parliamentary Channel and The Learning Channel.

*In 1994, Wire TV's backers outbid BSkyB for the rights to screen the 1996 Cricket World Cup in a £7.5 million deal. It was the first major national sporting event ever to be acquired for a UK cable channel. [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR118799.html?categoryid=19&cs=1 A cricket coup for UK cable] Variety, 2 March 1994]

References


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