Anyone know what's happened to The Advert Channel? There was all this hype about it launching a few months ago and being a continuous channel of people's favourite adverts... now it just seems to be "Your Destiny TV" or things for "Monster Mob" or selling stuff under the name "Advert channel shop"...
I've checked the website and there seems to be no mention of all this stuff...
I saw it during its soft-launch phase (before it officially launched) and it was just people (all of whom were recognisable from somewhere else - it's just you weren't sure where) sitting around talking about adverts.... without actually showing any adverts.
It appears they forgot one little detail when planning this channel.
All these classic ads they wanted to show.......there's the small matter of paying the actors, and the owners of the music used in them. Not to mention getting permission to show them, from the people who own the copyright to the ad (which might be the actual advertiser, or the agency that made the ad).
Equity, amongst other interested parties, brought this to the Advert Channel's attention. Since then, things seem to have gone a bit quiet!
Equity, amongst other interested parties, brought this to the Advert Channel's attention
I wondered how long it would take before this happened. It was quite obvious that a tiny channel with so little money was never going to be able to afford to research, acquire and clear all the ads it said it was going to show!
I noticed that after their classic-ad-free soft launch phase they did start showing old ads, mostly from the 90s, and clearly sourced from VHS compilations produced by a research company (I think it may have been the Gartner Group). I also caught a few ads from the 80s that appeared to have been downloaded from websites!
It was quite obvious that a tiny channel with so little money was never going to be able to afford to research, acquire and clear all the ads it said it was going to show!
Isn't it just incredible that the people behind this channel could get as far as planning and launching without spotting this? Did they plan this venture on the back of a fag packet, over a couple of pints in the pub? Whose money is it?
My guess is that this channel only really saw themselves as a shopping channel, and always intended that most of the airtime would sold off to other advertisers.
Two further points: I can't imagine that the block of religious channels from 671 to 677 helps the second block of shopping channels get much of an audience. Isn't it about time Sky reorganised this section? A case of God dividing Mammon perhaps?
And talking of things spiritual, Your Destiny TV looks to me as if it is just a vehicle to advertise its premium phone line and its website - which sells bespoke horoscopes - something that is regarded as the occult under the Advertising Standards Code, and is thus prohibited. How long can this last?
I suspect that the business of classic ads might have just been hype to attract interest to the channel.
Ultimately though, it seems as though if you're not owned by a large broadcaster and aren't a shopping channel, you have no chance on multichannel TV in the UK.
I saw it during its soft-launch phase (before it officially launched) and it was just people (all of whom were recognisable from somewhere else - it's just you weren't sure where) sitting around talking about adverts.... without actually showing any adverts.
I spotted a couple of presenters from the sit-up.tv channels...
(On a related note Nana Akuia from Price-drop TV was on BBC Holiday 2005 last monday).
