Designers tune in to Cable TV

On-screen identity work is on the up as cable TV channels proliferate, reflecting the growing number of cable customers. Cable penetration into UK homes reached one million this summer.

“Serious media operations are taking cable more seriously, and for a programmer the increasing number of viewers means that cable is now a viable option,” says a Cable Communications Association spokesman.

About half a dozen new cable channels have been launched in the past year, including SelecTV, with on-screen identity by English & Pockett (DW 24 March), and Live TV!, with identity by Dolphin (DW 19 May).

At any one time the CCA deals with 40-50 proposals which it divides into “wannabe” and “gonnabe” channels. The current eight to ten serious “gonnabe” proposals include Sci-Fi TV, a Disney Channel to be launched in October in conjunction with Sky Television, a Playboy channel, a religious channel called Ark 2, and an Irish channel.

Satellite Information Services is setting up The Racing Channel, due to go on air at the end of October with on-screen identity by The Epps Partnership. “We wanted someone who would give the identity a completely fresh and different look,” says the channel’s general manager John Irvine.