Channel 5 airs plans for identity package

Channel 5 Broadcasting, the newly appointed licensee for Britain’s latest terrestrial TV channel, will start to consider graphics, name and logo in the next few weeks, according to a company spokeswoman.

The winning consortium, with a working identity designed by London group Metier, was selected by the Independent Television Commission last week at the expense of UKTV, New Century Television and Virgin TV.

The channel must now consider its on-screen and off-screen identities with a view to their application on to promotional literature, signage, stationery and eventually merchandising.

Channel 5 Broadcasting describes itself in its bid document as wanting to bring “a new flavour and a warm human face” to British television.

“We will be having meetings [about approaching design consultancies] in the next week or so,” says the spokeswoman. The service is scheduled to be on air on 1 January 1997.

Pearson TV is looking at the possibility of a name change, says a company spokesman. Marketplace Design was appointed in March to create a new look for the organisation, which has since become involved in an internal dispute over its name.

Marketplace, which created the Thames TV logo, won the project against Luxon Carr, which was responsible for the Pearson plc identity, and one other group.

Scottish Television has plans to launch a new cable service next year called The Scottish Channel. It “will start talking to consultancies [about identity design] at some point,” says a Scottish Television spokesman.