Digital TV for Divas and Daves
Monday, October 29th, 2007‘His ‘n Hers’ channels make an impact
The digital TV channel UKTV G2 has seen a resurgence in figures since its recent rebranding as Dave. The channel, has been credited by UKTV bosses with a recent rise in overall Freeview ratings (27%) for the UKTV group – Dave and UKTV’s other Freeview channel UKTV History, accounted for a 3% share of Freeview ratings last week.
The name was chosen because according to UKTV “everyone knows a bloke called Dave”. Dave is styling itself as ‘The home of witty banter’, and a kind of incisive, blokey, fast cars, smoking jacket and glasses of port type channel. The Dave website boasts that the channel features; “Jeremy Clarkson. Stephen Fry. Paul Merton […] a place full of complete and utter wits…” Chortle chortle eh readers?
Dave head honcho, whose first or last name disappointingly isn’t Dave, but is in fact Steve North, had this to say about the initial performance of his channel:
“It’s incredibly satisfying that the channel has performed so strongly in its first week. Dave’s stellar programme lineup and its innovative marketing on and off air have paid dividends.”
The stellar programme line-up mostly consists of choice comedy cuts from the rump of the BBC, such as Top Gear, QI, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, The Mighty Boosh, and (unfortunately) The Catherine Tate Show. According to our research, Julia Davis’ Nighty Night also has a place in the Dave line up. Jolly good. Dave broadcasts from 7.00 AM to 3.00 AM the following day. A timeshift channel is also available on Sky and Virgin.
On the other end of the gender spectrum, Sparrowhawk Media, the folks behind the Hallmark channel have also recently launched Diva TV in the UK, which is currently airing on Sky and Virgin Media, mostly broadcasts US soaps and talk shows such as the famous Late Show With David Letterman, Oprah and Rachael Ray, along with acclaimed drama Picket Fences, which was previously shown on the UK version of the Hallmark Channel.
Whilst the channel contains programmes arguably skewed towards the ladies MD Rosie Hill-Davies said that it would be foolish to “immediately cancel out 50% of your potential audience by specifically making it solely for women,” and insists that all the prime-time viewing, specifically Letterman, is intended to appeal to everyone. In an interview with Digital Spy, Rosie Hill-Davies said that Diva TV intend to launch a +1 catch-up channel “sometime next year”.
Dave and Diva TV can be found at the following channels – Freeview owners note that you may have to perform a quick rescan in order to get Dave.
Dave / Dave +1
Freeview: 19 / N/A
Sky: 111 / 159 (+1)
Virgin: 125/126 127 (+1)
Diva TV
Sky: 282
Virgin: 192
November 1st, 2007 at 10:52 pm
So effectively, and this in every report that I have read from Digital-TV so far. that you seem to working ‘hand-in-glove’ with Sky to get everyone to pay over the odds for their service in preference to everyone elses?
November 7th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Um, no, because there are posts about Virgin Media, BT Vision, Freeview as well as Sky…
November 7th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
It is difficult not to mention Sky as they “own” the whole sector. Maybe if Virgin Media were just not restricted to Cable enabled areas Sky would have some very fierce competition.
… and to be honest there are other posts about other digital providers!