CHANNEL ISLANDS: CHANNEL TELEVISION

Channel Television underwent major changes in 1997 both on and off-screen. The weekday news programme Channel Report was revamped and a new studio opened in Guernsey. A new management structure was created. There was also the sad death of presenter Paul Brown. In spite of the general upheaval, Channel provided a service which was well appreciated by viewers, including comprehensive coverage of local elections and the Island Games. A second drama series for teenagers was supplied to the network. The extended use of audience research was also welcome. The service complied with the licence conditions.

Regional Service

Channel’s news operations saw significant changes in 1997. The news magazine Channel Report gained a new studio set, music, graphics and title, and moved to double-headed presentation and a separate weather presenter. These developments, together with subtitling and an increasing use of live studio interviews, were welcomed by the ITC’s Viewer Consultative Council (VCC). Guided by ITC research and its own findings, Channel created a new format with less emphasis on political stories and a higher priority on other news. Younger co-presenters brought fresh energy to the programme, which retained its dominant audience position. It came as a huge shock when the highly-regarded main presenter, Paul Brown, died suddenly in November, after 27 years of service.

In Guernsey, a new waterfront studio with the sea as backdrop helped reinforce Channel’s presence and strengthened the news provision for the Bailiwick. ITC research showed high awareness of the new studio among viewers, particularly in Guernsey, and suggested that fewer than half of Guernsey viewers considered there was too little coverage of their island in 1997, a marked fall on 1996. The retirement of the Guernsey station manager, Roger Bowns, was a watershed for the island, after nearly 32 years of service as journalist and presenter.

he Guernsey States elections and, in Jersey, the week-long Island Games, in which more than 2,000 sportswomen and men from 20 islands around the world competed, were among the main events covered in the year. Election coverage, as in previous years, set generally high standards. Channel successfully met the considerable logistical challenge of providing complex live outside broadcast coverage of the Games, with no fewer than five cameras needed for one main event alone. For five nights there were 45-minute highlights of each day and these provided some of the most popular and appreciated regional programmes of the year. News-gathering achieved greater flexibility in 1997 through the training of new video journalists from existing staff. The value of these skills was underlined when reporter Eric Blakeley filed reports and pictures from his successful ascent of Everest, the first by a Channel Islander. An exceptional

documentary, Eric on Everest, followed, bringing home the contrast between the small scale of the Channel Islands and the awesome challenge of climbing the world’s highest peak.

Elsewhere in documentaries, there was little of note, by contrast with the record in previous years. This was hardly surprising, given the remarkable efforts required to mount full coverage of the Island Games. Other programmes on sports events in both Jersey and Guernsey also appeared, and sports provision within Channel Report, always plentiful, included a ‘how to’ feature on watersports such as jet ski and canoeing. Elsewhere in factual programming, the shortened fortnightly Lottery Show, with its use of video bursts to permit recording and later review, proved somewhat more attractive to viewers.

Children’s and religious programmes involved nothing new. For children, Oscar Puffin, was joined on occasions by another puppet character, Persephone, but the rigid format of birthday dedications and banter continued. The religious programmes Reflections and Aspects also continued on very familiar tracks. Channel told the ITC that they were looking at alternatives to Reflections, which might emerge during 1998.Uniquely on ITV, Channel continued to deliver programmes each week in two languages other than English. Rendez-Vous Dimanche and Telejornal gave French and Portuguese viewers, respectively, a programme each Sunday in their native tongue. Channel also broadcast programmes at the end of the year in the ancient Norman French language which was once widely spoken on the islands.

Channel Television’s intimate and close rapport with its small, but intensely loyal audience, was confirmed by ITC research showing that the station’s image with viewers was well above the national average for ITV. A widely held view that Channel had improved its coverage of Channel Island issues over the previous year was also shared by VCC members.

Supply to the Network

The second series of Island dramas for teenagers appeared on the Network in the spring. This did not pose regulatory problems in terms of content, as the first series had done, but it still seemed to sit a little awkwardly within the regular children’s afternoon schedule. Although the Network Centre decided not to proceed with a third series, Channel put forward a number of other ideas for various strands of programmes which were under consideration at the end of 1997.

Compliance

There were no formal interventions during the year and satisfactory arrangements were again in place to handle complaints from viewers.

Technical Quality

Channel achieved satisfactory levels of technical quality and reliability throughout 1997. The replacement of the link to Guernsey, together with the relocation of the studio, resulted in an improvement in the technical quality of the service.

Audience Research

Channel commissioned its own quarterly report from BARB to augment the weekly BARB data in which Channel’s audience appears as part of that for the South and South East of England and, for the first time in its history, qualitative audience research into viewers’ attitudes to Channel Report. The company reported that it acted on the findings of the research, and subsequent quantitative research carried on a Channel Islands omnibus survey showed that viewers welcomed the changes.