40 million pound V1 schedule announced
Brian Butterworth published on UK Free TV In the autumn, "Virgin 1" will replace FTN on Freeview from 6pm-6am until more bandwidth can be found (perhaps displacing part Virgin-owned UKTV Bright Ideas), and 24 hours on cable and satellite (after discussions with Sky).
The channel will spend 40m per year on general entertainment programmes, a mixture of commissioned, acquired and archive.
Broadcastnow.co.uk claims that Virgin "acknowledges the huge opportunities that exist around Freeview" in particular to showcase premium cable content and cable, non-linear "previews, catch-ups and extra footage" that the cable version and website of "Virgin 1" will have.
So what will it show?
From the US, Terminator offshoot The Sarah Connor Chronicles and all 624 hours of the Star Trek franchise.
Two Virgin TV commissioned programmes are now in pre-production for the channel: The Leo Houlding Project, rock-climbing adrenaline-fuelled journey and The Real Exorcist, where a Reverend Bob, rids Americans of their demons.
"According to our research, men are underserved by Freeview, so the channel will have a male inflection to it. That said, it is not a new Bravo and all shows will have elements that will attract women." WMTV boss Jonny Webb told Broadcast.
The channel's Virgin name took months of extra negotiations.