IT/135 Page IB
A CASE OF TRIAL
AND ERROR'
On 3rd July this year Greenwich Cablevision started broadcasting as the first local television station in the country. The following
interview with Programme Controller Charles Lucas was conducted by John Carding on 24 July at Greenwich Cablevision studios
in S.E. London.
Could you tell me something
about the history of
Cablevision?
Yes. The thing was started by
Maurice Townsend, our managing
director, about 5 years ago, as
a cable system in the Plumstead
and Abbey Wood area. Plumstead
and Abbey Wood are in the lee of
a hill and can't pick up any normal
television signals from the
national network, the only way to
get them is through the cable
system. Once the cable system was
laid, local television could be
piped through.
How did you manage to work
it with the government. The
legislation had to be changed,
. didn't it?
It did, and I think if you look at
the history of cable-vision
internationally, i.e. in the States,
the growth of cable television
has made it almost inevitable
that there was going to be, there
had to be a vehicle for it in this
country very soon. CKristopher
Chataway, when he was Minister
for Growth and Telecommuni-
cations, did pass the word around
, that they would be prepared to
experiment in local television.
A number of people put in for
the facility and for better or
' worse, Greenwich Television got
it.
How much time are you
broadcasting at the moment,
and how is this going to grow?
Basically, we're trying to put out
approximately 30—45 minutes a
night through the week Monday
to Friday—which is just open
magazine material directed to
various areas of the community.
Sport on Monday night, house-
wives' bits on Tuesday, features
on Wednesday, local affairs on
Thursday night, and a young
people's sort of 'fun night' on
Friday.
These programmes are
repeated the following mornings
at 11 am and that's about it at
the moment. At the weekends
we're trying a local events spot
on Saturday morning, which is
more or less a live show. Religion
on Sunday, of course, got to
have God on Sunday, and
"Greenwich Village" on Sunday
night.
How long are you going to
remain with this format, do
you plan to extend the
programmes?
Well, to tell you the truth, we're
hardly able to sustain these
programmes at the moment, it's
a slight bone of contention
that trying to get 8 hours of
television out of this facility in
theory is impossible, in practice
its possible, but we're basically
trying to keep this station to
the format that the directors
wanted when they laid down the
basic scheme in the first place.
What sort of feedback are you
getting from the area, to
what extent does or will it
influence you?
Entirely. I mean this is the whole
point of the deal. I'm dissapointed
up to now with the lack of
feedback. We have had an
incredible number of technical
problems, there's more to it than
just putting it down a pipe. But
I'm rather disappointed that
there's been so little feedback.
I had a couple of calls this
Anyone wishing to contact
Greenwich Cablevision can
do so at 307 Plumstead High
Street, London SE18 1JX
(01) 854 3446
morning, which is very nice.
An old lady rang up and said
"Bless you my son which is
nice.
How many people are
receiving Cablevision at
the moment? Well, what
there is to receive, that is?
Very difficult question to answer.
If you were a national newspaper
I would say we have a board
upstairs of subscribers, we have •
15,000 subscribers, each of
which have a family of five, ¦
work it out for yourself.
In practice this isn't quite
right, because we are pushing this
out on 625 line television, all
right if you actually sat down
and worked out the 625 line
capacity in Plumstead, it's
probably not very high, there's
a lot of old rental sets about
which can't get it. But it's
impossible to actually say at
this stage what the final figure
is.
How many staff have you
got at the moment?
Well, there's Jilly and me. There's
our technical boss which is Mick
(We'd be lost without Mick). And
John who is floor manager.
Can you tell me something
about the equipment you use?
Yes—unreliable. We had a lot of
stuff on order from IPC before
we opened up and the deliveries
have been delayed and we've
had to make do with rented stuff
from Bell and Howell and this
has largely affected the quality
of the picture we've had to put
out.
You've not been pleased with
the quality up to now?
No, it's been pretty diabolical, but
I mean this was just sheer
ignorance, I mean none of us had
ever seen a VTR (Video Tape
Recorder) a month ago, let alone
knowing how to put programmes
but and all these things of
compatability are just a case of
trial and error.
Brian Cawtherway was your
Programme Controller until
he resigned last week, would
you comment on that?
When Barry originally signed the
contract with Cablevision, there
were naturally a number of
assumptions which he could take
from his cbntract, i.e. the supply
of equipment which didn't
arrive and the basic concept
of the studio which didn't
really develop the way Barry
was hoping it would. I really
don't know of the actual
technical reasons or why it
happened quite so quickly.
There had definitely been a build
up of tension, possible over the
first two weeks and something
had to go.
How do you find the work-
CAMROSE STREET
SUPPORT
CABLE TOWN
load now distributed without,
Barry being here? '
Well, as you brought me a cheese
sandwich yesterday morning at
3 am, which I was very grateful
for, obviously its rather chaotic.
Are you planning to take
on any more staff?
In practice the sad thing is that
no television concept was ever
financed, anywhere. The licence
from the government does not
allow any income from advert-
ising or sponsorship in any way.
You can't go around putting up
people's rates on their cable
systems for a programme which
half of them can't get anyhow,
and probably the other half
of the neighbourhood don't
particularly want to watch,
so where are we supposed to
get our finances from? I mean
this budget we are working to
is absolutely ridiculous in
relation to established tele-
vision costs. We couldn't
afford to'produce a
commercial for two minutes on
a national network.
How do you hope that ,
Cablevision will progress I
within the next five or
six months? What are your
hopes?
Well I think it can all come down
to building up an identity. I
think this is the most important
thing. If we do start getting a
reaction, if we start getting
people writing and saying The
\. programme was rubbish, you
& should be doing a programme
•c like this' or 'We don't want
£ that programme on at 6.30
53 we want it at 5.30' then you
§; know you're getting through
to someone and you can start
building up the whole vehicle
of local television on this
initial relationship.
How do you get on with the
local press? Possibly you're
taking away part of their
income?
Well, I don't know if you're
asking this question from the
standpoint of the gentleman
who's been slung out of more
editor's offices than anyone in
the area......
That's a lie.
That's what they said.
But it's easier for them to
say that, than admit I
don't go to them to give them
news any more because they '
are pigs. Anyway, back to
the interview....
Well, the Kentish Independent
love us and Kentish Murcury
hate us, and we work with
both of them and that sums
it up. I can't see that any
local newspaper could actually
turn around and say that
Cablevision is a threat to their
circulation. If they think, in
the future, local television is
going to run into advertising,
then okay, they might possibly
worry about it, but I think it's
an old discussion. If you talk
about the relative place for
newspapers and television in
the community, then I
personally believe there's more
than enough room for both,
that one substitutes, the one
is additional to the other, they're
not separate identities.
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