Internet TV Division Launch
Ten Alps PLC
27 February 2006
TEN ALPS LAUNCHES NEW INTERNET TV DIVISION
Nigel Dacre to move up to new role as Director of Internet and Digital TV
TV group Ten Alps Plc ('Ten Alps') today launches Ten Alps Internet and Digital
TV Limited ('Ten Alps Internet and Digital TV'), a new division to target
opportunities in public sector internet and digital TV.
The unit aims to build on the success of Teachers' TV, which currently has over
800 television programmes online, and which has one of the world's most
advanced, databased internet TV sites.
The new division will be headed by Nigel Dacre, who is being appointed to a new
role as Director of Ten Alps Internet and Digital TV. Nigel has been the Chief
Executive of Teachers' TV since 2003, and before that was the Editor of ITV
News.
Nigel will stay involved in Teachers' TV - becoming a non-Executive Director of
Education Digital, the company that produces the channel for the Department for
Education and Skills (DfES). A new Chief Executive for Education Digital has
been appointed and this will be confirmed in the coming week.
Alex Connock, the Chief Executive of Ten Alps, said:
'Our aim is to be best-in-class for internet, public sector television, which we
think could be a significant growth area in the next few years.
'Public sector specialist publishing is a big business, and clients are just
beginning to explore the possibilities of Internet TV as a new means of
distribution to their customers. Nigel has the experience to define that
wide-open marketplace.'
'With the broadband internet and IPTV, production companies now have direct
access to advertisers and programme distribution without the intermediary of
broadcaster costs or access.'
'Our belief is that what we have seen so far barely scratches the surface of
both the economic and technical possibilities of this change, and there is much
evidence that American media companies such as Google, Viacom and AOL are
thinking similarly,' said Connock. 'Pay-per-view internet video is just one
amongst several business models that might work - and Teachers' TV is another.'
Ten Alps segments broadcast and internet TV production
Ten Alps will now run its TV production businesses in two divisions: the
specialist, digital and internet activities on the one hand, under the catch-all
title of 'Internet and Digital TV'; and the established group companies, such as
Brook Lapping and Blakeway, serving top-end broadcast clients, in what over the
past two years has also been a growth market, largely thanks to regulatory
intervention in favour of production companies holding better rights.
The Lessons of Teachers' TV
Teachers' TV, the first government-funded digital TV channel, has just had a
highly successful first year on air. Figures in December showed that one in four
of the schools' workforce who have cable and satellite, nearly 90,000 people,
are watching the channel - and about 60,000 programmes are viewed on the website
each month.
The internet has been an important part of the Teachers' TV service, as it has
provided viewers with the ability to view programmes online, when and where they
want.
Nigel Dacre has been involved with Teachers' TV for 3 years. He played a key
role in writing the tender document, which led to Education Digital being
awarded the 4-year £60m contract to produce the channel. He was then Chief
Executive of Education Digital through the channel's pilot phase in 2004, its
launch in 2005, and its first year of transmission.
Brian Lapping, the Chairman of Education Digital, said:
'Making a 'world first' happen requires extraordinary qualities. Nigel has
launched this experimental vessel amid the rough seas of teacher scepticism,
technological difficulties and political uncertainty. He has stayed in command
until its success was widely acknowledged. It is a brilliant achievement -
which has merely increased his appetite for more big challenges.'
Nigel Dacre said:
'This feels like the right step at the right time. The Teachers' TV channel is
now fully established, while at the same time there is a big expansion in
broadband and digital opportunities. I've really enjoyed working on Teachers'
TV, and it's been fascinating to be involved in the development of a major
project like this from the early planning stage right through to its first year
on-air.'
ENDS
For enquiries about Teachers' TV / Nigel Dacre contact Kirsten Smart on 020 7400
4480, ksmart@mediastrategy.co.uk
For enquiries about Ten Alps Plc contact Peter Binns on 020 7786 9600 or 07768
392582, peter.binns@binnspr.co.uk
BACKGROUND NOTES
• Ten Alps is one of the Britain's larger independent producers of factual
TV - with six TV companies producing documentaries, docudrama and factual
entertainment programmes for major UK and US broadcasters.
• At any one time, Ten Alps is producing around 20 factual programmes, and
last week one of its companies, Brook Lapping, won the Current Affairs
Programme of the Year award from the Royal Television Society. Brook
Lapping is also the principle shareholder in the consortium operating the
Teachers' TV channel for the DfES.
• Teachers' TV broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on digital
satellite (Sky 592), ntl (803) Telewest (240), HomeChoice (845), KIT (70)
and overnight for recording on Freeview (88).
• Teachers' TV is funded by the DfES, but is editorially independent. It is
operated on behalf of the DfES by an independent media consortium,
Education Digital (ED), which includes Brook Lapping Productions (a Ten
Alps company), ITV and the Institute of Education. ED staff include Andrew
Bethell (the Director of Programmes), Clare Healy (the Director of Channel
Management), and Ashok Shah (Finance Director).
• Before Teachers' TV, Nigel Dacre was a media consultant and the Dean of the
LCP Media School. Prior to that he was the Editor of ITV News for 7 years
- being responsible for programmes like News at Ten, the 24 hour ITN News
Channel, and the ITV News website. He was made a Fellow of the Royal
Television Society in 2002.
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