Rural TV launched

On March 2nd, at 2pm, we successfully launched Rural TV on Sky Channel 279 …. a new 24/7 channel, dedicated to those involved in, or interested in, the countryside.  Launch on Freesat will follow in mid March.

Rural TV’s parent company, RFDTV USA, only approached us in late November, and in barely 2 months (with Christmas and New Year intervening), we have acquired a channel/EPG slot for them, set up all the regulatory, playout and broadcast infrastructure, set up broadband simulcast streaming, and launched them on air… in near-record time. So we’re now managing/running 4 channels.

RFDTV has been operating for 8 years in the USA on cable and satellite, and reaches in excess of 40 million homes. RFD TV is a private company, trading profitably and with no debt. Rural TV is its first expansion internationally. The company has also invested in one of our clients, Country Channel TV.

Rural TV is our most ambitious project yet. It carries a minimum 6 hours of original content every day (which is high, by any comparison), and in production terms is technically as complex as any UK broadcast channel. It will quickly add a higher proportion of UK-originated content, with partners which we have already identified. The Rural TV business model is surprisingly similar to our own, and embraces a range of programme streams divided into major categories of Equine, Agriculture, Country Music and Country Lifestyle.

I’m very excited about the new channel, as it is backed with the necessary infrastructure to develop the many niche opportunities around identifiable and commercially viable themes. It constitutes a genuinely innovative addition to British broadcasting, which I’m sure will be welcomed by viewers, both urban and rural, as well as by advertisers and sponsors.

See www.ruraltv.tv and www.rfdtv.com

Fred Perkins