UK Gold, the cable and satellite channel, is broadening its programming
remit and has reorganised its management to prepare for increasing
competition in the TV market.
The golden oldie channel’s marketing director, Andrew Keyte, has been
moved to the position of director of programme planning, and the station
is to start making its own programmes and co-productions.
Keyte, who joined the company in April 1993 from Warner Home Video, will
be replaced in the marketing department by Ian Riley. Riley will
spearhead the channel’s current review of its advertising, which is with
D’Arcy Masius Benton and Bowles.
UK Gold was launched in 1992 by Thames Television and the BBC as an
outlet for their library material.
However, Channel 5, which will start broadcasting in 1997, is thought to
have cut a deal with the BBC to broadcast the same sort of library
programmes.
Granada Television is also planning its own satellite channel to screen
archive programming next year
Bruce Steinberg, the chief executive of UK Gold, denied that the
channel’s decision to move into new programming was a reaction to a
possible threat from Channel 5. ‘This is an aggressive, not a defensive
strategy,’ Steinberg emphasised.
