Virgin1

World Screen Weekly, September 25, 2008

COUNTRY: U.K.

LAUNCH DATE: October 2007

OWNERSHIP: Virgin Media Television

DISTRIBUTION: Available on Freeview (DTT), digital satellite and Virgin Media cable.

DESCRIPTION: Virgin1 airs television programming spanning most genres to provide relaxing entertainment to its audience.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT:

Director, Television: Claudia Rosencratz

Director, Programs: Daniela Neumann

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: With a host of hit imports and original productions, Virgin1 strives to provide “great, entertaining television and light relief,” says Daniela Neumann, the director of programs for the channel. “We are mainstream and populist, and appeal to both men and women.”

Shows such as Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a television spin-off of the popular movie franchise, and Chuck, an action-comedy about an everyday computer geek who receives an e-mail that embeds the world’s greatest spy secrets into his brain, help make up the network’s schedule. Additionally, American Inventor, a reality program searching for the next great inventor, and Caribbean Cops, a factual series that follows police officers, have been top-rated programs.

The channel buys content in all genres, except for sports and TV movies, from English-speaking territories. “You never know who will have the next hit so our door is always open,” Neumann says. “We are bidding for the biggest and best shows along with everyone else, as well as working with smaller distributors always looking for that little gem.”

The channel achieves a .70-percent audience share in all multichannel homes. However, in DTT homes during the hours that Virgin1 broadcasts, 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., this number increases to a 1.27-percent share of all viewing. “Virgin1 stands out from our competitors by delivering great intelligent tabloid television and standout noisy brands,” Neumann explains.

Virgin1 recently relaunched its website that supports the channel and individual programs with exclusive material such as behind-the-scenes footage, teasers and previews. Specific micro-sites for the upcoming season two of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Gethin Jones’ Danger Hunters are also included.

WHAT’S NEW: Virgin1 will launch the first of its fall commissions, a factual-entertainment series called Gethin Jones’ Danger Hunters, which follows people who chase natural weather phenomena. “Our presenter, Gethin Jones, encounters tornadoes, water spouts, deadly waves, volcanoes, lightning and avalanches, risking life and limb as he follows them riding the biggest wave or abseiling down an erupting volcano,” Neumann notes.

The original commission The Prisoner: X, which features eight personalities—including Jack Osbourne and author Toby Young—experiencing what it’s like to serve time in some of the world’s harshest prisons, will launch, in addition to the new competition series I Want to Work for Diddy, where contestants battle for the chance to be the entertainment mogul’s personal assistant.

WEBSITE: www.virgin1.co.uk

—By Jackie Stewart