Wire TV
Encyclopedia
Wire TV was a short-lived British cable television
channel produced by United Artists Cable and featured a range of entertainment, lifestyle and sports programming. Branded "The Cable Network", the channel was originally set up and funded with £25m by Cable Program Partners (CPP1), a consortium of UK cable operators including NYNEX
, US West
and Comcast
, to bolster alternative content to the satellite-dominated multi-channel environment of the time.
Broadcast from a converted unit in The Galleries shopping centre, Bristol
, Wire TV broadcast on weekdays and weekends from 1pm to 11pm (GMT).
football and boxing. Weekend schedules consisted of 'best of' repeats and omnibus editions of weekday soaps including Richmond Hill
, The Bold And The Beautiful
and Santa Barbara
.
Presenters included Kathryn Apanowicz
, Nino Firetto
, Rhodri Evans, Fenella George and also Femi Oke
who co-hosted Soap On The Wire with TV and soap opera expert Chris Stacey. The show proved popular with students and housewives alike and towards the end of 1993 was taking over 200 calls in the four hours it was on air . Producers tried to revamp it into a daily show but Stacey had other commitments and was reduced to one appearance a week, despite pleas from the public to keep the magic of Oke and Stacey . So the other experts such as Darren Gray, Jamie Carrington-Colby, Darren Edwards and Richard Arnold were featured more frequently but proved less popular .
As part of a revamp in 1994, Mike Morris
and Georgey Spanswick went on the road in a bright yellow-liveried bus which was converted into an outside broadcast unit
and toured the country, spending a week at a time in different cable franchise areas. Sports programming was expanded in a deal with Chrysalis Sport
. Additionally, the live broadcast rights to screen Lennox Lewis
's WBC
title fights and the 1996 Cricket World Cup
were secured.
subsidiary, and closed in order to make way for L!VE TV
.
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
channel produced by United Artists Cable and featured a range of entertainment, lifestyle and sports programming. Branded "The Cable Network", the channel was originally set up and funded with £25m by Cable Program Partners (CPP1), a consortium of UK cable operators including NYNEX
NYNEX
NYNEX Corporation was a telephone company that served five New England states as well as most of New York state, except the Rochester area, from 1984 through 1997....
, US West
US West
U S WEST, Inc. was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies , created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement , a case related to the antitrust breakup of AT&T...
and Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
, to bolster alternative content to the satellite-dominated multi-channel environment of the time.
Broadcast from a converted unit in The Galleries shopping centre, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Wire TV broadcast on weekdays and weekends from 1pm to 11pm (GMT).
Programming
Daytime schedules consisted of talk-based Afternoon Live, quiz shows such as Lingo, soap operas and comedies. Evenings included phone-ins and Sportswire which featured Vauxhall ConferenceFootball Conference
The Football Conference is a football league in England which consists of three divisions called Conference National, Conference North, and Conference South. Some Football Conference clubs are fully professional, such as Luton Town, but most of them are semi-professional...
football and boxing. Weekend schedules consisted of 'best of' repeats and omnibus editions of weekday soaps including Richmond Hill
Richmond Hill (TV series)
Richmond Hill was an Australian television soap opera made in 1988 by the Reg Grundy Organisation for the Ten Network. It was devised by Reg Watson who also created Neighbours...
, The Bold And The Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....
and Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara (TV series)
Santa Barbara is an American television soap opera, first broadcast in the United States on NBC on July 30, 1984, and last aired on January 15, 1993. The show revolved around the eventful lives of the wealthy Capwell family of Santa Barbara, California...
.
Presenters included Kathryn Apanowicz
Kathryn Apanowicz
Kathryn Apanowicz is a British actress best known for her 1980s television appearances in the BBC soap operas, Angels, where she played Nurse Rose Butchins, and EastEnders, where she played the caterer, Magda Czajkowski...
, Nino Firetto
Nino Firetto
Nino Firetto is a radio presenter, TV host and actor, currently based in Exeter, England.-Biography:Nino Firetto shot to fame first as a DJ in the 1970s, then as a television personality in the 1980s...
, Rhodri Evans, Fenella George and also Femi Oke
Femi Oke
Femi Oke is a British television presenter and journalist.Femi was born in Britain to Nigerian parents. She is a graduate of Birmingham University where she received a bachelors degree in English literature and language...
who co-hosted Soap On The Wire with TV and soap opera expert Chris Stacey. The show proved popular with students and housewives alike and towards the end of 1993 was taking over 200 calls in the four hours it was on air . Producers tried to revamp it into a daily show but Stacey had other commitments and was reduced to one appearance a week, despite pleas from the public to keep the magic of Oke and Stacey . So the other experts such as Darren Gray, Jamie Carrington-Colby, Darren Edwards and Richard Arnold were featured more frequently but proved less popular .
As part of a revamp in 1994, Mike Morris
Mike Morris (TV Presenter)
Mike Morris is a British television presenter, perhaps best known as a co-host of Good Morning Britain on the breakfast television station TV-am on the ITV Network....
and Georgey Spanswick went on the road in a bright yellow-liveried bus which was converted into an outside broadcast unit
Outside broadcasting
Outside broadcasting is the electronic field production of television or radio programmes from a mobile remote broadcast television studio. Professional video camera and microphone signals come into the production truck for processing, recording and possibly transmission...
and toured the country, spending a week at a time in different cable franchise areas. Sports programming was expanded in a deal with Chrysalis Sport
Chrysalis Group
Chrysalis Group is a UK media company. It was founded by Chris Wright, who remains chairman and was listed the 1,000th richest person in the UK in The Times Rich List 2009...
. Additionally, the live broadcast rights to screen Lennox Lewis
Lennox Lewis
Lennox Claudius Lewis, CM, CBE is a retired boxer and the most recent British undisputed world heavyweight champion. He holds dual British and Canadian citizenship...
's WBC
World Boxing Council
The World Boxing Council was initially established by 11 countries: the United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Philippines, Panama, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil plus Puerto Rico, met in Mexico City on February 14, 1963, upon invitation of the then President of Mexico, Adolfo...
title fights and the 1996 Cricket World Cup
Cricket World Cup
The ICC Cricket World Cup is the premier international championship of men's One Day International cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council , with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament which is held every four years...
were secured.
Closure
Plans to hive off Sportswire into a separate channel came to nothing. In 1995, Wire TV was sold to Mirror Television, a Mirror Group plcTrinity Mirror
Trinity Mirror plc is a large British newspaper and magazine publisher. It is Britain's biggest newspaper group, publishing 240 regional papers as well as the national Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People, and the Scottish Sunday Mail and Daily Record. Its headquarters are at Canary Wharf in...
subsidiary, and closed in order to make way for L!VE TV
L!VE TV
L!VE TV was a British television station that was operated by MGN on cable television from 15 August 1995 - 31 October 1999. It was later revived for Sky Digital from 2003...
.
Trivia
- Although branded "The Cable Network", Wire TV relied on satellite distribution to cable headendsCable television headendA cable television headend is a master facility for receiving television signals for processing and distribution over a cable television system. The headend facility is normally unstaffed and surrounded by some type of security fencing and is typically a building or large shed housing electronic...
across the UK. Intelsat 601IntelsatIntelsat, Ltd. is a communications satellite services provider.Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization , it was—from 1964 to 2001—an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international broadcast...
was used and Wire TV was broadcast alongside both The Parliamentary ChannelBBC ParliamentBBC Parliament is a British television channel from the BBC. Its remit is to make accessible to all the work of the parliamentary and legislative bodies of the United Kingdom and the European Parliament...
and The Learning ChannelTLC (TV channel)TLC is an American cable TV specialty channel which initially focused on educational content. Since 1991 TLC has been owned by Discovery Communications, the same company that operates the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and The Science Channel, as well as other learning-themed networks...
.
- In 1994, Wire TV's backers outbid BSkyBBritish Sky BroadcastingBritish Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
for the rights to screen the 1996 Cricket World CupCricket World CupThe ICC Cricket World Cup is the premier international championship of men's One Day International cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council , with preliminary qualification rounds leading up to a finals tournament which is held every four years...
in a £7.5 million deal. It was the first major national sporting event ever to be acquired for a UK cable channel.