1. Service name Guidance notes. 2. Proposed area Guidance notes. For more information on answering this question, please see section 3 of the ITA.

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1 1. Service name Guidance notes What is the proposed service name? Answer: TVKent For more information on answering this question, please see section 3 of the ITA. 2. Proposed area Guidance notes a) Please state the coverage area this application relates to. Please see sections 2 and 3 of the ITA and the Coverage Note. Answer in fewer than 25 words: The coverage area will be that provided by COMUX to meet the Local TV licence requirements for Maidstone. b) Please state whether you intend to locate your main studio/production base within the coverage area. If this is not within the coverage area please explain why and state where it will be. For more information on answering this question, please see section 3 of the ITA. 2

2 Answer in fewer than 100 words: We believe it is important to site our studios in the heart of the area we will serve. Our studio, sales, editorial and production teams will be based together, in Tonbridge, either at the headquarters of the Courier Newspaper Group, or at K College (see 3 below, and 12 F Partnerships). The studio will be a new-build. Some productions, particularly those involving University of Creative Arts Students, will be shot at the Maidstone Studios, under an agreement between the three parties. c) What editorial area do you propose to serve within the stated coverage area? If this is not the whole coverage area please explain why you have selected this particular editorial subset. For more information on answering this question, please see section 3 of the ITA. Answer in fewer than 200 words: The editorial area will encompass the Kent area of the Maidstone LTV licence footprint; we do not plan to provide a service for viewers in Essex. 3. Proposed launch date Guidance notes a) What is your state of readiness for launching your proposed service? Answer in fewer than 300 words: For more information on answering this question, please see section 3 of the ITA. TVKent, a Kent consortium made up of the following five partners Peter Williams Television International; Canterbury Christ Church University and K College, Tonbridge; the University of Creative Arts; the Courier group of newspapers, part of Local World; and MADE TV will be ready for launch in January 2015, subject to the completion of the infrastructure by the local multiplex provider. We may well be in a position to launch earlier in the autumn of 2014 and we have a timetable flexible enough to make this an objective, once the timing of the award of this licence is known. The vast majority of the infrastructure necessary to run of this station is already in place, as is the structure of our launch funding. We have two options for a studio build in Tonbridge - either at the Kent and Sussex Courier offices or at K College. Both parties are agreeable and we are appraising both offers. Crucially, TVKent s studio and offices for the production and sales teams will be together in the heart of the licence area. b) What would be your indicative launch date to start broadcasting? Answer as a date: Please see section 3 of the ITA. Please note that your proposed launch date should be within two years of licence award, but should be a realistic reflection of your state of readiness to launch your service. The proposed launch date is 1 st January 2015, subject to the availability of services from COMUX. 3

3 Programming Commitments Please draft the Programming Commitments for your proposed service. If you are awarded a licence, these Programming Commitments will form the basis of what we put in the licence. Your draft Programming Commitments should be consistent with, and summarise, the answers you give in section 5 of this application form. More detailed guidance on drafting your Programming Commitments is included in section 3 of the ITA. 4. Programming Commitments Programming output [This should be a summary of the answers you have given in section 5, in no more than 250 words] TVKent will broadcast to the people of Maidstone, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells and the surrounding community 24 hours a day, seven days a week. TVKent will: Provide a comprehensive local service that is both informative and entertaining, from its studio in Tonbridge, Liaise with the Maidstone Studios over producing headline and student-led programmes, Deliver a schedule with top-of-the-hour local news and a comprehensive magazine programme at its heart, Reflect the interests of the Maidstone/Tonbridge community through locally-produced programming on the arts, heritage, countryside, religion, music, sport, business, personalities and live or as-live events, Emphasise the positive achievements of the community by giving an average of three minutes per hour airtime to work produced by Kent charities and community initiatives (to a maximum of 30- minutes in any day), Contribute to the local economy by promoting local services, shops, manufactured items and other businesses, Reflect the rural economy, through agreements with Hadlow College and its initiatives, Revive and revisit many of the strands that reflect Kent heritage, which have proved popular with viewers over the past 20 years, Draw from an archive of 200 hours of Kent-based programmes to which we have the rights, Train viewers to involve them in our programmes as citizen journalists ; embracing parish councils, schools and community groups, Encourage the talent of our universities and FE colleges by showcasing their work and giving them placements and employment, Pursue a strategy of growth in our local programming. Hours of local programming per Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 onwards week First run: Repeats: Hours of local programming per Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 onwards week in peak-time ( ) First run: Repeats:

4 Hours and scheduling of local news and current affairs programming (e.g. how many bulletins a day and of what duration?) First run: Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 onwards LUNCHTIME LIVE - 5 x 15 minutes LUNCHTIME LIVE - 5 x 15 minutes LUNCHTIME LIVE - 5 x 15 minutes KENT NEWS AT TEN - 5 x 15 minutes KENT NEWS AT TEN - 5 x 15 minutes KENT NEWS AT TEN - 5 x 15 minutes KENT - 50 x 3 minute top-ofthe-hour bulletins KENT - 50 x 3 minute top-ofthe-hour bulletins KENT - 50 x 3 minute top-ofthe-hour bulletins POLITICS MATTERS - 1 x 30 minutes (repeated six times) POLITICS MATTERS - 1 x 30 minutes (repeated six times) POLITICS MATTERS - 1 x 30 minutes (repeated six times) At weekends two halfhour news and current affairs digest programmes, KENT NEWS REVIEW and KENT FEATURES REVIEW (working titles), will be scheduled in 18 slots over the Saturday and Sunday. They will have up to the minute tickers, with breaking news, weather and traffic updates supplied by the Kent Courier news team. At weekends two halfhour news and current affairs digest programmes, KENT NEWS REVIEW and KENT FEATURES REVIEW (working titles), will be scheduled in 18 slots over the Saturday and Sunday. They will have up to the minute tickers, with breaking news, weather and traffic updates supplied by the Kent Courier news team. At weekends two halfhour news and current affairs digest programmes, KENT NEWS REVIEW and KENT FEATURES REVIEW (working titles), will be scheduled in 18 slots over the Saturday and Sunday. They will have up to the minute tickers, with breaking news, weather and traffic updates supplied by the Kent Courier news team. Repeats: Current Affairs programming repeated at least six times a week. Current Affairs programming repeated 5 times per week. Current Affairs programming repeated 4 times per week. 5

5 Programmes and programming output Definitions and guidance 1 Please use the questions below to explain and expand on your draft Programming Commitments. It is important that we are able to understand how these commitments fit with your explanation of the proposed service. Detailed guidance on each section of the following table is included in section 3 of the ITA. 5. Programme output Guidance notes Please answer the questions below. They are worded to enable you to describe your proposed programme output in such a way as to demonstrate that it meets the statutory criteria for licence award. In this form you are asked to draft your own Programming Commitments. These are part of what Ofcom will judge your application on. These will also form the basis of your licence and Ofcom will judge your ongoing service against them once you are broadcasting. When answering these questions, you should explain how your Programming Commitments relate to the service as a whole. It is important when assessing your application that Ofcom can understand how you will deliver your Programming Commitments, which is an ongoing requirement of an L-DTPS licence. Questions A to G ask about the first three years of operation. Question H asks about longer-term developments. Please see section 3 of the ITA for more detailed guidance on each question below. A: Please tell us about your programme service. You must refer to section 3 of the ITA when seeking to answer this question. Answer in fewer than 1,000 words (excluding illustrative schedule): The core output of TVKent will reflect its strong community involvement. This will apply both to the programmes we will show in our 24-hour, seven-days-a-week schedule, and in the staffing of our station and the identity of the investors who have put their faith in our vision. Each news broadcast will carry the strapline for Maidstone and Tonbridge. Partnerships have been established with academic institutions, public bodies, community organisations and a major Kentbased newspaper group with its headquarters in Tonbridge to ensure that TVKent is an authentic local service made for, and by, the people of Kent. Our 24/7 studio will be in Tonbridge, based either at the K College campus or at the head office of the Courier Newspaper Group. From it, our local-news-led schedule will be broadcast with, at its heart, top-of-thehour news bulletins; LUNCHTIME LIVE, a 15-minute bulletin of local news at 1pm, and KENT TONIGHT a news and magazine programme specifically for Maidstone and Tonbridge, targeted at, and repeated for, a peak-time audience. We plan to begin our daily schedule with a Breakfast Show, centred on a Hospital Radio broadcast, about which we are negotiating with the Maidstone and Tonbridge NHS Trust. It will feature local news, travel and weather updates. The local news which will drive TVKent will be scheduled thus: KENT - Three minute bulletins on the hour, Monday to Friday, each bulletin branded with its own time of day. LUNCHTIME LIVE - a 15 minute news wrap every weekday headlines with a news interview. 1 The text in this guidance section is intended to replace the indicative text that appears in our consultation at paragraph

6 KENT NEWS AT TEN a 15 minute bulletin which will be recorded at 1830, after Kent Tonight is recorded at At the weekend, KENT NEWS REVIEW will be shown four times on Saturdays and seven times on Sundays. KENT FEATURES REVIEW, a half hour digest of the best Kent Tonight features, will be scheduled four times on Saturdays and three times on Sundays. Our partnership with Local World, whose Courier Group HQ is in Tonbridge and who own newspapers and/or websites in Maidstone, Thanet, Sevenoaks, Canterbury, Dover and Folkestone, will provide TVKent with county-wide news coverage. News of the arts, business, employment vacancies, heritage, politics and government, will feature in many of our programmes, specifically in our flagship KENT TONIGHT - Monday-Friday (repeated at 1900 and 2300) a half hour programme comprising (typically) 8 minutes of news and a 16 minute magazine section, including studio interviews, sport, WHAT S ON and BUSINESS NEWS. KENT TONIGHT will run for 1 hour on a Friday. In POLITICS MATTERS (presenter-led and studio-based across the week) viewers examine local issues with local politicians; and Q & A, a 1-hour Question Time panel show with an eclectic panel of five each week and featuring a studio audience and interactivity with viewers. First run Wednesdays 2100 repeated across the week SPORTS NIGHT, a half-hour sports magazine focused on grass roots sporting clubs and issues. This programme will harvest the best of viewers video. We will co-operate with Kent County Cricket Club, Maidstone United Maidstone and Tonbridge Rugby Clubs and Tonbridge Athletic Club over exclusive news and views. First run Mondays at 2100 repeated across the weekly schedule. TVKent s programme policy will be to draw an audience to Appointments to View. We will revive and revisit a number of strands of programming which are no longer made by ITV but which have consistently proved extremely popular with Kent viewers. We have agreements to revive: COUNTRY WAYS, a joyous and detailed chronicle of rural life, which ran for 20 years on regional ITV in the South and South East, attracting huge viewing figures. It will again be presented by Jill Cochrane (CV attached). In a partnership with the world-renowned Hadlow College, we plan to put this strand at the heart of our schedule. Similarly, THE HUMAN FACTOR, a half-hour series on the triumph of the human spirit in adversity, which ran for 13 years on the ITV Network, as well as spawning scores of regional editions, will be restored and revitalised and, again, be presented by Peter Williams. TVKent has rights agreements with the production companies involved, Peter Williams Television and Riff Raff Films (formerly Countrywide). MUSIC BOX will mix music and stand-up. Budding comics will present the show, which will feature two bands/performers a week half an hour of local music recorded in a college auditorium with an audience. First run Fridays at 2200 repeated across the weekly schedule In FOCUS, working with the University of Creative Arts, Canterbury Christ Church University and K College we will showcase the best of students films and access a unique Kent-based archive collected over the years by Tim Jones, Senior Lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University, who will give context both to the discovery and the content of the films. We are also pledged to give a voice to charitable causes and good works that affect Maidstone and Tonbridge, in THE GOOD LIFE (see 5E). We shall encourage the local economy to BUY LOCAL, a studio-based advertising magazine with local products and initiatives at its heart, introduced by two presenters to demonstrate/elaborate on each advertised product. KENT LIFE will be an outrageously up-market social diary, featuring the great and the good; we are in discussion with the widely-read glossy magazine of the same name. But, the underlying message will be to draw attention to 7

7 business initiatives and good causes in the county. Apart from experienced presenters in Jill Cochrane and Peter Williams, TVKent intend to run a competition and a series of auditions to seek new, fresh faces to present its programmes. This will (a) provide opportunities for local talent and (b) raise the stations profile during the pre-launch period. We are confident that with comprehensive promotion of our programming on air, via the internet we shall run our own website TVKent TODAY - and through the Courier Group of newspapers, we will refresh our audience s current viewing experience. B: How will your programming meet the needs of the area where it is received? It will only be taken to meet the needs of the area if its provision brings social or economic benefits to the area or to different categories of person living or working in the area; OR it caters for the tastes, interests and needs of some or all of the different descriptions of persons living or working in the area. You must explain how your proposed service will meet the needs of the area through meeting AT LEAST ONE of these two criteria, but you may also explain how it would meet both. Answer in fewer than 1000 words: Kent was once a kingdom. It has the largest population of all the English counties (1.48 million). The people of Kent are as varied, both socially and financially, as anywhere in the country. But, be they Man of Kent or Kentish Man (dependent on whether they were born east or west of the River Medway), the people of Kent have a very clear sense of identity, to rival Wales or Scotland, Yorkshire or Cornwall. Simplistically, Kent is viewed as a prosperous county, particularly in well-heeled Royal Tunbridge Wells and Canterbury. But amid the relative prosperity, there are large pockets of poverty and deprivation in Thanet and East Kent and towards the Medway towns. Maidstone and Tonbridge sit on the dividing line of this schism. Unemployment is a pressing issue here. Maidstone lies second among the councils in the South-East most dependent on public sector employment (27.9% of the workforce). In contrast, in Tunbridge Wells the figures is 16.5%, and in Tonbridge and Malling 15.4%. Public sector cuts are being felt in this transmission area. We shall reflect this in our programming. This is a mixed economy rural, with hop gardens, orchards and soft fruits; forward-looking with its growing knowledge economy (Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks, at 21%, are well above the national average); and flourishing with its wellorganised tourist trade drawn to its ancient buildings (Leeds Castle, Rochester and Canterbury Cathedrals), its culture (Charles Dickens, the Pilgrim Fathers, the front-line county at times of national emergency) and its countryside as the Garden of England. It also has a large population of students (18,000-plus) 18% of whom are foreign, most of them from the European Union, Asia and North America. The largest ethnic group in the boroughs of Maidstone, Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells is white, 94.1% and 94.9% respectively. Nearly 6% of Maidstone and 5.1% of Tunbridge Wells residents are black minority ethnic (BME). Those residents from an Asian/Asian British background form the largest of the BME groups in Maidstone(3.2%) and Tonbridge/Tunbridge Wells(2.5%). In neighbouring Medway which is part of the transmission footprint up to 8% are BME groups and we are discussing programming ideas with Pasha Khandaker, a leader of the Bangladeshi community who has considerable broadcasting experience. Financially, the average annual wage in Maidstone is 20,757, in Tonbridge and Malling 20,722 in Sevenoaks 17,229 and in Tunbridge Wells 19, 884. The average house price in Kent is 240,000 compared to the average house price in the South and East of 278,000. Kent is prosperous, forward-looking, outgoing but not rich. In summary, this is the audience TVKent will serve. We will therefore: celebrate initiatives in the world of business, tourism, agriculture and IT in VISIT KENT and KENT LIFE. draw regular attention to opportunities in business and the service industries in our news bulletins; emphasise the beauty of the county in COUNTRY WAYS and VISIT KENT; and highlight the cultural diversity of the county in THE HUMAN FACTOR, and in our news features, embracing the activities and cross-cultural initiatives in our transmission area. 8

8 TVKent will establish a panel of local experts, personalities who will become familiar to our viewers. We will draw commentators and analysts from the public, private and charitable sectors, organisations based across our transmission area a family of faces who will be seen routinely offering insights across the entire editorial agenda, joining us live in the studio, on location and via Skype. Our programming plans (see 5A) indicate how we intend to address the different interests and issues facing our viewers and we have an agreement with the Kent and Medway infrastructure Partnership and the Kent Community Foundation for regular liaison to tap into shifts in community needs. We are particularly mindful of the needs of the disadvantaged and the disabled. We shall give examples of lives which have inspired others to overcome adversity - such as disabled Kent sailor Hilary Lister, who has sailed solo around the UK - in THE HUMAN FACTOR, which is stripped across the week. And in our series, THE GOOD LIFE, we will give up to 30 minutes free airtime in any day to the charitable work and charities which are at the core of our society, particularly in deprived areas. We shall extend the reach of our programmes by producing our own TVKENT TODAY website; we have agreements with the county s tourist board and Local World, that TVKent will be carried throughout the county on the internet, via the Visit Kent county-wide website and Local World s targeted websites in Tonbridge, Maidstone, Thanet, Canterbury, Dover, Folkestone and Sevenoaks. C: How will your programming broaden the number and range of TV programmes available for viewing in the area AND increase the range of programmes made in or about the area? You must explain how your proposed service will meet BOTH of the above criteria. Answer in fewer than 500 words: We in Britain have been persuaded that regional television is local. It is not. Since ITV dropped all its public service broadcasting commitments 8 years ago, many of the programmes most popular with Kent viewers have been axed. We intend to restore and revitalise some of those series. Many old favourites, including COUNTRY WAYS, will explore situations that will forge links with contemporary and current issues. Hadlow College, one of the country s leading agricultural colleges, will have a close relationship with the series and our programming will embrace issues raised by these beautiful, filmed essays on the county s countryside. In addition, because of its position as the front-line county closest to Europe, Kent has often been at the heart of both political and economic discussions that have affected the core of Britain s history including two world wars and agreements with continental Europe. We shall, on selected anniversaries, produce programmes that draw from our extensive Kent-based archives, which will appeal to other L-DTPS licence-holders. We shall also draw from our archive to show SECRET ARMY, on Churchill s underground volunteers formed to repel a Nazi invasion; and ROAD TO D-DAY, on D- Day preparations in the South East. Our CEO, Peter Williams, during his 10 years based in Maidstone, as Controller of Factual Programmes for TVS, which held the ITV franchise for the South and South East, believes the most important lesson drawn from that experience is that the more targeted the programme, the higher the ratings. Early evening news and the magazine programmes for Kent were always among the highest-rated in the ITV network, beaten only by Border, which was an even smaller ITV franchise. Every programme from TVKent, then, will be tightly-focussed on the people in the Maidstone transmission footprint. When viewers switch on TVKent, they will always find information, news and entertainment relevant to their lives, interests and concerns. A determination to reflect our community underpins our programme philosophy and we already have collaborative arrangements with a host of local organisations. We shall also provide broadcast opportunities for young local film-makers. In FOCUS, students from Canterbury Christ Church University and K College and the University of Creative Arts will contribute, and help to produce, this strand. Q&A, our weekly Question Time panel show, will raise and address local issues, and BUY LOCAL will, literally, be a shop window for local goods and initiatives, an as-live advertising magazine, introduced by two local personalities, stressing the 9

9 vibrancy of the local economy. We will draw viewers to these programmes through our partnership with the Tonbridge-based Kent and Sussex Courier, which will offer us (1) programme guides and promotional articles through Local World s newspapers and (2) internet publicity on the sites attached to their titles in Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Canterbury, Thanet, Dover and Folkestone. In addition to its availability on Channel 8 on Freeview in the Maidstone/Tonbridge licence area, TVKent s programmes will be available throughout the county through these links, through our own dedicated website (TVKENT TODAY), and through the Visit Kent website. D: How will your programming facilitate civic understanding and fair and well-informed debate through coverage of local news and current affairs? Answer in fewer than 500 words: Ofcom s research indicates that news of local events and issues is by far the leading priority for potential viewers of a Local TV service. TVKent s core priority is to deliver an informed, objective, stimulating news service and we have a vastly experienced and energetic team to do that. Our in-house team will closely liaise with the experienced and county-wide journalists in the Courier Group of newspapers (Local World) to ensure that our coverage, and our questioning, will enhance civic understanding. The economies being carried out by local and regional newspapers mean that fewer council meetings are being covered by professional journalists. This has two important results: (1) council initiatives are less frequently recognised and publicised and, (2) council decisions are less frequently questioned. We plan to address these issues in three ways: (a) we shall contact every parish council in the Maidstone(42 councils) and Tonbridge (17 councils) areas, to train them in the run-up to launch in newsgathering and as citizen journalists, able to use smart phones and camcorders to provide quality video. (b) we have letters of support from Maidstone Borough Council and Kent County Council and will cover their and Tonbridge and Malling Council s initiatives and concerns; and (c) we shall restore accountability to the schedule; we shall in our news bulletins, in POLITICS MATTERS and in Q&A, question politicians, businessmen, and decision-makers on the implications of, and the reasons behind, their decisions. We shall interview local politicians to explain their plans, seek feedback from local residents and use our newsgathering teams to produce reports. Our partnership with the Kent and Sussex Courier Group will enhance our sharp, constructive and informed coverage of issues in the community which we will serve. Our determination to look vertically at the entire local political process- from parish council to county council will ensure a broad knowledge of the decisions that will affect the lives of TVKent viewers. We will also encourage students from K College, the University of Creative Arts and Canterbury Christ Church University to explore social issues that will enrich the mix of the FOCUS programmes, and enhance other programmes in our schedule. In short, we shall seek a daily conversation with our viewers on key interests and issues, using all social media as well as more conventional newsgathering techniques. 10

10 E: How will your programming reflect the lives and concerns of communities and cultural interest and traditions in the area? Answer in fewer than 500 words: We believe that the programmes and proposed schedule we have outlined will reflect and, we believe, enhance the lives, cultural interests and traditions of the area and our community. We also intend to involve the community in the Governance of the station. We plan a ground-breaking strand THE GOOD LIFE, which will be a good news programme, in contrast to the litany of crime, violence, tragedy and court cases which are the staple diet of current regional news bulletins on both BBC and ITV. THE GOOD LIFE will celebrate the good, often pioneering work of the charities in the area. With our help, they will make their own 3-minute films. TVKent will then give free air-time of up to 3 minutes in every hour to a maximum of 30-minutes a day - to accommodate these charitable causes. The films will portray the concerns that drive each charity, and will feature those who have been helped by them. They will show the benefits of the charity s intervention and the cumulative and beneficial affects of this work, often over many years. This link with the good works and good news in the heart of our community is a vital part of TVKent s application. We intend this characteristic to extend to the governance of the station and will appoint a number of founder Vice- Presidents of TVKent, from whom a Content Advisory Board will be chosen. This Board will have two roles to regulate the number and identity of the charities receiving the free airtime from TVKent and to monitor the station s output, in an advisory capacity. The Vice-Presidents will become Ambassadors for the station, a vital part of its outreach. The appeal of this approach has already helped to attract of number of would-be, high-net worth investors in TVKent. So far they have pledged 300,000 to help to launch the station. The Content Advisory Board will have a single representative - and therefore a voice - on the Main Board of TVKent (see company structure). This strong link with the charitable sector will ensure that we are never unaware of the needs of and pressures on the community in which we live. Reflecting this work, and its effect on so many of our viewers, will be one of the most inspirational aspects of the work of TVKent. TVKent s aim is to become, and to be seen as, a local broadcast service that is a community asset. THE GOOD LIFE, Q&A and THE HUMAN FACTOR will portray on screen, week in, week out, the ethos of the station and its determination to reflect the inspirational achievements of so many who live in the Maidstone L-DTPS licence area. F: How will your programming include content that informs, educates and entertains and is not otherwise available through a digital programme service which is available across the UK? Answer in fewer than 500 words: The only truly local news bulletins in UK broadcasting at the moment are on BBC local radio and some small community and commercial radio stations. Viewers in the Maidstone/Tonbridge LDTPS licence area will never be more than an hour away from a local news update during daytime and peak. TVKent will: Inform its viewers through these news bulletins, KENT TONIGHT, and with programmes such as POLITICS MATTER, BUY LOCAL, SPORTS NIGHT, VISIT KENT, KENT LIFE, and the repeated WHAT S ON strands within the Breakfast Show and magazine programmes; Entertain its viewers through innovative presentation of all our programming, embracing in music and lively debate, the vibrancy of our local community; and Educate its viewers both through established programmes on Kent s heritage, such as the revitalised COUNTRY WAYS; and through new programmes based on our partnerships with Canterbury Christ Church University and 11

11 Hadlow College, who have promised access to their cutting-edge research initiatives. We shall, when justified, examine strategic initiatives in longer-form documentaries, such as Hadlow College s project to revitalise the Kent Coalfields, which once employed 1500 miners. The last pit, Betteshanger, was closed in Currently, unemployment and deprivation overshadows the former coalfield. Now, this Hadlow-led initiative has brought a 40- million investment from Government to bring together business, education, technology, rural tourism and mining heritage in a green business park. The development of the scheme will be covered in our regular programming. What we shall offer in addition is a history of the Kent coalfield that when it opened, it gave rise to Britain s first New Town, Aylesham; that it also produced the most militant of miners (recruited from South Wales, Nottingham and Scotland) who went on strike during WWII when many were sent to prison; and that the miners who came to this new coalfield in the 1920s brought with them their traditions of choral singing, pigeon-fancying and whippet-racing that still survive today in the heart of the Garden of England. We shall underscore the character of our community today by drawing material from a rich and exclusive archive of more than 200 hours of Kent-based programming including: COUNTRY WAYS, on our rural heritage, ASPINALL S ANIMALS, on the late John Aspinall s heroic efforts to preserve endangered species in Kent and return them to the wild; SECRET ARMY, on the farmers and men and women of Kent who volunteered to become saboteurs to repel the anticipated Nazi invasion in 1940; MUSIC IN MANSIONS, a series of one-hour music programmes, shot in Kent s stately homes and featuring a Kentbased orchestra; and THE HUMAN FACTOR, portraying the lives of men and women who have helped make Maidstone, Tonbridge and Kent the community it is today. Some of these programmes we will show not only in the day-time and peak schedules but also in the post-midnight programming, and be offered to other L-DTPS stations. We plan a high-level of repeats, in the early years, to give our viewers the maximum opportunity to watch our programming and the information they contain. G: What will you broadcast outside of your planned hours of local programme and locally-produced material? Do you intend to share programming with other L-DTPS licensees? From whom do you propose to acquire any third-party programming and what will the nature of this programming be? Answer in fewer than 500 words: You will see from our specimen schedule that we plan a 24-hour service. Leading up to midnight, we will sign off the day with a repeat of KENT TONIGHT, and beyond midnight we shall offer a blend of (a) repeats of our own local programmes plus (b) shared programming with other L-DTPS stations, probably achieved through a barter system, but always judged by their relevance to our Maidstone/Tonbridge viewers. We are also in negotiation to carry four hours of TELESHOPPING between the hours of 2am and 6am, when the next day s local schedule will start. H. How do you see the service developing after the first three years? This answer does not need to refer to the first three years of operation, as this should have been answered above. Answer in fewer than 500 words: The current transmission footprint for the Maidstone/Tonbridge L-DTPS station excludes a number of important population centres in Kent which have a natural affinity with our viewers. As we have said earlier, Kent was once a Kingdom and it has a very clear sense of identity. Even during the early years of TVKent, we will therefore explore with Ofcom and with the local multiplex provider ways in which the service area may be expanded, perhaps from the existing transmitters/relays, some of which Chartham for Canterbury, for instance are already in place. 12

12 This is in line with Ofcom s advice that L-DTPS licencees are able to request an extension of coverage, or coverage of a new location not included in the original technical plan, provided it is technically possible. We have already indicated to Ofcom our intention of exploring this possibility. We anticipate a steady growth in income from Year 3 on, and as an overall, strategic objective after Year 3, we will continue to improve our programmes, our schedule and our reach. The experience of the first three years will have taught us lessons, to which we will react. But our pre-conceptions as we bid for this licence are that after Year 3, we will: Seek to engage further with our diverse population; develop a closer relationship with the HE and FE establishments with which we are working; consider sponsoring local film-making projects; foster and transmit more student-led programming; encourage citizen journalism, particularly among the disabled, through training days; and give businesses, charities and community initiatives a feeling of ownership in their relationship with TVKent. We will be alert to what our community feels and wants. We will hear what they say because we will be embedded in that community. We are also aware that, though the TV station will always be an important part of our service to the community, our output will become increasingly cross-platform. IPTV, online and mobile VOD will become increasingly important and we will need to ensure that the content is targeted and reformatted for the variety of outlets. Finally, we wish TVKent to play its full role in the development of the network of Local TV stations in the UK, and in encouraging collaboration between them. 6. Compliance Guidance notes Please explain what procedures you will put in place to ensure and maintain compliance with the Broadcasting Code and other licence requirements. Answer in fewer than 500 words: All licensees are required to comply with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code and other licence conditions. The Broadcasting Code 2 can be found on the Ofcom website at Please see Section 3 of the ITA for more details. Responsibility for compliance with the Broadcasting and other Codes and requirements will rest with the Programme Controller, or his/her appointed deputy on any given day. From research through production, post-production and broadcast, we have invested in asset management systems that ensure that material cannot proceed through the system without checks being exercised for quality and compliance. Our partnership with MADE is important in this regard and liaison with MADE on this and other matters is a well-planned, costeffective relationship which will give value to the viewing experience for Maidstone and Tonbridge L-DTPS viewers. The play-out and automation system provide for 90 days of recordings and programming returns, TX-logs and as-run logs are available to send when requested. At our headquarters, Programme Controller Alan Rook, the sales force and the compliance team will all have a depth of knowledge of the advertising code. With our scheduling provider, we have developed traffic templates that do not allow minutage breaches and which flag inappropriate material being broadcast. 2 The Broadcasting Code is referred to as the Standards Code in the L-DTPS licence. 13

13 Alan Rook and our Chief Engineer Meirion Hughes have considerable experience of dealing with regulatory bodies. Our colleagues MADE TV have opened licensing discussions with a number of bodies including PRS for Music, PPL and ATVOD. All senior managers have: A working knowledge of compliance with the Ofcom code, Its regulatory framework; and Media law 14

14 Ability to maintain the service about your organisation 7. Company details Guidance notes Provide the name of the entity submitting this application and the type of body corporate. For more information on eligibility and completing this section, please see Section 2 and 4 of the ITA. Please provide copies of the company s Memorandum, Articles of Association and Certificate of Incorporation (or, where it is another type of body corporate, its founding documents and those which set out its objectives and rules of operation). Answers: Company (or other body corporate) name: TVKent Ltd Date of registration: 25/04/2013 Company registration number: Type of company (or other body corporate): Private company limited by shares Where your body is not a company, please explain how it meets the requirement to be a body corporate: 8. Ownership Guidance notes Please provide details of who controls and who owns the body corporate (e.g. company) applying for this licence, and on what basis this control and ownership is achieved. The information provided must include: details of all the subscribers, members, shareholders, or whatever is appropriate for the applicant company (or body corporate), and state the extent of their interest (e.g. % shareholding) (if the company will be controlled by members, but the members are not yet recruited, please say so), and the date they acquired such interest. (You will also be asked about the board of directors in 9 & 10 below.) details of any individual, company or other body that may exert control over the applicant and the means by which such control is exerted. If shares have already been issued and the applicant intends to issue new shares, the ownership structure and details given above should clearly distinguish between the current position and the position as it will be after any proposed new shares have been issued. For more information on answering this question, please see Section 4 of the ITA. 15

15 Answer: Currently this company has a single shareholder, William Peter Williams. It is intended that the shareholding will be broadened to embrace key executives and staff and to include major investors. This will include Alan John Rook and Meirion Hughes, and a shareholding for each of the major investors (Founding Vice-Presidents) [redacted] [redacted] As to Board structure, Peter Williams, Jamie Conway, Alan Rook and Meirion Hughes have all agreed to serve as directors. [redacted] 16

16 Ability to maintain the service management and operations Ofcom is required to have regard to the ability of the applicant for the licence to maintain the service. 9. Management structure 3 Guidance notes With regard to the applicant please provide: A list of directors, indicating who is the managing director and/or chair (please see question 10 regarding directors details); An indication of management structure (e.g. management committee or equivalent, if applicable); and/or Information about who would be responsible for the day to day management and running of the service (there is a separate question regarding other staff below). Answer: For more information on answering this question, please see Section 4 of the ITA. Peter Williams MBE (Chair and CEO) As a founder member of United for Local Television, Peter has been lobbying for local Television in the UK for the past 8 years. He was for 10 years a newspaper journalist, for 30 years a producer, reporter and senior executive in network television companies in the UK, latterly as Controller of Factual Programmes for TVS in Maidstone. He is embedded in the Kent community, as President of the Canterbury International Arts Festival, as a Kent Ambassador, and as a Trustee of the Kent Community Foundation. Alan Rook (Controller of Programmes) Alan has been a journalist for 25 years in print, radio and television. He has worked in TV since He is a former Editor of ITV s Daytime programme This Morning and has also worked as a Head of News with network and regional roles at ITV for, among others, ITV Meridian, ITV Central, GMTV, Daybreak and Lorraine. Alan was Head of News and Factual for the charity-run British Forces Broadcasting Service running television, radio and online teams across the deployed world. As an industry consultant he has overseen international TV channel and programme launches, as well as providing production and compliance training and documentary making services in South Africa, Iraq, the UK, Malaysia, Nigeria, Rwanda and the United States. He is trustee of the government-funded health charity, The Caxton Foundation Meirion Hughes (Chief Engineer) Meirion has worked in broadcasting for over 30 years with the BBC and ITV; he is a highly experienced technologist with extensive knowledge of end to end broadcasting and programme production. He has a strong technical background with the addition of commercial and business experience and a track record of successful technology launches in budget and on time. He has contributed to a number of UK industry and government groups defining road maps for future technology and its implementation including widescreen, access services and the introduction of Digital Terrestrial Television. Jamie Conway (non-executive Director) Jamie is the CEO of Made TV, the largest holder of L-DTPS licences in the UK and a seasoned broadcast profession with several years experience in broadcast deployment in numerous territories. As well as being involved in the deployment of television stations in Europe as part of Chellomedia, he has also seen the reversioning and modelling of some of the biggest IPTV companies (VBS.tv) to enhance their reach, exposure and appeal. As head of broadcasting for City Channel in Ireland from , Jamie oversaw that the capital expenditure involved in expanding from 1 station to 4 stations in 18 months expenditure was less than 20% of expected outlay and operating costs rose only by 30%. The addition of channel management services saw City Channel securing service level agreements with 3 rd party companies for channel 3 Names of any individuals except directors may be redacted in the for publication version. Please indicate clearly in this section if you consider any names to be confidential. 17

17 management and playout services and was achieved with 0% increase in overheads. In addition to the Main Board, a Content Advisory Board will be formed from founder Vice-Presidents (see 5e.) One member of this Advisory Board will be invited to sit as a non-executive director on the Main Board. The Programme Controller, Alan Rook, or his designate, will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the service. 10. Director profiles Guidance notes Please provide information regarding each director as set out below (some or all of which may be regarded as confidential). Answer (for each director please complete a separate table): Ofcom needs to know about the proposed directors and chair of the applicant. Some or all of the information given in this section will usually be removed from the publicly available copy of this application form. (All applications will be published on our website.) Please indicate if any individuals named here are proposed directors (i.e. not yet appointed) and if so, when they will be appointed. For more information on answering this question, please see Section 4 of the ITA. Name: William Peter Williams Name: Alan Rook Name: Jamie Conway Name: Robert Meirion Hughes 11. Staffing structure 4 Guidance notes What is the staffing structure of your proposed service? Provide a job title for key positions and indicate any unpaid as well as paid staff. This may be provided as a diagram or organisation chart. If the applicant body is a large organisation, it is not necessary to provide an exhaustive list: key management and an indication of total size will suffice. In a small organisation, it may be appropriate to list everyone. However, the total number of staff and the number falling within different categories (e.g. management, sales, editorial etc.) should be given. For more information on answering this question, please see Section 4 of the ITA. 4 Names of any individuals except directors may be redacted in the for publication version. Please indicate clearly in this section if you consider any names to be confidential. 18

18 Answer in fewer than 500 words, plus organisation chart (optional): We have agreements with both Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Creative Arts that up to 2 of their most successful graduates will be offered a trainee job after their graduation. This is in addition to any internship we will offer as part of the universities courses. 12. Applicant s experience Guidance notes Please describe the history of your group, and any relevant experience of the group, or the individuals within the group, by answering the questions below. For more information on answering this question, please see Section 4 of the ITA. A. Please provide a brief history of your group. 19

19 Answer in fewer than 300 words: TVKent was set up solely to apply for this licence. It is the natural result of its CEO s established and long term interest in bringing local television to the UK, and his years of lobbying successive Secretaries of State through United for Local Television (ULTV) and other groupings, on the potential value of local television to contribute to the democratic process. Independence is a key word in the perception and relevance of local TV. The Maidstone and Tonbridge community must have confidence that TVKent has no hidden agenda. The success of the station will be built on trust. In forming the team that is TVKent, Peter Williams has looked outside the county for only one aspect of its operation. He identified MADE TV as a company with considerable experience of setting up and running successful local TV services and, a year ago, offered its CEO, Jamie Conway, a working partnership. Programme Controller Alan Rook and Chief Engineer Meirion Hughes have extensive experience with ITV licence-holders in Kent (TVS and Meridian); our Supervising Editor Paul Meadows, who is both cameraman and editor, has 15 years network experience, and news editor John Nurden has edited a number of Kent newspapers after 10 years experience with an ITV franchise-holder. All are Kent-based; Paul in fact took his degree at K College, a building to which he may now return as Supervising Editor, should TVKent be awarded the licence. B. Please summarise the group s broadcasting experience. Answer in fewer than 300 words: For 10 years at TVS, Peter Williams as Controller of Factual Programmes was responsible for the stations output in documentaries, the arts, farming, religion, history and heritage, business, music and community affairs. He began his television career as a newsreader/reporter in ITV Dover and was a reporter/producer for ITV s THIS WEEK for 14 years, and an executive producer at the BBC, before returning to Kent as a Controller with TVS. He has been an independent producer for the past 10 years. As a founder-member of ULTV, he successfully lobbied Secretaries of State Andy Burnham and Jeremy Hunt to bring Local TV to the UK. Alan Rook worked for ITV Meridian in Maidstone as a Producer, reporter and presenter. He organised newsgathering and production between 1998 and 2003, before moving on to GMTV, and on to the management team of ITV News. He was Head of News at ITV Central and led tri-media news operations for the British Forces Broadcasting Service. Jamie Conway lobbied Jeremy Hunt when he was opposition spokesman for DCMS in Having been involved in the legislative and licensing process of local television in the UK, Jamie is now the CEO of Made TV, the largest holder of local licences in the UK. Meirion Hughes joined TVS pre-launch to install Maidstone Studios and he was also involved in the conversion of a cinema in Gillingham into a TV studio. Post launch, he was responsible for maintaining the studio, postproduction, news and outside broadcasting systems. He later fulfilled a similar role for Carlton Television, and helped bid for the Digital Terrestrial Television Licences, where his responsibilities included helping design the On Digital multiplex centre, and managing the transmission service of 3 multiplexes to 80 UK stations. C. Please summarise the relevant experience of the group or its members, in relevant non-broadcast areas (such as print journalism, third sector, local business, sales and marketing, fundraising, training or education). Please also summarise their proposed role in the station (e.g. management, editorial, advisory, non-executive, etc). 20

20 Answer in fewer than 250 words: In the voluntary sector, Peter Williams chairs the Marlowe Theatre Development Trust which recently raised 4.5 million in three years to build a new, 1,200-seat Marlowe Theatre in Kent. He is a Trustee of the Kent Community Foundation, and chair of the Kent panel of the Viridor Credits Environmental Trust. For 21 years, he chaired the Canterbury International Arts Festival; he is now its President. He was a director of the East Kent Enterprise Agency that encouraged setting up small businesses. He was awarded an MBE for services to the arts and television in 2007, is a Fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University, was awarded an MA in 1998, and in 2012 a D. Litt by the University of Kent, when his work in helping to bring local TV to the UK was recognised. He is a Freeman of the City of Canterbury. Alan Rook is a Trustee of The Caxton Foundation, established by the British Government to provide financial assistance to individuals infected with Hepatitis C virus after receiving NHS treatment using contaminated blood. He advises the Foundation, which is funded through the Department of Health, on its communication strategy. Alan is an International Federation of Journalists' European Union documentary prize winner and, like Peter (above) is a member of The Royal Television Society. Their roles are set-out in Section 10 Directors Profiles. Should we be awarded the licence, we have arranged that Alan will liaise twice-daily with the BBC and with the Courier over news diary commitments and forward planning. D. Please summarise the broadcasting experience of key individuals in the applicant group (only if not already described above) and their proposed role in the station (e.g. management, editorial, advisory, non-executive, etc). Answer in fewer than 250 words: Paul Meadows is an experienced edit-producer and cameraman. He was a researcher and staff editor at Kent-based Peter Williams Television between 1999 and 2004 and worked on a wide variety of programmes for the regional broadcaster, ITV Meridian. He was also on the board of directors at PWTV from , helping develop a wide range of quality programmes for regional, national and satellite broadcasters. In recent years, he has been a edit-producer for major network companies in the UK (Discovery, Nat Geo, Channel 4 and the BBC) and in Qatar (Al Rayyan). Paul will have a handson and quality-control role in the station s productions. John Nurden is an award-winning journalist who has edited four Kent weekly newspapers for Northcliffe Media. He was for four years Senior Press Officer for TVS in Maidstone. He started his distinguished journalistic career with the Faversham Times, the Kent Messenger, and the Kent Evening Post. His local knowledge both of the transmission area and of the freelances working in it, will inform the daily content of our news and magazine programmes. E. Please provide details of any third party involvement in the group (e.g. consultants or other bodies which might be making a contribution to the running of the station but are not formally part of the applicant body). (Note: Please provide a letter from any such third parties confirming their involvement as specified.) Answer in fewer than 250 words: In order to produce informed financial projections, TVKent commissioned Media Sages to survey actual revenue spend on radio and in the press, in the Maidstone and Tonbridge area. TVKent has no formal, on-going relationship with Media Sages, however. 21