VisitLondon gets own TV channel

London tourism is to receive its own television channel when VisitLondon launches London TV on Sky Digital this summer.

VisitLondon, formerly known as the London Tourist Board, is working with its media agency OMD UK, and digital TV company Enteraction TV on the launch of London TV. The channel will be broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It will encourage people who live in London to go out more, and people from outside the capital to visit.

The channel will carry advertising to offset some of its costs, but is not designed to make money from advertising revenues.

VistLondon chief executive David Campbell says: “We want to produce communications that will be of equal interest to Londoners and visitors. We’re not interested in producing one long corporate video for London.”

OMD UK head of interactive TV Toby Hack says he believes this type of channel can replace traditional spot television advertising. “This is about brands becoming media owners, which gives them a constant presence in the home,” he says.

The channel could be aired in hotel rooms to tourists, and programmes from the channel may be aired overseas at a later date. Content will be filmed at a specially built studio in the Greater London Authority’s headquarters, overlooking the Tower of London.

VisitLondon is funded by the London Development Agency. The organisation introduced new branding for London, under the banner “Totally LondON”, in January last year (MW January 30, 2003).