Local TV News (UK) Thread

I can't imagine it endearing itself to Aston Villa fans if it was called that

Well I wonder what they would have thought when it was going to be CityTv.

I've been watching a bit of Mustard TV online and I really rather like it.

They seem to have got things spot-on - solid, simple production values, and one news programme done well and repeated throughout the evening, giving viewers plenty of opportunities to see it.

Compare that with London Live's ridiculously over-ambitious and ultimately unsustainable approach: too much live output for their resources to handle, and a badly thought-out real studio that was too dependent on daylight outside.

As a result, Mustard TV still actually provides something genuinely watchable and useful (for, I'm guessing, a fraction of the cost), and London Live is now mostly just a curator of old network shows that happen to have been filmed in London.

Nothing becuase there isn't a Birmingham United.

Nope but there's a Birmingham City.

The original group that won the local tv licence for Birmingham/West Midlands were going to call themselves City8 on air though. The Twitter account posted a screengrab of the logo - and it looked quite nice. A Silver figure 8 with small light flares bouncing off it.
Much better than the freehand MS Paint nightmare that Big Centre TV ended up with.

I think what really helps Mustard TV is not so much the virtual set but the graphics package overall - they've got a great logo and just a good look overall which makes it come across really professional, unlike pretty much all the others.

Yep. Of all the local TV operations I've seen, Mustard TV may be a little wholegrain, but it does what it does simply, cleanly and well. They have done a very neat job with some of their semi-virtual studio designs, and their reporting seems entirely watchable.

No idea what their audiences are like - but in terms of making a half-way watchable product, they appear to be doing a decent job.

The Mustard Show is on a par with what you'd expect a BBC regional version of the One Show to be like in terms of production values and watchabilty. The main presenters are well known locally and very engaging which helps. I imagine the name of the channel has had a bit of a 'Dave effect' in that it's a bit out there but also relevant to the locality.

Indeed the Mustard Show has actually proven itself to be quite good, and from what I've seen of it recently it seems to have improved greatly compared to how it started, which whilst watchable was a bit safe and dull. Looking at the ones on demand they seem to have two sets of presenters (with one of these ex-Anglia TV), and both pairs seem to get on quite well and come across well on-air, with most of the 'banter' seeming natural. The show does the jokey TV show parodies you might see at the start of This Week, and also some pretty good local features and stuff as well.

My favourite thing I've seen from the show so far though is how they have a musical performance to end the show some days, but no performance space, so they have the musicians in front of a green screen which is showing a GMTV-esque performance area, with coloured lights but dark walls etc. Because of this they can only cut between static shots, which just doesn't seem right.

Away from actual programming, and I quite like their ad slogan of 'must-see TV', complete with everyone from the PM to Steve Coogan saying 'Your're watching Mustard TV'.

Considering how well Mustard TV has been for Archant, they may have the confidence to bid for future licences where they have a newspaper.

You mean Small Heath Alliance don't you?