Five gets new look next spring

Why do people think that RTL would ever change the name to Five? Five is always known here as Five or Channel 5, to the vast majority of people in the UK they don't have a clue who or what RTL is, unless they've been on the continent.

Anyway RTL doesn't have the same logo everywhere, the Dutch RTL is all in lower case and uses brackets, the German RTL is rather bold, RTL2's logo is a Pause symbol in a circle ie (II) and the Hungarian RTL is like the German one, but it's called RTL Klub.

Will Quiz Call still be with five next year?

Yes. In a multi-channel age where name and identity mean an awful lot (UKTV G2 --> Dave anyone?) let's make the channels completely non-descriptive and add some waffle that no-one will remember or take notice off.

Clever.

Tis true, the channel 5/five brand is now what people know, what would be the point of changing an established brand?

The question is, as most people still refer to it as 'channel 5', do we expect a return to 'channel 5' and a new 5 numeral logo?

Or do we think that they will stick with five, and change the logo, or do nothing at all except revamp the schedule?

Everyone knew their local ITV station before it all became known as ITV1 et al. For instance I still call ITV1 as Granada and when in Nottingham I know many still call it Central. But in all but legal lettering they no longer exist but is just called ITV1.

Channel 5 or five, as you say is brand which people know. Why would it be any different IF RTL decided to put their initials at the front. The only channels that would probably change names would be FiveUS and FifeLife but they are not strong brands at this moment in time. No matter what you put at the front of a channel name (i.e. Channel, RTL, ITV etc...) people will call it by what they know it best. Creatures of habit!!!

The biggest name changes remember, in more recent history are... All the Sky movie channels continually changing names, Sky Sports News Channel to SkySports.com to Sky Sports News.

I have a feeling that the channel logo and presentation will definitely change, the current logo and presentation which was fine five years ago look bland now and doesn't give the channel a clear identity.

Five US will definitely be revamped to broaden its output to include non US stuff like football etc. Name wise, Five X or Five XY as someone have already suggested would work as it's mostly a male oriented channel like Bravo or ITV4.

In a recent interview with Five's director of programmes Jay Hunt, one of the things that she plans to do have more homegrown hit shows which have been the bugbear of previous directors at Five. This suggests that we may see less of a reliance to US imports or movies which I think could benefit the channel.

The problem with five is that they haven't discovered their water cooler programmes.
When you look at things like I'm A Celeb, Corrie, Big Brother, Eastenders, X Factor, Strictly, even things like Top Gear and Spooks get people talking, I can't think of one programme on five that has had me personnally doing so. I presume that the only one that some people may discuss is CSI.

i suppose instances of the past with family affairs (in it's heyday), the farm, and more entertainment led programming such as the mole.

I like the idea of them wanting to aim for their own content, but as Sky One also prove, it doesn't seem to work that easily.

What are the options for five, do you go down the young male risky drama and film, go back to the young female scewed entertainment/showbiz, or stay at lifestyle/docs/and a mixture of others as is at the moment?

Should five aim to pigeon hole itself, and make it a niche channel, or to try and provide a broader mix?

I'd like to see them fully rebrand. i wasn't a fan of the five brand, but it has grown well, and grown with the channel, but in a multichannel world, what sort of logo would work well?
Hopefully a flurry of programmes will kick off the water cooler moments along with the introduction of neighbours.

So to sum up, what direction should five aim in?

I think they should follow what US cable channels have done and create a watercooler show which suits the channel's ethos, Jay Hunt has said she wants the channel to known as irreverent , cheeky and unashamely entertaining. I think Five could use their US shows like CSI and House to be lead in for newer British drama. Maybe something like the rumoured remake of The Prisoner would bring viewers to Five is they market and schedule it right.

They need to develop their own talent which can represent the channel, poaching names from other channel isn't enough.

Rebrand wise, I'm not sure. I would go down the BBC Two and Channel 4 route and have a logo and presentation that is unique to the channel.

I think Jay Hunt could be the channel's saviour, her track record as controller at BBC Daytime shown she is capable of comissioning great shows on small budgets such as Masterchef, whether this translate now she's at Five remains to be seen.

Interesting idea.
Maybe they should as you say model themselves with a similar schedule to a US channel, mixing US shows with homegrown.

I think that the channel is lacking in entertainment. They could do with a few massive entertainment events. The thing that they shouldn't do is schedule it on a Saturday night.

Maybe another solution would be to create specific nights that are aimed when other channels don't. I'm thinking that with specific nights you can stand more of a chance of keeping the same audience rather than trying to appeal at women from 7-9, than adding drama or a movie to appeal to another totally different audience demographic by trying to pull them out of nowhere.

I love what five have achieved from what in my opinion was a dreadful replacement for the numeral logo in 2002, but they have achieved a lot with a very plain logo, and I can't wait to see what they come up with.

Problem is, entertainment shows like SCD or X Factor are expensive for a channel like Five and they tried it before with the All Star Talent Show and it was awful. Five have recently announced they are to rest scripted comedy for a while in favour of light entertainment and panel shows. perhaps something like Saturday Live and Who's Line is it Anyway could as work as an alternative to the talent shows.

I like the idea of specific nights, they do in America with Must See Thursday on NBC and the former TGIF on ABC. ITV2 have recently done with XXL Thursday starting at 8 with Streetmate and ending at 10.30 with Entourage. I think something like Appointment Wednesday would be a good title.

I still think an event drama like Hogfather, Secret Diary or Skins with new and familiar talent would help Five draw viewers.

[quote="Jonwo87"]

The problem with the all star talent show was the idea for the programme, but I can understand them for not wanting to run before they can walk.

But when you look back to the very early years of the channel, entertainment was the heart of the channel, but that was sold off for more and more lifestyle and documentaries.
As Chris Moyles said this morning 'I don't know what's on five at 8pm, but you can guess that it'll be a documentary about hitler'.

So where as before the channel was known for its three f's, it's now known for its documentaries, but not the documentaries that you seem to talk about (such as dispatches and cutting edge on channel 4), but just random programmes.

I'm also not saying get rid of these totally, but if they want to be successful, surely they need more programmes that can be talked about, and will. I like that idea of appointment wednesday.to showcase their programmes, and I agree that they need at least two home grown dramas.
They had that four part drama earlier this year (I think) which I presume was to test the water. They need a few homegrown dramas/comedy dramas that will fill a season and sit well along the US dramas and don't make any productions look poor and cheap in comparison.

I wasn't thinking of big entertainment programmes, but more comedy panel shows, and even cheap things like night fever.
I'd love for them to take a proper risk and take a new and upcoming talent that no one has really picked up on before and try them in a Late Show style, no one has perfected it yet, surely there's an audience, the best that we had was V Graham Norton, and I suppose The Paul O Grady show does it.

Of course five originally planned it with Jack Docherty, the problem with that was that he ended up disapearing leaving Melinda Messenger filling in and then taking over.

Am I just looking back on the old 5 foundly and wanting it to come back, or should it just really stay in the past?

Thinking about the comment earlier about creating 'five' personalities, when they launched the second set of idents in 1999 I think, that's exactly what they were doing... flaunting their talent in the idents, but now I can only think of Matthew Wright and Trisha that I associate with five.

I think while elements of the old Five were great, you have to admit that the more seedy side with the softcore films and programmes about sex and naff shows like Naked Jungle brought viewers, it was also giving Five the wrong type of reputation which is the reasons why they rebranded as Five and went towards the more upmarket route of doc and lifestyle. They have really well to shake off this old image and is more talked about in a positive light in recent years than ITV.

The docs they show are quite good but I agree are a bit random at times. I know that due to the success of the Wolfman doc and Nick Baker's Weird Creatures, they are planning a wildlife strand which could bring new viewers to the channel.

Homegrown drama should be a definite part of the Five schedule though they need fit the ethos of the channel but I would opt for series than one-offs. The Perfect Day Trilogy which Five showed last year was a great example of if Five knuckles down, they can produce great drama. With the US dramas possibly being shorter due to the Writer's Strike, Five should use this as an oppurtunity to commission a drama series to fill the gap.

I think comedy panel shows and light entertainment show would be great, I was a big fan of Night Fever especially the New Year Eve special. I think they should try and bring back Who Line's Is It Anyway? as it would relativly cheap to do with a new host and performers, Let's face it all you need is a stage, a host, and four performers. I love the idea of a chatshow though not a nightly one like Leno or Letterman, I think Five should try and poach Simon Amstell for a chatshow host as he would fit nicely into the channel's ethos of Cheeky, Irrelevant and entertainting.

I agree that talent wise, Five haven't really got one in the same way that the other channels have. In the past, I would of said Kirsty Young but now she's left I can only really say that Matthew Wright, Trisha and John Suchet are the most notable faces of the channel.

I do think Five is making progress, Paul Merton in China was a great example of a show that rated well and was talked about by critics and the public and I'm pleased to say that not only have they commisioned two more Paul Merton travel shows but are bringing back Rough Guides.