TV channel to serve up travel, fashion and gossip

Dubliners will soon be able to tune into to the city’s own local television station to watch home-made programmes on everything from star signs to travel, it was announced today.

The new television station for Dublin is to broadcast programmes in 15-minute slots on a range of subjects including culture, motoring, property, fashion, travel and news.

City Channel is the brainchild of former Crimeline presenter David Harvey and will broadcast 24 hours a day, seven days a week to the Greater Dublin area.

Programme controller Vanessa Kaminski said the channel would be able to cover topics other programmes overlooked and would give local advertisers the opportunity of airtime.

“I think there’s very definitely room for City Channel,” she said.

Marketing manager Olivia Reilly agreed: “There’s a whole niche which hasn’t been catered to – the Dublin-specific region.

“In most countries they have a channel for their capital city or cities and Dublin is definitely in need of that.”

RTE presenter Laura Wood will be presenting ‘City Buzz’, a magazine show which will offer viewers gossip and news about Irish and Hollywood stars, and the makeover show ‘Fashion Forward’.

“It is a local station for Dublin, there’s never been something like this done before,” she said.

“For example there’s so many good restaurants here and so we’re having a restaurant programme.”

The Irish Independent’s property editor, Cliodha O’Donoghue, will present and co-produce Property View, with advice on house buying at home and abroad.

Former AA Roadwatch presenter Sarah Maunsell will host a DVD review show, Small Screen, and Beat FM breakfast show presenter Orla Rapple will present a monthly gig guide called Spotlight.

Journalist Catherine Blake will work on the local Dublin news programme, ‘Cityline’, when the channel goes on air in September.

Other programmes include ‘Planet Zodiac’, which will discuss viewer’s star signs, and ‘Free to Express’, a show for the gay and lesbian community.

City Channel will be carried on the NTL digital platform as part of the standard package. Broadcasting to 100,000 homes initially, City Channel will have a potential audience of 400,000 along the east coast.

While City Channel’s core audience will be in the greater Dublin area it is hoped viewers as far north as Dundalk, Co Louth and south to Greystones, Co Wicklow will be able to pick up the station.

The company is also planning to launch City Channel Galway and City Channel Waterford on the NTL service in early 2006.