At the beginning of May ICASA announced that they've awarded a broadcast license to Cape Town TV - a Cape Town community TV station.
Last year
Soweto TV made history when it received the same license, which makes Cape Town the second city to get it - a trend I'm convinced will extend to other places. The idea of us having regional TV stations across the country blows my fringe back like you can't believe.
Since the news was released I've been excited about it 'cos I just know that Cape Town has a gazillion stories that can be told and so many intriguing and vibey places, events and people that don't get TV-time regularly.
To get the goss on exactly what's what with things I chatted to CTV's acting manager Karen Thorne, who's spent 15 years working towards bringing such a Cape Town station to life. Here's what I snooped out:
Filmic factsThe station's a TV service for the people by the people. CTV has a full-time staff of about 10 people who co-ordinate and manage all aspects.
Anyone can submit their footage for consideration to be broadcast. The station's going include viewer-generated content eg. cellphone footage, handheld footage etc and it's also going to work with filmmakers who want to make something more long-term and concrete.
Hott!If a filmmaker has an idea for a show, documentary or any project they can submit the concept before making it and if the station agrees to broadcast it they'll be issued with a Conditional Broadcast Agreement.
This means that filmmakers can go off and get sponsorship for their show - based on the motivation that it'll be broadcast on the station. This solves the dilemma for new producers who need cash to create something but don't have the cash upfront.
The station's working closely with the University of Western Cape - they've got a studio set up on the campus and filmmakers can apply for assistance by way of studio-time for post-production editing etc.
All proposals submitted to the station remain copywrighted to filmmakers and can be re-broadcast anywhere once they've been on CTV - so they belong to the creators and not the station.
The station's a non-profit organisation with a finance model based on a mix of membership fees, sponsorship, advertising and donations. The reason for the mix is so that no one area of funding becomes more important than another so that the station maintains it's independence.
Universities, colleges and theatre groups in and around Cape Town will be offered opportunities of getting involved to showcase their filmic and acting stuff.
The line-upShows are going to be a mix of everything and anything that represents everyone who lives in Cape Town. Genres include entertainment, education and training, shows catering to community needs, documentaries, sport etc.
The station's going to have it's own News show - broadcast from a studio that's in the process of being created. It's also going to have a weekly Events round-up show featuring what's been going on in Cape Town in the past week and what's cool that's coming up.
Launch dateThe station goes live on 1 August at 18h00. At the moment it's looking like the schedule will run from 18h00 to 22h30 daily. This will later be extended to 16h30 to 22h30. Times to be confirmed closer to the launch.
Tuning inCapetonians who can pick up the Tygerberg receiver can access the channel by tuning into Channel 38 UHF. To find out whether you can receive the signal,
check out this map (areas in blue can receive CTV).
AuditionsContinuity presenters will also be part of the stations regular line-up and the search is
on. To find out how to apply to audition visit TVSA's
Casting Calls.
For more info, here's a link to the station's website:
CapeTownTV.