Big Centre TV
| Made in Birmingham | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 28 February 2015 |
| Owned by | Made Television |
| Picture format | 576i (16:9 SDTV) |
| Audience share |
Local TV Macro Network: 0.01% (September 2015, BARB) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Broadcast area | Birmingham, the Black Country, Wolverhampton, Solihull |
| Headquarters | The Goldmine Centre, Walsall |
| Sister channel(s) |
Made in Bristol Made in Cardiff Made in Leeds Made in Liverpool Made in North Wales Made in Teesside Made in Tyne & Wear |
| Website | www.madeinbirmingham.tv |
|
Availability
|
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| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 7 |
| Satellite | |
| Sky | Channel 117 |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media | Channel 159 |
Made in Birmingham is a local television station, serving Birmingham, the Black Country, Wolverhampton and Solihull in the West Midlands of England. The station is owned and operated by Made Television and forms part of a group of eight local TV stations. It broadcasts from studios and offices at the Walsall Studio School.
Kaleidoscope TV Limited were granted a licence to establish a local television station in November 2014, following the collapse of City8, a proposed station centred on the Birmingham area, which went into administration after failing to secure sufficient funding. Kaleidoscope were given ten minutes notice that their bid had been successful before an official announcement was made by the regulatory body Ofcom.
The new licence, initially known as Kaleidoscope TV, was given an Ofcom deadline of Saturday 28 February 2015 to launch Kaleidoscope TV to bring local television to Birmingham, the Black Country and Solihull from 2015, Initially, Big Centre TV was jointly launched by Chris Perry and former ATV announcer and television executive Mike Prince, the station's director of programming. Prince also served as the station's chairman.
Big Centre TV's studios at the Goldmine Centre in Walsall were located alongside the town's studio school, where students were able to gain work experience with the channel as part of their studies.
The station launched at 6pm on Saturday 28 February 2015, preceded by a testcard and music, ending with the Electric Light Orchestra's "Mr. Blue Sky". Opening night programming included an hour-long introduction to the channel, a special edition of the local news programme The Midland, a 1981 episode of Crossroads, and coverage of an ice hockey league match. These were aired alongside two of the station's feature programmes, Life Stories and Project M.
The first news bulletin attracted criticism from Birmingham Mail TV critic Roz Laws, who noted that many of the reports concerned stories from several days before the channel's launch. The news bulletin was also beset by technical problems, with poor sound quality and an out-of-focus studio camera. The Black Country-based Express & Star observed that the launch programme had been "more corporate video than glitz and glamour" consisting of the channel's executives "sitting in front of their computers and discussing a business plan before the station was blessed by a clergyman". Responding to the criticism, then-channel director Chris Perry argued that Big Centre TV's teething problems were similar to those experienced by the larger channels, and urged viewers to stay with the station.
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