New Tube

By Daniel Pilkington, December 4, 2006 @ 2 am

Idealog January/February 2007, page 24. Photograph by Greg Pajo

Is there room between MTV and YouTube? You bet, says ALT TV’s Thane Kirby

Thinking outside of the box is hard when the medium you’re working with is known as, well, the box. But George FM founder Thane Kirby reckons he can reinvent telly with his second broadcasting venture, ALT TV.

The channel has been broadcasting for 12 months from a studio on Auckland’s K Road with a straight-up, lo-fi take on music television.

“We’re bringing something different to the market. We’re the alternative,” says Kirby. “ALT TV is the face of the punk, or the raver, or the whatever. Our audience is involved in the broadcast. Who else would take cameras to a local party and broadcast from it?”

After spending more than eight years establishing George FM in New Zealand’s radio market, the idea for ALT TV was born out of a lack of differentiation in the New Zealand music television market, Kirby says.

“I thought, hell, all we’ve got on TV is Beyoncé and Britney and boy bands, shit like that. There’s got to be something better.” So he went about creating his alternative, and after more than $600,000 in setup costs, ALT TV was born in November 2005.

He has some tough competition from CanWest’s C4, Sky’s Juice TV and the recently relaunched MTV. Meanwhile the YouTube phenomenon, iTunes and Xbox Live threaten the whole industry.

That’s fine by Kirby though. ALT TV already puts much of its content on YouTube, including live performances and interviews. He’s also planning to stream the channel live over the internet, once he can get permission from APRA and RIANZ, the groups representing artists and copyright owners.

The station operates on a shoestring. The 15 production staff and 46 presenters aren’t paid, although they can seek their own sponsorship deals and get to broadcast whatever they want. “When other TV channels say they’re going to put new talent on, you always get the same-old-same-olds,” says Kirby. “So I thought, ‘let’s get some new talent on, give everyone an hour to do their thing’. The presenters have full creative control. I don’t inhibit the playlist—or the creativity.”

The ads are unusual too. “We do more than just 30-second commercials. We get out there and do promotions for people on the street. Anything to get advertisers noticed.”

But while Kirby admits it has taken most of the year to attract enough advertisers to make ends meet—a process that involves “burning a lot of cash”—the situation is starting to look promising, he says. George took five years to get established. “In 12 months our brand has really stood out. People like it. It’s got a bit of a 42 Below feel about it—take the piss, keep it funny and play a lot of music.”

Originally published in Idealog #7, page 24