A visit to Doughty Street

I paid a visit to 18 Doughty St today - home of the pro-COnservative internet TV channel run by Iain Dale and Tim Montgomerie.  It's impressive. At low cost they have  a very professional operation - it reminded me of the kind of traditional TV operation set up for live coverage of major events - all digital, portable and high quality. I'm interested because it points the way to the future of TV, however convergence turns out, and specifically for the World Service we are looking at internet TV to extend our language services. Iain was generous with his time and very open about the programmes, the operation the successes and the challenges. As it's internet only at the moment it is not subject to Ofcom Regulation on political impartiality. It's not commercially viable and exists thanks to the deep pockets of Stephan Shakespeare. However, the house was bustling and it feels as if it's here to stay and set to expand.

Comments

[Steve]

turn around and look the other way richard. they have no audience, and they never will. if they have interesting ideas, they are squandered in video. online, video is a complementary medium. is there any value in watching iain dale's ideas? NO. would they be of more use to everyone in machine-readable, word-searchable text? YES.

Tis nothing more than a vanity project.

[Richard S]

I'm less interested in what the content is or is not - more in the cost of production and distribution, and the ease of it. Video may be complementary now, but will it always be that way?
Why is TV a more powerful communication medium than print?

[jamie]

I think, first, becuase of the size of the audience. More people watch TV news, TV was the primary source of information for 65% of the public during the last general election according to Ofcom, so it has more power.

Second, and a reason for the first is, becuase you can convey far richer information through video, in far less time, than you can in print.

Whether Doughty St would be of use to anyone in video or print is a moot point.