Ginx TV Heads to UK

The company Ginx TV has already produced programmes for channels in Spain, South Africa, Israel and the Middle East, as well as GameFace for Bravo, and now they’re looking to create their own 24-hour television channel dedicated to video games in the United Kingdom.

 

 

CEO Michiel Bakker stated that the channel would mainly focus on reviews at first, and then branch out in the future. Describing it as “evolution rather than an overnight revolution.” He also went into great depth on the possible pitfalls of launching the channel and was surprisingly skeptical of what they’re attempting.

"Unfortunately, while it is possible to create enough content - reviews, news, game walkthroughs, cheats - to fill several hours of TV, it is a struggle finding enough of an audience to watch it. And, therefore, to get the vital advertising support.

"Take my own daily .TV show, Game Over, for example; it had Andy Collins as the main presenter, myself and Matt Berry, now of the Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd, as co-presenters, and it still, at times, failed to even rate in audience figures".

"It seldom grabbed a viewership over 3000-5000, which is, unfortunately, not enough to secure any meaningful funding. And can’t, therefore, generate enough of a budget to create any kind of watchable television shows".

"It’s a catch-22. Ultimately, too, that just leads to cancellation and/or financial ruin".

"I hope I’m wrong, as I’d love to see videogames come back to the UK’s screens in a meaningful fashion, but the focus needs to be on changing the opinions of commissioning editors on terrestrial television, rather than scrabbling around in niche areas".

"Videogaming, as an industry, is far bigger than that".

Despite the negativity there was talk at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, where the announcement was first made, of a HD version of the channel and possible 3D gaming reports if the audience reaction justified it.

The channel will be available through Sky and Virgin this November.

Craig Bryan, NoobFeed