Estuary TV

Estuary TV
Launched 20 January 1998
Closed 31 August 2018
Owned by Channel 7 Television
(Immage 2000 Studios)
(1998-2001)
Estuary TV CIC Ltd
(Grimsby Institute Group)
(2001-Present)
Picture format 576i (16:9 SDTV)
Audience share Local TV Macro Network:[Note 1]
0.01% (September 2015 (2015-09), BARB)
Country United Kingdom
Broadcast area North & North East Lincolnshire
Headquarters Grimsby Institute, Nuns Corner, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire
Formerly called Channel 7 (1998–2013)
Replaced by That’s TV Humber
Sister channel(s) Yorkshire Coast TV
Website www.estuary.tv
Availability
Terrestrial
Freeview Channel 7
Cable
Virgin Media Channel 106

Estuary TV was a local television station based in the United Kingdom.

Coverage

Estuary TV was the UK's longest running local television station at the time of its closure. It reached approximately 140,000 homes in North and North East Lincolnshire on Virgin Media's digital television network.[1]

Estuary TV was licensed with Ofcom.[2]

History

Channel 7 was originally set up in Immingham's Immage 2000 Studios in 1996 by Mark Fenty, John Trevitt and Ian Hargreaves with other Directors coming and going for the local community to showcase their talent and for information about local area and its events. The studios were officially opened in 1997 by Lord Puttnam.[3]

The channel was purchased by the Grimsby Institute in 2001 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the further and higher education college.

Channel 7 officially launched in January 1998 and is situated at the Grimsby Institute's main campus at Nuns' Corner. Prior to that it was situated at the Immingham Resource Centre, in the south part of Immingham, opposite Eastfield Junior and Infants school. During its time at Immingham Channel 7 was innovative in its programming utilising talents such as Chris McRae, Stuart Hall, Rob Dabb and many others, new to TV yet excited and motivated they produced hours of television a lot of it totally live with interaction with the public. It became a must watch channel for local people with NTL. Driven by John Trevitt his enthusiasm and efforts made it something to be proud of. Local people learned how to present and as time went on others joined the Studio as receptionists, later to become presenters and news readers, every one at Immage 2000 was encouraged to get involved from indeed the receptionist to the Sound engineer to the cleaner.

In 2006 Channel 7 was moved on NTL (now Virgin Media) channel 107 to 879 as part of a channel reshuffle and broadcasts from the Great Coates head-end in the Grimsby region.

On 12 September 2012, Ofcom announced that Channel 7 had been awarded the licence to operate a local TV channel for the Grimsby area.[4] The channel rebranded as Estuary TV and began broadcasting on Freeview from the Belmont transmitting station on 26 November 2013.[5] It was originally proposed that the channel would be renamed Lincolnshire Living.

On 31 October 2013, Estuary TV was awarded a local television licence for Scarborough with Yorkshire Coast TV, expected to launch in 2014.[6]

On 2 August 2018, The Grimsby Institute announced that Estuary TV will cease broadcasting on 31 August resulting in the staff losing their jobs. The Institute also announced their intention to work with a larger broadcaster to keep Local TV running in the region after the channel closes. [7]

References and notes

Notes
  1. ↑ Audience data for Local TV channels across England, Wales & N. Ireland are measured and reported together, as "Local TV Macro Network".
Sources
  1. ↑ "What is Channel Seven?". Grimsby Institute. Archived from the original on 2 January 2008. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  2. ↑ "List of L-DTPS Licence Awards". Ofcom. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  3. ↑ "Sir David Puttnam opens Immage Studios". Borderlines Film Festival. Archived from the original on 19 August 2006.
  4. ↑ "Ofcom awards first local TV licences". Ofcom. 12 September 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  5. ↑ Brown, Maggie (4 September 2013). "Local TV steps up activity ahead of launch". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  6. ↑ "Ofcom awards Cambridge and Scarborough local TV licences". Ofcom. 31 October 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  7. ↑ "Grimsby Based Estuary TV to close". Grimsby Live. 2 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
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