I am delighted to have discovered something new about living in Cornwall - the CORNWALL CHANNEL   It's not actually that new, so it came as a surprise to find out that Cornwall has had its very own dedicated on-line channel for three years. It was exclusively an on-line facility until October 2012, when it was launched as the first county-based channel to broadcast and has a prime time slot on the Information TV channel, every Monday evening at 9pm. It is THE place for instant information about local businesses, news and events in and around the county through the power of video.

I heard about it by a chance phone call from Emlyn Glanmor-Harris. Emlyn is a producer and director of Cornish- based, film company, 'Dead Interesting Productions'. Emlyn is a film maker, who along with Anthea Bowen, have an impressive pedigree reflecting a knowledge and experience of more than fifteen years at the forefront the new media, film and motion graphic production. Emlyn currently has films being shown on Cornwall Channel from his series, 'Stories in Stone' and 'Beneath a Mackerel Sky'.  A year or so ago, Emlyn produced a film of John, his music and sound recording experience and the finding of the tapes that we released as the Brenda Wootton CD, 'All of Me'. which he includes on his website, www.realcornwall.tv in the 'Under a Mackerel Sky' titles. Emlyn asked for our permission to use the film for a Cornwall Channel programme.

Now that I'm aware of the channel, I'm hooked and drop in through the day for a catch-up. It has a staggering average of between two to three thousand 'hits' a day and I understand the reason why, having followed the site for a couple of weeks. The fact that it's so up-to -the -minute, with latest news and video features, is addictive.  Their Broadcast Partner programme enables businesses to increase visibility to customers by inserting video messages before the community news stories. This has to be the way forward to reach a captive, loyal audience, where marketing campaigns are broadcast for as little as £50 a month. The interest being shown in the company increases on a weekly basis and other counties are looking to use this innovative project as a model. There is an experienced production team to discuss customer requirements on 01726 932999.

The founder and executive producer, Cornishman Shane Solomon's, together with the team, Ed Salatas, Paul (Buttz) Moulvey and Sasha, have boundless energy and enthusiasm.  The channel has a licence to broadcast to a potential viewing audience of 14 million homes in the UK and Europe and amongst the 'magazine' content, it runs 18 thirty second ads at an average cost of £80 each to clients. The programme platforms everything that is good about Cornwall, it is entirely local and community orientated; in Shane's words, "Cornwall has so much going on we want to showcase the best of the county to many people, We'll also be discussing issues facing the county, helping businesses to reach their audiences and discovering Cornwall's hidden gems".

The programme is broadcast on Monday nights, between 9p-10pm on Sky 212 and Freesat 401 and the videos are uploaded for on-demand viewing and social network sharing on Facebook and Twitter. I thought that with so much personal experience in methods of communicating through the recognised mediums of press releases, mail shots etc that I knew all there is to know to reach a target market, but I've learnt something new!  I'm impressed by the instantaneous rolling news and events as they happens and excited about this avenue for advertising as it has immediacy and visibility with exceptional potential for networking.

If I'm truthful, the programme isn't the slickest viewing on the networks, but that's the kernel of its charm. However, it is honest, funny and informative and trounces, 'She who flounces around in a striped jumper's, Cornwall',  also, currently being aired on Monday evenings.  Cornwall Channel is the antithesis of the myopic, pretentious characterisation of the county as a capsule of quaintness. Because it's produced by a committed team who live and work here, it touches the core of real Cornwall and while reaching its audience through 21st century technology of on-line video and social networking, it retains a sense of community...
local without being parochial.

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