Launch of Together TV

Pink Weddings™ launches “TogetherTV™”

On the 1st September 2009, Gino Meriano founder of Pink Weddings™ the group launches UK’s first and dedicated channel for same-sex couples, their families and friends – TogetherTV™.

Gino Meriano, founder of Pink Weddings comments “It has been an amazing 2009 so far seeing the launch of the designer civil partnership show hosted at the Andaz Hotel London, our book Civil Partnership - a guide to the perfect day and now TogetherTV”.
The channel will aim to offer a wide range of high quality productions from real-life documentaries, movies, topical news from around the world, valued ideas and actual weddings with couples in the UK and beyond.

Meriano continues “We are constantly seeking new ways to let same-sex couples know the unique and different ways they can show their love and commitment. It will also go further to breakdown stereotypes and build a more inclusive society. I am very excited about the launch and a chance to finally have a channel that is the voice for same sex couples, their families and friends”.

At launch, TogetherTV will be available on IPTV* and online giving everyone the opportunity of being able to view the channel anywhere around the world, from a laptop, TV to a mobile phone and iPod”.

Building into the overall package of the TV Polari Group, the team at Pink Weddings believes this will become an exciting channel and one that will grow over time as has the Civil Partnership market since 2005. Over 30,000 couples have already entered into a Civil Partnership with an estimated market equating to an additional £10 million per year and the rolling survey already shows planning well into 2012 (34% for 2009, 52% for 2010, 12% for 2011 and 3% for 2012, dated July 2009 source - Pink Weddings Ltd Survey)
END


Note to Editors
TogetherTV website broadcasting soon
http://www.togethertv.tv
Pink Weddings and the Gay Wedding Show
Press enquiries call Gino Meriano
www.ginomeriano.com
UK - 07971 277 609
Pink Weddings Ltd
Celebrating 7 years of gay wedding planning and campaigning for same-sex couples
www.pinkweddings.biz
The Gay Wedding Show Ltd
Celebrates its 6th year in civil partnerships exhibitions
www.gayweddingshow.co.uk

TV Polari
TVPolari is not just a single product but a package of gay orientated products and services brought directly to the consumer at the touch of a button.
Today TVPolari is in it's infancy but growing rapidly. We are working with different teams within the gay community all over the UK and internationally to try and source the greatest gay content produced.
Working to provide the viewer with a network of channels that everyone cares to watch.
Visit http://www.tvpolari.com

IPTV
Internet Protocol TV.
Works through your TV with a set-top box. Accessing channels, subscription, services and programmes on demand, also interactivity. It was available to more than 200 million households by 2005 and expected to reach 400 million households by 2010

Interviews and stuff

Well, no day goes without a bang in the Gay TV world, On Friday we went along to an undisclosed Address in Surrey to Interview Gino Meriano at his country mansion, WOW that guy even had his own pool. (I did ask to be invited to the Pool party but got told MAYBY BABY, so that meant a no) What a great interview and I learnt a lot from him about Gay weddings and what I did not know was he has even written a book about Civil partnerships, taboos and how it is done etc etc. Worth reading, I can tell you. Gino if you never already knew is the first guy to have a civil partnership and the first shall we say Wedding co ordinator for Gay weddings, his website is www.pinkweddings.biz worth a look at and you can get some tips from there as well. What I was proud to say is TV Polari is the media sponsor for the Gay wedding shows that happen all over the country. We have been at the last 2 and are a sponsor at the next ones and will be filming in Brighton.

Well Adrian Doughty in his fine wedding dress, erm I mean suit done a fantastic interview and you know what, it was as if it was live. Only one cut from the Director and the rest just flowed out of the mouth. Gino really knows what he is talking about when it comes to Gay weddings and is the authority I would say on the subject. Unlike other fakes I could mention but wont. You know who you are boys!!!!!

You can see the interview on TV Polari the worlds first gay IPTV Network for the LGBT bods.

Anyway it was an absolute pleasure interviwing the god of Civil Partnerships and I hear that Gino's empire might be expanding very soon. WATCH THIS SPACE.

www.tvpolari.com to see the last gay Wedding shows.

Bye for now, just off to a meeting with Perky Piglet who will be with us in Brighton Pride this year.

Interview with Lance Fougere of TV Polari

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Gay Television
Lance Fougere of gay television network TV Polari filming in Andorra

Lance Fougere of gay television network TV Polari filming in Andorra
TV Polari Gay Television Network
TV Polari has entertaining and original content

TV Polari has entertaining and original content

TV Polari is the exciting gay television network with a big personality all of its own. Still very young in television terms, TV Polari is gay television that has developed real teeth in its infancy with dynamic channels like Gabbi World (featuring the hilarious ‘Gabbi’), Lifestyle, PlanitGay Travel, and the very popular TLA movie channel.

Mothership Blog spoke to Lance Fougere (just love how that name rolls off the tongue!) who is one of TV Polari’s owners.


How did the TV Polari gay television network come about?

Gabbi of Gabbi World - next week she wears a ski suit to the beach...

Gabbi of Gabbi World - next week she wears a ski suit to the beach...

I have a background in TV, and also in the ‘Gay World’, and I helped develop a new television channel on Sky called TV Travel Shop which was revolutionary in the way it presented holidays. I was also instrumental in opening Village Soho for the first time - which was the very first gay bar with clear windows! I knew Jim Deans who is the owner of the broadcasting company Global Digital Broadcast, and he was looking for a business partner for a new gay television network and I fitted the bill.

Who owns TV Polari?

50% Global Digital Broadcast (GDB), 25% me and 25% Adrian Doughty who is a colleague I met through setting up a charity. The 50% ownership by GDB is great because we get the support of the ‘mother’ company, whilst being small enough to move faster than our rivals. Others supporters include our Business Director James Duffy, and Justin Beavis.

Why the name TV Polari?

I didn’t want a name that had the word ‘gay’ in it, so having been a supporter of LGBT history month I was familiar with the word ‘polari’ comes from the italian word polare ‘to talk’. Polari was a form of language between gay men who were oppressed and dates right back to the 19th Century.

How do you watch TV Polari?

You can TV Polari at TVpolari.com or, if you have the right set top box on Something TV. We’ll be reaching out to a larger cable audience soon.

When did TV Polari launch?

2007

Is running a gay TV network different to what you expected?

Gay TV is more of a challenge than I thought it would be, but I enjoy a challenge so I’m very happy with that. I am also surprised that I’m working in the gay business world again, as I’ve done that for so long but the laws of attraction drew me back into it!

What has been your best moment?

TV Polari gay television network

TV Polari gay television network

Every week has its good moments, but the best by far was when we had content up on our gay television network for the first time. I had been given a channel and then told to go out and make it happen. Well with the excitement I thought “no problem”, but what I did not know was that content costs money and it costs a lot. So when we went on the beg and borrow route and managed to get 100 hours of content in, That was my best moment, seeing it all up there on a screen and more importantly on a TV screen.

What has been your worst moment?

The worst moment was in the early days when we went to our first customer with our set top box and our TV to do a demonstration and GDB who run the Distribution network had decided to do maintenance and not tell us. So we were at the clients and had nothing to show, so we had to show them another Channel instead. But hey, these things happen. We are on the brink of a new way we watch TV and content so you have to accept it.

What’s your favourite part of running a gay television network?

Erm, it’s when I see people get as excited as I do about gay television, and see the bigger picture. When we get new clients on board is great, and now we have a production company, I love going on location and trying something new.

What do you find most difficult and why?

Technology and explaining it to people as it’s new and hard to understand so to tell them they can watch TV Polari on their TV via the internet is difficult.

What are your dreams for TV Polari?

I would like TV Polari to be like the BBC for gay consumers, and get other exciting ideas onboard so we can open it up as the gay people’s television network that offers different content for everyone.

What have you got coming up on your gay TV network?

Films like Another Gay Movie on the TLA Movie Channel on TV Polari

Films like Another Gay Movie on the TLA Movie Channel on TV Polari

Ah well we have just launched the TLA movie channel and that is going great, and in the next few weeks we will have a new Civil partnership channel called Together TV, which will be much better than Wedding TV as we have lots more to offer and not just Gay weddings on that channel. We also have a lot of new shows on the way from Screamers starring Ray Jordan, and Destinations - a new gay Travel show, and of course the New Gay Travel Channel Planitgay TV, bit like sky travel but for LGBT bods.

Lance Fougere spoke to David Abrehart

Watch TV Polari at TVPolari.com

(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

New TLA Movie channel on TV Polari

Hi All just wanted to let you know about the new TLA MOvie channel on the TV Polari network. THis is the only Gay Movie channel you can get on line and on TV.

Some titles are

Cowboys & Angels

Locked Up

The Trip

The House Boy

Ethan Mao

Rock Haven

Slutty Summer

Everyone

Cut Sleeve Boys

Girls Will Be Girls

Naked Boys Singing

Love Sick

I Dreamt Under The Water

Loveing Annabelle

Coffee Date

Bear Club

Eating out 2

The Bubble

Lilith

A Four Letter Word

Psyco Beach Party

No Regret

The Perfect Crime

Ity Bitty Titty Committee

P.S. Your Cat is Dead

20 Centimeters

Boy Culture

Reagular Guys

Puccini for Beginers

Socket

That Man Peter Berlin

Dorian Blues

Another Gay Movie

Loggerheads

Adam & Steve

The Dying Gaul

Back again Gay TV at its best

Well I am so sorry that you have had to wait such a long time but we have been so busy and I have not had time to do my blog, anyway I am going to publish a recent interview I did and I will get back to this on a near daily basis.

Here it is

1) Who thought of the idea for a gay TV network

Having been in the Gay world since the first opening of Village Soho, which was the first open window bar. i.e. we could see out and people could see in, I did many things from then in the early 90’s and one was to work with a new channel on Sky called TV Travel Shop. This opened up a new era in TV and travel where you could see the resort and the hotel you were going to on the TV and not just in a brochure. I was fundamental setting this up so knew about TV and starting a new TV channel. Jim Deans the owner of Global Digital Broadcast met with me in Sandringham, we hit it off, and he proposed that I was the right person for the job being in the “Gay World” knowing many people and my background in TV. Therefore, he was looking for a Business partner in this area and we became Partners.

2) Who owns TV POLARI?

When Jim Deans offered me the partnership I knew it was a mighty job and I could not do it alone, it took 70 people to start TV Travel shop then 450 call centre staff so I needed another person that knew me and what I could do. Adrian Doughty was a new introduction to me and we met through starting a charity up so I knew the person was sound, straight but sound. Therefore, I asked him if he wanted to “learn a new trade” lol and go into partnership with me. He agreed and today GDB owns 50% of TVPolari and I together with Adrian own the other 50%. This means that we have support from the Mother Company and we move quicker and better than other channels in the network. Other people came along Like James Duffy our Business Director and Justin Beavis to name only a few.

3) Why the name TV Polari

I did not want Gay TV or anything that had Gay in it as we have enough of that in our life’s. So having lived in Italy and being a supporter of LGBT history month we came up with Polari, which in Italian/Latin means to converse and it was the Gay talk from old days when Gay men were oppressed. So I thought we would bring it back and make it something we all understood and young gay people would learn.

4) How can you watch TV Polari?

You can watch TVPolari either via your set top box on Something TV or as we step into a new age, on your pc on www.tvpolari.com we also go out on a few other networks and soon will be going onto a large cable audience.

5) When did TV Polari launch?

2007

6) How is running TV Polari different to what you expected?

Well I knew it was going to be a challenge but I enjoy that. I never thought I would be into the Gay world of business again as I have been there, done that, and wanted to do something else. But it is the Law of attraction and so I came back.

7) What has been your best moment?

The Best moment so far as each week has its good moments must have been when we had content and then when we had our first paying advertiser. That was such a great moment as its like running a restaurant and having no food.

8) what has been your worst moment? (please don't say mothership tv!)

(Not Mothership Tv lol, as we will come back to that as its such a good idea but if you’re not ready then it’s not to be.)The worst moment was in the early days when we went to our first customer with our set top box and our TV to do a demonstration and GDB who run the Distribution network had decided to do maintenance and not tell us. So we were at the clients and had nothing to show, so we had to show them another Channel instead. But hey, these things happen. We are on the brink of a new way we watch TV and content so you have to accept it.

9) what's your favorite part of running a gay TV network

Erm, it’s when I see people get as excited as I do and see the bigger picture. When we get new clients on board and now we have the production company, it’s going on location and trying something new.

10) What do you find most difficult and why?

Technology and explaining it to people as it’s new and hard to understand so to tell them they can watch TV Polari on their TV via the internet is difficult.

11) What are your dreams for TV POLARI?

I would like TV Polari to be like the BBC of the World but for Gay consumers, so I do not wish to Run it and have a say or the final word, as there are many different types of gender out there and people like different things. So we need to get other ideas on board to open it up as a Peoples channel to offer different content for everyone.

12) What have you got coming up?

Ah well we have just launched the movie channel and that is going great, and in the next few weeks we will have a new Civil partnership channel called Together TV, which will be much better than Wedding TV as we have lots more to offer and not just Gay weddings on that channel. We also have a lot of new shows on the way from Screamers starring Ray Jordan and Destinations a new gay Travel show and of course the New Gay Travel Channel Planitgay TV, bit like sky travel but for LGBT bods.