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.