Ostrich Media
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Ostrich Media is a British company. It was created in 2005 as a wholly owned subsidiary of 4Ventures Limited, the commercial subsidiary of the public-service commercial broadcaster Channel 4 Television Corporation.[1] It is the owner of QuizCall, the UK's first dedicated quiz television channel.[2]
In November 2006, Ostrich Media was sold to iTouch. Reports suggested the reasons for the sale included the fact that Ostrich's QuizCall channel was not performing to expectations; fears that the subsidiary might damage the Channel 4 brand; a pending investigation of participation TV by the regulator Ofcom and a desire by Channel 4 not to appear too agressively commercial ahead of an Ofcom review into public aervice broadcasting. [3][4][5]A further reason for the sale was a desire by Channel 4 to free the spectrum that it occuppied on Freeview for other purposes. Consequently, whilst the sale included QuizCall's space on Sky Digital, Channel 4 retained the space the channel had used on Freeview. As a result of the loss of space, QuizCall stopped broadcasting 24-hours per day on Freeview on 15 November 2006.[2] Later the same month, Channel 4 issued an apology after it emerged that staff had impersonated competition winners to encourage more people to call in,[6] and Ostrich's Frederik Fleck conceded before the Common's Culture, Media and Sport Committee that telephone lines may have been blocked to stop callers from getting through.[7][8]
[edit] Sale
Ostrich Media is now wholly owned by iTouch. As a result of the sale, a review of the channel has seen its broadcast hours reduced in accordance with an expected drop in viewers when the channel lost its twenty-four hour DTT space. A significant number of freelance presenters no longer work for the channel due to this drop in hours.
The Company is managed by Directore General of Green Media LTD, Nathan Bond.
From Sunday 12 November, the channel provided Ftn with a three hour block of programming, simulcast with the Quiz Call channel from 10pm through until 1am. This has since ended, and the Quiz Call channel has closed on Sky Digital.
Quiz Call aired on channel 5 until 9 September 2009.
Ostrich Media also runs Brain Box for South African channel E-TV[9] and UTV in Northern Ireland.
On 31 March 2010, UTV purchased Ostrich Media to form a new division to be known as UTV Interactive.
[edit] References
- ^ Matthews, Sam (30 June 2005), Channel 4 set to debut live quiz channel by year end, Media Week, http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/482670/Channel-4-set-debut-live-quiz-channel-year-end, retrieved 30 January 2012
- ^ a b Holmwood, Leigh (3 November 2006), "Channel 4 prepares launch after Quiz Call sale", The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/nov/03/broadcasting.channel42, retrieved 30 January 2006
- ^ Robinson, Paul (31 October 2006), "Channel 4's answer to quiz TV", The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/oct/31/citynews.channel4, retrieved 30 January 2012
- ^ Channel 4 sells Ostrich stake in television quiz shows, Informitv, 3 November 2006
- ^ Brief, Media Week, 7 November 2006, http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/news/603256/Brief/, retrieved 30 January 2012
- ^ Rees, Jon (20 November 2006), "Under-fire C4 to sell quiz shows", The Daily Mail
- ^ Gimson, Andrew (29 November 2006), "Credulous callers and the quiz show crocodiles", The Daily Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1535458/Credulous-callers-and-the-quiz-show-crocodiles.html, retrieved 30 January 2012
- ^ Oatts, Joanne (27 November 2006), MPs quiz broadcasters over gameshows, Digital Spy, http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a40022/mps-quiz-broadcasters-over-gameshows.html, retrieved 30 January 2012
- ^ Knowler, Wendy (7 May 2008), Brain Box: Is it an illegal lottery scam?, IOL, http://www.iol.co.za/brain-box-is-it-an-illegal-lottery-scam-1.628148#, retrieved 30 January 2012
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