38-582: Birmingham TV is a British local television station , serving Birmingham , the Black Country , Wolverhampton and Solihull in the West Midlands of England . The station is owned and operated by Local Television Limited and forms part of a group of eight local TV stations. Kaleidoscope TV Limited was granted a licence to establish a local television station in November 2014, following
76-441: A 4.8-acre waterside site. It is home to occupiers including BBC Birmingham , WSP , Associated Architects , Harvey Nichols , Malmaison Birmingham and other leading stores and restaurants. The Mailbox is about 300 metres (980 ft) long from front to back including The Cube . Above the front shops it has an additional 6 floors which includes a hotel and residential apartments. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal passes along
114-470: A business plan before the station was blessed by a clergyman". Responding to the criticism, then-channel director Chris Perry argued that Big Centre TV's teething problems were similar to those experienced by the larger channels, and urged viewers to stay with the station. In April 2015, the station announced that Canadian media company Trek 2000 had invested in Big Centre TV. The station later opened
152-603: A day. In July 2017, the channel moved from its Walsall Studio School base to new studios and offices on Bridge Street, beside the Gas Street Basin in Birmingham, situated close to those of ITV Central on Gas Street and BBC Birmingham at The Mailbox . In November 2017, following a restructuring of the Made network's operations, local output was cut and around ten staff were reportedly made redundant. Production of
190-696: A local opt-out at 6pm for regional news, and a service streaming to the whole country via the VisionTV platform on channel 264 (which includes extra pop videos rather than the local news). Local Television Limited has nine licences in the United Kingdom, eight branded as Local TV operating as part as the Local Digital Television Programme, while the ninth – Manchester TV on the Greater Manchester multiplex –
228-698: A satellite studio at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham for sports coverage. On 3 October 2016, Made Television , which was unsuccessful in bidding to run the franchise in 2012, announced it had bought Big Centre for an undisclosed sum, subject to approval from Ofcom. Big Centre TV ceased broadcasting at midnight on Friday 4 November 2016 and reopened and relaunched as Made in Birmingham at 6 pm on Tuesday 8 November 2016. The channel began broadcasting on Sky and digital satellite platforms in January 2017. On Thursday 25 May 2017, Made in Birmingham and its sister channels began carrying acquired programming from
266-532: A similar area for restaurants and a health club. Crosby Homes constructed apartments above the space. The redevelopment of the sorting office involved demolition of all but the steel sub-structure. It cost £150 million overall and opened in December 2000. Following the purchase of two retail units by Harvey Nichols , the development was valued at over £125 million. A public square the size of Chamberlain Square
304-590: A testcard and music, ending with the Electric Light Orchestra 's " Mr. Blue Sky ". Opening night programming included an hour-long introduction to the channel, a special edition of the local news programme The Midland , a 1981 episode of Crossroads , and coverage of an ice hockey league match. These were aired alongside two of the station's feature programmes, Life Stories and Project M . The first news bulletin attracted criticism from Birmingham Mail TV critic Roz Laws, who noted that many of
342-502: Is able to watch radio and television broadcasts being made at an all-access public foyer, as well as surf the BBC website and purchase BBC merchandise. On 31 October 2005, 81-year-old actress Mary Wimbush died at the Mailbox studios shortly after a recording session for The Archers . On 16 February 2008, a shooting incident took place at Cafe Lazeez at the Mailbox. In April 2011
380-536: Is already occupied). Channels 168, 169 and 209 (previously 216) were used if a region wants multiple local TV channels on Sky before 1 May 2018. In May 2012, Ofcom invited bids for local TV services in selected areas. Storeton Nottingham In August 2012, 57 applications were received to provide these services. Bristol, Brighton & Hove and Grimsby attracted only one bid each. Plymouth and Swansea received no bids from potential broadcasters. † The owners of Birmingham licence City8 went into administration before
418-535: Is separately licensed. The Mailbox Mailbox Birmingham (also known as The Mailbox ) is a mixed-use development located within the city centre of Birmingham , England . It houses British luxury department store chain Harvey Nichols , and the BBC Birmingham studios. The scheme comprises 689,000 sq. ft. of primarily office space, with ancillary retail and leisure offering, located on
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#1732801681330456-513: The Cube , designed by Birmingham born architect Ken Shuttleworth 's practice Make Architects with Buro Happold engineers forms the final phase of the Mailbox development and houses a rooftop restaurant, boutique hotel and residential flats. In 2004, BBC Birmingham moved into a new complex of studios at the Mailbox that replaced the previous Pebble Mill site in Edgbaston . The general public
494-489: The Engine and Terrahawks , Jack Hargreaves ' rural documentary series Out of Town , and the surviving episodes of Midlands-based soap opera Crossroads . The station also produced a number of nostalgia-based entertainment shows including The David Hamilton Show , The Ads Show , Crossroads Check-In , Tiswas Pies Again and The Long Lost Shows Show . As the channel went on air, plans to repeat Crossroads were at
532-402: The Mailbox was sold for £127.1 million to a joint venture between Brockton Capital and Milligan. On 30 May 2013, Milligan Retail announced that the Mailbox would undergo a major renovation, designed by Stirling Prize winners Stanton Williams , which would see a roof installed over the shopping complex's atrium. The anchor store, Harvey Nichols , would double in size to over 45,000 sq. ft. It
570-564: The Mailbox. In August 2022 it was announced that the BBC intends to leave The Mailbox when its current lease comes to an end in 2026. In December 2019, Brockton Capital and Milligan sold the Mailbox to M7 Real Estate ("M7"). In October 2020, M7 announced its intention to float the Mailbox on the International Property Securities Exchange ("IPSX"), making it the first single property REIT to be listed on
608-474: The News UK television channel TalkTV . Talk began to provide the vast majority of the station's programming, with TalkBirmingham opting out for three hours a day to broadcast local news. Six months later, the brand reverted to 'Birmingham TV', ahead of TalkTV closing down. During its first six months on air, Big Centre TV aired a selection of archive programming, including the children's television series Ivor
646-467: The UK and Ireland version of factual entertainment channel TruTV as part of a supply agreement with Sony Pictures Television . The station simulcast TruTV in two daily blocks from 1 pm to 5 pm and from 9 pm to 1 am (8 pm – midnight on Tuesdays to accommodate America's Got Talent ). As of November 2017, the Made network simulcasts CBS Reality for eleven hours
684-685: The back with a number of restaurants overlooking. Previously the location of a railway goods yard with canal wharves off the Worcester and Birmingham Canal leading to Gas Street Basin, the site was the location of the Royal Mail 's main sorting office building for Birmingham (hence its current name) which was completed in 1970, replacing the Victorian head post office (now Victoria Square House ), in Victoria Square . The new building
722-563: The building, he sold the air-rights to Crosby Homes , providing him with further money for redeveloping the building. The building was converted by the Birmingham Development Company and designed by the RIBA award winning, Birmingham practice, Associated Architects . It was to include two hotels with a total of 300 rooms, 15,850 sq. m (170,000 sg. ft.) of office space, 9,290 sq. m (100,000 sq ft.) of retail space and
760-596: The centre of a disagreement over the amount of royalties to be paid to its former actors – Paul Henry (who played Benny Hawkins) reportedly threatened to take legal action over the issue. The station discontinued Crossroads repeats in September 2015 and latterly phased out its Kaleidoscope-related archive output and nostalgia programming. Big Centre TV continued to air archive programming from other sources until it ceased broadcasting in November 2016. When Local Television Limited took over (as Made in...), Birmingham TV
798-501: The channel launched. The licence was re-awarded to another operator, Big Centre TV. In March 2013, Ofcom announced that more areas had been selected to invite bids for local television services, in addition to re-advertising the previously un-awarded Swansea and Plymouth locations. As of February 2021, That's TV broadcast as a semi-national network (one which also uses the That's Christmas or That's New Year name over festive periods) with
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#1732801681330836-528: The channel was rebranded again as 'Local TV Birmingham'. In January 2022, Ofcom approved a request by the channel to close its Birmingham offices and move permanently to a remote production model implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, with content sent electronically to Local TV's broadcast centre in Leeds for playout. On 18 October 2023 the station rebranded itself as TalkBirmingham, aligning themselves with
874-458: The collapse of City8 , a proposed station centred on the Birmingham area, which went into administration after failing to secure sufficient funding. Kaleidoscope was given 10 minutes' notice that its bid had been successful before an official announcement was made by the regulatory body Ofcom . The new licence, initially known as Kaleidoscope TV, was given an Ofcom deadline of Saturday 28 February 2015 to begin broadcasting. Initially, Big Centre TV
912-527: The day, with hour long local news bulletins at 1pm, 6pm and 9pm (which were also looped overnight). Local television in the United Kingdom Local television in the United Kingdom , described in legislation as Local Digital Television Programme Services ( L-DTPS ), provides a television station for a specific local area. Successful applicants are awarded a sole licence for their chosen area, and are expected to locate their studios within
950-780: The local channels were on channel 8 and in Scotland and Wales they were originally given channel 45; however, after a number of channel closures, channel 23 was used. Following the closure of BBC Three , the local stations moved to channel 7 in England and Northern Ireland, and channel 8 in Scotland and Wales. Some local stations in England however are broadcast on Channel 8 for other reasons. Some stations are also available (in their local areas) via cable (Virgin Media) channel 159 and satellite (Sky) channel 117 (channel 134 in Wales because channel 117
988-419: The reports concerned stories from several days before the channel's launch. The news bulletin was also beset by technical problems, with poor sound quality and an out-of-focus studio camera. The Black Country-based Express & Star observed that the launch programme had been "more corporate video than glitz and glamour" consisting of the channel's executives "sitting in front of their computers and discussing
1026-459: The same area. They broadcast on the digital terrestrial (DTT) system, as used by the national Freeview service. The independent regulator, Ofcom , invites applications in all areas where transmission is technically possible, and assesses proposals against the statutory criteria. The multiplexes carrying the stations are operated by Comux, owned by the local TV broadcasters, with operations run by Canis Media. In England and Northern Ireland,
1064-429: The sorting office was to be sold and tried to convince Argent about the potential the building offered if it were to be converted into a mixed-use building. Argent was unconvinced and so Chatham decided to establish his own development company, Birmingham Development Company , and purchased the building in 1998 for £3 million. He also paid a further £1 million for the surrounding waterfront buildings. Soon after purchasing
1102-570: The station's local news programme was temporarily transferred to Leeds, before it was axed in February 2018. On 2 January 2018, Made in Birmingham ceased broadcasting on digital satellite and was replaced by a generic Made Television networked feed featuring a daily three-hour block of local news programming for six of the network's licence areas, including Birmingham. On 19 August 2018, Made in Birmingham rebranded its social media pages as 'Birmingham TV' and changed its website address. In 2021,
1140-401: Was also announced that Brockton Capital and Milligan would work in co-ordination with Birmingham City Council to improve the public area reaching from the underpass beneath Suffolk Street Queensway to the front of Mailbox. These changes would be implemented to complement the redevelopment of New Street station which will house a full-line John Lewis department store. On 29 November 2013, it
1178-427: Was announced that Everyman Cinemas would take space at the Mailbox, opening a 12,000 sq. ft 3-screen cinema in the latter part of 2014, ahead of the completion of the whole scheme in 2015. L.K.Bennett , Jaeger and Gieves and Hawkes will also open in the redeveloped centre in 2015 whilst an improved way-finding system will be introduced to improve shoppers' experience. On 13 March 2015, Gas Street Social opened at
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1216-581: Was authorised by the Post Office (Subway) Act 1966 (c. 25) and constructed under Severn Street between the site and New Street railway station , allowing electric tractors hauling carts carrying sacks of mail to be driven directly to the office. The structure housed the largest electronic sorting equipment in the West Midlands to handle the post. It also housed the administrative teams moved from Victoria Square, including those for other Post Office functions, such as counter services. The main entrance
1254-442: Was created to the front of the Mailbox beneath Suffolk Street Queensway. It was paved with natural stone and as well as being a social area, it was also designed to allow the easy movement of visitors to, from and around the building. The area to the rear of the building is used frequently by the public. At the back of the Mailbox a walkway leads over a bridge and to the canal towpaths near Gas Street Basin . A mixed-use building called
1292-469: Was designed by R. H. Ousman of the Ministry of Public Building and Works , who collaborated with project architect H. A. E. Giddings and with Hubbard Ford & Partners, who supplied E. Winters and R. Lee as architects. When completed, it was the largest mechanised letters and parcels sorting office in the country with a floor area of 20 acres (81,000 m ) and the largest building in Birmingham. A tunnel
1330-629: Was jointly launched by Kaleidoscope co-founder Chris Perry and former ATV announcer and television executive Mike Prince, the station's director of programming. Prince also served as the station's chairman. Big Centre TV's studios and offices were based at the Goldmine Centre in Walsall, located alongside the town's studio school, where students were able to gain work experience with the channel as part of their studies. The station launched at 6 pm on Saturday 28 February 2015, preceded by
1368-428: Was located at Blucher Street beneath a tower set between a square block for parcels on the left and a lower block for the letters sorting office on the right. The structure consisted of a steel frame on a 40-foot (12 m) square grid with lightweight pre-cast concrete floor slabs and reinforced concrete retaining walls and sub floors. The exterior was clad with cast glass troughs and exposed aggregate panels. Ventilation
1406-464: Was provided through air-handling units which provided the building with the temperature it required. Extract fans were also placed on the roof. The exterior consisted mainly of the glass slabs and projecting air handling units with recessed windows. The Royal Mail sorting office was recognised by Alan Chatham in 1997. Chatham had been an important figure in the regeneration of Birmingham, working with Argent to develop Brindleyplace . He found out that
1444-437: Was required to broadcast 35 hours a week of first-run local programming. As of February 2018, the station's sole local programme was a rolling four-hour block of pre-recorded local news, sport and features airing each weeknight from 5-9pm. A half-hour block also airs on the generic Made Television networked feed on digital satellite each weekday evening. In 2023, the channel started simulcasting TalkTV's news programmes during
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