MediaWorks announced yesterday that it would be extending its radio brand The Edge onto television by launching a new TV channel on the Freeview and Sky platforms later this year.
Described by The Edge programme director Leon Wratt as “radio with pictures on steroids,” the Edge TV will feature Jay-Jay Feeney, Mike Puru, Dom Harvey, Guy Williams, Sharyn Casey, Clint Roberts and others on a daily basis.
In staying with the increasing digitisation of the media industry, the new channel will also be streamed online in mobile, tablet and PC formats.
“Just like the radio format, The Edge TV will play the hottest local and international music videos, and will also broadcast original video content generated by The Edge,” says Wratt.
Yesterday afternoon, the Herald reported that this move was in fact a rebrand of C4, the current music channel run by MediaWorks.
It is thought that MediaWorks has decided to pull C4 and replace it with The Edge TV, a move which broadcaster hopes will transfer some of the popularity of the radio show across to the television medium.
Rachel Lorimer, the MediaWorks spokesperson, would not comment on what this move meant for the current C4 presenters – Damien Blank, Craig Easson and DJ Sir-Vere – but did say that MediaWorks would make an announcement in this regard in the coming weeks.
MediaWorks radio group programme director Andrew Szusterman, who launched C4 Music Television in 2003, has welcomed the move in the sense that it could potentially lead to The Edge brand reaching a million people every week across its radio, television and digital platforms.
“The Edge will live on radio, television, web, tablet, mobile and social media – everywhere our audience wants to be – generating outstanding entertainment experiences for listeners and viewers, plus unmatched opportunities for clients and sponsors,” he says.
Szusterman also says that the decision to drop C4 and introduce the new channel didn’t come about overnight, and that it has largely been driven by various industry insights that have emerged.
“It’s been an evolution. As we do more work across radio and TV, we have more conversations about convergence, and concept of The Edge TV grew from those. There’s client demand for radio, TV and digital (plus mobile, tablet and social) working together and we’re perfectly positioned to deliver this. We’ve seen great results for clients and audiences when we’ve been across multiple platforms for The X Factor NZ.”
Szusterman was also asked if Guy Williams was added to The Edge team as a pre-emptive move in preparation for the launch of The Edge TV, but he says this was not the case.
“Guy, Sharyn and Clint were the best host lineup for The Edge Drive. They were selected purely on that basis and are doing great work,” he says.
