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Karl Schembri
Everything put on air on TVM from next October will have to pass the “so what?” test according to the first ever style guide drafted for the station by the newly appointed head of programmes.
Distributed to staff and companies producing PBS programmes, the style guide prepared by Simon Lumsden says that whatever is broadcast from 1 October would have to be relevant to the audience.
“Everything we put on air on TVM will be relevant. It must entertain, inform or educate or all three,” the guide says. “Everything must pass the “So What?” test. If the feature, interview, edited montage you have prepared isn’t relevant, it shouldn’t go on TVM.”
The style guide warns that programmes running beyond their scheduled time will be “simply cut … until unprofessional producers get the message” and that programmes will have to arrive at the station at least 24 hours before being broadcast.
Pledging to be the most “creative, inclusive, professional” station in Malta “with strong European values”, the guide also instructs producers to refer to the station only as TVM.
“On the air we’re never ‘PBS’, ‘TV Malta’ or ‘Xandir Malta’,” the guide says.
The guide also speaks of new contractual obligations for producers to produce at least one new promo every week.
“Old promos will simply not be aired on the channel,” the guide warns. “Therefore, the more promos you make, the better.”
The guide also sheds light on the TVM branding exercise that was unceremoniously stopped last year following serious fallout between the former PBS chairman and Investments Minister Austin Gatt.
“All promos will, in due course, conform to the new TVM brand identity, in terms of format, look, font and design,” the guide says, adding that “work on fresh, modern TVM station imaging is in progress at the moment” and should be ready by December 2006.
The guide also specifies that all commercial breaks had to be controlled through the PBS central server and that “commercial logs will only be accepted through the PBS Sales Department, not through the presentation officers.”
kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt
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