As reported in the last issue of Interspace, The Money Channel has secured a long-term carriage contract on Sky Digital, with a launch date fixed for February 7. Money will transmit a 24-hour schedule from newly constructed 25,000 square ft studios in Wapping, mid-way between London’s "square mile" and new financial centre of Canary Wharf.

The channel is fronted by Adam Faith and backed by pounds 6.5 million of funding. Faith, talking exclusively to Interspace, said the channel is targeting the whole British public. "Money-related programming has traditionally gone to highly-specialised viewers," said Faith. "We think 98 per cent of viewers ignore it. We want to re-enfranchise that 98 per cent. We want the sort of audience that the BBC’s Working Lunch show attracts, that Money Box on Radio 4 captures.

"But there is no special audience, other than the general public," Faith said. "We are a niche channel serving the mass market. My argument has always been that the general public is interested in programming about stocks and shares, but they have never been exposed to our sort of concept which will show the market as exciting and how it affects everybody."

Key staffers include Brian Thornton, former Cable & Wireless Communications programme controller, as managing director, while Toby Low (from the BBC’s Business Breakfast show) is editor-in-chief. Chairman is Paul Killik of stockbrokers Killik & Co. Programming is coming from Communicopia Ltd, a Brighton-based company, headed by Steve Hills. Hills said Communicopia is also retained by three additional clients looking to establish new TV channels, and expects to produce more than 4,000 hours of TV next year.

Killik said the channel has a second goal. "We want to become the portal for financial services," he said. "Travel is obviously attractive for interactivity, but so is finance.

"In many respects we are frustrated that technology is not moving fast enough, but interactivity represents the real excitement for us," Killick continued. "The average member of the public cannot obtain bespoke financial advice, but with one of our online factfinders on a TV set they’ll be able to get specific advice."