Astra Digital Spotlight: Rock of ages

There are plenty of music channels broadcasting from the UK digital satellite position at 28°E, and a host of documentary channels too, but Performance MainStreet has combined the two genres with a channel to appeal to lovers of rock music who want more than just videos.

MainStreet is a spin-off from the Performance Channel, itself a long-time bastion of cable broadcasting, and now owned by Eicom.

‘We bought Performance Channel from the Daily Mail in 2005,’ says Eicom CEO Steve Timmins, ‘and we knew then that the channel had two distinct audiences. It is described as the UK’s number one arts and entertainment channel dedicated to showing the best of rock, pop, jazz, easy listening, dance, opera and classical music. When we are analysing our audience and content we think of the channel in terms of the UK’s radio brands and the Performance Channel incorporates aspects of both Radio 2 and Classic FM.

‘We decided to launch Performance MainStreet to offer more programming aimed at the “Radio 2” part of our audience, and allow us room to develop more classical music on Performance Channel.

‘MainStreet complements Performance Channel as it addresses a similar demographic with different music tastes.’

Those tastes are firmly in the ‘classic’ rock sector, for aficionados of rock music of the present day, right back to the ‘prog’ rock of the 1970s. That means an audience a little more mature than that catered for by most satellite music channels.

‘MainStreet is aimed at an affluent older male and female audience who want to watch the greatest popular music of the 20th century,’ says Timmins. ‘There has been a huge revival of live music in recent years, but many people are unable to get to a big venue, so Performance MainStreet provides them with the chance to see top-level concerts in the comfort of their own home.’

Turning it up to 11

‘It’s early days yet, but we intend to become the destination for viewers who want classic rock.’

There’s a huge amount of concert material on Performance MainStreet, with performances in the past couple of months from Deep Purple to Coldplay, Suzanne Vega to Cat Stevens, John Lennon to the Pet Shop Boys. But the programmes range further than just concert footage.

The MainStreet schedule includes a host of documentaries: some charting the success of the bands of yesteryear, others delving into the musical style of groups or even the history of the instruments of rock bands. It’s a rounded package.

Much of both the concert and documentary material on MainStreet is bought in, and some of it is pretty old (the channel shows old episodes of The Ed Sullivan Show – the programme that made many a music and screen star) so the limited programming available means there is a fair amount of repetition in the schedule.

But MainStreet does plan to film material specially for the channel. ‘We already shoot quite a lot of material for Performance Channel,’ says Timmins, ‘so we have some experience of this.’

‘We are in the detailed planning stage of shooting several concerts later this year from top classic rock acts.’

Because Performance MainStreet broadcasts free-to-air and relies on advertising for its revenue, it devotes three hours of its 24/7 musical schedule (midday-3pm) to home shopping – albeit often of a musical nature.

‘MainStreet will stay free-to-air,’ says Timmins. ‘Ad revenue is low at the moment but we plan a big marketing campaign to bring in more viewers.’
Although MainStreet is devoted to music, it’s not relegated to the Music section of the Sky EPG.

‘We booked a slot in Lifestyle & Culture directly behind Performance Channel over two years ago. MainStreet is a cultural channel!’ says Timmins.

There are more cultural channels planned for the Performance family – despite Sky calling a halt to new EPG slots. We intend to build our list of Performance channels and expand by negotiating for existing slots from owners who are now looking to sell, to broaden our portfolio of channels and genres,’ says Timmins. ‘We have a licence [from Ofcom] for Performance At The Movies and have just applied for a youth-oriented licence, Strictly Performance’.

Geoff Bains

WHERE TO FIND IT

Performance MainStreet is broadcast free-to-air from 28°E, at 11.343GHz/V, SR 27500, FEC 2/3. The channel can be found at number 271 in the Lifestyle & Culture section of the Sky Digital EPG.

WHAT YOU'LL SEE

Apart from the concert performances of top classic rock bands, interviews and biographies of music stars, the March schedule of MainStreet Performance includes Get Up – Stand Up, a celebration of popular music and culture.

The idea of harnessing the power of music to political and social protest has roots going back hundreds, maybe thousands of years, but has taken off in the second half of the 20th century. With pop culture a dominant force in Western societies, the likes of Bob Marley, Peter Gabriel, U2, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, John Lennon, Sting, Bob Geldof, and many more, have not been afraid to use the power and influence of pop music to make their voice heard and to change the world.

In six parts Get Up – Stand Up documents this phenomenon, explaining its history, identifying the main trends and the key artists to emerge in the past 50 years.