(Another) New TV channel

After the demise of TV12 , then Solent TV mysteriously going off air, could it be third time lucky? of should we learn from our mistakes? Some bright spark thinks the former as a new "NEW GLOBAL TV CHANNEL TO LAUNCH FROM IW" (Again, front page news, (at the top)) is to launch in December. Well having just read the news White Air could be forced off the island due to backward thinking people wanting to revert Sandown to a nice 1950's seaside resort instead of actually thinking about silly things like economics, tourism, and publicity, I read with some trepidation. “The whole ethos is family viewing. A comparison is the BBC in the 1950s but with a 21st century twist,”

Ok. The joke goes the IOW is stuck in 1953, while the rest of the UK is in 2007. How the hell is this going to help? - 'Ahhh, your forgeting the 21st century twist' I hear you cry. The 21st century twist is this; "UK Entertainment will be an internet broadband channel, viewable on a PC or on a television through a new-style digibox, which will be available in December." you see. they didn't have them in the '50s

Well. Only time will tell...

`WHITE AIR WILL GO TO MAINLAND`

Yep. While this is an actual proper news story (front page, CP 26/10/07) we felt this was worth a note. White Air is probably the largest alternative sports festival in Europe. It holds championship rounds of Windsurfing, attracts people from all over, has thundercat (small fast powerboats) racing, kitesurfing, surfing, mountainbording, mountain biking, skateboarding, bands, music, DJs, parties, and is quite frankly one of the best things going on the island. This year it was brought forward from October to August Bank holiday, had five TV shows covering it and thousands of people attend. Obviously this is a huge boost to the IOW and Sandown/Yaverland as one of the premier places for general spots that 'don't involve a ball', or at lest that what you would think. In actual fact, the people of Sandown (and some councilor's) feel that the IOW as a premier alternative sports venue for 4 days of the year is too much and that we should go back to 1952 where a spot of cricket on the beach was more than enough. I could go on, but there we have it. One of the few decent things on the island that is worth people coming to see, and it looks like it could be gone. Well I could see a large south-coast town/city hosting this and actually enjoying the extra publicity. One of the best quotes from the CP - "IW Council member for Sandown North Heather Humby said the volume of live music was too loud and money was lost in car park charges."

Carpark charges.....I ask you...

Props to Cllr Chris Dupre and Cllr Ian Ward, as they look like they don't want to loose it, but it could be a loosing battle.