A WHOLE LOTTA LOVE

A PERSONAL LETTER FROM VINTAGE TV FOUNDER & CHIEF EXECUTIVE DAVID PICK

Dear Friend of Vintage TV,

Our first launch year has flown by so fast that it's no wonder we think the vintage years happened yesterday! But what a year it's been; I thank everyone who has embraced our channel so warmly and made Vintage TV a success.

My own experience in the music industry prepared me in part for the roller coaster ride that would follow the launch of Vintage TV. As a Barrister, I was involved in negotiating deals for the likes of Queen and Kate Bush at EMI. I have since acted for record, film and publishing companies, and for many household names. A while ago, it dawned on me that most 'bums on seats' at West End music shows were in their fifties. People our age appeared also to be buying more CDs, at a time when we were being told that the music business today 'is all about downloads'. Music television, however, was not catering for us. This didn't make sense. More than 42% of our population are in their fifties. We have the most disposable income, buy the most cars, the most holidays, the most financial services ... but we were also the most ignored. This baffled me, particularly when it came to music television. All the great music of the vintage decades, 1940-1989, is widely available on radio. But music television remained stubbornly obsessed with things 'youth'.

It got me thinking ... about people I had known who might have danced in the aisles of the New York Paramount, who had perhaps bid farewell to David Bowie's Spiders From Mars at the Hammersmith Odeon. People who were obviously growing older, but who still loved music, and for whom the sounds which shaped their lives and marked their milestones had never faded. They could still find the great music of the golden age on the airwaves ... but they could not find it on television.

One's own 'vintage years' can be subjective, of course – we are all different; but what brings us together are the music and memories evoked by remarkable cultural shifts, advancements in fashion and trends, and the zeitgeist of a time recollected.

So welcome to the Vintage TV experience. We hope you will tell your friends about us because we want to reach as many viewers as possible. And if you have Virgin Media, please tell the good folk at Customer Services that there is something missing from the channel line up on Virgin! We are a free channel on Freesat and Sky, and we want to keep things that way as we embrace our second year.

We also want to keep hearing from you, because it's you that we're here for. Tell us about what we get right, about what we get wrong, and about what you would still like to see. We're listening – to all of you, whatever your musical tastes. More importantly, whatever your age. It's only a number!

Finally, I want to say a huge thank you to the folk who voted us 'Best Themed Channel' at the Freesat Awards. You've made a young channel feel very old. And that's a good thing indeed! Thank you for being a friend to us – and enjoy Vintage TV.

Sincerely,

DAVID PICK

FOUNDER & CHIEF EXECUTIVE

VINTAGE ENTERTAINMENT LIMITED