How online-only TV will kill the UK’s favourite cult channel

A family-run TV station that has gained millions of loyal viewers by broadcasting vintage movies and cult shows from a garden shed warns it faces the axe if the Government moves ahead with plans to switch off Freeview. Talking Pictures TV is the UK’s biggest independent channel, devoted to keeping the golden age of British film and TV alive. It has built an audience of six million with an archive ranging from Diana Dors B-movies to Z-Cars. Set up in 2015 by film enthusiast Noel Cronin, 79, with daughter Sarah Cronin-Stanley, and run with volunteers from the shed of the Hertfordshire home, Taking Pictures TV’s founders fear that forcing its older audience to switch from free-to-air digital terrestrial viewing to streaming-only television will be fatal for their channel. Shorts Ministers are currently consulting on two options – switching off Digital Terrestrial Television signals (or Freeview) at the end of 2034, or a slower, managed transition to internet-only TV in 2044. But Freeview, which includes Talking Pictures TV in its menu of around 80 terrestrial channels, is still the main TV platform in more than 10m UK households. ‘TV switch off a disaster’ “Turning off traditional TV aerials would be a disaster,” Cronin-Stanley told The i Paper. “A large proportion of our audience is over 65 and watching on Freeview. They don’t want to pay a subscription to watch TV. Disney + doesn’t have anything our people want to watch. We wouldn’t be here if Freeview is switched off overnight.” Talking Pictures TV founder Noel Cronin worked as a film editor before selling movies to TV channels (Photo: Cronin family) Cronin-Stanley added: “It would be a horrific shame if traditional TV dies. John Logie Baird [Scots inventor who demonstrated the first TV system in 1926] would be turning in his grave.” “Digital switch-off is forcing the hand of people to move to streaming. But our postbag is full of hundreds of people thanking us for creating a free channel which has changed their lives. That’s what traditional TV means to people.” “My audience wants to watch this content. We’ll probably end up broadcasting to the last four people watching linear, free-to-air TV.” ‘Nothing to watch’ The family launched Talking Pictures after spotting a gap in the market for the kind of black-and-white movies that used to fill afternoon schedules on Channel 4 and BBC Two. Cronin, who worked as a film editor, began acquiring catalogues of old movies which distributors saw little value in. “Channel 4 stopped showing old films,” his daughter said. “People like dad found they had nothing to watch. So we thought we’d try and show them ourselves.” Viewers send lost cans of film reels to Talking Pictures for its Footage Detectives series Scouring the vaults of Pinewood and Shepperton studios for nostalgic gems, their hunch proved correct – “our people want to see movies from the 30s to the 80s with big names and great stories, especially crime dramas” – and Talking Pictures reached a peak audience of six million during Covid. “It was fantastic for us because everyone was watching TV at home. People were calling us saying it was a lifeline for pensioners. We created a community of viewers. These are people that can’t afford and don’t want subscription streaming TV,” Cronin-Stanley said. The late Queen Elizabeth II disclosed that she watched Laurel & Hardy repeats on the channel when she was ill. Latest Barb ratings figures show Talking Pictures TV still reaches 5.5 million people. Freeview channels could disappear The Freeview audience, whatever time it tunes in, could find their channel menu shrinks as switch-off approaches. “The prospect of early switch-off will mean some channels decide not to bother extending their carriage on Freeview when it comes up for renewal,” said one broadcast insider. “The Freeview audience is still likely to be five million in 2034 so it will be worth many channels remaining.” “The switch-off timetable is wrong. My hope is we can keep DTT going alongside streaming TV,” said Cronin-Stanley, who warned that the rival channels launching in the same nostalgia TV field are pushing up the cost of licensing programmes. “We are funded by advertising and the battle for advertisers is so tough we might not even make it to the end of Freeview’s life.” Talking Pictures TV is run with the help of volunteers from the Cronin family’s extension at their Hertfordshire home The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport said it will ensure that “no-one is left behind as services move online.” The Government is “seeking views on two potential timelines for a managed transition to internet-based TV services: 2034 and 2044. While the Government sees a strong case for a 2034 transition, it recognises the challenges involved and is consulting on both options to ensure the process is handled in a way that protects all audiences.” Talking Pictures TV is on Virgin 445, Freesat 306, Freely 36, Freeview or Youview 82 or on the Sky digital satellite platform, channel 324.