Off Peak FAQs

11 February 2011

What are your commissioning priorities?

The off-peak looks for high volume low cost content. Much of the content consists of sports genre programming but we do commission and acquire many lifestyle shows varying in subject from food and wine to arts and crafts.

What are you not interested in?

No genre is out of bounds in the off peak. We work closely with the C4 scheduler to identify what type of content will best fit the parts of the schedule requiring it. We do steer clear of one off shows or low volume runs.

What are the tariff prices for programmes you currently commission?

There is no absolute per programme tariff; the off peak has a set budget with which it needs to find many hours of programming. If ad funded series are found then this might push up the tariff for other series. But do bear in mind that money is low but many series that do play in the weekend cost circa £3k. per half hour.

What is the biggest creative challenge your team or genre faces?

Due to the challenging confines of the budget the off-peak works with independent production companies and ad agencies to develop advertiser-funded content. This is still a relatively new area within broadcasting and can be quite problematic as it consists of fulfilling the brands expectations but keeping the editorial separate.

What advice would you give to new talent companies keen to connect with your team?

In the first instance an introductory email is the best way. This can then be followed up by proposals and taster tapes.