Have you thought about approaching Channel 5? They do 5th Gear and the Gadget Show, it would slip well into that time slot and surely it's not [i]that[/i] expensive to do a videogame show. That said, it would need to be "live" or nearly live like Jonathan Ross otherwise the show'd be out of date and would suffer the same problem as most magazines do.

Actually, when at a SouthWest Screen event in Bristol in, erm, it might have been 2007, I got talking with someone called Chris Shaw from Channel 5, and he said he had a colleague who was mad about videogames, but that he wanted to turn videogame franchises into TV dramas.

I think my problem is that I'm not a TV person, my love affair is with print, and the DVD experience, whilst something I'm proud of has left a sour taste in my mouth, so I don't have the enthusiasm to email a pitch to multiple TV channels, and see who bites - but each channel usually has a webpage with the relevant forms and/or email addresses of the commissioners, so if anyone in this thread wants to go for it - I'd happily encourage them.

I got a second reply from Virgin today.
"Unfortunately, we have recently acquired a series on video gaming and are not looking to commission within this territory at this point."

Wow! So I asked what series that was, and they sent me a copy and paste of a trade article:

Worldscreen.com
Bravo Adds Weekly Interactive Gaming Series
By Kristin Brzoznowski
Published: July 28, 2009
LONDON: British men's entertainment channel Bravo has signed a year-long deal with Ginx TV for a video-gaming series, GameFace, dedicated to interactive entertainment that will air weekly later this summer.

GameFace, hosted by Julia Hardy, will offer viewers the chance to actually choose which games are featured each episode. GameFace focuses on interactivity with viewers through tournaments, quizzes and competitions.

Ronan Hand, the acquisitions manager for Bravo, commented, "The gaming community is a vast and varied group that has previously been underserved and over-looked on British TV, and we know from our past success with similar formats what Bravoís core audience want. In partnership with Ginx TV, Bravo will bring gaming out of the niche and into the mainstream."

Udi Shapira, the managing director of Ginx TV, said, ìIt is time to update video gaming television to fit the new era of video gamers. Video gaming should be fun, all about entertainment and not just about information. For interviews, previews and trailers you can buy a magazine, or go the hardcore gaming websites. GameFace is here to entertain you....pure and simple."

There ya' go, a news story for all you journalists.
The official website appears to be http://gameface.bravo.co.uk which features a countdown till the show's on TV. It's 2 days 17 hours at time of writing...

I think I might pitch something to Five. Could do with some people to brainstorm/etc with - email/pm/something me if you're interested...

Yeah and guess what GameFace was like? Utter Shiet. It's painstaking and tries to appeal to teens that wear Lonsdale. It's truely awful, I only hope Gameswipe (which is aired tonight at 10pm) does a better job, here's hoping!!!

As for comissioning something. SumoTV never have anything decent on and I think CurrentTV maybe worthwhile contacting. I'd be interested in getting involved as it's time they got the format right!

Thanks for the head's up on Gameswipe. I knew it was coming, but hadn't realised it was tonight until I read your post. Laughed out loud a few times, :), and for real, not just typing, lol, ;-).

Recently I watched a few video podcasts on YouTube, and was quite impressed with how professional they came across. My DVD project was rushed, with little planning, limited resources, and produced under a shadow of debt / time-is-money mentality. This means I've a deep respect for people doing video podcasts right online, in which case it's often obvious there's passion and enthusiasm involved. When that meets with good research, and nice production values, I'm just sitting here, going: Spot on mate, ;-).

I know it's been a while, but can we get brainstorming on a TV format that works?