Public could be home to music show

Controversial arts centre The Public could become the setting for a new music television programme under ambitious plans by the building's only tenants.

Major Key Studios, the only business to take up office space in the £72 million building in West Bromwich, has already started streaming live broadcasts of performances over the internet.

But bosses have today revealed they hope to take it a step further and have begun talks over broadcasting on a satellite television channel.

The student-run weekly Captured night gives bands from across the West Midlands the chance to perform in the theatre and have their performance filmed and edited.

The company, owned by record producer Phil Savage and business consultant Ken Banks, offers training courses in music production and management and is over-subscribed this year.

Phil, who has worked with artists such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, said they were now keen to start developing the broadcast side of their work and showcasing new musical talent around the world.

"We've recorded over 100 bands for Captured and done 11 or 12 webcasts," he said. "We are the only local place we know of to do live webcasts using multiple cameras and high production values.

"We are now looking at working on a pilot television programme and we are negotiating at getting it onto a television channel. "We would record it, edit it and broadcast it later.

"We've tried a few students out for presenting and we've put together a team that we are quite happy with. There are some good personalities coming across."

He said they had already shot a series of health programmes for Sky television in the studios.

"It was a useful exercise for us because it gave us some insight into the production values and broadcast demands," he said.

"We've invested in Captured and we will continue to invest in it because we believe in it and we want to establish music broadcasting from The Public.

"This year the investment has been in the hardware and equipment, training and system development and now we want to invest in more marketing and more on the software so we can broadcast around the world.

"We know where we want to be and we just feel now is the time to push on and start marketing it and start attracting bands with a higher profile."