Bob Geldof loves big ideas. One only has to recall the Live Aid concert to realise that. He is now a director of Planet 24, one of Britain's largest production companies and is on the brink of launching a series of television services throughout Europe, and probably beyond, called Atomic.Way back, when he first went into film and television production, he and Tony Boland - then just out of RTE - were to make a television series based on the Ghia Atlas to Planet Management, and the theories of Prof Lovelock of the earth as Ghia, a living organism. This was an ambitious project taking on an environmental theme before such notions were particularly popular.But back to the big idea. Geldof decided that he wanted a really big opening, with a shot of the earth from space, beaming down through the sea to the deepest part of the ocean.
For this he needed access to a space rocket, and a submarine. He contacted the Soviet Embassy in London and two Cosmonauts arrived to discuss the idea. Other than the fact that he is tall for the standard space capsule, there were a few other problems. He would have to go to the Soviet training establishment at Star City outside Moscow for 18 months.
Back in Dublin he decided to start a music newspaper. In order to support it he planned a small ads paper called Buy and Sell. To launch his magazine he needed finance and he went to a bank for a loan. He recently described his encounter with a bank manager seeking support for his project back in 1974.
He still fumes. "Why are they stopping me? It's nothing to them if I fail. If it goes under it's my money and my idea."
Atomic London is based on a detailed understanding of the market. Local news channels have failed in London, he says, because people in Ealing don't care what happens in Ealing, they care what happens in London.
BOB Geldof loves big ideas. One only has to recall the Live Aid concert to realise that. He is now a director of Planet 24, one of Britain's largest productions companies and is on the brink of launching a series of television services throughout Europe, and probably beyond, called Atomic.
Way back, when he first went into film and television production, he and Tony Boland - then just out of RTE - were to make a television series based on the Ghia Atlas to Planet Management, and the theories of Prof Lovelock of the earth as Ghia, a living organism. This was an ambitious project taking on an environmental theme before such notions were particularly popular.
But back to the big idea. Geldof decided that he wanted a really big opening, with a shot of the earth from space, beaming down through the sea to the deepest part of the ocean.
For this he needed access to a space rocket, and a submarine. He contacted the Soviet Embassy in London and two Cosmonauts arrived to discuss the idea. Other than the fact that he is tall for the standard space capsule, there were a few other problems. He would have to go to the Soviet training establishment at Star City outside Moscow for 18 months. "That was cool. The kids could learn Russian. I could prepare a new album and I could also make a documentary about learning to be a cosmonaut." Everything was set up, space training, access to the space shot and a nuclear submarine. but what happened. "The f***ing Soviet Union collapsed, of course."
For Geldof business is about ideas and the bigger the better. Music is also business and it started with his involvement with a music newspaper in Canada. The newspaper in Vancouver was struggling. Geldof turned it around, increased its circulation and put it in profit and was then deported for being an illegal immigrant.
Back in Dublin he decided to start a music newspaper. In order to support it he planned a small ads paper called Buy and Sell. To launch his magazine he needed finance and he went to a bank for a loan. He recently described his encounter with a bank manager seeking support for his project back in 1974.
"Tell me Mr...eh...Gelford... what age are ye at all."
"I'm 24"
"I see. Well look I'll tell you what. Why don't you come back and see me when you're 40."
Geldof is now 46 and along with being one of the three directors of Planet 24 is convinced he will have the first commercial television operation on air in Ireland.
Atomic, he predicts, will be on the screens of cable subscribers by the middle of next year. But the ghost of that bank manager still lurks.
Not alone did he tell the story on Kenny Live a few weeks ago, but it was also told to the Independent Radio and Television Commission in a letter. In that he wondered if anything had changed since he left Ireland all those years ago, after forming the Boomtown Rats.
The IRTC, opposed to his plans because of its negotiations with the TV3 consortium for the commercial national television licence, had now taken the role of that bank manager in setting obstacles in his way to establish Atomic, he implied.
He still fumes. "Why are they stopping me? It's nothing to them if I fail. If it goes under it's my money and my idea."
But he remains optimistic. "Everything moves on a broad front - the investors, Cablelink, the Government and the advertisers. All are about the same level and everything should be resolved in the immediate term, rather than the mid-term. Aside from my natural impatience, everything is moving at a normal progression and there are no hiccups," he says of his Atomic plans.
"I am totally convinced we will get Government approval, because I cannot see why not and I am getting no signals that we will not. I can't see on what basis they can refuse."
Tara, the British-based cable channel that re-broadcasts RTE's output to 600,000 homes in Britain, is also seeking to re-broadcast six hours of Atomic Ireland every day. Tara is part-owned by RTE.
The response from advertisers has been immensely positive and he says he is now in a position to estimate the advertising income of Atomic, though he will not say what it will be.
Atomic is more than just a music channel, or clone of MTV. It is a sophisticated marketing response to the coming television environment.
Atomic Poland is up and running. Atomic Romania is expected on air within weeks. Atomic Ireland next year, he says. Atomic is about to sign a deal with a public service broadcaster in a major EU television market - Geldof will not say which one - which will make Atomic available on a digital platform. It will be used to drive digital forward with a guaranteed income for the first five years. Atomic London is being planned.
"Atomic will become an internationally recognised brand as recognisable as MTV, but it does not mean, and I stress this, that it is a music-only national language station. It is amoeba like, in that it can conform to whatever legislative patterns exist and to each country's programming requirements. "You can bring in different types of partners that suit different countries, a strategic partner that might benefit the station itself or its capacity to market itself."
Geldof has put a proposal to London's four cable companies for Atomic London. This will be a programme station, rather than a music station, simply because Geldof does not see the business advantage of going up against a successful competitor.
"London will be a programmed station, but geared towards a specific audience. MTV UK is a strong brand here and we also know that the BBC is starting a music station and both Sky and another independent company plan pop stations for the UK."
Atomic London is based on a detailed understanding of the market. Local news channels have failed in London, he says, because people in Ealing don't care what happens in Ealing, they care what happens in London.
"The village London idea is not in Ealing or Camden, but in the interest groups such as the gays, with their huge profile."
Atomic London will not be a music station, but will be largely music driven. It will be in Soho - with speakers on the street - like a party running from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and 24 hours at weekends.
So far, Geldof says, cable television has been a nuisance in London - with streets excavated and "nothing to offer that is specific to cable except two crap channels". If cable is to work as a television business, he adds, it must produce its own programming with production values as good as those in terrestrial stations.
He suggested to the combined cable groups in London that they come together and form a brand called Atomic which they will own part of and that will drive cable subscriptions.
Geldof talks of a "virtual atomic" existing as a kind of market, or soul, to which Poland goes to pick up some Irish programmes, or where Atomic London sells to Atomic Ireland and vice versa. Atomic Poland might get an exclusive right to a Sting concert in Warsaw, which it has. It can be sold on to other Atomic stations. Atomic Poland recoups its investment, while Atomic London, or Atomic Ireland seeks sponsorship and advertising when it screens a concert which no other service can have.
Geldof intends to sell merchandise on the back of Atomic. "I intend it to be the television equivalent of the back page of the 1965 Melody Maker. You can actually make a pop-mart, especially in Poland or Romania, where there is little access to products. That is later in the day and not key to the idea. "I automatically assume that we can do sneakers with Atomic on them, because it's a cool name, tee-shirts, and so on, but that does not interest me. You can do it because it's a pop product and just like a pop band you can market the brand."
What interests Geldof is television and working on a new idea. "The idea interests me more than the realisation." He thinks he has seen only five Big Breakfasts, Planet 24's Channel 4 programme. He does not interest himself in the content. And as much as he rails against the obstacles of establishing Atomic in Ireland one gets the feeling that he loves the rows.
After the failure of the Ghia project Planet Pictures made a number of programmes for ITV's South Bank Show. It was, however, the deregulation of the industry, the establishment of a 25 per cent quota for independent productions on the BBC and the establishment of Channel 4, that allowed independent productions in Britain to really take off. Geldof's analysis was that if you wanted to take advantage of the new environment you had to move away from small, auteur, style productions and merge with other companies. Planet Pictures merged with 24 Hours Productions which was producing a music programme, the Word for Channel 4. Out of that came Planet 24.
The company now produces the Big Breakfast, Gay Time TV, Robert Hughes's Visions of America, and a range of other programmes, making it about the sixth largest producer in Britain.
Geldof prefers radio, the biggest growth area. Planet 24 now has a substantial library going back to the Word. "The library is a real tangible asset, especially when the name of the game is copyright ownership, when nothing else matters but intellectual ownership."
Planet 24's library was exploited for material for the Word, the Big Breakfast and other programmes. Planet is now putting out daily bulletins to about 1,000 radio stations around the world. Planet 24 also sells entertainment news to the British independent radio sector. It has a comedy service with gag writers making up jokes that are sent out to stations and used by DJs around the world. It produces programmes for BBC as well as producing Radio Chelsea FC. Planet has the most popular show in Sweden and is a contender for the commercial radio licence for north-west Britain.
The company has a turnover of about £20 million. Last year, it made profits of £1.06 million. This year the profits are down, to £436,000, but Geldof says that it is the nature of television and radio production. "You are up one day because you have a contract, but the show is not on again, so profits are down. One of the reasons is that we lost Chris Evans. We trawl looking for people like Chris all the time." Planet employs 300 people. It is carefully managed, says Geldof. It is very conscious that money is made on the margins of television production. It also operates as an umbrella for other companies, supplying management, accounting and other services. Chris Evans's company, Ginger Productions, was one such company. "We get paid handsomely for this," he says.
"When Chris and Gaby [Roslin] left [the Big Breakfast] we had to find someone new. BBC whacked us by putting on cartoons and taking away the kids. Everything in the Big Breakfast was re-modelled and brought on new people. The profit drop was the cost of re-modelling the programme and seeking new talent." The Big Breakfast started attracting men when Denise, the weather girl, was promoted. "Guys do not watch television in the morning. They hardly like radio. They like the newspaper. Believe me, this is a fine art."
He plans to scour Planet 24's library for material for Atomic. Programmes like the Word can be resurrected. "We can do a whole campaign around `Too tough for terrestrial, too sexy for Sky: the Word, it's back on Cable only'. We will attract a huge audience to that. Nirvana's first TV show, Oasis's first TV show was the Word. That is very valuable." Despite the profile Geldof now has in media business, he sees himself first and foremost as a musician. He is releasing a new album next year. He still loves performing live and is still seen first and foremost as a musician in Europe.
He says he does not take a salary from Planet 24, just a dividend when appropriate. "I make my money from music." His own income, he says, is about £75,000 a year.
