Leading article: Golden age of television

How the wheel of television has turned. Twentynine years ago an exciting new channel called MTV was launched in New York, aimed specifically at young music fans. And later this year an exciting new channel called Vintage TV will begin broadcasting in Britain, designed to appeal specifically to the tastes of the over-50s.

Hosts on Vintage TV (who will include Paul Gambaccini, Debbie Harry and Rick Wakeman) will serve up a variety of music, films and shows for those who find the likes of Russell Brand and James Corden something of a turn-off. It will be interesting to see whether the new channel will have the same cultural impact as MTV three decades ago. The broadcasters certainly have a large and growing demographic to aim at.

Good luck to them. But we fear they might be making a mistake with the name. For if there is one thing that the baby boomer generation don't like it is being reminded of their, well, vintage. How about The Boomer Channel (TBC)? Or Hip TV? On second thoughts, the latter might have unfortunate medical connotations for those of a certain age and brittle limbs. Probably safer to stick with Vintage after all.