Media: Talk of the Trade: Video tune-ups

THE sole bidder for the Channel 5 franchise, C5H, believes it has solved the main technical problem of the venture - retuning half the nation's video recorders to prevent interference from Channel 5's signals. Ellis Griffiths, director of engineering and operations for C5H, reveals the plan in this month's issue of Television, the journal of the Royal Television Society. Starting in London, a team of 2,400 retuners would be recruited and trained, each covering 1,800 homes within a half mile of their base. The operation should take two months. The Independent Broadcasting Authority will decide in November whether to award the franchise to C5H.