Doughty Media Limited[2][3][4] was funded by Stephan Shakespeare and its core presenters at launch included Iain Dale, Tim Montgomerie, Rena Valeh, Zoe Phillips and Donal Blaney.
Although it called itself a "TV station", legally it was not, so did not operate under the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, which requires "due impartiality" and prevents politicians being newsreaders, interviewers or reporters in any news programme.
Montgomerie suddenly left 18 Doughty Street around March 2007 to work on other products and was replaced by Shane Greer, who became a full-time presenter at the station whilst also acting as executive director of right-wing think tank Young Britons' Foundation.
The total makeover was also supposed to realise the citizen journalism element of 18 Doughty Street and allowed contributors to submit videos for inclusion in the website publications and live productions.
Against the professional advice of Story, Montgomerie bought 100 Sanyo C5 digital camcorders, but only a handful of videos were received among reports of technical difficulties with the externally developed platform and a lack of editing skills.
With the core team gone, including the resignations or sackings of production and back office staff, and rumours of a lack of interest from potential investors the project finally collapsed completely when main investor Shakespeare decided instead to start PoliticsHome in the same building in partnership with Freddie Sayers and also led by the return of some staff, including former director Tim Montgomerie, who had previously resigned from 18 Doughty Street after a disagreement over its direction.
Following the resignation of Tim Montgomerie from 18 Doughty Street, the website has been re-branded under Conservative Home as part of Stephan Shakespeare's efforts to move the TV station away from the right-wing area of politics.