Swindon Cable

It closed permanently in 2000, after 16 years of broadcasting mostly local programming on the Wiltshire town's cable TV system.

The roots of cable TV in Swindon go back to 1928, when a company called Radio Relay transmitted two audio channels on a wire that ran around the town to a relatively small number of homes.

Once again, due to general poor reception, this proved enormously popular, especially since the BBC didn't have enough transmitters to satisfy demand for the new media.

Unlike their American counterparts, the British companies were not allowed to broadcast out-of-area signals or original programmes.

With no access to production resources, the board of directors resolved to suspend programming operations but to maintain its structure and registration as a company, pending a more favourable climate.

The graphics were designed by David Hounsell who used the same system to produce charts and diagrams for live budget and local election programmes.

The production team included Jerry Duller, Paul Langcaster, Nick Claxton, Mark Bowes and many others.

Viewers marked their cards at home to win cash prizes as Paul Langcaster (who had also trained with Swindon Viewpoint) and Trevor Cribb drew numbers at random in 'The Homeshop Telebingo Show' from a studio dressed with goods available from the Littlewoods catalogue shopping business's retail stores.

Paul Langcaster remained as the only member of staff and was supported by a team of volunteers including Nobby Swatton and Chris Scott.

Langcaster managed the channel and was joined by Ashley Heath, and together they presented news, views, entertainment, and an annual live event, the Cable Christmas Show.

In 1998, the Swindon team started producing a community news magazine programme for ComTel in Oxford on Channel 10 of the network.

By this time ComTel had become the trading name as they consolidated cable companies across the UK, on the back of providing cable-based telephone services.

During Swindon Cable's last week, Paul Langcaster and Ashley Heath showed excerpts from Swindon-made community television programming.