Sky pledges £150k to rescue Community Channel
Howard Lake | 30 June 2016 | News
Broadcaster Sky has pledge £150,000 to help the Community Channel stay on the air, as the channel’s crowdfunding campaign nears its end.
The company is match funding other donations made to the campaign. In effect it will pay half of the £300,000 that the Channel is seeking to enable it to continue broadcasting.
Its community shares crowdfunding scheme was launched earlier this month on Crowdfunder, and its deadline has now been extended from the end of June to 17 July.
The Community Channel was founded in 2000 by the Media Trust, and gives charities and community organisations the opportunity to tell and share its stories across the UK: it is available free on Sky, Virgin and Freeview in 26 million British households.
Over ten million people watched the channel last year, an increase of four million in four years. The Channel claims that over a million viewers said they were motivated by it to volunteer.
Media Trust Chief Executive Caroline Diehl said:
“Sky has been a fantastic supporter from our earliest days and I am so grateful that it has dug deep once again to help us in this our hour of real need. I hope it will inspire other donors and investors whilst there is still time to save the channel.”
John Ryley, Head of Sky News, explained why it made the pledge. He said:
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“The Community Channel initially launched on Sky and we have enjoyed and benefited from the partnership for more than fifteen years. I hope this pledge will encourage other broadcasters to help.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.