Together TV

About Together TV

Together TV is a British free-to-air television channel with a unique distinction: it is the world's first crowdfunded TV channel, owned by its viewers through a community benefit society. Broadcasting inspiring factual entertainment — programmes about health and wellbeing, hobbies, creativity and community life — it targets a primarily female audience aged 40 to 60 and operates on a not-for-profit basis. The channel is the successor to The Community Channel, which was founded in 2000, and it relaunched under its current name in January 2018 after a landmark community share issue.

The channel's story is one of the most unusual in British broadcasting. Created as a subsidiary of the communications charity Media Trust, it spent its first sixteen years as a charity-owned service supported by the media industry and grant funders. In 2016, facing a funding shortfall, it offered the public the chance to buy community shares, aiming to raise £300,000; in the end it raised around £394,000 from more than 200 individual shareholders and donors, becoming the first television channel in the world to be owned by its viewers.

Together TV broadcasts free-to-air across the United Kingdom on Freeview channel 83, Sky channel 170, Virgin Media channel 136 and Freesat channel 162. Its programming mixes original commissions with acquired series and beloved classics, all chosen to inspire viewers to live fuller lives and do more for their communities. Its website is togethertv.com.

Origins: The Community Channel

Together TV began life on 18 September 2000 as The Community Channel, the brainchild of Caroline Diehl MBE, founder of the Media Trust. The initiative was supported by prominent figures including Elisabeth Murdoch of BSkyB, deputy home secretary Paul Boateng and cabinet office minister Lord Charles Falconer, and it launched as a national two-hour "ethical shopping channel", giving charities a platform to showcase their merchandise on television.

The channel was created as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Media Trust, the communications charity whose members included the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, BSkyB and other broadcasters and publishers. In its early years it pioneered interactive television for social good: viewers could press the red button to search for volunteering opportunities by postcode, a service launched by BSkyB chief executive James Murdoch, and the channel raised over a million pounds for a tsunami appeal through interactive fundraising with Sky News, BBC One and Channel 4.

Over its first decade and a half, the Community Channel developed into the only UK television station dedicated to communities, charities and local stories, broadcasting programmes such as Brilliant Britain and London360 that showcased the work of charities, independent directors and community filmmakers. It was sustained by a combination of grant funding — including from the Big Lottery Fund — commercial income, and an estimated £3-4 million a year in pro bono airtime, content and marketing support from the media industry.

The Crowdfunding Campaign

By 2016 the Community Channel faced a crossroads. The Media Trust decided the channel needed to become independent — to "fly the nest" — and the channel's leadership resolved to convert it into a community benefit society owned by its viewers. In what was billed as "the people's initial public offering", the channel launched a community share issue on the Crowdfunder platform, seeking to raise at least £300,000 by the end of June 2016.

The offer invited charities and members of the public to invest as little as £50 for a stake in the channel. The business plan was candid about the stakes: without the £300,000, the channel would close. The plan set out a vision of a people-owned platform, "by the people, for the people", that would grow its advertising and sponsorship income alongside community investment and become self-financing within five years.

The campaign succeeded beyond its target. More than 200 individual shareholders and donors — alongside institutional supporters including Sky, the Big Lottery Fund and the Barrow Cadbury Trust — invested around £394,000. In September 2017 the shares were issued and a new board was appointed, including directors elected from the membership. The world's first crowdfunded television channel was born.

Relaunch as Together TV

Following the share issue, the channel's leadership spent more than a year planning a creative and brand refresh. Research had shown that some viewers held "bad preconceptions" about what the Community Channel offered — tuning in, they discovered the content was far better than expected — and after sixteen or seventeen years under the old name, the team felt a new identity was needed to signal intent in a multi-platform world.

In January 2018 the channel relaunched as Together TV. The new brand was designed to be fresh and relevant, celebrating the best of British people and communities through a mix of original content and loved classics. The relaunch had been preceded by a setback — the channel sold its previous Freeview slot to A&E Networks in 2017 — but the new service secured carriage across Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat.

Chief executive Alexander Kann, who led the channel through the transition, described the relaunch as the culmination of the crowdfunding journey: from a charity-owned service dependent on grants to an independent, community-owned channel with a renewed creative mission.

Ownership: A Community Benefit Society

Together TV is owned by The Community Channel, constituted as a community benefit society — an organisation that conducts business for the benefit of the community rather than for private profit. Its shareholders are the viewers and supporters who bought community shares, alongside institutional investors, and its board includes directors elected from the membership, charity representatives and broadcasting industry nominees.

This ownership structure makes Together TV unique in British television. Where other channels answer to shareholders seeking financial returns or to parent companies pursuing corporate strategy, Together TV answers to its community of owners, whose interest is in the channel's social mission. Surpluses are reinvested in the channel and its programming rather than distributed as profit.

The model has attracted international attention as a potential template for sustaining public-interest media. The channel's founders have argued that community ownership gives the service a resilience and legitimacy that conventional commercial ownership cannot match: its viewers are literally invested in its survival.

Programming

Together TV's programming is built around inspiring factual entertainment. The channel targets women aged 40 to 60 with programmes about health and wellness, hobbies, creativity, gardening, cooking and community life — subjects chosen to encourage viewers to learn, become inspired and then "do more" for their communities. The channel's strapline might be summarised as: watch, learn, and get involved.

The schedule mixes original commissions with acquired series and classic repeats. Flagship strands have included programmes celebrating talented people and organisations doing "brilliant things" across the UK, funded in part by the Big Lottery Fund's Do Something Brilliant campaign, alongside documentaries about health, nature and human endeavour. The channel also screens beloved classic series that fit its warm, uplifting tone.

Unlike conventional lifestyle channels, Together TV's programming carries an explicit social purpose. The channel measures its success not only in viewing figures but in social impact — the extent to which its programmes inspire viewers to volunteer, take up new activities or support their communities. Its business plan set out this theory of change explicitly: first viewers learn and become inspired, then many go out and do more for their community.

Social Mission and Charities

At its core, Together TV exists to serve the charity and community sector. It provides a national television platform for thousands of charities and community organisations, showcasing their work to audiences they could never otherwise reach. Its programming gives airtime to community filmmakers and new independent directors, nurturing talent from outside the mainstream industry.

The channel's social mission extends to its commercial practices. As a not-for-profit community benefit society, it seeks advertising and sponsorship that aligns with its values, and it has historically benefited from pro bono support from the media industry — airtime, content and marketing valued in the millions of pounds annually.

The channel's commitment to social impact shapes everything from its commissioning to its scheduling. Programmes are chosen for their power to inspire as well as entertain, and the channel works with charity partners to ensure its output reflects the diversity and vitality of community life across the UK.

Availability

Together TV broadcasts free-to-air across the United Kingdom. On Freeview it is found on channel 83, broadcasting in the evening with an IP-delivered simulcast extending its availability; it is also carried on Sky channel 170, Virgin Media channel 136 and Freesat channel 162. The channel transmits in standard definition.

The channel's Freeview history reflects the capacity pressures of the platform: after selling its previous slot to A&E Networks in 2017, it relaunched on new capacity in January 2018, and its current arrangement combines broadcast hours with IP simulcasting to maximise its reach. Its website, togethertv.com, carries schedules and information about the channel's community ownership.

Audience

Together TV's target audience is women aged 40 to 60 — an audience that is both large and, the channel argues, underserved by mainstream television's preoccupation with youth. Its viewers are drawn by the channel's warm, positive tone and its focus on subjects that matter in mid-life: health, creativity, community and personal growth.

The channel's community of viewers overlaps significantly with its community of owners, creating a feedback loop rare in broadcasting: the audience that watches the channel is, in part, the audience that funded it. This relationship gives Together TV a loyalty and engagement that larger channels struggle to replicate.

Challenges and Resilience

As a small, not-for-profit channel, Together TV operates in one of the most challenging segments of the television market. It competes for advertising revenue with far larger commercial broadcasters, for Freeview capacity with deep-pocketed rivals, and for audience attention with the on-demand giants. Its funding model — a mix of commercial income, grants and community investment — requires constant cultivation.

The channel's response has been to lean into its distinctiveness. Where commercial rivals chase ratings with sensationalism, Together TV offers inspiration; where they answer to shareholders, it answers to its community. The crowdfunding that saved the channel in 2016 remains its defining story and its ongoing source of strength.

The Channel Today

More than a quarter of a century after its launch as the Community Channel, and eight years after its rebirth as Together TV, the channel continues to broadcast as the UK's only community-owned television service. Its shareholders — the viewers who bought into the dream of a people's television channel — remain its owners, its board and its most loyal audience.

In an era of media consolidation and global streaming platforms, Together TV stands as a working alternative: proof that a television channel can be owned by its viewers, run not for profit, and devoted to the proposition that television can make the world a little better. For its community of owners and viewers, it is not just a channel but a cause.