BRITISH television viewers will be able to tune in to the fifth terrestrial general interest, free broadcast station - Channel 5 - tomorrow when the last traditional broadcaster takes to the air before the onslaught of digital TV.
Channel 5 will step into the screen of an industry which has shown little sign of change since the last public service station - Channel Four took to the airwaves in 1982. It will be snapping at the heels of the grandfathers of public service television broadcasting, BBC 1 and BBC 2, and the nationwide web of independent regional broadcasters "that transmit programmes on the ITV channel.
Behind the scenes at Channel 5 are three heavyweights from the media world - the British group Pearson; United News and Media; and the newly formed CLT/UFA partnership, which has linked the Luxembourg based CLT television group with the broadcast arm of the Germany Bertelsmann empire.
The latest terrestrial channel plans to offer a mixture of entertainment and drama in a "modern, fresh and energetic" way.
Managers have promised that at least 60 per cent of programmes will be new productions and that just 15 per cent of airtime will be taken, up by the re showing of old films.
The channel has a trump card in feature films that will be broadcast every week day at peak viewing times. Its competitors in the terrestrial broadcast world are constrained by law to offer news programmes during their evening schedules.
Channel 5 hopes to secure 8 per cent of total viewing figures. At present, the two BBC stations account for 44 per cent of viewers, ITV attracts 36 per cent and Channel Four - has the attention of 10 per cent of viewers. Satellite broadcasters, dominated by Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB outfit since it was launched in 1989, account for 10 per cent of the viewing public.
However, before Channel 5 can achieve its dream of eating into the market shares of its competitors, it must resolve a reception problem which has already cost its partners a vast sum in re tuning costs.
The frequency chosen for the channel is the same as that used by numerous video cassette recorders, and other televisual equipment wired up to television sets. Channel 5 broadcasts could interfere with such hardware.
It has little time to spare. Channel programmes will make their debut bust a few months before the arrival of digital satellite broadcasts, which, analysts say, may come to be the most potent force in tomorrow's broadcast media world.
