Mosaic Broadcasting & Communications Plc is floating on the London Stock Exchange through Ofex to help it facilitate commercial community broadcasting. Mosaic hopes to raise 1m pounds from the flotation to purchase up-to-date digital equipment for its bases in London and Banbury so that community users can approach Mosaic for use of its digital editing facilities and studios. Shares will start trading from September 1. Mosaic has bought satellite broadcast capacity from Dutch telco, PTT Telecom NV, on the Eutelsat 16 degrees East, on a bandwidth rather than channel basis. This bandwidth gives Mosaic four video and up to 16 audio channels. The purchase from PTT works out at half what British Telecom would charge for a single channel and exploits deregulation in the telecoms market, explained Sion Keeling-Dean, managing director of London-based Mosaic. As part of their contracts, cable companies are committed to providing community broadcasting and this service will help them fulfill that contract, explained Sion Keeling-Dean, managing director of London-based Mosaic. Mosaic will get its revenue from broadcasters who will rent part of its bandwidth; from acting as a facilities house to community broadcasters and advertising and sponsorship. The Mosaic 1 channel will be a free access channel, available from September 1 to cable channels that choose to broadcast it with content aimed at three community groups; Asian, African-Caribbean and Gay. Channels 2 and 3 will be premium-based with special programs for the African-Caribbean and Asian communities.
