... and is looking for "risky" ideas. So say Claudia Rosencrantz, director of television at VMTV, and Celia Taylor, director of programming for the new general entertainment channel.

Despite insistences that Virgin 1 - or "V1", as it's now being termed - is a "mainstream" channel, one can't help but feel that it's just Bravo with a higher budget. Indeed, amongst the (few) programmes confirmed so far are Terminator spinoff The Sarah Connor Chronicles, sci-fi classic Star Trek and a documentary about penises.

"It has a slight male skew," conceded Taylor, who also manages Bravo. "But a show like The Riches with Eddie Izzard, also playing on V1, would never, ever play on Bravo."

Rosencrantz, who joined VMTV last year, admitted that axing FTN was one of her first decisions in the role. "I was apparently director of programmes at FTN," she said. "It was completely obvious that we needed to move to a mixed portfolio and mixed economies of free and pay TV."

As for Living, one of Rosencrantz's direct responsibilities, the exec celebrated a 16% rise in peak-time audiences but admitted that off-peak was down. "Since we put Jerry and Maury back in [the schedules] in April, mornings are up 25%. I know I've got to work on afternoons."

The channel is also "looking at" two or three paranormal shows for 2008 and is on the hunt for a regular docusoap to fill the 8pm slot.