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number of projects on the go and he was working flat out to keep his own
advertising agency, Arkwright International, in business. Jay had pitched
Flipside to his bosses at Chime and the CEO, Chris Satterthwaite, and the
Chairman, Lord Tim Bell, were enthusiastic supporters. He had also
introduced the idea to James Brown, the founder of Loaded, ex-editor of GQ
and publisher of Jack magazine, who was keen to get involved. David Brook
had worked up a number of different options for funding and launching the
channel and also attached Richard Bacon as a presenter and executive
producer.

At the end of September David Brook came to a meeting with a radical plan. In
addition to his work with Chime, he was also acting as a consultant to a new
television company planning to launch a games and competition channel
called GameNation that was to be funded by telephone revenues. Every
business plan we had written for Flipside as a channel in its own right showed
a shortfall of about £1m, which would need to be underwritten by advertising
or sponsorship of some kind. David had prepared a deal for GameNation to
broadcast Flipside for two hours a night, five nights a week. The channel
would take an equity position in return for providing a studio and all facilities.
All we had to do was be ready to go on air in three weeks.

Flipside launched on 20 October 2003 on the Sky Digital Channel 277,
sponsored in part by The Carphone Warehouse, a Chime client. As of January
2004, it is still on air broadcasting live from 8 - 10pm on what is now called
Nation277. Richard Bacon presents on a regular basis and Chas’ panel of
experts are just that, three media personalities sat in front of three
televisions, recommending to the viewers what they could be watching or
should be watching at that very moment. Whenever a guest finds a channel or
programme they are excited about, the producer brings it up for the viewers
to see, with Flipside providing the commentary.

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