KittenTV hoping to sink claws into bigger market

"No dialogue, no actors just kittens."

That's the pitch that the Albertacreators of KittenTVwill be using when theyrubs shoulders withproducers and executivesat the Banff World Media Festival this week.

The first season of the show called 'Kitten Town'is available right now on demand through Telus Optik television. Each episodefeatures aone-hour segment of kittensplaying, meowing and generally looking adorable.

"It's purrfect," saidFrederickKroetsch, one of the Edmonton-based filmmakers.

"It turns out that parents love to watch this because they turn it on for their kids. So, our demographic is moms with kids."

Kroetsch used to be aTV journalist and says the skills he learned through that job "perfectly linked themselvesto cats."

"As a video journalist I pointed a camera at things. And kittens are things."

Kroetschsays the idea for KittenTV camefromthe"slow television" movement in Europe, where broadcasters have entire channels dedicated tofjords, ferries and trains.

"What's the most interesting thing onYoutube? Kittenvideos," he said.

Kroetsch said his production company, Open Sky Pictures, has already pitched KittenTVin North America and Europe, but no one has really sunk their claws into yet.

"At the end of the day, everyone just said it was too weird," he said."It's very,very niche."

He says all the catsused to film the first seasonwerefromtheMorinville Veterinary Clinic, north of Edmonton.Kroetschsays they were allup for adoption and thanks to KittenTV,they all found homes.

"So the idea is they become television stars, and then they get adopted."

The Banff World Media Festival runs June 7 to 10 at the Banff Centre.