January 5th, 2006 12:00am

By Nicholas Morehead

For the East End's newest local television station, times appear
to be, well, plum.

The one-and-a-half-year-old Plum TV, which broadcast its first
local programming in the summer of 2004, is upgrading its facilities
and moving to a new studio off Butter Lane in Bridgehampton. The
network also has brought in new staff members and is expanding its
repertoire of shows for the coming summer season.

"Number one, we're continuing to grow," said Tracy Mitchell, who
came on board late last November as the general manager for the
network's Hamptons studio. She joins new sales representative
Alexandra Bruce and new producer/editor Ethan Sand. The network
also has studios in Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Vail and Aspen.

Tom Scott, the millionaire co-founder of the highly-successful
Nantucket Nectars bottled juice company, created the first Plum TV
station in Nantucket about eight years ago. With the addition of
the Colorado stations last year, "We've practically doubled in
size," said Ms. Mitchell, a former award-winning supervising
producer for ABC television and TBS, among others. "And now that
Plum's been here in the Hamptons for about a year and a half,
people are really beginning to know and understand who we are."

So just when the network's faithful have started to become
familiar with Plum TV staples including "The Morning Noon & Night
Show," "Artist's Studio" and "Bob Builds his Dream House," viewers
will have the opportunity to check out "To Die For"-a concept
show that looks at various home setups like kitchens and master
suites that are elegant to the point of decadence.

"From the Ground Up" is another new show in the works that looks
at the real estate world from the first step in the process. "It'll
document the process from when a couple comes out and says 'We
should buy some land out here in the Hamptons' and follow it on
through all the processes of purchasing the land, securing the
permits, closing the financing and even building the house," Ms.
Mitchell said, adding that the network is still scouting out
potential hosts and regulars for the show. "We're also looking for
a male co-host for the Morning Noon & Night Show."

The growth has also forced the company to reorganize, which has
meant the opening of new corporate offices in New York City.
"Things are going well, people are very excited about the company."
Ms. Mitchell said. One of the reasons for the network's success
is its unique approach to advertising, and, more importantly, that
"advertisers are beginning to see how it works." Ms. Mitchell said.
The network "works with advertisers in any way they want to work.
That's part of the beauty of being a small company and not a major
conglomerate. If an advertiser would prefer to sponsor a show that
we're producing about real estate, that's great." If they'd prefer
we create a traditional 30-second spot for them, that's great too."

The locality also helps with advertising because "we can have
the local florist and delicatessens advertising alongside major
banks and national advertisers like Volkswagen and J. Crew," she
said.

Mr. Scott's wife, Emily, is one of the co-founders of the J.
Crew clothing catalog.

Plum TV on the East End was the result of a joint venture between
Mr. Scott and LTV founder Frazer Dougherty, who owns the East
Hampton Studios soundstage and offices, formerly Pinewood West in
Wainscott. The former studios were on the same property as the LTV
studio.

Mr. Dougherty built East Hampton Studios with private money in
hopes of developing the site as a movie set locale but that concept
has yet to really take off.

Mr. Scott approached Mr. Dougherty about the channel back in
September 2003 and moved his family to East Hampton shortly
thereafter to work full time on Plum TV. He said that he envisions
the South Fork channel following the same format as the Nantucket
channel. The idea at the time was to focus entirely on life on the
South Fork, including live coverage of local news, politics, the
environment and community events from Westhampton to Montauk.

The programming formula follows the similarities between the
East End and Nantucket communities. Both are more or less seasonally
focused, have largely real estate and service-based economies as
well as an eclectic mix of interests between part-time and full-time
populations.

There's still more work to be done though, specifically in regards
to branching out into the untapped nooks and crannies of East End
demographics. "We're definitely looking for a way to expand our
audience a bit-specifically with children and families. I don't
know, maybe a teen reporter to tap into what's going on in that
world," Ms. Mitchell said. "I just feel like we have to keep
branching out into the community, it's a diverse community out
here and we're here to stay."