Tuesday 18 January 2011, PM
Government and industry back Digital TV Group recommendations on future of UK digital terrestrial tel
Key recommendations in the report were The horizontal platform must evolve post switchover to achieve maximum consumer and industry benefit. Above all, the interest of the consumer must be placed at the heart of the industrys thinking. The DTG and its Council has a unique role to play in drawing together the whole digital and internet television industry to address post switchover challenges and ensure consumer benefit. - dtg.org.ukwww.dtg.org.ukBBC Internet Blog: December 2010 BBC iPlayer monthly performance pack
This was the third month in a row that BBC iPlayer broke its total number of requests record, and is a year-on-year increase of 27. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk
Richard Desmond brings OK! TV to Channel 5 | Media | guardian.co.uk
OK magazine, whose success Richard Desmond hopes to translate on to television with OK TV will replace Live from Studio 5 on Monday 14 February. It is expected to be backed by a big marketing campaign and heavy cross-promotion in Desmond's newspaper and magazine empire, including the Daily Star and Daily Express. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukITV considered replacing half of evening news with gameshow | Media | guardian.co.uk
ITV News ... halved if the price is right McKinsey proposed that ITV1's national news bulletin which goes out at 6.30pm and lasts 30 minutes should be reduced to 15 minutes and run immediately after a shortened 15-minute regional bulletin. ITV's programme-makers were asked if they could develop or buy a gameshow costing 30,000 an episode to fill the half-hour slot from 6.30pm the sort of budget traditionally used to fill daytime slots. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukNew Sky EPG line up to make it even easier for customers to enjoy the best in pay TV
The revised UK channel line-up will help make great TV - including the best of pay , in HD - even easier to find, which will deliver increased benefits to customers and broadcasters alike, in terms of channel accessibility and programme discovery. So, for example, HD subscribers will find Sky 1 HD at 106, with Sky 1 moving to 170. This change reflects the increasing demand from those customers to watch their favourite TV in HD. - corporate.sky.comcorporate.sky.comOfcom | Digital Television Update
Consumer survey results for the first quarter of 2011 show that take-up of digital television in UK households stood at 93.1, up by 1 percentage point year on year. Consumers are continuing to convert additional sets in the home. 75.7 of all secondary TV sets had been converted to digital by the end of March 2011, up by 5.2 percentage points in a year. - stakeholders.ofcom.org.ukstakeholders.ofcom.org.ukTuesday 18 January 2011, AM
Apples future without Steve Jobs wont be as bright | Betanews
As US stock markets open, investors will give their vote of confidence about the company's future. Yesterday, in a stunning and unexpected announcement, Apple CEO Steve Jobs took another medical leave, but this time with no set time period like the last one. Commenter rrode74 made similar observation I have zero doubt Apple announced this yesterday when US markets are closed. - betanews.comwww.betanews.com
YouView launch set to hit Sky | City A.M.
Sky is currently the undisputed king of pay-TV in the UK with more than 10m subscribers. YouView was set to launch in the second quarter of this year but industry sources believe delays may push the date back to late 2011 or early 2012. The report says Virgin Media will be the big winner over the next few years as its broadband is generally quicker and more reliable an increasingly important consideration for consumers. - cityam.comwww.cityam.comMonday 17 January 2011, PM
Humax: Never say never to Google TV | News | TechRadar UK
- techradar.comwww.techradar.comBBC Monitoring announces cuts in response to Spending Review
This represents 3m cuts over two years and follows a cut of 1.4m by the Cabinet Office in April 2010. Notes to Editors BBC Monitoring supplies news, information, and comment gathered from open mass media sources around the world. Financial Year / Cabinet Office funding m 2010/11 23.2 2011/12 21.7 2012/13 20.2 It operates around the clock to monitor more than 3,000 radio, TV, press, internet and news agency sources. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukWhat Biffen can teach us about Rupert Murdochs Sky bid | Media | guardian.co.uk
John Biffen ... reluctant agent of a leader impatient of inconvenient restraints and impediments. As Sabbagh says, Biffen was warned that the investment bank Warburgs, which drew up the prospectus, had painted a rosier picture when it was trying to squeeze cash out of would-be buyers. The whole proceedings seemed horribly suspect and shabby all the more disappointingly so when the decision came from the mouth of a minister I greatly liked and admired. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBBC Monitoring to cut more than 50 jobs | Media | guardian.co.uk
The BBC monitoring station at Caversham Park, near Reading. Staff across the BBC are bracing themselves for hundreds of job cuts in the coming weeks and months after the hastily negotiated funding deal with the government, which will see the licence fee frozen at 145.50 and the corporation's income cut by 16 in real terms by 2017. BBC Monitoring, the division responsible for supplying information on the output of TV, press and internet outlets around the world, is to lose 72 posts 16 of its staff although 18 new positions will also be created. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukinformitv - YouView launch schedule slipping says report
YouView, the planned platform that promises to change the way you watch TV forever, seems to be taking forever to develop. Conceived in 2008, the launch has been pushed back by as much as six months, according to one report. That would be a further setback for the project, which has had a troubled past and drawn considerable criticism from platforms with which it would compete. - informitv.cominformitv.cominformitv - BBC Trust proposals on syndication strategy
This means that other providers will not be able to offer selected BBC programmes through their own on-demand services. Requests to allow bespoke versions will generally be refused, although they may be considered on an exceptional basis, with any costs of development and ongoing maintenance to be reimbursed to the BBC. How far this will benefit viewers, and ultimately the long-term future of the BBC is unclear. - informitv.cominformitv.com
Google TV vs Apple TV vs Boxee vs YouView | News | TechRadar UK
Those searches will inform our television about what we like, enabling it to highlight other programmes and services wemight be interested in. Soon, internet-enabled TVs will become the hubs of our lives. Our PCs will live in the study while we listen to and browse our music collections and music streaming services using the TV remote, flick through photo albums and share them with friends during ad breaks, or check up on Facebook and Twitter from the sofa. - techradar.comwww.techradar.com
Oxford Media Convention 2011: Richard Halton | Oxford Media Convention | guardian.co.uk
How will it affect programming and how we watch TV YouView will very much build on this success as we combine DTT delivery of content with IP content, services and interactive features. We are working with our shareholders and other stakeholder groups to create a strong platform that will open up the television set to all types of new content from arts organisations and government services to local TV content, which can deliver quality channels, on demand services and applications at a low cost to content providers and easily accessible to viewers. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukNew start for Planet Rock
- radiotoday.co.ukJeremy Hunt refuses to rule out meeting News Corp over BSkyB bid | Media | guardian.co.uk
Jeremy Hunt ... left door open to talks with News Corp. Hunt appeared to leave the door open for face-to-face meetings by refusing to give a direct answer to a written parliamentary question tabled by the shadow culture secretary, Ivan Lewis, last week asking him if any are planned. The news that talks were taking place with News Corp prompted a complaint from the alliance of media companies that is co-ordinating opposition to the deal, which include Guardian Media Group, publisher of the Guardian, on the grounds that its members should be granted equal access to officials. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.uk
Murdoch and BSkyB - will Hunt do a Biffen in a repeat of history? | Media | guardian.co.uk
The act exempted uneconomic businesses from being referred, and Murdoch argued that the two papers were indeed running at a loss. Similarly, the then Sunday Times editor, Harry Evans - who had put together a consortium to bid for the paper - also knew it was profitable and later wrote, without refutation, that Biffen had distorted the figures. Biffen, who died in 2007, always denied coming under pressure from the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, to give Murdoch the green light. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukMonday 17 January 2011, AM
Icecrypt T2400 (1TB) review - Home Cinema reviews - TrustedReviews
Well, its finally arrived and looks like a terrific prospect, boasting twin Freeview HD tuners, up to 2TB of hard-disk capacity and a superb-looking spec sheet. The box itself is fairly large at 400w x 60h x 270dmm, but its styled in a chic glossy black finish. To its right is an easy-to-read display showing the channel number and name in large illuminated digits. - trustedreviews.comwww.trustedreviews.comBBC -On-demand syndication - provisional conclusions
Possible reasons for this include We have a bad link out there on the web somewhere and you were unlucky enough to click it You may have typed the page address incorrectly Something has gone wrong at our end Sorry we couldn't find what you were looking for. Our site is pretty simple, you might find what you're looking for if you poke around a bit. If you give us a call on 0845 638 1848 we'd love to help. - consultations.external.bbc.co.ukconsultations.external.bbc.co.ukJeremy Hunts position on News Corp mirrors another cabinet ministers choice 30 years ago | Media | The Guardian
Jeremy Hunt, the secretary of state for culture, Olympics, media and sport. Rupert Murdoch had bid 12m for the Times and the Sunday Times, laid low after years of losses, and months of strikes and was chosen by the embattled Thomson organisation the then owners. However, the deal had to be approved by the regulators, and Murdoch made it clear he was prepared to pull out if the Monopolies and Mergers Commission did not approve. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukITV asks sales team to dance to a different beat | Media | The Guardian
T-Mobiles flashmob ad at Liverpool Street station. The ad sales operation provides 70 of ITVs revenues. On the face of it, the ousting of ITV's tough ad sales chief Gary Digby and his lieutenants, after producing a market-beating 16-plus increase in ad sales revenue, doesn't seem to add up. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukUS television networks are wallowing in midseason mire | Media | The Guardian
That's the question exercising US TV executives after one of the worst starts to a network season in recent years. Before the 2010-2011 season began in September the lineup of innovative dramas, solid procedurals and even the first Twitter-based sitcom, Four months later, six new shows have been cancelled while at least two others are in jeopardy. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukShameless, Skins and Being Human: Brits cement their place on US screens | Media | The Guardian
BBC2's new sitcom, Episodes, could not have been more impeccably timed. A lot of the shows being picked up are not mainstream, they were made for Channel 4 or in our case BBC3. Lack of creative input by the show's original creators is invariably blamed for their failure. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.uk
If Murdochs so bad, what about Desmond? - Stephen Glover, Opinion - The Independent
Someone calling himself Henry Porter posted a comment below my column last week. I have written before about the need for vigilance so far as newspaper websites are concerned, and this case only proves my point. Still, whoever is passing himself off as Henry has done me a service by helping me to concentrate my thoughts about the media mogul. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukBBC Research and Development: Prototyping Weeknotes #45 (14/01/11)
Lots of activity closing off projects, documentation and scoping and planning the next set of projects for this quarter. The rest of the week he's head down writing up technical documentation for this phase of the project while Kat writes up the research findings. On Tuesday a few of us meet up to discuss the new Prototyping team pages for the main RD website what content, who's going to update them and so on. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukSunday 16 January 2011, AM
Virgin Media lets slip its 30Mb plans
- cableforum.co.ukwww.cableforum.co.uk
YouView blow to BTs Pay-TV plans | Mail Online
Pioneering YouView technical problems could put it back at least six months But a number of technical problems and rumoured discord between the partners mean You-View will not make its debut until the end of the year or even early 2012, well-placed sources said. Project Kangaroo, YouView's predecessor, was blocked by Britain's competition watchdog in 2009. YouView is an enhanced version of Freeview, which users will be able to access through a new settop box that hooks up to the internet. - dailymail.co.ukwww.dailymail.co.ukFriday 14 January 2011, PM
Welsh broadcaster axes S4C2 | News | Broadcast
It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukWhats On BBC Red Button 15th - 28th January 2011
Mozart enthusiasts can get even more extra content on BBC Red Button. Charles Hazlewood examines and conducts Symphony No 40 in G Minor, together with an enhanced visual view of the performance using graphics and information as the music unfolds. The show will run until the end of May 2011. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk
Ofcom dismisses BBC's News Corp report
C21Media.net is Everything about content in the 21st Century, from television to web, mobile, tablet and beyond. - c21media.netwww.c21media.netFriday 14 January 2011, AM
WikiLeaks: Julian Assange claims to have Rupert Murdoch insurance files | Media | guardian.co.uk
Julian Assange said the 'insurance files' will be released 'if something happens to me or to WikiLeaks'. Assange also claimed that WikiLeaks holds more than 500 confidential US diplomatic cables on one broadcasting organisation. The Guardian has published stories based on more than 700 of the cables and has access to all 250,000. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukMedia Talk podcast: Countryfile and the Arizona shootings
download.guardian.co.ukThursday 13 January 2011, PM
Mark Thompson launches consultation on Delivering Quality First
Mark Thompson has therefore set the Corporation the challenge of finding 20 per cent savings over the four years to April 2017 16 per cent savings will balance income and expenditure and fund new services whilst a further 4 per cent will give flexibility to invest back into new content and innovation priorities as set out in Putting Quality First. The BBC set an ambitious aim in March last year to spend 90 per cent of the licence fee on making content and getting it to the public. This means having reduced overheads from 24 per cent in 1999 to 12 per cent today, we now need to drive them down further to 9 per cent or less by the end of the Charter period. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukJeremy Hunt: I will review ITV ad rules | Media | guardian.co.uk
ITV has been lobbying for several years to have the mechanism, which governs the broadcaster's airtime sales deals with advertisers, axed. Any changes to CRR would be included in the proposed communications bill, due to be introduced in 2012, so ITV still has some time to wait. Hunt is expected to amplify his response to the Shott report at next week's Oxford Media Convention. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBBC seeks extra 400m in savings | Media | guardian.co.uk
Mark Thompson is setting a stiffer savings target than the 16 cuts originally planned. This will free up about 400m by the end of the recently negotiated licence fee settlement in April 2017, which the BBC aims to invest in programming and new technology. The BBC had already announced that it would have to cut 16 of its budget or more than 1bn to meet the cost of taking on the additional responsibilities handed to it in the licence fee settlement negotiated with the government in October, including funding the World Service. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukOfcom says NewsCorps Sky bid should go to Competition Commission
Although under the law, Mr Hunt has discretion whether or not to make the reference to the Competition Commission, his colleagues told me some time ago that he would not exercise this discretion, if the advice from Ofcom was categoric - which it is. So some might say that it is a bit odd that he is talking to Sky and News. That's possible, though it is difficult to see how there could be such an appeal from NewsCorp, if Ofcom has done its job properly. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukThursday 13 January 2011, AM
BBC Trust gives provisional views on syndication of on-demand BBC programmes
Please visit the BBC Trust homepage to find the information you want. you may have typed the web address incorrectly - please check the spelling, or that there are no spaces or capital letters. Alternatively, please try the other links and search box on this page. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk
Dumbarton and Vale TV viewers anxious wait - Lennox Herald
The whole region will go digital by May 25 but, due to the weak signal from the Millburn Muir transmitter in Alexandria, residents in the area may lose out on some channels. I think they want to wait and see how that pans out. Despite this, Councillor McColl has re-assured the public that the council will check up on the services received by residents once the switchover takes place. It is thought that viewers in this area could get only 25 channels compared with 70 channels which will be received by most people across the country. - lennoxherald.co.ukwww.lennoxherald.co.uk
Sky high complaints over satellite rules - Manchester Evening News
The development, at the former Victory Works site, includes 10 private homes and 43 for rent and opened last autumn after a 5.7m project by Countryside Properties and Guinness . Under the terms of their tenancy, landlord approval is required to install Sky dishes and may not necessarily be granted. - menmedia.co.ukmenmedia.co.ukWhat a 500MB fair-use policy means for radio - James Cridland
So, T-Mobile has gone and done it reducing their unlimited data mobile phone tarrifs to really mean 500MB of data, for every new contract from next month and they tried to do much worse. After 500MB, your data is slowed down and limited. Only Orange is slightly more 750MB, and Virgin is apparently 1GB. - james.cridland.netjames.cridland.net
Ive got secret files on Murdoch as insurance, claims Assange - Press, Media - The Independent
Mr Assange indicated that he had paperwork which could be hurtful to News Corp. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.uk
BBC urged to bring forward submission for cuts proposals | News | Broadcast
It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.uk
Youve seen X Factor now get ready for BBC Chairman Factor - TV Radio, Media - The Independent
The committee would inform Mr Hunt of its preferred option, though it would be for the Secretary of State to make the final decision. The contest is the idea of the shadow Culture Secretary Ivan Lewis, who believes such a process would help to dispel claims that the final appointment was politically motivated. On 28 and 29 January, the six candidates on the long list will undergo interviews before a panel of four, overseen by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, Mark Addison. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.uk
BBC3s Snog... breaks ratings record | News | Broadcast
It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukThe Media Show: Age discrimination, EastEnders, Greg Dyke. 12 Jan 10
downloads.bbc.co.ukWednesday 12 January 2011, PM
S4C urged to work more closely with BBC | Media | guardian.co.uk
Mark Thompson wants S4C to 'use the BBC's leverage in world markets'. BBC Worldwide could help increase S4C's programme investment, gaining more value for viewers. There are fears that the 24.4 budget cut faced by S4C, as BBC licence fee money replaces most of the broadcaster's annual government grant by 2014, will lead to cuts, a decline in quality, and less money for Welsh independent producers. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.uk
BBCWW relaunches Indian feed
C21Media.net is Everything about content in the 21st Century, from television to web, mobile, tablet and beyond. - c21media.netwww.c21media.netTuesday 11 January 2011, PM
BBC iPlayer Gets More S4C VOD, Will Also Link Out
At the time S4C said it would accept links from summer 2010 but that still hasnt happened. - paidcontent.co.ukpaidcontent.co.ukpick a page