Monday 08 November 2010, AM
News Corp/Sky matters because only big news organisations can afford to survive | Media | The Guardian
Several years ago, when News International was last trying to lobby for a relaxation of the few cross-media ownership laws, two of its executives hit upon an ingenious idea. Why not calculate how much time people spend consuming each type of media during a day, and rank media companies' influence accordingly Not only did that fail to accord with any common-sense view of how the media influences us, it hardly suited NI to embrace a worldview that ranked Chris Tarrant those were the days above Rupert Murdoch's bestselling daily. - guardian.co.uk
www.guardian.co.uk
BBC boss apologises after signing protest letter against BSkyB buyout | Media | The Guardian
BBC director-general Mark Thompson has apologised for signing letter criticising Rupert Murdoch. Today, the BBC Trust decided to release part of the minutes of its 21 October meeting early. Critically, though, the trustees did not say they were unhappy with the contents of the letter rather that they were unhappy with the process that was followed. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukSunday 07 November 2010, AM
A lesson for buyers of BSkyB: dont be beastly to the BBC and the Lib Dems | Media | The Observer
Suppose the Murdochs had tried to buy up BSkyB without spending the previous year politicking so volubly. James Murdoch explaining his call for the BBC to be shrunk not an ideal prelude to an attempt to increase the size of his own media empire. Photograph Murdo Macleod for the Guardian Suppose a few modest, going on demurely tactful, things. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukOfcom | Licensing Update Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2
Sky's retail prices are to change from 4 January 2011 as a result of the change to the VAT rate. The resulting changes to the maximum wholesale prices under the wholesale must-offer obligation have been calculated in accordance with the methodology set out in the Pay TV Statement. Ofcom has therefore decided to vary the licences for Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 to insert the new wholesale prices. - licensing.ofcom.org.uk
licensing.ofcom.org.uk
Ofcom | Invitation to comment for public interest test
-stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk
Future of Freeview in doubt | News | Broadcast
4 November, 2010 By Kate Bulkley Freeview is fighting for its future after it emerged that top-level discussions have taken place about closing the organisation after digital switchover in 2012. 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.uk
www.broadcastnow.co.uk10 best Freeview HDTVs in the UK today | News | TechRadar UK
Here's the best of the current Freeview HD TV crop. Certainly the presence of this filter seemed to help the 46PFL9706 produce stand-out performance quality at all of the technology shows it's been featured at this year, where any screen that can 'defend itself' from the high light levels of a typical show floor is going to look special. However, 3D TV support and 100Hz anti-blur tech are the casualties, and the brushed metallic 'look' is just that. - techradar.com
www.techradar.com
Sky Sports News Funeral: Behind the Scenes | Sport Features | Sport.co.uk
It may have come to your attention that Sky Sports News no longer broadcasts on Freeview and is now only available to those elite subscribers who choose to give their hard earned cash to Rupert Murdochs zillion-dollar industry. Its been sweeping the forums and blogs amassing over 35,000 hits on You Tube so far. Sport.co.uk caught up with the brains behind the project, Anthony Richardson, to see how it all came about. - sport.co.uk
www.sport.co.uk
Broadcasting - News - Ex-Channel M boss says local TV will work - Digital Spy
The former chief executive of the failed Manchester television station Channel M has today insisted that the government's local TV plans will prove successful. He said that Channel M generated annual revenues of 4.3 million and attracted around 300,000 viewers a week, but was hindered by a lack of support. Media analyst Claire Enders, who is currently serving on Shott's panel, told the conference that a public subsidy will be required to really make local TV work. - digitalspy.co.uk
www.digitalspy.co.ukAlba to Freeview decision by Christmas - Scotsman.com News
- news.scotsman.comnews.scotsman.comThe Business On... Ed Richards, Chief executive, Ofcom - News, People - The Independent
You will have to wait until the end of the year to find out. Ofcom and Sky have been at daggers drawn for as long as anyone can remember, and one imagines Mr Richards is no friend of the Murdochs. Revenge might be fun, but those who know Mr Richards pay tribute to his professionalism, and he has spent years working to ensure that he is seen as a politically impartial Ofcom boss. - independent.co.uk
www.independent.co.uk
Danny Cohen outlines BBC1 ambitions | 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.ukBSkyB and News Corp: Rupert Murdoch and the regulators | Dan Sabbagh | Media | The Guardian
Rupert Murdoch launched Sky in 1989 from Luxembourg, because the broadcasting regulations of the time meant that it would have been banned in the UK. The media mogul adroitly launched Sky in 1989 from Luxembourg, because the broadcasting regulations of the time meant that it would have been banned in the UK. Since then the satellite broadcaster has easily beaten off a string of attempts to force a break-up of its stranglehold on Premier League football and its growth has been so rapid and relentless that Sky is already bigger than the BBC. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukLord Puttnam hits out over News Corps BSkyB takeover | Media | The Guardian
Mentions of Channel 5 in Mr Desmond's newspapers soared from 92 in 2009 to 1,073 times this year. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukDanny Cohen: BBC1 should nuture older talent | Media | guardian.co.uk
In his first public outing since taking up the new post last month, Cohen emphasised the need to take risks on BBC1, saying it should not feel compelled to be the most-watched channel every day of the year. I don't think we need to win in the ratings 365 days a year. To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editormediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukMy greatest mistake: Greg Dyke | Money | The Guardian
Of course, the film went on to make about 150m so the joke was on us. To be honest, if you analysed a newspaper for everything outside of libel, you'd find loads of these things. To find out more information about driving traffic to your content or to place this widget on your site, visit outbrain.com. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBBC news strike opened doors for the B team | Media | The Observer
Another proud face broadcast during the strike called over alterations to the BBC's pension scheme was Emma Crosby, who read the lunchtime news. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.uk
Thompson engulfed by BSkyB letter row - TV Radio, Media - The Independent
The Liberal Democrat Business Secretary stepped in yesterday and asked the media watchdog to examine whether the 12bn bid from Rupert Murdoch's company would threaten media diversity. The Independent understands that Mr Thompson's initiative has incensed senior figures in the Trust. Some members feared Mr Thompson had signed the letter as part of his ongoing public dispute with James Murdoch, the chairman of Sky. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukMark Thompson on Industrial Action by NUJ
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www.bbc.co.ukNews Corporations Response to Statement by Secretary of State for Business - MarketWatch
To find what you're looking for, try one of these options MarketWatch Front Page A starting place for all your financial news and information needs. - marketwatch.com
www.marketwatch.comBBC Monitoring at Caversham - hard of hearing?
By the time his other son, Charles 2nd had returned from exile to regain the throne, Caversham had fallen into ruin and disrepair. The BBC Monitoring Unit is to undergo unprecedented cuts and a change of funding which could change what they do forever. The Unit has been at Caversham since 1942 occupying a beautiful early Victorian building which dominates the skyline above Reading and the River Thames. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukBBC R+D: Prototyping Weeknotes #39 (05/11/10)
Tris is wrangling tasks and to-dos, getting some consistent language across the piece and finalising recruitment surveys and invite emails, whilst Vicky, Theo, Jo, Duncan and Chris B beaver away towards the final version, optimising the content for the trial pages, consoles, templates.. and ironing out inevitable last-minute snags. All this whilst still managing to write a blog post about digital storytelling, something that she and Tris have started to think hard about. They report a combination of great progress and bemusement on the faces of some EU project newbies. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukWhats On BBC Red Button 6th - 19th November
Last year an impressive 318,417 was donated this way. It will be available on the days before and after the TV programme on 19th November as well as the during the main appeal show itself. Episode 5 is a special two hander between Miranda and Penny so Red Button viewers will see an exclusive interview with Miranda and her real life mother. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukNick Robinsons Newslog: The politics of the News Corp referral
After all, he could have argued, News Corp already controls, even if it doesn't 100 own, the company behind Sky TV. Had he done so he would have infuriated many in his own party, given Labour another stick with which to beat him, his party and the government and put himself in opposition to the bosses of the Guardian, the Mail and the BBC, who recently wrote a joint letter raising their concerns about the deal. However, by referring the deal, Cable has added to the growing list of government decisions which have disappointed the Murdochs. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukFriday 05 November 2010, PM
Pestons Picks: Ofcoms Sky dilemma
First Ofcom has been put in an intriguing position. So - some would say - if it is being consistent and rational, it will conclude that increasing the stake from 39 to 100 does not in practice reduce choice or plurality in the media. These competition issues are not for Ofcom they are being examined by the European Commission. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukFriday 05 November 2010, AM
DTG :: News :: YouView announces agency line-up
YouView has announced its agency line-up ahead of next year's launch. YouView has appointed Adam Eve as its advertising agency to create through-the-line advertising and communications. The teams are tasked with coordinating the brand launch and rollout of YouView across all media and channels by the middle of 2011. - dtg.org.ukwww.dtg.org.ukBBC: Podcasts available for longer
A recent example is A History of the World in 100 Objects which has had over 12 million downloads so far, over the course of the series. I like this example, first because it's a big number but also because the content itself is stunning. I also like this example because we've made every episode of the 100-part series available rather than the normal approach of withdrawing the podcasts 7 days after the original programme was broadcast. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukBIS and Ofcom: details on proposed NewsCorp / BSkyB merger : | OfcomWatch |
-www.ofcomwatch.co.ukMedia Talk Extra: Third Coast International Audio Festival
download.guardian.co.ukMedia Talk: BSkyB, Ira Glass and Answer Me This
download.guardian.co.ukThursday 04 November 2010, AM
News Corp-BSkyB deal faces probe
News Corporation has said it wants to buy the 61 of BSkyB it does not own. These account for a third of the UK's national newspaper circulation, while BSkyB has almost 10 million customers. In a statement, News Corporation said it believed its plan would be cleared. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk
For the sake of democracy, Vince Cable must intervene over BSkyB | Ivan Lewis | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
It prevents any one organisation dominating the landscape to such an extent that plurality becomes a false prospectus. That is why the coalition will face intense scrutiny when it decides on the response to News Corp's bid to take total control of BSkyB. The government's claim to be serving the national interest will be put to the test as it makes crucial decisions with profound implications for the future of the media in Britain. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukVince Cable set to refer News Corps BSkyB bid to regulator | Media | The Guardian
Vince Cable has intervened in News Corp's attempted takeover of BSkyB. Cable has issued an intervention notice under the Enterprise Act ordering Ofcom to investigate the proposed transaction, which would see News Corporation take control of the 61 of the satellite broadcaster it does not already own, on public interest grounds. On the basis of the report Cable will then decide whether to refer the deal to the Competition Commission. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.uk
Lords to pile pressure on Murdochs BSkyB buyout - TV Radio, Media - The Independent
Lord Puttnam will tell his fellow peers that the buy-out would make Mr Murdoch the most dominant media figure in any democracy in the developed world, with a greater share of the sector than even Silvio Berlusconi's in Italy. The commission has 25 days to examine the merits of the deal on competition grounds. He will say that in the past 13 years BSkyB's income has grown to 163 per cent of the BBC's budget and will forecast that it will be at 220 per cent by the new licence fee settlement in 2016. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.uk
David Prosser: Murdoch is not blinking in the battle for Sky nor should Vince Cable - Business Comment, Busi
News Corp's notice to the European Commission that it intends to make a formal bid for the 61 per cent of Sky it does not already own gives Vince Cable a nasty little problem. The Business Secretary has two weeks to decide whether to intervene in the deal by referring it to Ofcom, the media regulator. It would be remarkable if Mr Cable did not at least ask Ofcom to investigate a deal that has the potential to transform Britain's media landscape for ever. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukActus Digital... Transmission Supervisor (Software) : Satnews Publishers
An Actus customer since 2010, BSkyB recently scaled the Actus View installation to monitor 72-channels in total. At the core of every Actus installation is the Actus media management platform. Developed to leverage IT-based hardware, the highly scalable architecture provides an agile environment for supporting a wide range of media monitoring, analysis and management capabilities. - satnews.comwww.satnews.comWednesday 03 November 2010, PM
BBC One HD launch and BBC Childrens mission
You can have a peep at the continuity announcer - whose voice you'll totally recognise as the 'voice of BBC One' but whose face you've probably never seen - rehearsing the junctions. Who could have imagined that the most watched drama on any children's channel is based on British books about a young girl in the care system Tracy Beaker Returns - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukSynchronising broadcast and IP delivered components - IBC 2010 - BBC Research and Development
You get some interesting, and sometimes rather annoying, problems as soon as you have more than one device simultaneously presenting the same content or more than one delivery path for separate components of the same content. It gets even worse if you have two separate devices with two separate delivery paths. Anyonewith an AV amplifier hooked up to a TV receiver will have either struggled to get the lip-sync right or given up and stopped paying too much attention to lip movements. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukITV is too quick to sneer at ratings winners | Mark Sweney | Media | guardian.co.uk
At least that is the theory promoted by the ITV trio yesterday. To find out more information about driving traffic to your content or to place this widget on your site, visit outbrain.com. We welcome your feedback at userhelpguardian.co.uk or feedbackoutbrain.com. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.uk
Sky Television: A History - Manchester Evening News
Sky Television A History The growth of Sky Broadcasting from a service that could barely provide one channel to fewer than 10,000 homes and into a multi format entertainment-broadcasting provider and instantly recognisable brand is a story that is common to many highly successful companies. In its embryonic stages the company existed as two separate broadcasting providers, Sky Television Plc and British Satellite Broadcasting. Developed almost simultaneously in 1989, both companies endured a severe lack of success in their first year making considerable losses. - menmedia.co.ukmenmedia.co.ukJohn Simpson: BBC licence fee deal is like waterboarding | Media | guardian.co.uk
Instead the corporation has agreed to take on extra funding commitments including the World Service and most of S4C's budget from 2015, contributing 150m a year for the rollout of superfast broadband to rural areas from 2013, and subsidising local TV and online content. As our head is pulled out of the bath, we'll be so desperate that we can't be certain what compromises and deals we might be tempted to make. The BBC won't die it'll just cease to be the envy of the world. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukNews Corp notifies Brussels of BSkyB takeover bid | Media | guardian.co.uk
Today's move will end speculation that News Corp might walk away from a deal that has become politically and commercially contentious. It also triggers a regulatory process that could lead to the business secretary, Vince Cable, blocking the deal on public interest grounds. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has said he will decide within two weeks whether to step in. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukWednesday 03 November 2010, AM
ITV appeals to MPs for lifting of ad rules - TV Radio, Media - The Independent
Airing another episode of a soap was preferable to investing in quality new drama because of the system, he said, promising higher-quality shows if it was axed. It cuts the amount advertisers have to pay if ITV1's audience shrinks, which has hit ITV hard in recent years, adding to an already depressed ad market. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.uk
The viewers are revolting | Mark Lawson | Comment is free | The Guardian
A career in TV has become increasingly similar to one in politics the audience is on constant gaffe alert and looking for reasons to vote you out. Fellowes himself has made a Westminster connection, rather bizarrely suggesting that the sniping at his hit is politically motivated. It's true that Fellowes has been the victim of a social revolution, but the groundswell is technological rather than ideolological. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukITV: were stuck in a ratings rat race | Media | guardian.co.uk
Crozier was effectively asked by the committee if he could give a guarantee that a CRR-free ITV would create a more diverse schedule by investing in regional news, an area the broadcaster has said is too uneconomical to continue to maintain in the long term. To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editormediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukTuesday 02 November 2010, PM
BBC Builders: Vicky Spengler prototypes the future of TV | Media | guardian.co.uk
Spengler works with a team of designers, producers and engineers as well as behavioural scientists and accessibility specialists to develop prototypes that explore new ways of presenting BBC content. Rather than translating projects directly into products, the prototypes inform the direction of various BBC projects, and some are results of collaborations with programme makers. We were working on new ways for audiences to consume and play with our digital broadcast content. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBBC ONE HD: test transmissions
The Red Bee engineers are currently rebuilding the BBC One playout suite in two stages. The SD channel is completely unaffected by the changes in Stage 1. Audio Description - We have been using Doctors to check how the audio description service works. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukMurdoch s war with the BBC escalates | Ian Burrell | Independent Editors choice Blogs
Rupert Murdochs News Corporation empire this morning introduced an unprecedented level of vitriol into its long-standing war of words with the BBC. The peg for this attack extraordinary even by The Suns standards is the use of a 22-year-old interviewee who the BBC claimed was a victim of benefit cuts. Such blunt accusations of bias are no small thing, especially when the BBC has just had its wings clipped by the Government, withthe corporationslicence fee frozen for six years and an effective cut of 16 in its budget. - blogs.independent.co.ukblogs.independent.co.ukChannel 4 and FilmFlex team up for Film4oD
Film4oD will be available at www.film4.com/film4oD and will house a selection of new films available to rent online, with over 500 films available at launch and many available on the same day as their DVD release. According to a statement issued by Channel 4, the new on-demand service will closely replicate the editorial tone and content of the Film4 channel. Andrew Keyte, Chief Executive of FilmFlex, said We believe streamed movie rental is now becoming a much more satisfying choice for many movie fans. - dtg.org.ukwww.dtg.org.uk
Lord Fowler declares BBCs charter unsustainable | Media | guardian.co.uk
His intervention is part of a rising tide of concern over the implications of the surprise BBC funding deal, announced as part of the October 20 comprehensive spending review. Jeremy Hunt, the culture secretary, cancelled a scheduled meeting with VLV members last week, because he was travelling to America at the request of the prime minister. To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editormediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukpick a page