Pestons Picks: Ofcom expected to review News Corps bid for Sky

So News Corp will be concerned that a reference to Ofcom and then potentially to the Competition Commission could delay and even stymie the deal. BSkyB's directors said the offer was 1 per share too low, but agreed to resume negotiations after regulatory hurdles have been cleared. BSkyB is the biggest broadcaster in the UK. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BSkyB to close Bravo and Channel One | Media | guardian.co.uk

Bravo's programming includes US import Spartacus Blood and Sand. BSkyB has decided to focus on the Living TV channel portfolio, which will see a 25 boost to its programming budget, and the gameshow and quiz channel Challenge. There will be just 58 roles after integration, but it is understood that there are a significant number of positions potentially available in other parts of the BSkyB operation. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

OFT clears Skys acquisition of Virgin Media Television - Brand Republic News

Sky OFT clears Virgin Media's acquisition The competition watchdog has published its decision without explanation, saying this will follow in a few days. Sky agreed the deal with Virgin Media in June, pledging to pay 105m on completion and 55m once it had secured regulatory clearance. Virgin 1 was rebranded as Channel One on 3 September. - brandrepublic.com

www.brandrepublic.com

Regions analogue TV transmitter turned off | Aberdeen and North | STV News

TV viewers in Aberdeen City and Shire have said goodbye to analogue channels for good. The final stage of the switchover saw all analogue channels, including STV, turned off permanently at midnight on Wednesday. The switch to digital TV will bring Freeview to approximately 44,000 homes in the region for the first time. - news.stv.tv

news.stv.tv

Alleged HDCP master key leaked, HDTV copy protection may be dead | Security News - Betanews

The entertainment industry may have encountered another setback in its efforts to protect its content Monday as a hacker has reportedly cracked high definition content protection, more commonly referred to as HDCP. With the master key, the system no longer works, as hackers would now be able to create their own source and sink keys, both of which are needed to playback content on HDCP-protected devices. Thus a perfect connection could always be ensured between transmitting and receiving devices. - betanews.com

www.betanews.com

Jay Hunt and Channel 4: a match made in heaven? | Maggie Brown | Media | guardian.co.uk

Jay Hunt has been appointed chief creative officer by Channel 4. The post of director of vision, Hunt's immediate boss, is held by Jana Bennett, and it is she who is now stepping in to run BBC1 and lead the hunt to find the successor. Nor was the BBC, under heavy attack for lavish executive salaries, in a position to match the estimated 45 rise in salary to around 395,000 she will receive from Channel 4, excluding any bonuses. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

TVonics DTR-HD500 Freeview HD recorder has 500GB storage, slideshows | Crave | CNET UK

Freeview HD PVRs are slowly starting to trickle on to the market at last, but our primary grumble is they're too expensive. The TVonics HD500 isn't the most wallet-frightening we've seen though, at around 280. There's plenty of good news though, such as a two-year warranty -- if you buy it from TVonics' own website -- and a free upgrade that will allow proper Dolby Digital, coming in October. - crave.cnet.co.uk

crave.cnet.co.uk

Freeview HD system picks up IBC award | 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.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

HDCP master key supposedly released, unlocks HDTV copy protection permanently -- Engadget

Who discovered this and by what technique isn't immediately clear, but as early as 2001 security researcher Niels Ferguson proposed that it could be easily revealed by knowing the keys of less than 50 different devices. - engadget.com

www.engadget.com

The new national Capital FM: what does it all mean? - James Cridland

Its not a new radio station Global are rebranding radio stations that they already own and run this isnt a brand new station on a brand new frequency. So, for people in Huddersfield, now, they have a radio station called Galaxy and come the new year, itll be a radio station called Capital. Others will, of course the station will have a new evening, and mid-morning, slot live from London. - james.cridland.net

james.cridland.net

Sir Michael Lyonss days at BBC Trust were always numbered | Jane Martinson | Media | guardian.co.uk

Sir Michael Lyons has announced he will step down as BBC Trust chairman. BBC chairmen may rarely venture north during the August bank holiday but, with hindsight, you should expect them to when the BBC director general is giving the speech of his career. Of course a man who lasted that long in local politics knows a thing or two about fighting back. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Jana Bennett to take temporary charge of BBC1 | Media | guardian.co.uk

Channel 4 confirmed today that Hunt will be joining as chief creative officer, probably in January. Julian Bellamy, who has been acting chief creative officer, will be leaving Channel 4. Bennett has told staff she will be responsible for all commissioning decisions at the channel until a replacement for Hunt is appointed, along with George Dixon, the head of broadcasting at BBC1. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Channel 4 appoints Jay Hunt as chief creative officer | Media | guardian.co.uk

Julian Bellamy, the head of Channel 4 who has been acting chief creative officer and applied for the job full time, will be leaving the broadcaster. Hunt will be on a salary just under 400,000 and is expected to join Channel 4 in January. She will have a seat on the Channel 4 executive board, while leading its new integrated commissioning and content team across all platforms. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Digital radio switchover target far too early, say experts | Media | guardian.co.uk

No digital switchover date should be set by the government until less than 30 of radio listening was via analogue platforms, the CEG recommended. Under current plans a switchover date would be put in place when analogue listening was still as high as 50. We are concerned that vulnerable listeners will be subjected to a marketing strategy to 'bully' them into adopting digital radio in the two years between an announcement and a switchover. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

FCC set to allow "white space" broadband after two-year wait | Tech Policy Law News - Betanews

Regardless, the opportunities it provides to speed up the rollout of broadband across the country excites those who have been working hard to make the technology a reality. Spectrum in these bands would be opened up with no licensing fees for their use, similar to the way Wi-Fi has been licensed. Broadcasters have opposed the idea almost from the get go, with the National Association of Broadcasters arguing that white space broadband could lead to interference of television signals. - betanews.com

www.betanews.com

Cable under pressure to block Sky takeover -Business News, Business - The Independent

Sky's independent directors rejected the offer, but talks are continuing. The Government can block the deal on plurality grounds under the 2003 Communications Act. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Report: 97% of UK to be watching Connected TV by 2015

Ninety-seven per cent of Brits believe they will be getting their TV or video content from the internet or recorded to watch on their schedule by 2015, according to research commisioned by Rovi Corporation. More than 52 of viewers feel that having a TV connected to the internet will make it easier to find the content they want to see. Today the laptop is second only to the TV as the chosen device on which to view TV programmes and almost as popular as the TV for viewing films streamed from the internet or user generated content, with 50 of viewers comfortable to do so, according to the survey. - dtg.org.uk

www.dtg.org.uk

BBC R

The work on the standard was completed in an incredibly short time to meet the deadline. Our colleagues in BBC Distribution then picked up the baton to achieve a technical launch in December last year and a consumer launch in April 2010 just in time to meet the deadline. I'm really proud of the people across the department and the wider BBC who put so much into the project. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

informitv - Surveys offer guide to the future of television

Almost everyone in Britain believes that within five years they will be watching television or video programmes from the internet or from a digital video recorder to watch when they want, if the results of recent research are any guide. Meanwhile television is no longer viewed as a necessity in America, although the average home still has more sets than people. Rovi, a company with a history in electronic programme guides, commissioned research covering a 1,000 people in the United Kingdom aged over 20 years. - informitv.com

informitv.com

Rupert Murdochs Sky takeover should be blocked, Vince Cable told | Media | guardian.co.uk

This is a reference to the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who owns Italy's biggest commercial broadcaster, Mediaset. Cable has the power to block the takeover on media plurality grounds if he decides it is in the public interest to do so. Rupert Murdoch is the chairman and chief executive of News Corp. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

STV launches move into hyperlocal | Media | guardian.co.uk

STV Local websites are geared towards being a more interactive experience than traditional local newspaper websites, with users encouraged to upload their own news stories, announcements, images, reviews and add listings to a local business directory. To garner interest in the new sites, STV will offer training to interested contributors and engage with journalism and media courses across Scotland. Online portals for the rest of the country will be rolled out throughout 2010 and into 2011. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Local news TV advisory panel set to report to Jeremy Hunt | Media | guardian.co.uk

Led by Nicholas Shott, the head of UK investing at Lazards, the panel has been deluged with submissions and is currently consulting widely in its quest to find a sustainable broadcast model, which could be rolled out across at least part of the country. Last week, the panel visited newspaper groups and other interested bodies in Scotland. Claire Enders, the founder of media consultancy Enders Analysis and a member of the panel, said they expected to deliver an interim report by the end of September and their final proposals by the end of the year. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Phone hacking could derail Rupert Murdoch and News Corp | Media | The Guardian

It was all looking so good for Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. Transition to new government achieved with a few favours owed on account of switching sides to support the eventual winner. Better still, a company stalwart at the new prime minister's side director of communications and key adviser, no less. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Complaints mount over Canvas launch -Business News, Business - The Independent

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www.independent.co.uk

Why Rupert Murdoch s bid for Sky should be blocked | Beehive City

Yes, it's secret Vincent Cable hes the affable Liberal supposedly in charge of the Department of Business has been sent a private memo pictured left. Twenty pages long, it advises him in no uncertain terms to block Rupert Murdochs planned buyout of the 61 per cent of BSkyB. On this thinking, allowing the deal to go through would amount to Britains Berlusconi moment- read on to see if you agree. - beehivecity.com

www.beehivecity.com

ITV plc (LON:ITV) Swinging The Axe?

A Web Beacon is an often-transparent graphic image, usually no larger than 1 pixel x 1 pixel that is placed on a Web site. Both are created for the main purpose of helping your browser process the special features of websites that use Cookies or Web Beacons. The gathered information about your visits to this and other websites are used by these third party companies in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. - stockbriefings.com

www.stockbriefings.com

DTG planning Canvas testing | Broadband TV News

The organization is also working with Project Canvas on the development of a test and conformance regime for the service, ahead of the anticipated launch of set-top boxes for the hybrid service during 2011. - broadbandtvnews.com

www.broadbandtvnews.com

Sunday reading - James Cridland

Sunday reading this week is all a little radio orientated, for which I apologise Ill try and broaden the list for next week The bright and wonderful Rupert Brun has pushed through a test of super high quality audio, using much more bitrate in an experiment on one of the two special-event encoders that we built in to the system at moderately late notice, I might add. Im really pleased that Ruperts got this trial working. - james.cridland.net

james.cridland.net

Water-cooler TV! -TV Radio, Media - The Independent

All over Britain, cushions are being patted and sofas plumped. Despite the internet and video games, television viewing figures are at an 18-year high according to a report from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising published earlier this year and from now on, up to 12 million of us will spend our evenings staring at the flickering screen. The autumn schedules are being packed with some of the best, most popular and most lavish television productions of the year. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Rupert Murdoch and the future of British media | Comment is free | The Observer

Berlusconi is at least an Italian operating in his own land. As an American citizen, Murdoch appears to have scant interest in the plurality of information in Britain and therefore the health of British society. His overriding concern is that the government remains covertly in step with his plans for expansion and that the flow of profits to News Corp remains uninterrupted. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

ITV prepares for big job cuts as new broom sweeps -Business News, Business - The Independent

The new team, hired this year to rescue the ailing broadcaster, is understood to be looking at a significant cut to the number of workers at its South Bank offices. Sources close to the company say up to half of the 1,400 staff could go over the next few years while further cutbacks are expected among the 2,600 workers around the UK and Europe. ITV has already suffered recent job losses, with more than 1,200 staff leaving last year under the previous chairman, Michael Grade. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

FOIA - Internal Review - IR2010026 - szlwzls posterous

If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system. Please note that the BBC monitors e-mails sent or received. - blog.szlwzl.com

blog.szlwzl.com

Ofcom looks to simplify broadband switching policies

Ofcom is engaged in a consultation on the issue and welcomes public comment. However, Ofcom is aware that an effort to make switching easier opens concerns of switching without a consumer's informed consent. Sebastien Lahtinen of broadband information site ThinkBroadband says the proposal is not without its potential pitfalls, one of which could be a rise in high-pressure sales tactics from providers. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

A blank Project Canvas for arts Telegraph Blogs

Thompson was on a panel this morning at the Media Festival Arts at the Roundhouse in Camden, and spoke lyrically about the huge new audiences that, say, arthouse films could reach on this new platform. In a nutshell, the idea of Canvas is that it is an open platform, on which just about anybody apart from pornographers and terrorists can offer their video on-demand, and using whatever commercial model they wish free, pay-per-view or ad-funded. It's a heady idea indeed for documentary-makers who struggle to get their films financed and made, with no chance of a cinema release or broadcast on a major TV channel. - blogs.telegraph.co.uk

blogs.telegraph.co.uk

BT preps nationwide TV network The Register

The firm's wholesale division today announced it has signed a deal to implement Cisco's Content Delivery System by early next year. It will combine Freeview with on-demand and pay TV. BT Retail and other broadband providers using BT's lines into homes will then be able to deliver it without incurring upstream bandwidth costs and with guaranteed quality of service. - theregister.co.uk

www.theregister.co.uk

BBC launches campaign for upgraded iPlayer | Media | guardian.co.uk

http//www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2010/sep/10/bbc-ad-upgraded-iplayer The new-look iPlayer, which officially went live on Monday following beta testing since June, has had various social media features and a recommendation engine built into it. An online marketing campaign will also launch to back up the TV and radio ads. To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editormediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

BBC appoint iPlayer General Manager

The BBC is uniquely positioned to drive the next wave of change through its roles in content creation and distribution. We will focus on the innovations that become possible when content production and consumer experience evolve together. I am delighted to join the BBC at this very exciting time. - dtg.org.uk

www.dtg.org.uk

Whats On BBC Red Button 11th - 24th September

Test your knowledge of all things Merlin in the Red Button Merlin Quiz. From episode 2 onwards fans will be able to watch clips from the show and answer questions put to you by Merlin played by Colin Morgan on his magical medieval world. There will be 3 differently themed versions of the quiz to try Heroes, Villains and Magical creatures. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Canvas Specs: Audience Measurement, Web Apps, Linux On-Board| paidContent:UK

The specs concentrate on mandatory system standards and delivery of TV and video, and are intended for system architects, but lack detail on just how Canvas will implement an app store they refer to. There is also no mention of how Canvas will support conditional-access payment systems. Devices shall be built using the Linux operating system with either glibc or uClibc libraries of the C language. - paidcontent.co.uk

paidcontent.co.uk

40 manufacturers respond to Canvas call | Broadband TV News

Hybrid venture Project Canvas has issued a robust defence of its plans, declaring that it had received support from more than 40 organisations. The first devices are expected to be available during 2011. The next stage of the evaluation process will be completed by the end of the month. - broadbandtvnews.com

www.broadbandtvnews.com

Media Talk: News of the World phone-hacking scandal returns to parliament

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Europe says No again to ACTA secrecy | Tech Policy Law News - Betanews

- betanews.com

www.betanews.com

BBC Proms in Extra High Quality on the Internet- The Tech

For background information about the experimental extra high quality feed, you may wish to read the entry on the BBC Internet Blog and to listen to the audio, visit the web page hosting the experiment here. Each microphone has appropriate equalisation and time alignment applied and the sound is mixed down to stereo for broadcast on Radio 3. Here it is unfortunately necessary to sample rate convert the audio to 44.1ks/s. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Hyperlocal TV Groups Team To Rat On Canvas To Ofcom| paidContent:UK

their channels would be hard to find on the EPG. the JV members may exploit viewer data for commercial advantage Canvas could prevent viewers from obtaining any streamed services on the open internet from TV channels who are unwilling or unable to meet the access terms Some of these worries are baseless. And, since Canvas channels will mirror the numbering on the Freeview EPG, these local channels should be no harder to find than now. - paidcontent.co.uk

paidcontent.co.uk

Fibre optic capacity 'auto-tuned' by novel device

The team says the growth in bandwidth-hungry applications such as YouTube and iPlayer will eventually stretch the limits of long-distance fibre links. Developers say the device can plug directly into existing networks. Data is sent as a sequence of bits coded into the properties of a light beam piped down an optical fibre, but the bits can over great lengths of fibre become distorted. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC R

We've listed the key stands where you'll find us below, and if you want to find the stands at the show- the handy venue guide should help. The MyMedia EC-funded collaborative research project is exploring the use of intelligent recommender systems for audio/visual content. The project has developed a shared-source software framework which provides all the components required to build a state-of-the-art recommender system. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Humax turns your HD-Fox T2 into a Freeview HD recorder - Pocket-lint

The software upgrade is free for existing users, so if you've got an external HDD lying about, then it's a no-brainer really. You'll also be able to series-record, record shows whilst watching back a recorded programme, and record a programme while watching another if they are broadcast on the same multiplex If you buy a HD-Fox T2 from October onwards, the box will already have the new software on board. The device costs around 150 and its a product that Pocket-lint gave a favourable review to back in February when it was launched. - pocket-lint.com

www.pocket-lint.com

Freeview HD take-up grows | Broadband TV News

What is more, Freeview has had 1.5 million unique visitors to its website checking the coverage of its HD services. Launched earlier this year, they can already be received in 55 of the UK, with the figure rising to 98.5 at the completion of digital switchover in 2012. Howling also said that in that in the eight years since its launch, 60 million pieces of Freeview equipment have been sold, with 13 million in the last year alone. - broadbandtvnews.com

www.broadbandtvnews.com

Porn boss to oversee childrens TV at Five -TV Radio, Media - The Independent

Sorry but we haven't been able to serve the page you requested - please try again If you typed in a URL, please make sure you have typed it correctly. In particular, make sure that the URL you typed is all in lower case. If you think this article may be missing, please contact newsiteindependent.co.uk stating the URL of this page. - independent.co.uk

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Google aims for Apple with Web TV, launching worldwide by 2011 | Tech Gear News - Betanews

Apple may have the head start on its competitors when it comes to streaming content, but Google is not going to let it get too far ahead. Sony will be the first manufacturer to incorporate Google's technologies into television sets sold within the US this fall. From there, the service will be expanded worldwide in 2011. - betanews.com

www.betanews.com