Wednesday 16 June 2010, AM
Freeview viewers could not see ITV4s TT shows - Isle of Man Today
The situation means that viewers in the Island who rely on terrestrial digital television from Manx transmitters can't watch Sky News, Dave or some shopping channels. Reception from Winter Hill is best in hilly areas in the east of the Island while signals from Caldbeck in Cumbria are received by many viewers in the north. Many people in the west of the Island watch Freeview directly from Northern Ireland. - iomtoday.co.im
www.iomtoday.co.im
Broadcasters challenge TVCatchup - Digital Spy
Web-TV service TVCatchup has been hit with a joint legal challenge from three British broadcasters alleging infringement of their copyright. The two channels are already available on TVCatchup's website and mobile app, along with a near-live simulcast of Channel 4, E4 and Five. In response to the legal filing, TVCatchup told the Financial Times that it has already applied for court approval of its streaming service. - digitalspy.co.uk
www.digitalspy.co.uk
Intel, itv and lovefilm outline the future of web tv - The Inquirer
Last year only about two per cent of TVs sold in Europe had internet connectivity and 12 per cent this year, so obviously it's something that is growing incredibly rapidly. Intel, although it's mainly known for making chips, is one of the companies that has looked at this trend with great interest. It has put big resources and research into how it can take advantage of TVs, which vastly outnumber PCs and smartphones put together. - theinquirer.net
www.theinquirer.net
BSkyB: Going global | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian
Type news.sky.com into your internet browser and you get an impressive news website that would make any newspaper proud. He could easily bump up the price of a Sky subscription and chuck in complimentary access to the Times or Sun online and hardly any of the nearly 10 million Sky subscribers would notice the extra cost direct debits have that strange power of semi-invisibility, after all. The business logic of this deal is partly why, one presumes, share markets are putting a high likelihood on the takeover coming off provided News Corp raises its offer for the 61 of Sky it does not own already. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukMurdoch prepares to tighten his grip -Business Analysis Features, Business - The Independent
News Corporation owns a near 40 per cent stake in the pay-TV provider and the Australian tycoon has decided the time is right for one of the company's founding shareholders to take full control. The target's independent directors also announced they had dismissed both, and the shares leapt 16 per cent, the most in a decade, on the belief a deal will be done at a full price. Insiders said this was the first time such an approach had been made. - independent.co.uk
www.independent.co.ukTuesday 15 June 2010, AM
Peston: Murdochs London-based global news hub
BSkyB's board and its advisers believe the business is worth around 1bn more, or greater than 800p per share. Well, News Corporation will press ahead with the process of trying to buy Sky by initiating the process of having the European competition regulator scrutinise the deal. One interesting question is whether British regulators, the Office of Fair Trading and Ofcom, and the British government will want to repatriate scrutiny of the deal, as they have the right to do. - bbc.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk
News Corp courts BSkyB board with improved offer | Media | guardian.co.uk
News Corporation has increased its offer to take full control of BSkyB, which has again been rebuffed by the broadcaster, but the two companies have agreed to hold talks to find a mutually agreeable price and tackle regulatory issues. The offer was rejected by BSkyB's independent directors as undervaluing the company. BskyB's share price rose 21, up by 126p to 726.5p, in early trading. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukMurdoch Said to Seek Full Control of BSkyB - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com
Rupert Murdoch appears to be on the prowl again, with British Sky Broadcasting as his target. The newspapers said Mr. Murdochs offer valued the entire company at 11.6 billion to 12 billion, or more than 17 billion a valuation that would represent a premium of more than 10 percent over BSkyBs market capitalization on Monday. The Financial Times quoted an unidentified person familiar with BSkyBs position as saying, This is not a price that can be considered. - dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com
dealbook.blogs.nytimes.comMonday 14 June 2010, PM
Freeview Allowed To Use DRM To Curtail Online Piracy| paidContent:UK
We dont know how many Freeview receivers out there dont currently use DRM, which controls viewers what can do with the programmes. The impact of the BBC proposals on the supply of receivers to the mass market is negligible. The BBC proposals do not prohibit the use of open source software in receivers, but we recognise the proposal may introduce some restrictions on how it is used. - paidcontent.co.ukpaidcontent.co.ukinformitv - Sky buys Virgin Media channels and secures distribution
Some might question why the cable company would want to sell its channels to a satellite competitor, or indeed why Sky would want to buy them. The mainstream media has focussed on the facts of the deal at face value. Sky will pay 160 million in cash for the Virgin Media Television channels business, with 105 million up front and the remainder payable subject to regulatory clearance. - informitv.cominformitv.comWhat is the BBC platform strategy?
Up until now, I could have believed that the BBCs iPlayer platform strategy was plausibly based on customer reach. The BBC did manage to make an iPad version before a single iPad had been sold in the country. The strategy isnt based on anything measurable. - po-ru.com
po-ru.comMonday 14 June 2010, AM
Neil Berkett: why Virgin Media wants to work with Project Canvas | Media | guardian.co.uk
Neil Berkett says Project Canvas partners must change their approach. Virgin Media's opposition to Canvas has been widely but not always accurately reported we stand squarely behind the project's aims as they were originally presented we question whether, in practice, it's evolving in a way that matches the joint venture partners' rhetoric. Like its predecessor, Freeview, the Canvas joint venture will not make or sell set-top boxes. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukWorld Cup 2010: viewers locked out of ITV watch and chat service | Media | guardian.co.uk
World Cup 2010 Siphiwe Tshabalala of South Africa scores. The initiative allows viewers with laptops to customise the ITV.com live stream with a range of interactive elements from a chat service which can link to Facebook to polls, quizzes and statistics on teams and players. England's third and final qualifying game, against Slovenia, is on BBC1 at 3pm on Wednesday 23 June. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukJeremy Hunt: We have a media policy, not a BBC policy | Media | The Guardian
For a man determined not to talk about the BBC, the new culture secretary can't seem to help himself. At the very mention of BBC pay something he was more than happy to talk about during almost three years as shadow culture secretary he protests that he hasn't even met the director general, Mark Thompson, in the same tone most of us would use if we'd just been accused of sleeping with someone. It all seems a bit odd unless you think of the history, not just of the Conservatives but more recent clashes between Labour culture secretaries and Auntie. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukFears grow over funding for childrens television | Media | The Guardian
Peppa Pig, a homegrown television hit for children from Five. Photograph Five A funding crisis has gripped the production of children's programmes in the UK, threatening a long tradition that extends from the Clangers to the Teletubbies. Last week Ed Vaizey, the new culture minister, pledged to look afresh at a problem that has been debated for years, and which he was made aware of when he was an opposition spokesman. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.uk
BBC House style: news and web lingo as explained to an Iraqi
A new generation do not remember the Troubles Flag protests a question of context The peace process in Northern Ireland in 2013 is facing the twin challenge of dissident republican violence and loyalist street protests. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukITV apologises for clanger after 1.5m viewers miss England goal | Media | guardian.co.uk
England captain Steven Gerrard celebrates scoring his team's first goal against USA in Rustenburg. The audience peaked near the game's end at 9.15pm, attracting 20.1 million viewers, 73 of the total TV audience, on its two channels. As an investigation got under way, ITV blamed Technicolor, its transmission supplier. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukSunday 13 June 2010, AM
ITV HD viewers miss Englands first World Cup goal
Viewers did not see Steven Gerrard's early strike against the USA in the 1-1 match. The match was seen by an average audience of 13.2m, which equated to 56 of the total number of people watching television at that time. - news.bbc.co.uknews.bbc.co.ukSaturday 12 June 2010, PM
ITV1 HD massive world cup fail - James Cridland
Turns out I made the wrong choice ITV1 HD managed to go to an ad break at the worst possible time. Watch the video above to discover how badly they messed up. Adrian Chiles at half time apologised for some breaks if you were watching in HD hardly an honest apology and the channels been in SD since. - james.cridland.net
james.cridland.netSaturday 12 June 2010, AM
Goodbye, radio via 3G we can t afford you - James Cridland
The typical refrain of poor journalists and sub-grade radio consultants is that broadcast radios days are numbered. Talk to them and theyll tell you not to bother with DAB, or HD, or whatever because the internet is the future of radio. In the US, 50 of total hours TSL is spent in a mobile situation, like in a car. - james.cridland.netjames.cridland.netRadio Today.. with BIONICS: NME Radio to leave DAB
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radiotoday.co.ukFriday 11 June 2010, PM
Thursday 10 June 2010, PM
Project canvas could engage by september - The Inquirer
If it comes to fruition, Project Canvas should be available to all ISPs that want it, offering a range of on-demand services through broadband Internet and a television set. All content will be in one place without any subscription required, so in effect anybody with a broadband connection will be able to use it. Also speaking at the event was Bob Hannent, chief technologist at Humax, who said that Project Canvas is all about the seamless combination of broadcast and broadband, truly integrated with each other so that consumers don't have to worry about it. - theinquirer.netwww.theinquirer.netMedia Talk: Jeremy Hunt, GMG's losses, and Big Brother
download.guardian.co.ukThursday 10 June 2010, AM
High definition brings fans closer to World Cup action Ofcom
It has been 40 years since the last major development in World Cup viewing technology, when in 1970, the Mexico World Cup was broadcast in colour for the first time. This year, fans will be hoping for a better result from HD. HD sales figures Up to five times more detailed than standard definition TV, every flick of the ball, every blade of grass, and every bead of sweat will be more visible than ever before in HD. - ofcom.org.ukwww.ofcom.org.ukWhich? Tech weekly podcast 10 June 2010 - TV, music and radio - Which? Advice
Sometimes pages move or become out of date and are deleted, so older bookmarks may no longer work. It's possible that the page you were looking for has either changed name or is no longer available. To find what you are looking for, you might like to try one of the following You may like to view our latest videos - which.co.uk
www.which.co.ukWednesday 09 June 2010, PM
Dont mind your language: public relaxed over TV swearing | Media | The Guardian
More recently, 10 million ITV viewers saw John Lydon use the C-word and fewer than 100 complained. Ofcom, which is responsible for policing taste and decency on the airwaves, said the public were willing to tolerate mild swearing and offensive language at any time of the day. It is the first detailed research on attitudes towards offensive language on television and radio to be published by Ofcom in five years. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.uk
BBC The Media Show, 09/06/2010
At the same time, he has cancelled plans to pilot replacements for ITV's news in Wales, Scotland and the north east of England. The architect of the local tv plans, Roger Parry, explains how they could work and media analyst Claire Enders gives her view on whether they really are viable. Sue Ayton, who represented Adrian Chiles for 10 years, looks behind the speculation. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukTwo cheers for Jeremy Hunts plan for ultra-local TV services | Markets Analysis
In signalling his intention to sweep away cross-media ownership rules he hopes that the absence of restrictions will lead in turn to investment in local TV. Surely the capital is crying out for similar screen-based coverage of news, weather and traffic reports. English attempted to emulate NY1, adopting its main news-gathering operation, which involved a battalion of young video journalists running around London streets and in the days before digital transmission returning as fast a possible to base to edit and transmit their stories. - thisislondon.co.uk
www.thisislondon.co.ukWelcome to Project Baird Project Baird
Project Baird is a collaborative effort to collate a set of open-ended specifications for delivering different kinds of content to digital TV devices across the Internet. The specifications are intended to be device, broadcaster and platformagnostic as much as possible. Project Baird is built upon, wherever possible, existing standards and projects. - projectbaird.comprojectbaird.comWednesday 09 June 2010, AM
BBC Trusts Sir Michael Lyons reaches out to Jeremy Hunt | Media | guardian.co.uk
Lyons and Hunt are said to have had a lengthy private meeting, without the presence of advisers, over the past few days. A BBC Trust spokeswoman declined to comment on Lyons's diary appointments. The pair disagreed publicly in the run up to last month's general election over the future of the BBC Trust. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukOfcom online copyright infringement consultation : | OfcomWatch |
-www.ofcomwatch.co.ukWhat Jeremy Hunt didnt say | Media | guardian.co.uk
Photograph Sarah Lee There were a number of big issues left untouched by the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, in his first media policy speech yesterday. When pressed about why this institution was omitted from the coalition government's initial media plans, Hunt said that it was a subject for another day. Hunt said the device of top-slicing the licence fee may also have to be continued after 2012, should continued subsidy for broadband be needed. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukPace to add Wi-Fi technology to boxes
Pace has announced it has become a member of the Wi-Fi Alliance and is to incorporate Wi-Fi technology into selected upcoming set-top boxes. Darren Fawcett, Chief Technologist, Pace, said As we move towards a converged home entertainment environment, one of the biggest challenges is moving content around the home Pace is at the forefront of developing a whole range of technologies which allow operators to offer these kinds of capabilities. Our membership of the Wi-Fi Alliance will aid us in exploiting wireless technology to develop future generations of products with increased flexibility in connecting and sharing media content. - dtg.org.ukwww.dtg.org.ukTuesday 08 June 2010, PM
Sky News Briefly Falls Off Air on Freeview - News on News
Further viewing problems involving Sky's channels broadcast on Freeview were reported later in teh afternoon, however this time it is thought that a temporary transmitter fault in the north of the UK was at fault, and not connecting to this morning's outage. - newsonnews.netwww.newsonnews.netMonday 07 June 2010, PM
Panasonic Blu-ray recorders with twin Freeview+HD tuners | Easier
Besides their ability to record two digital broadcasts at the same time, the twin HD tuners also allow users without a digital TV to watch a digital broadcast and record it simultaneously. 5.1-channel surround sound Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus signal and subtitles that are included in digital broadcasts can also be recorded, allowing users to enjoy surround sound and subtitles during playback. For standard definition DVDs as well as 1080i and less sources, the P4HD renders progressive images superbly, expresses motion smoothly, and draws crisp diagonal lines. - easier.com
www.easier.comGoing Social with the BBC iPlayer Beta
It's been a few days now since we launched the new BBC iPlayer Beta site, and the feedback has been fascinating. Lots of people have been commenting on the new social features, in fact it's been one of the dominant themes in the new media and press coverage so far. Now that's great, but when you're on Facebook or reading your email, you're not always in the mood to watch a 60 minute TV show or listen to a 3 hour Zane Lowe show. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukInternet video traffic to increase massively
Global internet protocol traffic will increase by four times from 2009 to 2014. Cisco forecasts that the biggest single component of that will be internet video, overtaking peer-to-peer file sharing as the biggest single usage of bandwidth by the end of 2010. The combination of all forms of video will continue to exceed 90 of all global consumer internet traffic and by 2014 nearly half of it will be high-definition video. - informitv.cominformitv.comMonday 07 June 2010, AM
Will the World Cup bring ITV a bonanza summer of advertising? | Media | The Guardian
It's across all media you can see it in the amount of poster ads. Since then, late bookings have reportedly nudged the figure up to 25, and a good England run could push it higher. This would offer a marked contrast to the network's fortunes when the 2006 World Cup was held in Germany, when a 5 boost in ad spend was expected as the tournament took place in Europe, there was no problem with the timing of games, as there had been in Japan and Korea in 2002. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukFru Hazlitts appointment brings another outsiders perspective to ITV | Media | The Guardian
Fru Hazlitt is ITV's new managing director of commercial and online. It's not personal everyone likes her and wishes her well but they just can't see what someone with no commercial TV experience can bring to a company whose core business is, well, commercial TV. When Norman arrived at ITV, he found a culturally sick company, with different divisions not just failing to work together but actively working against each other. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukJonathan Dimbleby: BBCs culture of compliance is extremely damaging | Media | The Guardian
As scions of the legendary war reporter and anchorman Richard Dimbleby, Jonathan and David are perhaps the closest thing to British broadcasting's royal family. His interview with Prince Charles in 1994 was a milestone for the royal family. His own life was much reported on after he left Bel Mooney, his wife of 35 years, and later married a woman 30 years his junior. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukGrant Goddard : radio blog: The cost of upgrading DAB radio: why it will never happen
To get DAB up to FM standard, a huge amount of work needs to be done, which would cost a lot of money. What information is in the public domain about the costs of DAB transmission The BBC owns one of the two national DAB radio multiplexes, for which only a small amount of data about costs has been published. - grantgoddardradioblog.blogspot.com
grantgoddardradioblog.blogspot.comSunday 06 June 2010, PM
Points of View: 2009/2010: Episode 20
- beta.bbc.co.ukbeta.bbc.co.ukPicture Quality on BBC HD: a Viewers Group Visit (part 3)
Part one and part two are already posted on the Internet blog. There is no doubt that the group's visit has given us a better understanding of all the issues. We can now see that there are, in fact, three important variables that can adversely affect the PQ of the channel, namely production decisions and programme quality assurance, encoder software and finally the bit-rate. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukSaturday 05 June 2010, AM
Sky turns on set-top box internet connection - Telegraph
I would have loved to have done this sooner but we had to first focus on ensuring the software in our HD boxes was as up to date as possible so the integration of all of our services was seamless. Sky began showing press previews this week of its Sky Anytime service. It allows people to download programmes using a Sky broadband connection only and save it on their box for an indefinite amount of time. - telegraph.co.uk
www.telegraph.co.uk
BBC opens up about its lack of Dolby Freeview HD support | News | TechRadar UK
As for Dolby and its carrying of audio description, Layton is hoping that the Dolby EAC3 format will be able to deliver receiver mix audio description in the future. - techradar.com
www.techradar.comPicture Quality on BBC HD: a Viewers Group Visit (part 2)
The method requires the assessment of two versions of each test clip. One of each pair of test clips is unimpaired while the other presentation may or may not contain impairment. In the series of tests, the position of the reference picture is changed in pseudo-random fashion. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukFriday 04 June 2010, PM
Tech podcast: Stephen Fry, iPad World Cup TV - Which? News
Multi-talented technophile, Stephen Fry, was on-hand to give his opinions on the iPad launch, as were keen customers who had queued overnight to get their hands on Apple's tablet. We look at the statistics to see how consumers' attitudes to digital technology have changed in the last year, and focus on 3DTV. It's all in this week's Which tech podcast. - which.co.ukwww.which.co.ukPicture Quality on BBC HD: a Viewers Group Visit (part 1)
The debate about picture quality had met an impasse and we thought this might be a way to move it on and, for me at least, be a way of discussing quality as a whole and not just as a bit rate issue. It took some time to arrange the meeting, mainly due to the move of all the test equipment from its old home in Surrey to a building in London W12. Have a look at the BBC RD web site for some of the history of the buildings. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukPanasonic Freeview HD Blu-ray recorders announced - Which? News
The twin HD tuners give you the ability to record two digital broadcasts simultaneously or to watch one programme live while recording another. Blu-ray recorders These new models will also both feature Blu-ray recorders so you can also record onto a dual-layer Blu-ray disc. Each 50GB disc would give you around 7 hours of high-definition recording time. - which.co.ukwww.which.co.ukpick a page