Great things to read about British TV from March 2008 to today

Sony Freeview HD TVs coming in February

Thursday 07 January 2010, AM

Sky+ ad featuring Royle Family actor Sue Johnston banned |Media |guardian.co.uk

I say to everybody who's worrying about going digital, don't worry about it, get a Sky box, then it's done. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. - guardian.co.uk

Wednesday 06 January 2010, PM

BBC Media Show - Product placement and 3DTV

downloads.bbc.co.uk

Tuesday 05 January 2010, PM

YouTube, iPlayer, Sky? Wholl win the mass market for video on demand? |Media |guardian.co.uk

If and when Rose finds a way around this in 2010 the trust encouraged the BBC to do so, the iPlayer brand - with 729 million requests in 2009 - may prove so appealing that broadcasters simply can't forgo the kind of shop window it would give to their shows and advertisers. Channel 4 and Five have already effectively shut the door to Hulu exclusivity by signing with both YouTube and SeeSaw. Hulu was believed to still be courting ITV with a promise of equity for exclusivity - but it may either have to give up this stipulation or risk becoming another Joost. - guardian.co.uk

Tuesday 05 January 2010, AM

Product placements threat to children | Aric Sigman |Comment is free |guardian.co.uk

In real measurable terms, our children are spoilt in ways that go far beyond materialism they have the most body fat and the greatest sense of entitlement since records began. Commercial enticement harms our children's mental and physical health in ways we haven't fully understood yes, it's a case of monkey see, monkey want, but the process doesn't stop there. However, impulse control is more than a behavioural pleasantry it is a self-regulation skill that affects a wide range of childhood outcomes that go far beyond demanding a chocolate bar here and now. - guardian.co.uk

Saturday 02 January 2010, PM

Surrendering advertising killing bundling BuzzMachine

Two things strike me about News Corp.s battle to get cable fees 1 Again and again lately, the company is surrendering the advertising battle. In newspapers, it is saying that advertising wont support its high costs and so it will sacrifice traffic and advertising the hopes of building build pay walls. Now in TV which is where Murdoch fils says the future of the company lies theyre trying to eke fees from cable operators. - buzzmachine.com

www.buzzmachine.com

Wednesday 30 December 2009, PM

Sky TV prices up following VAT increase

- digitalchoices.co.uk

www.digitalchoices.co.uk

Wednesday 30 December 2009, AM

BBC HD in the clear, says Which? Labs - Which? News

Labs have found no significant loss in picture quality on BBC satellite HD channels - despite recent media reports of picture quality problems. The comparisons were made on two identical 40-inch, high-definition TVs. Only with identical sources could a like-for-like comparison be made, however over a lengthy viewing period, our expert panel had seen sufficient material to conclude that any difference in quality was 'insignificant'. - which.co.uk

www.which.co.uk

Tuesday 29 December 2009, PM

BT warns of court fight over digital spectrum plans |Business |guardian.co.uk

BT is calling for the wireless spectrum to be auctioned off rather than extending existing 3G licenses. The telecoms operator has warned that it will take legal action if the government presses ahead in the new year with plans to liberalise the nation's mobile phone spectrum. BT's move could derail a key part of the government's Digital Britain programme. - guardian.co.uk

bbciplayerbetatrial09.freesat.co.uk

Thursday 24 December 2009, PM

freesat - iPlayer - Overview

BBC iPlayer - Doctor Who...

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. - bbc.co.uk

Thursday 24 December 2009, AM

Media Talk: 2009 review

download.guardian.co.uk

Wednesday 23 December 2009, PM

BBC Media Show: Wed 23 Dec 09 Sky attacks BBC plans for internet

downloads.bbc.co.uk

Wednesday 23 December 2009, AM

BBC iPlayer celebrates second birthday with record breaking figures

With an average of over five million unique users a week, BBC iPlayer is set to have its best Christmas yet. New data also provides a fascinating insight into how users of BBC iPlayer, now available on more than 20 different devices, differ per platform. BBC iPlayer makes the unmissable unmissable, thus reducing the probability of any culinary related disasters. - bbc.co.uk

5483 - Get iPlayer on Freesat now

Tuesday 22 December 2009, PM

The BBCs digital rights plans will wreak havoc on open source software | Cory Doctorow |Technology |guardian.co.uk

Now, generally speaking, the BBC isn't allowed to encrypt or restrict its broadcasts the licence fee payer pays for these broadcasts, and no licence fee payer woke up today wishing that the BBC had added restrictions to its programming. The BBC couched this as a minor technical change, and Ofcom held a very short, very quiet consultation, but was overwhelmed by a flood of negative submissions from the public and from technologists who understood the implications of this move. Fundamentally, the BBC is trying to leverage its broadcast licence into control over the devices that can receive broadcasts. - guardian.co.uk

BBC News - Project Canvas given green light by BBC Trust

The BBC Trust, the corporation's governing body, has given a provisional go-ahead for a project which could kick-start demand for internet TV. Set-top boxes, expected to cost around 200, could be available next year. The Trust reached its provisional conclusions following more than 800 written responses. - news.bbc.co.uk

news.bbc.co.uk

Monday 21 December 2009, PM

BBC Trust, press release - decision on fair trading appeal by IP Vision

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.uk

Monday 21 December 2009, AM

BBC Trust poised to approve Project Canvas |Media |guardian.co.uk

The BBC Trust is expected to this week give the green light to Project Canvas, the video-on-demand joint venture, albeit with significant conditions attached. Project Canvas has come in for heavy criticism from BSkyB, which has argued that issues exist over membership, the lack of a full market impact assessment and potential breaches of European Union state aid rules relating to use of the licence fee. The question of exclusivity of partnerships is also thought to extend to the manufacturers of set-top boxes that Project Canvas is working with. - guardian.co.uk

UTV bids for north-east ITV news pilot |Media |guardian.co.uk

Winning bidders will get access to about 7m of public money a year to create a replacement for ITV's news service in the region. Under the government's plans for IFNCs, which are also being piloted in Scotland, bidders are expected to develop a multiplatform local news model. It intends to involve the existing ITV staff in the region. - guardian.co.uk

Sunday 20 December 2009, AM

Britains TV is the best in the world (just ignore the facts) |Media |The Observer

The somewhat more puzzling news examines what all those extra pairs of goggle eyes were watching as repeats on major UK channels have soared from 34.5 to 44.8 over the past five years. Arts programming takes up 3 of TV airtime in the UK, as opposed to 22 in France and 16 in Italy. News rates 14 here, against 20 in Spain and 23 in the Netherlands. - guardian.co.uk

Friday 18 December 2009, PM

Sky offer old Sky TV Guide back to visually impaired viewers : Tech Digest

Many of you have been complaining that the new Sky Guide isn't up to scratch, either running too slowly, not being particularly intuitive or with text too small to read. James followed up with a similar sentiment I thought I would give it a go for a week before I complained as I thought it would grow on me. Some readers have had such difficulty reading the new guide that they have contacted the Royal National Institute of Blind People, believing the new guide to be an affront to accessibility for the visually impaired. - techdigest.tv

www.techdigest.tv

Channel 4 and Talk Talk sign up to Project Canvas |Media |guardian.co.uk

Channel 4 and the internet service provider Talk Talk have signed up to join Project Canvas, with each committing to invest more than 16m to get the video-on-demand joint venture up and running. According to the BBC, the cost to each partner will be 16.4m in the first four years from the launch of Project Canvas. Following concerns raised by Sky and others about the openness of the Project Canvas service, BBC management moved to allow non-public-service broadcasters to become partners in a change to the original plan. - guardian.co.uk

Humax HD-FOX T2 - AVReview News and comment

Home networking is taken care of with the T2 able to transmit content from your network to your TV with the usual visual and audio formats catered for. - avreview.co.uk

www.avreview.co.uk

BBC - Teletext to close mid-December

Flight arrival and departure information is available through Teletext The Teletext information service on analogue and digital television will close across the UK on 16 December. Limited services including holidays, racing and bookmaking and the subtitles on analogue channels will remain available. Teletext's chat and dating TV channels on Freeview will also be unaffected. - news.bbc.co.uk

news.bbc.co.uk

Top 10 tech predictions for 2010 | Expert Reviews

They will also gradually become larger, with 11-12in screens and higher resolutions. The current 8.9in models with their low 1,024x600 resolutions will be phased out. Plus, manufacturers of other IT products who have never made a computer before will produce netbooks. - expertreviews.co.uk

www.expertreviews.co.uk

BBC defends HD service against criticism over quality | News | TechRadar UK

The corporation has revealed that viewers have been complaining about the HD service since a change in the way the pictures are encoded took place in August. - techradar.com

www.techradar.com

Friday 18 December 2009, AM

Misjudging viewers is one of the BBCs least appealing habits |Media |guardian.co.uk

Someone once told me a more vital part of his function involved talent wrangling top-name stars such as Sir Elton John to appear on BBC specials. It seems reasonable to assume he had knowledge of the list. There's nothing wrong, per se, in creating such a list. - guardian.co.uk

Companies form HDBaseT cross-industry alliance

The HDBaseT Alliance will invite consumer electronics and content organisations to contribute to creating a global standard for advanced digital media distribution. DTG Staff 16.12.2009 Links open in a new window. The DTG is not responsible for the content of other web sites. - dtg.org.uk

www.dtg.org.uk

BBC - Radio Labs: Windows Media - Listen Again - Update

I wanted to give you some information on the status of our tests of the Listen Again service in Windows Media. We are currently in testing stages with the ASX metafiles required to allow the Windows Media Audio files to be linked to correctly. Secondly we need to expose the relationship between our schedule programmes and the ASX files. - bbc.co.uk

11 billion push the BBC's Red Button every week

A Review of Consumer Complaints Procedures | Ofcom

www.ofcom.org.uk

UK consumers continue to embrace digital communications services | Ofcom

Independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries. 4G auction bidders announced December 20, 2012 Ofcom has today announced the bidders in the forthcoming 4G mobile spectrum auction the largest ever sale of mobile airwaves in the UK. npower fined for making abandoned calls December 6, 2012 The conclusion of an Ofcom investigation has today found npower, the gas and electricity supplier, to be in breach of rules on abandoned calls. - ofcom.org.uk

www.ofcom.org.uk

Monday 14 December 2009, AM

The man who plans to bring the internet to your television screen

The crystal-ball gazer points out the spinning globe used in the BBC's early idents, then a crystal radio dating to 1923, before picking up a fading book from 1942. The Trust is expected to give its verdict any day now. The audience also has much to lose, he claims. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

The decade that reality bit |Media |The Guardian

July Big Brother ushers in a decade of reality entertainment shows after becoming an instant hit for Channel 4 with the final peaking at 9.9 million. BSkyB ends the year with 4.6 million subscribers while Carlton and Granada's challenger ONdigital has 1 million. 2001 January E4 launches as a pay channel, with rights to Friends and ER. - guardian.co.uk

Saturday 12 December 2009, AM

BBC HD Picture Quality: some myths laid to rest

Over the course of the last week, the debate about BBC HD picture quality which has been running since August has entered a new phase. Looking at your comments I can see that there are still areas on which our views differ. No HD channel as a general rule will offer the same quality as bluray, any more than standard definition television offers the same quality as DVDs. - bbc.co.uk

The Hitchhikers Guide to Encoding: The Salmon of Style (Or how programmes styles can change you

Friday Programme Styles The last area to talk about is programme style and the techniques used by producers. The HD Channel is expanding the range of programmes made and transmitted in high definition all the time. As the number of programmes grows we are bound to show some that don't appeal to everyone in the audience, just as any multi-genre channel would. - bbc.co.uk

Friday 11 December 2009, PM

BBC HD boss sticks up for picture quality

Media Talk: BBC Trust, Tiger Woods, and the X Factor final

download.guardian.co.uk

Friday 11 December 2009, AM

Windows 7 Compatibility Center hardware browse results - TV Devices - TV Tuners

www.microsoft.com

Thursday 10 December 2009, PM

Ofcom's roadmap for HD TV from 3D to Ultra High Definition

Humax talks up next-gen Freesat boxes | News | TechRadar UK

Humax has talked about its plans for new Freesat boxes in 2010 with the company looking to launch a new generation to take advantage of the latest in TV tech. Home network Humax also indicated that it would integrate its home network solution, for content sharing through the home network and USB recording functionality. Both boxes will be 'portal ready' in other words, ready for internet television and should be available in Q3 2010. - techradar.com

www.techradar.com

Thursday 10 December 2009, AM

Streaming radio on your phone: not for long? - James Cridland

If you work at a radio station, you have a transmitter that reaches hundreds of thousands of people at the same time. When mobile operators are actively moving you off their network, and now contemplating usage-based pricing it might be foolish to count on 3G streaming for radios long-term future. This is an archive site, and comments are now closed. - james.cridland.net

james.cridland.net

The Hitchhikers Guide to Encoding: And Another Test...(Or PSNR and all that...)

It is one of the methods used to evaluate the effect processing has on signals and ultimately picture quality. PSNR is a derivative of the Signal to Noise Ratio comparing the maximum possible signal energy to the noise energy 1. PSNR has been shown to have a high correlation to subjective picture quality eyeballs when a single codec is used and cross-references between sequences are not made 2. - bbc.co.uk

The Hitchhikers Guide to Encoding: Mostly Testing (Or how to set up an encoder test)

Wednesday So what testing do we do and how do we do it Removing Variables Ideally the only variable in a test should be the device actually being tested. In a delivery chain with domestic devices from many manufacturers this is not as easy as it sounds and testing every combination of is just not possible. - bbc.co.uk