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Friday 17 October 2008, AM

BetaNews | New legislation could postpone February DTV transition

Legislation now proposed in the US Congress would effectively postpone the February 17, 2009 date for the switchover to all-digital TV. That same day, the National Association of Broadcasters endorsed proposed legislation in the US Congress that would enable an extension of the quickly encroaching deadline, now only four months away. Still, lots of progress seems to have emerged over the past 10 months. - betanews.com

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BBC Common Platform: Should the BBC recapitalise British Culture?

15Oct Is Mark Thompson a good proxy for Gordon Brown Should the BBC move to rescue struggling media companies as the government is saving struggling banks Should the BBC recapitalise British culture by taking stakes in bust public service providers - commonplatform.co.uk

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MediaTalk: DAB radio special

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Media Show: DAB, China, Nick Robinson

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Thursday 16 October 2008, PM

Trading Standards warns of digital switchover aerial rip-off - Computeractive

computing/computing-06-12-07/satellite-dish People could be ripped off by unscrupulous aerial installers in the run up to the digital switchover, Trading Standards TS has warned. Research by Ofcom found that most aerials will continue to work after the switchover and only five to ten per cent of households will need an aerial upgrade. However, in a mystery shopping telephone exercise of 31 installers, Leicestershire TS found more than a quarter of aerial installers were prepared to mislead consumers, claiming a new TV aerial would be needed without even looking at their existing one. - computeractive.co.uk

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BBC NEWS | Scotland | Highlands and Islands | Call to put Gaelic TV on Freeview

The culture minister said she would support efforts to secure the coverage. - news.bbc.co.uk

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Thursday 16 October 2008, AM

Is TV on track for the digital revolution? - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic

On 14 November 2007, about 250 homes in the former Cumbrian fishing port of Whitehaven, located in the shadow of the Sellafield nuclear plant, lost their TV signal and their screens went blank. Fortunately for those responsible for conveying the digital switchover message in the UK's first all-digital community in the Copeland area, the rest of the district's 25,000 households made sure their sets could receive a digital signal before the analogue service was switched off. They were now watching television on satellite, cable, broadband or Freeview. - brandrepublic.com

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Talks At Mod To Seek BBC Alba Expansion (from The Herald )

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Wednesday 15 October 2008, PM

SacredFacts: TV v online

New Zealand broadcasting has been through some tumultuous times in terms of funding and status. However the most extraordinary thing Rik told us was that more people now watch programmes time shifted through broadband than watch through their TV. The online on-demand service was only launched 18 months ago but has already overtaken conventional TV viewing with 30,000 hours a month consumed over broadband. - sambrook.typepad.com

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BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons warns Ofcom over PSB proposals |Media |guardian.co.uk

Sir Michael Lyons said the television industry should 'stop looking to Ofcom for answers'. To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editormediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 7278 2332. - guardian.co.uk

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Liberal Democrats - TV switchover - Dont lose the remote, Moore tells government

- libdems.org.uk

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Media facing carnage, warns Guardian News Medias Emily Bell |Media |guardian.co.uk

As many as five national newspapers could fold within two years in a worst-case scenario as the media suffers unprecedented carnage, Guardian News Media executive Emily Bell has warned. Bell, the GNM director of digital content, warned that broadcasters, national and regional media were in the middle of a systemic collapse in advertising and not a cyclical downturn. Bell pointed out that the New York Times' revenues fell 12 before the current credit crunch took hold and merchant bank Lehman Brothers collapsed. - guardian.co.uk

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Wednesday 15 October 2008, AM

The Scourge Of SCART

I thought it was time to give you a quick update on some of the technical issues that have come up around BBC High Definition over the last couple of months and what has been happening since the Olympics. We have taken some time to look at a lot of the issues bought up by you and a few of the things I wanted to investigate myself. It's now working, but not as well as we would like - for example, we still have more work to do before we can move between stereo and surround programmes without having to put silence between them. - bbc.co.uk

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Roy Greenslade: Why Jeff Jarvis is wrong to blame British journalists |Media |guardian.co.uk

Jeff Jarvis has taken me to task twice, in yesterday's print section, and last week on his blog, because he disagrees with my contention that journalists are not responsible for the decline of newspapers. The truth is that we are being assailed by revolutionary technological forces completely outside of our control... It is our fault we did not see change coming soon enough and ready our craft for its transition. - guardian.co.uk

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BBC - Press Office - "Over the air" download from BBC iPlayer to mobile devices

The system, which debuted on the Nokia N96, will be compatibility tested with other mobile devices with the intention to roll out on more devices in the future. The service is now available on the Nokia N96. For more information please go to What is BBC iPlayer - bbc.co.uk

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BBCs future bleak, says John Simpson - Media, News - The Independent

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Michael Grade: Now TVs golden age is over, ITV must be allowed to compete - Commentators, Opini

The world of 1991 when the present iTV licences were designed has gone for ever. To those of us over 50 it was a golden age. I understand the nostalgia of those who wish that commercial broadcasters still had the freedom and the deep pockets to cover the same canvas they did 30 years ago. - independent.co.uk

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Ed Murrow: a voice from the past with lessons for today's news broadcasters

Ed Murrow warned that unless TV was used to teach, illuminate and inspire 'it is merely wires and lights in a box'. Murrow's impassioned plea on October 15 1958 was powerful enough for George Clooney to turn it into the opening sequence of his movie Goodnight and Good Luck. Murrow understood the extraordinary potential of television as a force for enlightenment. - guardian.co.uk

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iPlayer becomes handier viewing option

The link you clicked, or the URL you typed into your browser, didnt work for some reason. Here are some possible reasons why We have a bad link out there to a page that has been moved or removed You may have typed the page address incorrectly We have a problem with the server. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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Poor advice on digital switchover

Campaigns Making consumers as powerful as the organisations they deal with. Consumer Rights Your essential guide to consumer rights and what to do if things go wrong. Conversation Want to comment on burning consumer issues of the day - which.co.uk

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Tuesday 14 October 2008, PM

Commons poised for licence fee debate

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

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Tuesday 14 October 2008, AM

MORE than a quarter of Gloucestershires TV watchers are still not prepared for the big switch-over to digital

The county's 578,631 residents, in 249,000 homes, are split between ITV's Central region in the north and east, and West region in the rest of the county. In Central, 74 per cent of households have prepared for the switch-over, set for 2011. In the West, 71 per cent have prepared for the switch, scheduled for some point between April and June 2010. - thisisgloucestershire.co.uk

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Monday 13 October 2008, PM

BBC unveils Freeview plans for iPlayer

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

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BBC s Huggers Cosies To Developers, Rivals; Freeview iPlayer Will Be App Platform| paidContent:UK

Original BBC future media and technology director Erik Huggers is at pains to show hes listening to calls for a more open dev strategy from the corporation. Hes used an interview via Guardian.co.uk to reaffirm Aunties commitment to open-source data for web developers and some new projects coming down the pipe hint at how Internet TV Huggers says that a project, codenamed - paidcontent.co.uk

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BBC NEWS | England | Dorset | Digital switch advice shocking

Trading standards secretly contacted electrical stores and aerial fitters and found many gave wrong advice. Officers found some fitters recommended new aerials while one store said customers would need a new 1,000 television despite there being no need. The analogue signal will be gradually switched off region, by region and completed by 2012. - news.bbc.co.uk

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Monday 13 October 2008, AM

Countdown to digital revolution

It is six months until homes in Torbay and South Devon become the first in the region to have the analogue signal switched off and replaced by multi-channel digital television through their aerial. Commentators are concerned, however, that many of the 840,000 households in the Westcountry could be left with blank screens or mangled pictures because of ageing equipment, limits to test signals and technical issues that require aerials to be replaced, refitted or extended. The low conversion rates of second televisions in kitchens and bedrooms is also a concern among politicians and engineers. - thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk

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informitv - Windows Media Center gains interactive television support

Over 30 million MHEG-5 capable receivers have been sold in the United Kingdom. Although the MHEG-5 standard has been updated to support high-resolution graphics in full colour and broadband connections, its critics argue that it is relatively limited. - informitv.com

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The Press Association: Third of TVs not digital converted

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18m TVs fail to turn digital | Metro.co.uk

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The Press Association: Ratings plunge for Richard and Judy

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This Years Christmas TV Is Blank Digital Blackout Warning (from The Herald )

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Friday 10 October 2008, PM

A Freesat for Italy

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EXCLUSIVE: Metronic Freesat HD box delayed

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DTG News: ASTRA 1M Satellite launch date revealed

DTG Staff 08.10.2008 Links open in a new window. - dtg.org.uk

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Friday 10 October 2008, AM

Sling shoots AppleTV rival into UK stores | Register Hardware

Sling Media's SlingPlayer-in-a-box gadget, SlingCatcher, is now available to Brits. SlingCatcher takes the network-beamed feed from a Slingbox tuner and displays it on a TV screen. Sling's pitching the product as an alternative to the laptops, desktops and mobile phones Slingbox users current remote watch their favourite TV shows on. - reghardware.co.uk

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Thursday 09 October 2008, PM

Freeview channel slot up for grabs - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic

Arqiva, which operates two of the six multiplexes that make up Freeview, said the new channel would be available for use by February. Arqiva expects to award the new channel before the end of the year. Unlike cable and satellite, channel slots on Freeview are scarce because of a relative lack of bandwidth on digital terrestrial TV. - brandrepublic.com

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C21Media: Bids invited for UK Freeview channel

C21Media.net is Everything about content in the 21st Century, from television to web, mobile, tablet and beyond. - c21media.net

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Thursday 09 October 2008, AM

Grade demands end to ITV indie quota

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

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UKTV bids to do a Dave with launch of Blighty

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

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Freeview channel to be auctioned off |Media |guardian.co.uk

A new Freeview channel is to go under the auction hammer - potentially sparking off a bidding war among broadcasters. Arqiva, which holds the licence for two of the six multiplexes that make up the UK's digital terrestrial TV platform, is calling for bidders by October 22, with the channel available from January. The relative scarcity of Freeview slots and the booming popularity of the service could make competition for the channel intense, one analyst said. - guardian.co.uk

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Wednesday 08 October 2008, PM

BBC iPlayer goes portable

These devices do not have internet connectivity, so we're talking about a download rather than a streaming experience. As an aside, working out whether a device supports Windows Media Protected playback may require some research on the part of the consumer. There's a bewildering number of similar-looking devices with different capabilities available in shops, and it can be hard to tell which formats are supported by any given portable media player. - bbc.co.uk

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Michael Grade warns that ITV could drop all PSB output |Media |guardian.co.uk

Michael Grade issued warning over future of public servce broadcasting on ITV. The executive chairman also said ITV1 should be allowed to scrap the quota that requires 25 of its programmes are made by independent production companies. Grade said today that he was in favour of scrapping a commitment to 25 of productions coming from the independent sector. - guardian.co.uk

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Wednesday 08 October 2008, AM

Letter: Ofcom supports a strong BBC |Media |The Guardian

She argues that Ofcom is seeking to break up BBC the to promote competition. Parliament gave Ofcom the twin duties of looking after the interests of the citizen as well as the consumer. It is precisely because the market and competition alone will not meet the needs of the citizen that we have steadfastly supported public service broadcasting and a strong, independent BBC as the cornerstone of a system adapted to meet the digital age. - guardian.co.uk

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Free satellite services boom

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

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Consumers tune out mobile pay TV | News | TechRadar UK

We love technology here at TechRadar the clue's in the name but if there's one service we wouldn't mind dying a very quiet death, it's the squinty, tinny, pixel-fest that is mobile TV. So imagine our delight on hearing that tech analysts Juniper Research are downgrading their forecast for dedicated mobile broadcast networks. Juniper reckons that of the 330m mobile users owning broadcast TV-enabled handsets in five years' time, just 14 per cent will opt for mobile pay TV services. - techradar.com

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Tuesday 07 October 2008, PM

Barry Fox's Inside View: What dish for Freesat?

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FOXSAT-HD Software Release Version: HZPTSF 1.00.15

- humaxdigital.com

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EC looks to break down TV borders : Broadband TV News

The European Commission has criticised the sluggish growth in cross-border conditional access services. The Commission is planning to put together a picture of potential cross-border markets and has highlighted the movement around the continent by many Europeans. As millions of people in Europe live away from their country of origin and want to access services from back home, but often cannot, the Commission will be gathering more information on potential markets for the distribution of TV programmes and films beyond national borders, said a statement from the Commission. - broadbandtvnews.com

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Italian Sky viewer wins right to use his own receiver

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Tuesday 07 October 2008, AM

Teletext National News

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