Monday 08 February 2016, AM
Media Monkey: War and Peace, Hugh Bonneville and BBC cuts
Finally, new ITV director of television Kevin Lygo hit the ground running on his first day in the job. With his track record surely Lygo can put the sizzle back into the ITV breakfast sausage - www.theguardian.com
www.theguardian.comThe BBC's next watchdog needs more independence from politicians
First, the widely expected decision to appoint more non-executives to the board running the day-to-day business of the BBC may suit normal corporate governance standards but will mark a historic departure for the BBC. Widespread criticism of the trust - part regulator, part cheerleader - has meant that a truly external regulator will for the first time be able to rule over BBC decisions such as impartiality and accuracy - at the core of almost every difficult editorial judgment. Ofcom already has some oversight of the BBC but the code it uses to regulate other public service broadcasters runs to some 50 pages the BBC's is 400. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comFriday 05 February 2016, PM
Friday 05 February 2016, AM
Newsnight gets a repeat as BBC news channel cuts breaking stories
The BBC's 24-hour news channel is to introduce a nightly replay of Newsnight and launch a new local news programme in a revamp that will mean less breaking news. In September, BBC director general Tony Hall, who launched BBC News 24 and BBC News Online and went on to hold the post of chief executive of the news operation, outlined plans to move towards a mobile-focused streaming news service, called BBC Newstream. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comWednesday 03 February 2016, PM
Wednesday 03 February 2016, AM
18 radio stations confirmed for new DAB multiplex
18 radio stations will be included on the new platform when it is officially turned on, on February 29th 2016. Premier Christian Radio, which was recently at risk of losing its only national slot on D1, is launching a second service called Praise whilst Asian Sound Radio's new station will be called Awesome Radio. - radiotoday.co.uk
radiotoday.co.ukTuesday 02 February 2016, PM
Olympics: BBC to broadcast every Games up to and including 2024
The 2012 Games in London were watched on the BBC by more than 50 million people in the United Kingdom. As part of the agreement, Discovery will sub-license from the BBC exclusive pay-TV rights to the 2018 and 2020 Olympic Games. - www.bbc.co.uk
www.bbc.co.ukSaturday 30 January 2016, AM
Sir David Attenborough says he is fearful for 'vulnerable' BBC
Attenborough returned to the place of his childhood in the east Midlands city to officially open the new 1.5m gallery extension to the arts centre at the University of Leicester. We have already planted seeds for the future which are ineradicable. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comFriday 29 January 2016, PM
James Murdoch's return as Sky chair is a major concern, says investor
A Sky shareholder has criticised James Murdoch's appointment as chairman arguing that it flouts the corporate governance code and is a serious conflict of interest given he runs its biggest shareholder, Fox. Sky defended Murdoch's promotion, pointing out that it has made two strong appointments for balance Martin Gilbert has been promoted to deputy chairman and Andrew Sukawaty takes over his role as Sky's senior independent director. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comFriday 29 January 2016, AM
First Click: Clamping down on VPNs will turn Netflix subscribers into pirates
I've been bypassing Netflix's geographical blocks for years, ever since the streaming service first became available in the UK. I was living in the country at the time, and for months, relied on a quick DNS tweak that would switch the meager British catalog over to its much-wider US counterpart. Workaround VPNs, unblockers, and proxies have become almost standard issue for us in the years since Netflix's streaming service started its foreign expansion - Americans more recently discovered the same trick - and it doesn't seem like the company is going to be able to offer a true worldwide catalog any time soon. - www.theverge.com
www.theverge.com
DAB+ services launch in UK
The Portsmouth DAB small-scale multiplex trial has added two new services Awaaz FM and a service called Indulgence which are both available in DAB. An 'old' DAB radio will either simply not see these new services, or will offer the chance to upgrade your set to make it DAB compatible. - media.info
media.infoDate announced for the launch of talkSPORT 2
The first radio station to announce its launch date on the new national digital radio multiplex is talkSPORT 2. In the original application, Sound Digital said all stations will launch at the same time with the exception of those proposed by UTV, which may take longer to prepare, or launch according to sporting schedules. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukWednesday 27 January 2016, PM
Tuesday 26 January 2016, PM
What's the secret to retaining fickle internet TV audiences?
I work at Kaltura, where we design online video services, so through the companies we work with we're acutely aware of churn - customers discontinuing a service - and the problem it poses for OTT services in particular. OTT services should also embrace social networks to market to new viewers and go beyond Facebook or YouTube. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com
Time spent online 'overtakes TV' among youngsters
Among 15 to 16-year-olds, less than a quarter would typically watch television as it is broadcast, rather than on a catch-up or on-demand service or through YouTube. Young people still showed a clear preference for watching television on a television set - with only a relatively limited number watching programmes on mobile phones. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk
BBC Three's online relaunch starts with new shows and sites
With these come a range of fresh commissions designed to show off the BBC's new vision. When the decision was made to move BBC Three online, people weren't happy. - www.engadget.com
www.engadget.comWednesday 20 January 2016, PM
The future of ITV, Impress announces members, Trust in the media
open.live.bbc.co.ukOver 80% of new cars now have DAB as standard
Digital radio is now standard in 80 of new cars, Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy, announced today. Data from industry analysts CAP and The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders for Q4 2105 shows that the number of new cars fitted with digital radio as standard grew to 80.1, compared to 7.5 in Q4 2010 and 61.2 in Q4 2014. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukTuesday 19 January 2016, PM
BBC 'likely to lose more sport in wake of F1 and Olympics'
The BBC is likely to have to lose more live sporting events as it tries to find an additional 550m in annual savings, according to the chair of the BBC Trust. The BBC is looking to save 35m out of its sports budget this year, with a significant chunk coming from its decision in December to cut short its deal to broadcast F1 races three years early, with Channel 4 swooping in to take on the rights. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comMonday 18 January 2016, PM
Study shows compression gains
The tests showed that bit rate savings of 59 on average can be achieved by HEVC for the same perceived video quality, which is higher than a bit rate saving of 44 demonstrated using a standard objective quality metric. The evaluation suggests that for a given bit rate the subjective quality improvements of HEVC are typically greater than the objective quality improvements measured by the PSNR method that was mainly used during development of the standard. - informitv.com
informitv.comMonday 18 January 2016, AM
Netflix Pretends It Will Crackdown On VPNs Just Days After Admitting It's Futile To Do So
For a few years now, broadcasters have whined endlessly about the use of VPNs to access Netflix in markets where the streaming service had yet to launch. It's simply not possible to really ban VPN use, but Netflix wants to make partners in its 190 service countries feel comfortable while it slowly but surely works toward eliminating geo-restrictive licensing entirely. - www.techdirt.com
www.techdirt.comSunday 17 January 2016, PM
It's time for Viacom to bring Channel 5 HD from behind the paywall
Image Channel 5.Since Viacom bought Channel 5 just under two years ago the broadcaster has gobbled up a number of top US shows including Gotham and the spectacular-looking X-Files revival but good shows alone won't boost the channel's audience figures. With HD versions of BBC One, BBC Two, Channel 4 and ITV all available without subscription how likely is that people would sign-up to an expensive pay-TV deal just to watch Gotham - www.seenit.co.uk
www.seenit.co.ukSaturday 16 January 2016, PM
Compelling viewing on Channel 4 as TV bosses take sides on privatisation
Channel 4 executives and supporters of its public service broadcasting remit, which they fear would be the first casualty of privatisation, are gearing up for a fierce lobbying battle. Lord Grade, the former Channel 4 chief executive and now a Conservative peer, also recently came out in favour of privatisation and said he believed the government could write protections clauses into any ownership contract. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comFriday 15 January 2016, AM
UKTV snaps up EastEnders re-runs from BBC3 as part of TV channel launch
UKTV has struck a deal to air same-day repeats of EastEnders and bring back the popular weekend omnibus of the BBC1 soap, as part of a revamp of Watch into a more female-focused channel under the new brand W. The pay-TV company has taken over the EastEnders rights from BBC3, which will close as a TV channel next month, and reinstitute the omnibus, which BBC1 dropped a number of years ago. The new channel, scheduled to launch on 15 February, will also broadcast a number of US shows including the medical drama Code Black, CSI NY and Grimm. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comThursday 14 January 2016, PM
http://www.digitaluk.co.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/88562/Digital_UK_Consultation_AllocationofLCN_7-16Dec2015.pdf
Bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/our work/services/service changes decision 3 Digital UK LCN Consultation Proposals for the allocation of LCN 7 2.2 Provisions in the LCN Policy Among other provisions, the LCN Policy2 governs how a vacated LCN is reallocated to other channels within the same genre and the process for reserving LCNs in certain circumstances. Option 1 All public service channels at LCNs higher than channel 7 move to lower LCNs Table 1 LCN Position 7 8 9 23 Current DTT Channel Listing Proposed DTT Channel Listing under Option 1 BBC Alba, Channel 4 Local TV reservation in England and Northern Ireland BBC Three BBC Alba Channel 4 Local TV reservation in England and Northern Ireland BBC Four BBC Four Local TV reservation in Scotland and Wales Vacated LCN to be allocated under associated channel rules set out in Section 8.2 of the LCN Policy6 Local TV reservation in Scotland and Wales 6 At the time of writing, and in accordance with Section 8.2 of the LCN Policy - LCN 23 would be first offered to Create and Craft at LCN 36 by virtue of its association with Ideal World on LCN 22. - www.digitaluk.co.uk
www.digitaluk.co.ukThursday 14 January 2016, AM
Public 'support BBC cost-savings but do not want services to be axed'
The corporation's management, in September, put forward a range of measures to tackle the overall target of 150m in annual savings by 2017, including moving towards a streaming news service that could eventually replace the BBC News channel and create an on-demand service for children called iPlay. Amid the uncertainty it has been suggested that BBC4 could be shut down, as well as the BBC News channel and some radio services. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comBBC risks excluding viewers by prioritising online content
In September, the BBC put forward a range of measures to tackle the overall target of 150m in annual savings by 2017, including moving towards a streaming news service that could eventually replace the BBC News channel and creating an on-demand service for children called iPlay. Fear of cuts to much-loved core services, particularly the main TV and radio services as well as news and children's television, had also put many off the new proposals. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com
BBC eyes digital services to improve Scottish offering
Tony Hall has indicated that the BBC will use its digital strategy to better serve Scottish audiences over the next charter period. He pledged to ensure that the next charter would support the global distribution of stories about the country. - www.broadcastnow.co.uk
www.broadcastnow.co.ukWednesday 13 January 2016, PM
Monday 11 January 2016, PM
DISH offers video recorder with 16 tuners
Hopper 3, the latest version of the digital video recorder from DISH Network in the United States, has 16 tuners. Hopper 3 has more tuners than any other digital video recorder. - informitv.cominformitv.comSunday 10 January 2016, PM
Panasonic DMR-PWT550 review
The recording times above relate to DR mode, which captures programmes in the best possible quality, but you can free up space by converting them to a lower-quality recording mode afterwards. All recordings are made in DR mode first and converted to lower quality when the recorder is in standbyDual Freeview HD tuners let you record two channels at once. - www.trustedreviews.com
www.trustedreviews.comSunday 10 January 2016, AM
BBC News Channel faces axe as BBC launches cost-cutting drive led by James Harding
BBC News has launched a root and branch review of its operations in a bid to save millions of pounds that could potentially lead to the end of the BBC News Channel as we know it. A further 550m in annual savings will required across the corporation by 2021/22 as it faces cuts brought on by the new licence fee settlement and BBC News will need to take its share of the cutbacks. - www.radiotimes.com
www.radiotimes.comFriday 08 January 2016, PM
DTG :: News :: New TV Partners for Android TV, Connected TV consumer's favourite iPlayer streaming device, and Consumer
New TV partners for Android TV. Google has just made an announcement about the future of Android TV, specifically regarding a range of new TV partners who have just signed up to the operating system. Roid TV will be available in 2016, on Arcelik, Vestel, RCA, Hisense, TCL and Bang Olufsen branded TVs. They join early adopters Sony, Sharp and Phillips. - dtg.org.ukdtg.org.ukBBC launches review of news arm, saying it can't 'afford to do everything'
Harding, who needs to find an initial 5m in savings as part of the corporation's overall target of 150m in annual savings by 2017, said he was launching a three-month review on the future of BBC News. He said there were four main areas to examine in making BBC News relevant to future consumers - the platforms people will use to consume news and current affairs, the type of content BBC News should deliver, ways serving all audiences across the UK and working practices. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comWednesday 06 January 2016, PM
Tuesday 05 January 2016, PM
EFF Confirms: T-Mobile's Binge On Optimization is Just Throttling, Applies Indiscriminately to All Video
Streaming a video embedded in a webpage using HTML5, Downloading a video file to the phone's SD card, Downloading a video file to the phone's SD card, but with the filename and the HTTP response headers changed to indicate it was not a video file, and Downloading a large non-video file for comparison. Test Results No Optimization, and Everything Gets Throttled The first result of our test confirms that when Binge On is enabled, T-Mobile throttles all HTML5 video streams to around 1.5Mps, even when the phone is capable of downloading at higher speeds, and regardless of whether or not the video provider enrolled in Binge On. This is the case whether the video is being streamed or being downloaded-which means that T-Mobile is artificially reducing the download speeds of customers with Binge On enabled, even if they're downloading the video to watch later. - www.eff.org
www.eff.orgTuesday 05 January 2016, AM
Privatising Channel 4 would be a disaster for risk-taking programmes
All these programmes featured original journalism on a vital issue of public policy - continuing ITV's proud tradition of being a thorn in the side of government. So what about those current assurances that any privatisation of Channel 4 would be accompanied by cast-iron regulation to ensure programme standards Strangely enough, the same assurances were given when ITV was sold. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comUKTV matches Channel 5 and Sky in ad size for first time after record 2015
Hits including Storage Hunters and Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish helped propel UKTV to a record share of the TV advertising market last year to match rivals Channel 5 and Sky for the first time. The figures put UKTV marginally ahead of Channel 5's portfolio of channels, with a Soci of 9.26, and Sky's own branded channels, including news and sport, which stood at 9.25. UKTV is already bigger than Channel 4's flagship station in terms of Soci, but smaller than its whole family of channels which include E4, Film4 and More4. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comMonday 04 January 2016, PM
New Year. New look. New Beginnings.
We are rolling out our brand new visual identity across BBC Three - the TV channel, our place on BBC iPlayer, on bbc.co.uk, on apps and pretty much anywhere else new BBC Three will be, which will be pretty much everywhere. The visual identity brings new BBC Three together - a new logo, new idents, new animations and new on screen presentation, all with a new colour pallete. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukSunday 03 January 2016, PM
Scottish culture secretary accused of preposterous claims about BBC spending
Television executives have accused the Scottish culture secretary, Fiona Hyslop, of making bizarre and preposterous claims about BBC spending in Scotland in an escalating dispute over broadcasting policy. Pointing to the 323m raised in Scotland from licence fees, she has asked the BBC to triple its spending to 100m, including new, dedicated Scottish channels. - gu.com
gu.comFriday 01 January 2016, AM
#42 - Media Podcast Predictions 2016 - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann
feedproxy.google.comA number of AM services turned off in Europe
Medium-wave transmitters for Deutschlandradio have been turned off in Germany, along with services in France and Luxembourg. Here in the UK, the only recent closures of AM radio are from a number of BBC local radio stations which have turned off transmitters during a number of trials. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.uk
Farewell Medium Wave
In the UK, the BBC has quietly begun to shut down some of its power-hungry BBC local radio AM transmitters, using the cunning plan of turning them off for a 'trial' and seeing if anyone notices. Radio 4 boasts a clutch of Medium Wave transmitters, but its prize possession remains its powerful 198 Long Wave transmitter, beaming out from an antenna slung from the 700' high masts at Droitwich. - davidlloyd-radio.blogspot.co.ukdavidlloyd-radio.blogspot.co.ukThursday 31 December 2015, AM
How Hollywood Caught the UK's Most Prolific Movie Pirates
In 2012 the same FACT investigator began monitoring Baker's release group 'HOPE'. During the same month in which FACT investigated 26K, the anti-piracy group discovered from the group's NFO files that they were affiliated with Reid's group, RemixHD. - torrentfreak.com
torrentfreak.comWednesday 30 December 2015, PM
Wednesday 23 December 2015, PM
Robin Esser; reporting migration; Formula 1; stories of 2016
open.live.bbc.co.uk
Broadband adverts confuse public, says Citizens Advice
In particular, line rental costs were often not included in the advertised headline cost. One advert, which the charity declined to identify, was so bad that only 22 of people in the research could work out accurately how much the deal on offer might cost them. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk
Ofcom opens door for BBC Studios
In the longer-term, it expects third-party producers to win more commissions, noting the relatively poor performance of BBC in-house to compete as part of the Window of Creative Competition - where it won under one-quarter of available hours in 2014/15. Concerns were also raised about the potential for increasing pressure on BBC commissioners to order shows from BBC Studios following its leap into the commercial space. - www.broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukTuesday 22 December 2015, AM
Licence rollover extension changes are made
Radiocentre has welcomed new legislative changes which will allow analogue licence rollovers for a further 5 years for stations that are also on DAB. Ofcom will outline the precise arrangements and planned timetable for renewals in the New Year. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.uk
Channel 4 swoops for Formula One
Channel 4 has swooped for the terrestrial rights to Formula One, beating ITV to take over coverage of the motor racing competition from the BBC. The commercial broadcaster will air 10 live races a season from 2016, when Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will defend his world championship. Broadcast revealed last week that ITV was favourite to land the rights, but C4's bid has ultimately proved more attractive for F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, seemingly because it has promised to broadcast the sport without adverts. - www.broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukpick a page