Monday 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.uk
www.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.uk
radiotoday.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.uk
www.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.uk
Streaming TV Isn’t Just a New Way to Watch. It’s a New Genre.
Full seasons, released all at once, are something genuinely new. And we’re just starting to figure out their conventions and aesthetics. - www.nytimes.com
www.nytimes.com
42 percent of cord-cutters don’t even subscribe to home broadband
Fed up with your cable TV? Tired of paying for an expensive satellite package you barely use? You're not alone: Up to 15 percent of Americans have cut the cord, joining the 9 percent who have never had a cable or satellite TV subscription. - www.washingtonpost.comwww.washingtonpost.comMonday 21 December 2015, AM
BBC hires Gus O'Donnell firm to review £700m costs of over-75s' licence fees
The BBC has hired the company chaired by former cabinet secretary Gus O'Donnell to explore how to get over-75s to voluntarily pay the licence fee and examine how the 700m annual costs might be reduced in the future. The BBC is to take on the cost of licence fees for over-75s in stages, with the government covering 468m of the total cost in 2018/2019 and 247m in 2019/20. - www.theguardian.com
www.theguardian.comSaturday 19 December 2015, PM
STV wants to take BBC Three's place in Freeview channel line-up
STV's local stations would then move from channel 23 to take up residence at channel 8, under the proposal. A second option would see BBC Alba on channel 7, BBC Four on channel 8 and the local Scottish services on channel 9. - www.thecourier.co.uk
www.thecourier.co.ukFriday 18 December 2015, PM
18/12/2015 Radio 4 Feedback
open.live.bbc.co.ukOfcom report reveals dominance of BBC in local, national and online news markets
Asked what specific outlets people use for news, BBC One was by far the most popular - listed by 48 per cent of respondents, down from 53 per cent last year. Some 31 per cent said they use a newspaper for news, down from 40 per cent last year. - www.pressgazette.co.uk
www.pressgazette.co.ukWednesday 16 December 2015, PM
Tuesday 15 December 2015, PM
Netflix launches on UK's Freetime by Freesat platform » Digital TV Europe
Netflix has launched on UK free-to-air digital satellite platform Freesat via its Freetime connected TV service. Netflix is already available via Virgin Media and the YouView-based services offered by BT and TalkTalk in the UK, but has yet to launch on the new Freeview Play service launched to complement free-to-air digital-terrestrial platform Freeview. - www.digitaltveurope.net
www.digitaltveurope.netTuesday 15 December 2015, AM
Netflix's New Tech Makes for Better-Looking, Lower-Bandwidth Streams
SEE MORE Why Netflix Is Pushing 'Breaking Bad,' 'House of Cards' in 4K Ultra HD. In recent months, Netflix has been silently testing the new encoding scheme by sending out streams with new and improved bitrates and resolutions to randomly selected customers. Once Netflix's video algorithms team is done with re-encoding the existing catalog, it already has a number of new challenges ahead. There is 4K, and there are a number of other ways to improve image quality, including higher frame rates and HDR. And then there is another crazy idea that could require the company to re-encode the entire catalog all over again After finding the best setting for each single video, Aaron's team is now thinking about even encoding each scene of a movie or TV show with different settings to account for higher information density during fight scenes and lower demands during slow moments of introspection. - variety.com
variety.comMonday 14 December 2015, AM
Guernsey gets national BBC stations on DAB
National DAB radio services have arrived in Guernsey from the BBC, after a week of testing. The island would have had the services earlier but there has been discussions about moving the transmitter site locally. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukSunday 13 December 2015, AM
BBC continues to improve DAB coverage
The BBC has announced where it has boosted or introduced DAB coverage of its national digital radio stations since October, as its roll-out of national DAB heads towards the end. DorkingImproving coverage in Dorking, parts of Mickleham and Leatherhead. HaslemereImproving coverage in Haslemere and Liphook. - www.a516digital.comwww.a516digital.comSaturday 12 December 2015, AM
Netflix usage gaining ground on ITV Player and iPlayer in UK
Netflix use gaining ground on ITV Player and iPlayer in UK. New research from Parks Associates indicates that 18 of UK broadband households have used paid-service Netflix in the past 30 days, compared to 20 who used the free ITV Player and 33 who used the free iPlayer to stream video programming. Overall 58 of U.K. broadband households used a video streaming service or player within the past 30 days. - www.iptv-news.comwww.iptv-news.comFriday 11 December 2015, PM
11/12/2015 Radio 4 Feedback
open.live.bbc.co.uk#41: Would Channel 4 Survive Privatisation? - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann
feedproxy.google.comFriday 11 December 2015, AM
Heggessey accuses government of being 'underhand' over C4
Lorraine Heggessey has attacked the government for the underhand way it has handled the potential Channel 4 sell-off and warned that the UK broadcasting ecology could change very suddenly. Delivering the RTS Christmas Lecture on Wednesday, the former BBC1 controller said she was concerned how C4 privatisation had been sneaked on to the agenda by culture secretary John Whittingdale after he denied it was under consideration at the Edinburgh International Television Festival in August. To start proposing a major change like this at a time when they've refused to extend Terry Burns tenure, so that C4 is essentially without a chairman, and when everyone is very much focused on the BBC licence fee debate, makes it seem like the DCMS is trying to pull a fast one, Heggessey said.. - www.broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukWednesday 09 December 2015, PM
TV leadership debates, Royal interview conditions, Trump's social media strategy.
open.live.bbc.co.uk
Netflix, iPlayer and others to be available on holiday
Online service subscriptions, such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Sky's Now TV, will be portable across the EU under proposals announced on Wednesday. Supporters said the proposals were an opportunity for creative industries. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukWednesday 09 December 2015, AM
DAB radio coverage gets a boost in Sussex
Digital radio reception is being improved for over 330,000 people in the Sussex area - around Crawley, Newhaven, Heathfield and in the Sussex Weald, north of Shoreham. The Mayor urged all digital listeners in Sussex to retune to ensure that they could continue to listen to BBC Sussex, Heart Sussex, Smooth Radio Sussex, Capital, Gold, KISSTORY, heat, Gaydio and Smile Sussex. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukTuesday 08 December 2015, PM
Is BBC One really the same as ITV?
Having cut the BBC's funding if you then freeze the BBC in aspic with very detailed regulations, there is a real danger that you end up with a diminished BBC. While a BBC that paints by numbers and ticks any number of boxes may be good news for commercial competitors, it would not deliver the genuine creativity and innovation valued by licence fee payers. 2 A ban on the BBC showing any acquired content or formats on BBC One or BBC Two. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukMonday 07 December 2015, PM
Disconnected viewing experiences
The ways in which we watch television are continuing to evolve, with online viewing increasing, but traditional broadcast television remains overwhelmingly the most important way of watching in the United Kingdom. More programming is being viewed over the internet than ever before, but most viewing continues to be to linear broadcast television. - informitv.com
informitv.comMonday 07 December 2015, AM
Ofcom pushing ahead with small-scale DAB and planning for terrestrial TV changes
As part of Ofcom's newly-published plans for the 2016/17 financial year, it has confirmed that it is going to continue its work on 'small scale DAB', a low-cost, simplified approach to enabling stations to broadcast across a small area on DAB. Ofcom wants to expand small scale DAB services to more areas and has been working on identifying suitable frequencies and setting up the regulatory framework for smaller operators if small scale DAB was to enter regular, full-time service across the UK. The current roll-out of local, mostly countywide DAB multiplexes will continue to be supported into the next financial year, according to the proposed Ofcom annual plan. - www.a516digital.comwww.a516digital.comNielsen: Smartphones and the Internet are eating our TV time
In the same age group, the demographic most highly coveted by advertisers, use of those devices fell 8 percent over the same period to a combined 16.6 million people per minute. The new Nielsen data also looks at time spent watching video on various devices, but not for TV-connected devices, where users were clocked playing games as well. - bigstory.ap.orgbigstory.ap.orgSaturday 05 December 2015, AM
Sir David Attenborough: 'I am concerned about future of the BBC'
Sir David Attenborough has voiced concern about the BBC's future as he returns to film at the Great Barrier Reef, after nearly 60 years. Sir David's new three-part series, which begins later this month on BBC One sees him return to the Great Barrier Reef in north-eastern Australia. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukFriday 04 December 2015, PM
Wednesday 02 December 2015, PM
Lord Puttnam on public service broadcasting, Peter Salmon on BBC Studios, I'm a Celebrity
open.live.bbc.co.ukDTG :: News :: Ofcom reveals TV homes drop, iPlayer on the rise, Virgin Media goes back to content
Virgin Media recently acquired US horror series 'Ash vs Evil Dead', marking a return to the business of owning content. The deal with US media firm Starz allows Virgin Media to make the first five episodes immediately available on their VoD service, with the remaining episodes added after airing in the US. This is the first significant move back into content since the Virgin Media channels division was sold off to Sky in 2010. - www.dtg.org.ukwww.dtg.org.ukWednesday 02 December 2015, AM
UTV shareholders agree on £100m sale to ITV
UTV has recently sold one of its stations to Global, meaning Juice FM Liverpool will become Capital next month. The company is gearing up towards the launch of three brand new national radio stations early next year on DAB. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukTuesday 01 December 2015, PM
Channel 4 News in current form 'unlikely to survive privatisation'
The outgoing Channel 4 chairman Terry Burns has said he struggles to see how the broadcaster's 7pm news bulletin would survive at its current length in a primetime slot if the channel were privatised. Burns said uncertainty over Channel 4's future had been disruptive to the channel's ongoing operations. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com
57% of UK TV housesholds have HD
Significantly more viewers choose to watch ITV in standard definition rather than ITV HD, most of the time. Online catch-up viewing is now increasingly substituting for DVR-recorded programming when viewers want to watch programmes they have missed. - www.broadbandtvnews.com
www.broadbandtvnews.comTuesday 01 December 2015, AM
Ofcom launches Wi-Fi checker
Move your router to a different part of your home The walls and furniture in your house act as an obstacle to the Wi-Fi radio frequencies. Try restarting your wireless router This may automatically select a less busy Wi-Fi radio frequency. - consumers.ofcom.org.ukconsumers.ofcom.org.ukMonday 30 November 2015, PM
European broadcasters retain spectrum
An international conference has decided to maintain certain radio frequencies primarily for broadcasting in Europe, Africa the Middle East and Central Asia, while providing further capacity for mobile broadband in some bands globally. The GSMA, which represents mobile operators and associated companies, had argued for the UHF band below 700MHz to be allocated to mobile services on a 'co-primary' basis with broadcasting. - informitv.cominformitv.com
C4's future to be decided in new year
The government could reach a decision over whether to privatise Channel 4 as early as January, Broadcast understands. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) quietly began a formal process with the broadcaster just over three weeks ago, requesting detailed information to help it assess privatisation and other options. It is examining C4’s finances and is understood to have sent the broadcaster a series of questions to answer, which will help it explore a number of potential models. Sources have indicated to Broadcast that among these is how a privately-owned C4 might operate were it allowed to have in-house production. - www.broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukFriday 27 November 2015, PM
#40 - David Schneider on being funny for brands - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann
feedproxy.google.comLocal Radio controversy, BBC World Service funding, New comedy double act The Pin
open.live.bbc.co.ukFriday 27 November 2015, AM
BBC3 TV channel to be switched off by February, BBC Trust confirms
The BBC3 TV channel will be switched off by February next year, the BBC Trust has confirmed, despite accepting that almost 1 million younger viewers could desert the corporation as a consequence. As expected the trust confirmed its rejection of the corporation's controversial bid to launch a BBC11 channel in place of BBC3. The report gave given the corporation three months to return with a full proposal for the use of the BBC3 TV spectrum. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comThursday 26 November 2015, PM
A new Ariel for a new era
The latest change sees Ariel becoming a true internal channel for the first time in its long history, available only to BBC employees via Gateway. The world has changed unrecognisably since the first edition of Ariel in June 1936 but the brand remains, with its fundamental remit, to convey messages, news, perspective and context on what matters most to us, the people of the BBC. That's the same as it ever was. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk
Broadband's frequency hunters denied Freeview patch
Between them these two muxes carry eight of the Freeview platform's 14 HD channels. With major changes to Freeview potentially less than two years away, let's hope Geneva at least means light is coming. - www.theregister.co.ukwww.theregister.co.uk
BBC3 to move online by March 2016
The BBC Trust has formally approved proposals to close BBC3 as a linear channel in January and to gradually transition it online by March 2016. As a condition of the move, the service licence agreements of both BBC1 and BBC2 have been amended to require an extra commitment to programming for 16-34 year olds. The two channels will also be required to air all BBC3’s long-form content “at a variety of times” in their schedules as soon as the linear channel closes at the end of February. The decision marks the culmination of an 11-month public value assessment (PVA) by the Trust, under which the governing body has also confirmed that the proposals to launch BBC1+1 have been rejected. However, as mooted under a provisional decision on the BBC3 plans in June, the Trust has approved plans to extend CBBC’s broadcast hours from 7pm to 9pm and develop iPlayer to include online-first and third party content. www.broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukpick a page