Friday 03 July 2015, AM
BBC3: producers call on culture secretary to launch review into closure
The pair submitted a pound100m plan to buy BBC3, including a pledge to significantly increase programming spend by about 20, which they say was unfairly dismissed by BBC management and the BBC Trust. quotWhat is galling is haven't they even tried to explore the alternatives. The BBC does all sorts of deals. The Radio Times has a BBC logo on it and that got sold off. They sold off part of BBC America to AMC. But they don't even talk to their partners at UKTV and BBC Worldwide about BBC3.quot. - www.theguardian.com
www.theguardian.comThursday 02 July 2015, PM
Only half of young people watch live TV, according to Ofcom
BBC Director-General Tony Hall said that an increasing number of people do not watch live television and so do not need to pay the licence fee The BBC is seeking a modernised licence fee which covers quotCatch-upquot viewing when negotiations with ministers over a new Royal Charter begin. The BBC announcement means that three layers of management will be cut, while some of the BBC's divisions will be reduced. - www.independent.co.uk
www.independent.co.ukOfcom: Sky and Virgin retransmission fees plan difficult to regulate
The media regulator did admit that Sky and Virgin benefit hugely from getting channels for no charge - the lion's share of total viewing on their pay-TV services is of PSB channels. quotOfcom recognises the value that PSB channels bring to pay-TV platforms,quot it said. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comWednesday 01 July 2015, PM
Tim Hincks, BBC Three going online, The future of Olympic coverage
open.live.bbc.co.ukChris Bryant warns over BBC cuts
The Conservative government is at risk of ruining Britain's quotStrongest cultural institutionquot by demanding more cuts from the BBC, according to shadow culture secretary Chris Bryant. The Treasury is understood to be considering whether it can insist that the BBC foots the bill for the pound700m-a-year charge of providing free television for the over-75s. If non-payment of the pound145.50-a-year licence fee is decriminalised - an idea which has cross-party support - the BBC could end up with a further pound200m bill. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comTV industry is 'hideously middle class', says Endemol Shine's Tim Hincks
One of the UK's leading TV executives has described the industry as quotHideously middle classquot and called for measures of diversity in broadcasting and production to include class and social mobility. quotIt's an industry-wide problem and it's beyond shows like that. It's got nothing to do with their creative intent or their quality, it is they feel like shows made by middle class people about working class people. The reason that makes us feel uncomfortable is because it's true. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comWednesday 01 July 2015, AM
Less than half of UK adults are aware ads fund free content online
The study offered some hope that web companies could change their advertising to stop people using ad blockers. Only just over half of those using blockers saying they wanted to remove all ads. - gu.com
gu.comTuesday 30 June 2015, PM
BBC aims to become 'leaner and simpler' with new round of job cuts
Nick Robinson, the BBC's political editor, said David Cameron had threatened during the election campaign that he would quotClose them down after the electionquot Considered whether to insist that the BBC pay for the pound700m-a-year charge of providing free television for the over 75s. Currently funded by the Treasury, the BBC governors threatened to resign the last time this was mooted in 2010. Examined decriminalising non-payers of the pound145.50-a-year licence fee, which the BBC estimates would cost it a further pound200m. Debated whether to impose a new governance structure in charter renewal negotiations in which the BBC Trust would be closed to make way for external regulation from communications regulator Ofcom or a new organisation dubbed quotOfbeebquot. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comThe new season on BBC Radio 4 unveiled
A number of new commissions for BBC Radio 4 have been revealed at an event in London on Monday night with BBC Director General Tony Hall and station Controller Gwyneth Williams. quotI am excited by the line-up of ambitious programmes and amazing talent that will be on Radio 4 this autumn. I want especially to welcome the gifted young comedian and actor - already a Radio 4 favourite - Miles Jupp, as our new presenter of The News Quiz. We will miss the fabulous Sandi Toksvig but I know that her legacy will be safe with Miles. - radiotoday.co.uk
radiotoday.co.uk
Ministers urged to intervene as BBC under threat of losing of Olympics coverage rights
In a major blow to the BBC, which styled itself as the quotHome of Gamesquot during the 2012 London Olympics when it screened 2,500 hours of live action, the broadcaster will now have to negotiate a licensing deal with Discovery if it is to extend 60 years of continuous coverage of the Games. Discovery could quotSublicensequot limited live coverage to commercial, free-to-air UK broadcasters, including ITV and Channel 4, which already screens the Paralympics, ending the BBC's longstanding association with the Games. - www.independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukBBC Trust publishes provisional conclusions on proposed changes to BBC television and online services
The BBC Trust has today published its provisional conclusions on the BBC Executive's proposals to reinvent BBC Three as an online-only service, launch a 1 channel for BBC One evolve BBC iPlayer and extend the hours of CBBC. Provisional conclusions on proposed changes to BBC television and online services. quotWe know young audiences are already moving towards the online future, but we do recognise that in the short term some of them will feel the immediate impact of the BBC Three proposals. We are therefore asking the BBC for commitments to ensure it uses the full range of its television services to better serve young people and others who make up BBC Three's audience. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukMonday 29 June 2015, PM
DCMS: no plans to move C4 to Birmingham
The Department for Culture Media and Sport has “no plans” to relocate Channel 4 out of London after reports emerged that a move to Birmingham was under consideration. A report in The Telegraph on Saturday suggested that the government was eyeing a sale of the broadcaster’s Horseferry Road headquarters, raising a potential £85m. C4 would then be relocated, with the Midlands and Manchester named as potential new homes. The BBC and ITV already have bases in Salford’s Media City. Were it to go ahead, such a move would represent an alternative to the plans to privatise C4 - which are said to be being considered by culture secretary John Whittingdale – and help the publicly-owned broadcaster to further stimulate the regional TV industry.. - www.broadcastnow.co.uk
www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Discovery snatches Olympic Games rights
The BBC will lose control over the TV rights to the Olympic Games from 2022 after Discovery struck a €1.3bn (£920m) deal to broadcast the event across 50 European territories. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) today announced that the US broadcasting giant has landed the exclusive TV and online rights to the Olympics and Winter Olympics across Europe from 2018 to 2024. Rights in the UK are handled on a different timetable to some of Europe, meaning the BBC will not be impacted until the Winter Olympics in 2022. It holds exclusive UK rights to the Games up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 under a deal it struck with the IOC in 2012. As part of Discovery’s deal, it has committed to broadcasting a minimum of 200 hours of the summer Games and 100 hours of the winter Games on free-to-air television. Discovery could choose to do this in the UK by launching a free-to-air Eurosport channel, putting the rights on its existing Freeview station Quest or sub-licencing the Games to another broadcaster.- www.broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukLondon Live makes £12m loss
quotWe launched a quality channel after building the complete broadcasting chain from scratch and our agile approach during our first year has seen us evolve the channel, focusing investment on the most popular programming and ensuring a financially sustainable cost base for the business,quot said Tim Kirkman, chief operating officer at London Live. London Live said its May audience figures put it quotMarginally behindquot Sky 1, but in London attracted more viewers than channels including 5USA, UKTV's Watch, Sky News, ITVBe and Comedy Central. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comSunday 28 June 2015, PM
Is TV putting its money where its mouth is on diversity?
The BBC's diversity adviser Lady Grey-Thompson put the cat among the pigeons last week when she said the BBC may have to spend around pound100m if it wants to achieve true diversity. He suggested ringfencing money for BAME shows and setting targets adapted from a BBC model used to increase programmes from the nations and regions by 400. Albury says quotIt's an ingenious solution and it worked for regional programming.quot He calls the BBC's diversity fund quotDerisoryquot and says it was quotAbout on-screen representationquot - more needs to be done behind the scenes and in putting people from BAME backgrounds in positions of power quotThe figure Tanni Grey-Thompson talked about would drive the diversity of BAME employment. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comSaturday 27 June 2015, PM
BBC unveils plans for radio revolution
26 June 2015 Last updated at 1215 The BBC is planning to triple the amount of radio hours open to competition from indies under new 'compete or compare' proposals unveiled on Thursday. The new approach would phase out the quota over a six-year period, with the result that around 60 percent of eligible network radio hours will have been opened up to competition. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukGovernment denies decision made on Ofcom replacing BBC Trust
The forthcoming green paper on the BBC is likely to call for the abolition of the BBC Trust without backing an alternative regulator, according to sources close to the government. Within a few months of her appointment, the chair of the trust, Rona Fairhead, indicated it was not fit for purpose and that its powers should be transferred to an external body dedicated to regulating the BBC. The Telegraph reported that ministers had rejected that option and were instead planning an expanded role for Ofcom, which already acts as the regulator for commercial TV. A report in February on the future of the BBC from the select committee chaired by the now-culture and media secretary John Whittingdale was sharply critical of the trust, suggesting that a unitary board allied with an external regulator might be a better option. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comFriday 26 June 2015, PM
BBC's future to be examined in a green paper this summer
According to last year's BBC annual report Worldwide returned pound174m to the BBC in 2013/14 so privatising it would reduce the corporation's income. There has been some concern within the BBC that there could be something about the corporation in the chancellor's budget on 8 July and that the charter renewal process and licence fee settlement could become caught up in a government spending review, as the licence fee deal was in 2010. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comBBC could be made to pay for the £600m cost of free TV licences itself, George Osborne says
Read more BBC's Tony Hall The Tories won't close us downMPs set to debate BBC licenceBBC boss Tony Hall TV licence fee will last another 10 years. The new Culture Secretary is a well-known critic of the licence fee, and of alleged political bias in the BBC, but in a recent interview Mr Whittingdale said quotIt never was the case that I was going in to go to war with the BBC.quot. - www.independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.uk26/06/2015 Radio 4 Feedback
open.live.bbc.co.ukWednesday 24 June 2015, PM
Commissioning BBC TV programmes, News on smart phones, The 'pause' in local TV rollout
open.live.bbc.co.ukBBC turns on five more DAB radio transmitters
The roll-out not only serves new areas but also improves coverage in areas already served. Haydon Bridge and parts of Haltwhistle Campbeltown and surrounding areas Brandon and areas of the Brecks Ipswich and surrounding areas Port St Mary and surrounding areas on the Isle of Man. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukWednesday 24 June 2015, AM
Local TV rollout delay 'unjustified'
Licences for Kidderminster, Bromsgrove and Stratford-upon-Avon would not be advertised until at least next year, regulator Ofcom revealed last week. Licences to run channels in 10 other areas will not be re-advertised until at least next year. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk
The BBC's launched an app for its youth-friendly Newsbeat service
Available for Android and iOS, the BBC Newsbeat app brings news from around the world as well as updates on social trends, entertainment, gaming, student life and more. Read next BuzzFeed's news app gives you the latest without the fluff. - thenextweb.com
thenextweb.comTuesday 23 June 2015, PM
Portsmouth to get new DAB services
quotHighbury College prides itself on being a cutting edge educational establishment, and we are excited to showcase our student led radio service JAMM Radio to digital radio listeners in Portsmouth. We look forward to working with local broadcasters to broaden choice available to radio listeners. quotWith nearly half of adults nationally having access to a DAB digital radio, being on DAB digital radio in addition to FM, will enable our unique local programming to be heard in Portsmouth on as many radios as possible. - media.info
media.info
Local TV licences not yet advertised
Licences to run local TV channels in 13 areas will not be advertised or re-advertised until at least next year. Originally, 47 licences were due to have been awarded or advertised by early last year. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukGrowing resentment of pay television
The Digitalsmiths quarterly video trends survey of over 3,000 consumers in the United States and Canada found that 3.1 of respondents planned to switch their television service in the next six months, while 7.5 said they would change their service and 4.8 said that they would cut their television service altogether. Despite a 5 year on year increase in awareness it suggests that service providers are still failing to market their television everywhere services effectively. - informitv.com
informitv.comYoung people still watch television
The research, based on industry data from 2014, including BARB, comScore and Ofcom, shows that television viewing, across live, playback and the video on demand services of broadcasters, dominates the viewing of all ages. Playback of recorded programmes and broadcaster video on demand services contribute a further 16 of all viewing, while discs add another 9. Together, these sources account for three quarters of all video viewing. - informitv.cominformitv.comMonday 22 June 2015, PM
Tony Hall: household levy a very interesting idea
Tony Hall has suggested he is open to exploring the German household levy as a means of funding the BBC. The director general told The Andrew Marr Show that the licence fee has another decade of life, but repeated views in a Broadcast interview last week, explaining that reform is needed to the funding mechanism. This includes extending the licence fee to cover catch up viewing on iPlayer. Hall added that the household levy is a “very interesting idea”, but said he was unsure how it will work in practice. “There is a broad agreement that the licence fee needs to be reformed in some sort of way… it could be a household tax, I don’t know whether that works or not, ” the director general told Marr. Hall was speaking a day after John Whittingdale gave his first interview as culture secretary. - www.broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukDigital Radio's summer campaign launches
A number of radio stations across the UK are now broadcasting Digital Radio UK's summer advertising campaign. The BBC is also mounting a major TV and radio promotional push for the England v Australia Ashes which runs from 8 July to 25 August with radio commentary running exclusively on BBC Radio 5 live Sports Extra. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukRadio indies not happy with BBC Trust Review
Managing Director Will Jackson told RadioToday quotThree independent analyses of the indie radio sector in the last 16 months have recommended that the BBC should significantly grow opportunities for indies to produce radio content. We are therefore disappointed that the Trust has not gone further and clearly recommended a substantial increase in opening up the radio schedules to indies. quotWe note the report makes recommendations that for BBC Television, the in-house production guarantee should be reduced or removed, and that the BBC strengthen its working with indie TV producers in the nations and regions - we will be working to see that emulated in radio. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukTime is running out for the 30-second TV commercial
A study last year by Arris showed that 84 of respondents wanted to fast forward through the ads they watch, while 60 of them download or record shows so they can skip commercials. What sort of brand message is appropriate today What can a brand do to get its message across to consumers in this new media environment without giving up the massive reach that TV commercials can bring - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com
BBC director-general Tony Hall: The Tories won't close us down
The BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, said that sources on an election battle bus had told him the Prime Minister had described a BBC story as quotRubbishquot and went on to say quotI'm going to close them down after the election. quotI put a cap on that at pound150,000 in the first couple of months and that must continue,quot he said, adding that while the BBC now wants to cap them at pound125,000, the Government was aiming for pound95,000. - www.independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukSaturday 20 June 2015, PM
but why doesn't it press the sceptics?
On Thursday, eurosceptic MPs tabled an amendment to the referendum bill designed to establish a regulator to ensure balance in the BBC's coverage of the vote on UK membership of the EU. Their implied attack on the BBC is not surprising as the corporation is one of the few mass media outlets with any hope of providing balance given the europhobic stance of many of the best-selling newspapers. When eurosceptics stress the export opportunities available outside the EU, the BBC never asks why membership impedes our global exports, nor points out that an exit would exclude the UK from existing EU trade treaties and that negotiating new ones would take many years. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comFriday 19 June 2015, PM
19/06/2015 Radio 4 Feedback
open.live.bbc.co.uk#32 - Chris Evans gets BBC out of a tight corner - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann
feedproxy.google.comWednesday 17 June 2015, PM
Saturday 13 June 2015, PM
Trust to review how BBC uses statistics
11 June 2015 Last updated at 1209 The BBC Trust will examine how the BBC reports statistics in news and current affairs programming, the subject of its latest impartiality review. The review will assess whether the BBC is giving audiences sufficient context and analysis when reporting statistics, and whether it's enough to give them an informed understanding of controversial subjects and areas of public policy. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk
Greece's state broadcaster ERT back on air after two years
Greece's state broadcaster ERT went back on air on Thursday, two years after being closed down under austerity measures. A concert by ERT's musical ensembles outside the station's headquarters is to be broadcast live on TV and radio this evening, followed by quotThe lost signal of democracyquot - a documentary looking back at events since the previous government decided to close ERT. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukFriday 12 June 2015, PM
Ofcom awards 10 local DAB multiplex trials
In Glasgow, a local mux has been awarded to Scrimshaws ID which will broadcast quotFour or fivequot services including Celtic Music Radio, Pulse FM and a new station called GO Radio. quotStar Radio's Programme Director Simon Nicks is very happy with the announcement, and addsquotThis is a great step forward in bringing the DAB platform to local stations like ours, it also opens up Digital Radio to others such as community stations, expanding choice, which is a healthy thing. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukWednesday 10 June 2015, PM
Tuesday 09 June 2015, PM
Creative industry calls on Trust to #SaveBBC3
Rew Davies - who wrote the Colin Firth adaptation of Pride and Prejudice - and Jimmy McGovern, writer of BBC2's Banished. It adds quotBBC3 has cost the licence fee payer over pound1bn over the last 10 years. Closure will write off this investment, which would be unthinkable in a commercial environment. - savebbc3.comsavebbc3.comTuesday 09 June 2015, AM
Industry big guns are 'backing the BBC'
4 June 2015 Last updated at 1420 Oscar-winning directors, celebrated documentary-makers and hit drama writers are among the supporters of a 'Back the BBC' campaign, launched by Broadcast magazine. Pat Younge, former BBC chief creative officer, who is now MD of Sugar Films, added 'As someone who's lived abroad you come to realise the vital role the BBC plays in keeping the industry and aiming high... You will certainly miss it if it's gone, and by then it will be too late. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukFriday 05 June 2015, PM
#31 - Broadcast Backs the Beeb, Lineker’s BT Transfer and Creative Week 2015
feedproxy.google.com
#31 - Broadcast Backs the Beeb Creative Week 2015
feedproxy.google.comWednesday 03 June 2015, PM
Mike Darcey, CEO of News UK; the role of the press in Scotland; Ofcom on London Live
open.live.bbc.co.ukMurdoch on Page 3; Protecting journalists' sources; AP uses robots
open.live.bbc.co.ukBBC on Sir Cliff coverage; Press Gazette joins IPSO; Who is Rona Fairhead?
open.live.bbc.co.ukJihadis on social media; Exploitation in S Yorkshire; TV debates
open.live.bbc.co.ukBBC on Sir Cliff; Covering the Missouri riots; Sky diversity targets
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