Episode 30 – Phone hacking payouts, RAJARs, falling ITV audience – The Media Podcast with Olly Mann

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DTG :: News :: The DTG congratulates John Whittingdale MP and Ed Vaizey MP on ministerial appointments

John Whittingdale has taken a strong interest in the media industry as chair of the Commons culture, media and sport select committee since 2005. He launched the DTG's Future of Innovation in Television Taskforce report at the DTG Summit 2014. - www.dtg.org.uk

www.dtg.org.uk

RAJAR figures on media.info

Want a quick overview of how a radio station's done Search for a radio station like BBC Radio 2, and instantly see how many weekly listeners it has. Discover what kind of music the station plays, and more information including their website, Twitter and Facebook accounts and who the key personnel are at the station. - media.info

media.info

Apple Wants Local TV in Its Apple TV Service, Which Means Apple TV Could Be Delayed

Industry executives familiar with Apple's plans say the company wants to provide customers in cities around the U.S. with programming from their local broadcast stations. Apple's pitch to TV networks is that it wants its service to have mass appeal - quotThis is supposed to be for 30 million people,quot says one executive who has talked to Apple - and it believes local TV will be part of that. - recode.net

recode.net

Digital radio hits nearly 40% of all listening

Absolute 80s pulled in an average of 1.45 million listeners a week with another 1.25 million tuning into Planet Rock, both owned by Bauer Media, in the first three months of this year, according to Rajar listening figures published on Thursday. Global Radio's Classic FM was up 4.1 year on year to 5.53 million listeners while UTV's TalkSport was up 1.6 to 3.25 million. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Edinburgh man wins Sky payout after BILLING them £25 an hour for time wasted

'Fobbed off' Mr Swift had two years of frustrations to finally settle his dispute with Sky - who failed to acknowledge he had paid his final bill to Sky and then moved address. Long process Mr Swift's bill included 31 hours and 25 minutes speaking to Sky either on phone or by email, with a further six hours dealing with Mackenzie Hall debt collectors. - www.dailymail.co.uk

www.dailymail.co.uk

South Africa to start digital migration

Transformation Transformation of the media industry, especially the print media in South Africa, was slow, and little had changed since 1994 when Times Media, Naspers, Caxton and Argus were the big four media houses, Muthambi said. quotAs part of finalising this policy, we will also investigate the possibility of pooling government media assets with a view to support the creation of a black-owned media house in the country.quot Community media Deputy Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams said it was important for the government to support community media in order to ensure they were able to sustain themselves. - www.southafrica.info

www.southafrica.info

BBC global audience passes 300 million

The figures, which includes people looking at news content on the BBC's Facebook page and on YouTube for the first time, shows that television has overtaken radio as the most popular platform for BBC international news for the first time. The reach of BBC Global News hit 105 million, with World News TV viewing rising 12 and those turning to BBC.com for news rising 16. quotThe consumption of branded BBC services across TV, radio and digital platforms speaks to the international appetite for premium content across all the genres for which we are best known - primarily news, but increasingly for drama, factual and entertainment,quot said Tim Davie, chief executive of BBC Worldwide. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Between A Rock And A Hard Place

The latest research shows that 80 of all 15 year olds in the UK have a smartphone, and that on a smartphone streaming music is the 14th most popular activity, and listening to the radio is 33rd. All that time spent playing Candy Crush, checking your mum hasn't embarrassed you on Facebook or just texting the latest emoji's, means time not tuned into a radio station. We have streaming services trying to be radio stations and radio stations evolving online. - www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

BBC weekly global audience over 300m

The new figure includes people using Facebook and YouTube to watch BBC content abroad and those who watch BBC Worldwide channels. The same figures show that the BBC's weekly global news audience has increased by 18m, a rise of 7 since last year, taking it to a record-breaking 283m. Television has overtaken radio as the most popular platform for BBC international news for the first time, with 148m watching via TV as opposed to 133m via radio. - www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

but byzantine 'cable bundle' pricing still has me baffled

What really did my head in, and caused me to pull the plug on my cable television was the utterly incomprehensible nature of what's known as the quotCable bundlequot. The only way to get the teasers and discount rates that make cable affordable, relative to its alternatives is if you are a television addict and/or are happy to subscribe to lots of channels just in case there's a show that pops up on one that you might want to watch down the road. None of these television options seemed very attractive, at least on an absolute basis. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Media: Facebook Instant Articles, Eurovision and UKTV.

downloads.bbc.co.uk

BBC freezes recruitment for digital content director

The BBC has called a temporary halt to its hunt for a digital content director after it failed to uncover the required calibre of candidate and to allow incoming executive Emma Swain to clarify the remit of the role. Applications were received for the role, which was first advertised in November alongside the BBC3 digital controller position, before it was removed from the BBC’s internal list of vacancies later that month.. - www.broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

UTV gets extra space for new DAB stations

First Radio Sales will be leaving UTV's London HQ to make extra room for studios for four new stations. UTV Media's COO Scott Taunton said quotIn 2016 UTV will be at the forefront of the biggest expansion in the UK's national radio line-up in a generation. We want to foster a culture of creative excellence and innovation at our national radio business, and the world-class new broadcast centre we're planning to build on London's South Bank will be the first step to achieving that goal. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

HSBC tax scandal: Classic FM and Capital owner Global Radio advised stations not to report story

Peter Oborne resigned from The Telegraph earlier this year Comment The Telegraph only has itself to blame. The Independent has contacted Global Radio for a comment on the situation. - www.independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Over-The-Top Streaming Video Services To Surge To 330 Million+ Subscribers By 2019

Consumer adoption of streaming video services is surging, according to a new report by Juniper Research out this morning, which finds that subscriber numbers for services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video will grow from 92.1 million in 2014 to 333.2 million global subscriptions by 2019. Dish Network is running an Internet-based streaming TV service called Sling TV. Juniper also says that the spike in consumer adoption of these streaming video services will be led by growth in North America, but will be closely followed by the Far East, as this region, too, will see new services and increasing consumer interest. - techcrunch.com

techcrunch.com

Pay television in the UK and Ireland

The informitv Multiscreen Index now reports there are 18.50 million pay television customers across the four main providers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. TalkTalk added 82,000 video customers for a total of 1.41 million, while BT TV gained 52,000 video customers to reach 1.14 million. - informitv.com

informitv.com

Surveying ultra-high-definition benefits

So why is viewing distance relative to screen size important The designed viewing distance for high-definition television is apparently just over three times the screen height. The optimal 'design viewing distance' is apparently 'the distance at which two adjacent pixels subtend an angle of 1 arc-min at the viewer's eye'. - informitv.com

informitv.com

TV licence loophole exploited by viewers

As a consequence it is not doing everything it can to reduce licence fee evasion such as making iPlayer access - which unlike watching free-to-air broadcast signals can be easily controlled - contingent on owning a TV licence. In the digital age where all online devices have unique addresses and where mobile applications - including the BBC's iPlayer app - identify the devices they send content to - the BBC already has mountains of information it could use to pursue licence fee evaders but chooses not to. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

BBC's Diane Coyle: 'Whittingdale, despite the headlines, is a good choice'

quotShe explainsquotIn the Conservative party there are more people who are ideological about the BBC and would want to pare it backquot, but quotI think the government and John Whittingdale are actually quite pragmatic and recognise among the people who vote for them that the BBC has great popularity. quotIf politicians really stop to think about it they recognise independent scrutiny from the BBC, although it can be uncomfortable, serves them better than anything else. All the research I've ever seen says that people, on the whole, like the BBC and want it to carry on and don't want it interfered withI think grown-up politicians will not be daft enough to ignore what people think about it.quot And she thinks that, quotWhittingdale, despite the headlines, is actually a good choice. He's really well-informed. He's a pragmatic, sensible man. He knows people in the independent sector and around the country. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

John Whittingdale, the horror fan putting the frighteners on the BBC

There is no shortage of evidence that Whittingdale will take a tough line on the BBC, having said last year that the licence fee was quotWorse than the poll taxquot because there was no element of subsidy for the low-paid. More top-slicing is likely and there is the possibility that Whittingdale will revisit the idea, which he backed five years ago, of the BBC paying the pound500m cost of free TV licences for the over-75s. If the axeman cometh, then he does so with a cheery smile and a glint in his eye, a man who once said his favourite Star Trek character was The Borg, quotAn alien species which is very similar to the Whips' office a collective consciousness dedicated to the eradication of all other speciesquot. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

BBC Local Radio closes Late Show for East Midlands

The programme, which broadcasts on BBC Radio Nottingham, Derby, Lincolnshire and Leicester, will have its last edition on May 21st. As of May 24th, East Midlands listeners will join the late show broadcast in the West Midlands, on BBC WM, Coventry Warwickshire, Hereford Worcester, Stoke, and Shropshire. Given the BBC's comparatively large local radio sizes, it's likely that he now reaches more potential listeners across BBC Local Radio than he did on the GWR network. - media.info

media.info

Shutting down huge pirate sites has no 'positive effect'

To shutdown may actually have made life worse for the authorities quotThe postshutdown market structure was much more fragmented, thus making it potentially more resistant to any future interventions. Consumers might be using more offline resources that are not easily tracked. - www.wired.co.uk

www.wired.co.uk

Medium wave transmitters turned off in Berkshire

The original frequency used by Radio 210 from its launch in 1976 is no more, after the AM transmitter broadcasting Smooth Radio to Reading was turned off this weekend. Smooth Radio has been on 1431KHz from Manor Farm since last March, when it took over the old Gold frequencies on medium wave across the country. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

CONTENT FLOW THROUGH THE MOBILE ECOSYSTEM

CONTENT FLOW THROUGH THE MOBILE ECOSYSTEM In Association with the Mobile Video Alliance Content Created UK Digital Video Revenues Content items are typically created by a Content Owner or Broadcaster at a Studio and are designed to be shown via a variety of TV and mobile devices. The video asset will typically be delivered by a Content Distribution Network ready to respond to multiple requests from a variety of mobile end users. - www.dtg.org.uk

www.dtg.org.uk

Home

The electronic programme guide on a DAB digital radio will not receive updates from Wednesday 20 May to Sunday 24 May inclusively. The service will resume on Monday 25 May. We apologise to any listeners who will not be able to update their guide. - www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Freeview Play first look: Is this the future of contract-free smart TV?

For a closer look at Firefox OS and My Home Screen 2.0, check out our early eyes-onWhen playing around with the Panasonic smart TV, we noticed that there was a Freeview Play icon floating on the Firefox OS main page, providing viewers with yet another window into the Freeview Play suite of connected services. Arqiva, the infrastructure company and Freeview shareholder that manages and distributes Freeview channels, has been busy working on what was described as a 'vanilla' Connected Operator user interface, something that could be adapted to meet Freeview Play's requirements. - recombu.com

recombu.com

Best Freeview and Freesat PVRs 2015

Below we've listed the three best Freetime PVRs and three best Freesat PVRs available right now. See how these PVRs compare with the best of the rest by taking a look at our Best Buy PVR reviews. - www.which.co.uk

www.which.co.uk

Killing Freemium is the Worst Thing for Artists

Do we really want to go back to an era when a small group of players controlled what most of us heard, and the only way to hear outsider artists was to trade tapes and mix CDs. And now we have easy ways to get free music, for which artists get paid nothing, and that will become the new normal for discovery There are plenty of artists who credit Napster with helping them build their careers-but wouldn't it be better for artists to have something, rather than nothing. If big labels can erase Spotify's free option, what else can they do They all have equity in Spotify as well, so they've hedged their bets and get paid either way-but what about the artists And what about the artists who don't have label deals, or access to legit licensing deals Should they just stay in their own backyard - medium.com

medium.com

Financial Times | BBC iPlayer popularity falls for first time

The popularity of the iPlayer TV service has fallen for the first time, raising questions about the BBC's ability to maintain its position as a pioneer of online video. The iPlayer - which gives users access to the BBC's radio and TV programmes - has been one of the broadcaster'??s biggest success stories, and has become one of the UKs biggest brands since its launch in 2007. - www.ft.com

www.ft.com

Media:News chiefs on dominance of election poll stories; All3Media CEO Jane Turton

downloads.bbc.co.uk

London Live chief executive: 'We can't keep propping it up'

Last week, London Live was released from its commitment to increase the number of hours of original, local programming by an hour a day in its second year, and to 10 hours a day in its third year. When pressed on what has gone wrong for London Live, the flagship channel for the Government's plans to boost local news as devised by Jeremy Hunt when he was culture secretary, Auckland was candid. - www.campaignlive.co.uk

www.campaignlive.co.uk

BBC Global iPlayer to close in June

The BBC has confirmed the quotGlobalquot version of its iPlayer on-demand service will close next month. The global iPlayer app was first made available as an iOS app in July 2011 but was never extended beyond Apple's platform. - www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Digital Radio UK welcomes return of Ed Vaizey

He has been an active supporter of our industry and worked closely with Digital Radio UK to back expansion of local DAB coverage and authorise Ofcom funding for trials of small-scale DAB radio. Ford Ennals, CEO of Digital Radio UK, said quotWe welcome the return of Ed Vaizey as Culture Minister. He is passionate about radio and a great advocate for the sector. Ed's reappointment will ensure strong leadership and continued Government support for delivering UK radio's digital future. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Tony Hall tells BBC staff to be 'bold and inventive' as licence fee battle looms

Tony Hall has said that the BBC should be quotBold and inventive about the futurequot in a note to all staff, which comes amid rightwing criticism of anti-Tory bias during the election and fears over the future of the licence fee. After the BBC won 11 awards at the Baftas on Sunday night, Hall said quotThe best argument for the BBC lies in the quality of its programmes. But there can never be any room for complacency. The challenge for us all over the coming months is to push ourselves to do even better. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Armando Iannucci to deliver MacTaggart lecture

quotMore and more people are poking their heads up and saying, 'do you think the licence fee is going to last' It would be lovely but I really don't. Inevitably it's going to fall apart, or it's going to be more difficult to collect or sustain,quot he said. Festival advisory chair Zai Bennett, who is also director of Sky Atlantic, said quotI promised when I became advisory chair that we would strive to make the festival more international and more entertaining than ever and I can't think of a more appropriate MacTaggart than Armando. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

but does the public back a mauling?

quotFront pages of the Telegraph, Times and Mail as well as the leader column of the Sun all declared, with ill-disguised glee, that the appointment of John Whittingdale as culture secretary was aquotdeclaration of warquot against the BBC which leaves the very future of the licence fee in doubtquot. In the long 18 months ahead before the BBC charter is confirmed, any tiny transgression will be seized on by the BBC's enemies in the same way that they picked on a man eating a bacon sandwich. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

John Whittingdale backed BBC paying £500m cost of TV licences for over-75s

The BBC faced the prospect of having to pick up the tab for free TV licences for over-75s in the 2010 negotiations around its future funding that saw the licence fee frozen until 2017 and the BBC take on a number of other funding responsibilities including the World Service and Welsh language channel, S4C. With a new government in place, negotiations around the future shape of the BBC and the way it is funded, including the level of the licence fee, will now begin in earnest. quotSome of my friends work at the BBC and they are either open or privately Tory supporters. What has always been a concern, it has never been as simple as political bias. It's not that the BBC has a load of Labour supporters, the Labour party would never allow one to suggest that. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

BBC faces being cut back to basics

The BBC’s tough past few years are nothing compared to the pain it will face under the new government, says John Mair The Conservatives’ victory last week was arguably the worst possible result for the BBC, which had kicked negotiations over a new licence fee into the long grass until after the election.. - www.broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

David Cameron paves way for shake-up of the BBC as licence fee critic John Whittingdale joins all-Tory Cabinet

Three Eton-educated ministers will attend Cabinet - Mr Cameron, Oliver Letwin, head of the Cabinet Office and Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, who will attend quotPoliticalquot sessions when civil servants are not present. 43 per cent of cabinet ministers went to comprehensive schools - double the 21 per cent in the Coalition cabinet. - www.independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Chris Bryant named as shadow culture secretary

Chris Bryant has been named as shadow culture secretary, replacing acting party leader Harriet Harman who has held the position since 2011. Bryant, who won a pound30,000 damages payout in January 2012 after his phone was hacked by the News of the World, has been a shadow minister for culture, media and sport since December last year. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

BBC licence fee in doubt as John Whittingdale is named culture secretary

As culture secretary Whittingdale will push for much more rigorous oversight of the BBC, including giving the National Audit Office unrestricted access to the BBC's accounts and creating a new public service broadcasting commission. The 55-year old has said that the BBC Trust is quotFar too close to the BBC and blurs accountabilityquot. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Freesat expands Freetime footprint as it beams down in 1.9m homes

Freesat's managing director, Alistair Thom, said quotI'm thrilled to report another strong quarter for Freesat that clearly demonstrates the continuing growth and strength of the UK's free-to-air proposition. With critically acclaimed programmes such as Breaking Bad now available through Spike, Freesat continues to support our ever expanding content offering with connected technology that empowers customers and their viewing habits. As well as streamlined access to catch-up and on-demand services including ITV Player, 4oD, Demand 5 and YouTube, Freetime also lets Freesat viewers remotely manage recordings through a mobile app, available for iOS, Android and Kindle devices. - recombu.com

recombu.com

European plans for digital single market

The ambitious aim is to bring down regulatory walls and move from 28 national markets to a single digital market with over 500 million potential customers. Rus Ansip, the vice-president for the digital single market, said quotThey will give people and companies the online freedoms to profit fully from Europe's huge internal market. - informitv.com

informitv.com

DTG :: News :: DTG prepares R-Book update for the post-switchover environment

With the increasing potential for interference from services such as LTE 800 and TVWS as well as the changes to DTT services such as local TV, it was thought that it would be useful to include guidance on some of these issues. The second section will provide some more practical details such as guidance on aerials, faceplates, cabling, interference mitigation, de-rating for amplifiers and such like. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

Michael Wolff: Why Is the U.K.'s ITV on a Hollywood Buying Spree?

There is, too, a subplot here, the sure comedy of the mismatch between the high-flying Weinstein brothers - who will continue to run their arm of ITV and whose TV company has yet to establish a real track record - and the quite unshow-business London banker types who run ITV. Rather than a closed distributor, ITV strategically was turning itself into a supplier to the new glut of worldwide channels, including by 2014 providing more than 60 shows to U.S. channels, and buying, before the Weinstein play, four other U.S. production companies Gurney Productions, which makes Duck Dynasty High Noon Entertainment with Cake Boss Thinkfactory Media with Hatfields McCoys and DiGa Vision with Teen Wolf. - www.hollywoodreporter.com

www.hollywoodreporter.com