Thursday 19 March 2015, PM
Sky raises sports and entertainment package prices
Sky, which normally increases its prices in September, said the price of a sports TV package - covering seven channels - would rise by pound1 to pound47 a month from June. Sky feared subscribers' defections to BT, which won the right to show 42 games a season and has also beaten Sky to show Uefa Champions League matches later this year. - www.theguardian.com
www.theguardian.comWednesday 18 March 2015, PM
Media: The Clarkson row and how best to handle "difficult" stars; the future for Netflix; and the Green Party media po
downloads.bbc.co.ukWednesday 18 March 2015, AM
BBC national DAB radio reaches 95% population
In total, the new transmitters bring 138,000 households into the BBC's national coverage area and improves digital radio reception for a further two million households. Helen Boaden, Director of Radio, says quotIt is fantastic that more listeners will be able to enjoy the full range of BBC services. Extending national DAB coverage is an important part of building a digital future for radio. - radiotoday.co.uk
radiotoday.co.uk
Unbundling Pay-TV Brings New Questions
quotIf you buy retail and you have six or seven of these things, that might cost you as much as a bundle that gives you 400 different networks,quot said Philippe Dauman, CEO of Viacom, which earns money from bundled channels but also recently launched a subscription streaming service aimed at preschool children that it imagines will be complementary to the bundle. Comcast offers an quotInternet Plusquot package of HBO, fast broadband and local channels for 40 a month, and ATT has been peddling a similar 49-a-month bundle that also includes Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime free-shipping and streaming-video service for a year. - www.wsj.com
www.wsj.comTuesday 17 March 2015, PM
BBC3 being 'dismantled' before its TV closure, claim producers
The BBC has been accused of asset-stripping BBC3 before it has been given permission by the BBC Trust to close the TV channel. The pair said the corporation had already quotEmbraced commercialityquot with the sale of assets such as Top Gear magazine - still branded BBC Top Gear - and half of its BBC America operation to Mad Men producer AMC. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comTuesday 17 March 2015, AM
Scripps steps up pressure on BBC over UKTV bid
A BBC Worldwide spokesman said quotWe have no plans to sell our stake in UKTV - a successful business that provides ongoing strategic and financial benefits to BBC Worldwide, and indirectly to licence fee payers. A spokesman for the BBC Trust said quotSince taking up her role, the chairman has regular meetings with a range of media industry representatives and similarly she has an introductory meeting scheduled with Scripps. It is not the trust's role to consider interest in BBC assets from third parties. Any such proposals would have to be put to the trust by BBC management for approval. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comMonday 16 March 2015, PM
Local TV station debuts with a C-bomb in 'how to pull' show | Media | The Guardian
- www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comSaturday 14 March 2015, AM
Jeremy Clarkson: TV producer reveals what it s like having to endure presenters tantrums - Features - TV Radio - The
- www.independent.co.uk
www.independent.co.ukFriday 13 March 2015, PM
Feedback: The Archers: 13 Mar 15
downloads.bbc.co.uk#25 - Clarkson’s third strike, British Press Awards - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann
feedproxy.google.com#25 - Clarkson’s third strike, British Press Awards - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann
feedproxy.google.comFriday 13 March 2015, AM
Ariel - Just stop the rot at Ally Pally
- www.bbc.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk
Offshore workers Sky TV switched off in latest North Sea cut-backs | Herald Scotland
- www.heraldscotland.com
www.heraldscotland.comThursday 12 March 2015, AM
Ofcom invites applications for Suffolk DAB
Ofcom has advertised a new local radio multiplex to provide DAB digital radio stations in Suffolk. As ever, 128kbits/sec is reserved to the BBC for the broadcasting in digital form of its local radio service, BBC Radio Suffolk. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.uk
Top Gear: How a monster was born
Telegraph columnist Alex Proud told BBC News that despite Mr Clarkson being a quotMassive earner for the BBCquot, the broadcaster could also attract new talent. quotThe BBC has a dilemma. Nobody in the end can ignore the BBC guidelines. That said this is a very popular programme - BBC Two's most popular factual entertainment programme. The BBC would be loath to lose it. - www.bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk
Nielsen Charts Reach of Video Streaming
Homes with subscription streaming services spend 66 minutes a day watching time-shifted television, while households without subscriptions spend 56 minutes a day with it. Television executives are voicing concerns that streaming services like Netflix are cutting into the amount of time that people spend watching traditional television analysts estimate that total television viewing declined by almost 10 percent during the third and fourth quarters of 2014. - www.nytimes.com
www.nytimes.comWednesday 11 March 2015, PM
Tuesday 10 March 2015, PM
Reducing costs through Delivering Quality First Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General presented to the BBC Trus
We assessed the BBC's work in developing such a culture as part of the Programme through document review of BBC savings plans and progress reports review of documents covering BBC continuous improvement initiatives analysis of BBC savings data and annual accounts interviews with BBC staff involved with these initiatives and interviews with BBC staff and Our conclusions We assessed the BBC's progress and its management through review of BBC's management and reporting processes including case review of a sample of savings initiatives to underlying plans. The documents included BBC Executive proposals and BBC Trust reviews during 2011 and 2012 internal and external reviews of the Programme such as those by Ernst Young, KPMG and BBC Internal Audit BBC progress reports across the whole of the BBC and at divisional level BBC guidance on process and monitoring and BBC documents on its work on developing continuous improvement. - downloads.bbc.co.ukdownloads.bbc.co.ukBBC risks having to cut more services after it misses long-term targets
The NAO said the programme of savings, a response to the 2010 licence fee settlement in which the BBC's funding was frozen but given extra responsibilities, including the World Service, rural broadband and local TV, would get even tougher in the years ahead. quotThe BBC's plans for future productivity savings involve more significant and potentially riskier changes to organisational structures and ways of working,quot it said. quotIf the BBC is not able to make planned productivity savings, it risks having to make further reductions to scope. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comTuesday 10 March 2015, AM
Margaret Hodge: BBC Trust chair Rona Fairhead 'should quit'
The current chair of the BBC Trust should consider resigning or be sacked by the government, chair of the Public Accounts Committee Margaret Hodge has said. Rona Fairhead took over as chair of the BBC Trust last year, but before that she was chair of HSBC's audit committee until 2010 and subsequently led the bank's risk committee,. - m.bbc.co.ukm.bbc.co.uk
Labour and Lib Dems commit to keeping C4 in public hands
Business secretary Vince Cable and shadow minister for the arts Chris Bryant have committed to keeping Channel 4 under public ownership if Labour or the Liberal Democrats win the general election. Speaking at a House of Commons event to celebrate the growth of the creative industries in the UK, Cable said his party was “committed to making absolutely sure that C4 isn’t offloaded into the private sector”. C4 chief executive David Abraham was in the audience to hear Cable’s speech, after which Bryant gave his party’s commitment to “keep C4 in public hands and not sell it off”.- www.broadcastnow.co.uk
www.broadcastnow.co.ukWhere can you watch classic Doctor Who episodes? The Horror Channel!
- www.radiotimes.com
www.radiotimes.comMonday 09 March 2015, PM
Horror Channel to rise on Freeview
- www.broadbandtvnews.com
www.broadbandtvnews.comBBC in the internet era | informitv
- informitv.com
informitv.comMonday 09 March 2015, AM
BBC questions 25% indie quota | News | Broadcast
The BBC has raised concerns about its ability to continue commissioning 25% of its content from qualifying indies amid seismic market consolidation. The corporation has argued that if “vertical integration” in the production sector continues at its current pace, the legal guarantee “may prove unrealistic and unachievable” for PSBs to maintain. “There is a risk that the level of the quota could distort commissioning decisions and the diversity of programming reaching audiences could suffer,” the BBC added in its submission to Ofcom’s PSB review. It said the media regulator should be given the power to “amend the level” of the quota. - www.broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukEd Vaizey overplays the local TV factor | Media | The Guardian
- www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com
The Media Column: ITV ratings are falling, but with digital and ad revenues up, US buyers are interested - Media - News
- www.independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukSunday 08 March 2015, PM
Friday 06 March 2015, PM
Thursday 05 March 2015, PM
Vaizey: We want a BBC fit for the digital age
Echoing comments made two days earlier by BBC Director General Tony Hall that the BBC must reinvent itself for the Internet era, UK Minister for the Digital Economy Ed Vaizey has suggested that a future government conducting the BBC Charter review should strive for a BBC that is fit for the digital age. quotThere are many reasons why we need the BBC. Their recent commitment to work with UK-wide arts institutions and to support coding in schools are just two recent examples of this. Radio 1's commitment to new music is another. We want to see a BBC that is fit for the digital age, able to fulfil the many roles that the BBC has done so successfully for many years - not just great content, but education and training, technical innovation, and a huge and irreplaceable contribution to civic society. But as I say, that debate won't begin until May 8, and we won't be expressing any views before then,quot he confirmed. - advanced-television.comadvanced-television.comWednesday 04 March 2015, PM
Media: The Director General of the BBC, Tony Hall, on funding, efficiency and governance.
downloads.bbc.co.ukSound Digital reiterates D2 commitment
quotOne of our overarching aims in making this submission is to dispel any doubt as to the unequivocal nature of the commitments underpinning Sound Digital's ambitious proposals. Our submission is made openly and publicly, and our reassertion of Sound Digital's unwavering commitment is addressed as much to the wider digital radio industry as it is to Ofcom,quot Sound Digital tells Ofcom. quotOur innovative, contractually secure and responsible business approach offers assurance that if awarded the UK's second national DAB multiplex licence, Sound Digital will launch its ambitious content line-up and 45 site transmitter network within 12 months and successfully maintain the multiplex for the full 12 year licence term. There will be no attempts to roll back on our commitments following the award of the licence and our proposals will be delivered in full. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukWednesday 04 March 2015, AM
ITV chief: we didn't get everything right in 2014 schedules
ITV chief executive Adam Crozier has admitted that the broadcaster quotDidn't get everything rightquot in its schedules in 2014, and said it had taken action to halt falling viewing figures. quotOur digital channels were down last year for the first time in many years, but if you look at their performance in the first half of the year, they were down 10, if you look at the second half of the year they were down 2 and year to date they are up 4.quot. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comITV's pre-tax profits soar 23% to ?712m | Media | The Guardian
ITV, which has sought to develop its production capabilities and non-advertising revenue sources to avoid being at the mercy of ad markets, said its non-ad-based revenue was now up 10 to make up 45 of total revenue. ITV chief executive Adam Crozier said quotITV delivered another strong performance in 2014 as we continue to rebalance the business, drive new revenue streams and invest in our future growth. Across ITV we maintained our emphasis on cash generation, cost control and improving margins as we continued to strengthen ITV creatively, commercially and financially. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comSteve Coogan backs bid to buy channel
The comedian Steve Coogan, and his independent TV production company Baby Cow, have backed Jimmy Mulville and Jon Thoday's bid to buy BBC3. Coogan's support will be one of the central planks of a letter to be sent on Wednesday by Thoday and Mulville to Danny Cohen, the BBC's director of television. The letter will also display the mischievousness for which Thoday and Mulville are renowned in the TV industry, by challenging both Cohen and BBC director general Tony Hall to a debate on the future of BBC3. quotThe subject should be 'Is a reduced spend on younger viewers by the BBC avoidable and will BBC3 online succeed' We suggest this be broadcast live on BBC3,quot Mulville and Thoday's letter will say. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comTuesday 03 March 2015, PM
UK leads the way with in-car Digital Radio
New cars with DAB now stand at 60 in the UK and Norway, whilst Switzerland has 45. Norway and Switzerland are the likely to be the first countries in the world to set firm dates for Digital Switchover. Patrick Hannon, President of WorldDMB said quotOur aim with this research is to demonstrate clearly that DAB digital radio is the platform of the future in Europe. With the first countries moving to Digital Switchover, and motorists driving between these markets, it is becoming increasingly important for car manufacturers to include digital radio as standard. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukTuesday 03 March 2015, AM
Tony Hall's vision for the BBC
The quotMy BBC revolutionquot will have a higher calling, said Hall. Given Hall's high praise for Wolf Hall and its star, Mark Rylance, that's one thing we can definitely expect from the BBC. More Rylance. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comMonday 02 March 2015, AM
BBC to hive off production of top shows into studios division
The remaining departments - Salford-based children's and sport and current affairs - will remain within the BBC and be managed by BBC North and BBC News, respectively. The second stage, which is being proposed but will need sign-off from the BBC Trust, government agreement and a change in the BBC's charter, is for BBC Studios to transfer out of the publicly-funded part of the BBC. It would become a separate subsidiary of the BBC group, operating at arm's length. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comTony Hall: BBC needs political and financial backing to survive in digital age
Not only is the speech Hall's first dealing with the future scope and scale of the BBC - likely battlegrounds of charter renewal negotiations - it comes less than a week after an influential committee of MPs gave their verdict on the funding and governance of the BBC. In a nod to criticism of the BBC's financial and editorial management mentioned in the report, Hall will suggest that he has fixed some of the problems dogging the corporation since taking the top job two years ago - by making pound1.5bn of cost savings and strengthening editorial processes - and now needs support for the BBC to become quotPioneers againquot. As part of the changes, Fran Unsworth, director of BBC World Service, is to join the BBC's senior exectuive team. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com
Tony Hall plans BBC data 'revolution'
Tony Hall will today set out plans for the BBC to harness the power of data to offer audiences Amazon-style recommendations as it bids to become a “pioneer” in the internet age. The BBC director general will deliver a speech on the future of public service broadcasting on Monday, where he will expand on the “My BBC” plans he set out in October 2013 to help audiences become schedulers. Tony Hall plans personalised BBC Dubbed the “My BBC revolution”, Hall will say the corporation will go further and faster than any other broadcaster or online platform in harnessing personal data to empower viewers and listeners. - www.broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukSunday 01 March 2015, PM
The Media Column: Brilliant run of dramas sees foreign buyers snap up the best of British TV
The event, which began above a Brighton pub in 1976, featured exclusive appearances from John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson - Worldwide is the international partner for Atkinson's new starring role as Maigret, the French detective who returns in two new films for ITV. Rebekah Brooks has moved to New York for a job at News Corp Rebekah Brooks has landed a new job leading Rupert Murdoch's search for promising internet startups to invest in, it was claimed yesterday. - www.independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukbut didn't tackle burning issue of independence
These parts of the report could have been written by the BBC. On scope and scale the committee was critical of the BBC's stance that in order to appeal universally it must do virtually everything it currently does. The committee's suggested replacement system - a unitary, PLC-style board, with a majority of non-executive directors, to run and govern the BBC, and a separate Public Service Broadcasting Commission to oversee strategy and regulation - might even be favoured by many senior BBC executives who would quite like the trust to get out of their hair. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com
How to set up an indoor aerial - Indoor aerials - TV DVD - Which? Technology
- www.which.co.uk
www.which.co.ukFriday 27 February 2015, PM
Feedback: Face the Facts ends: 27 Feb 15
downloads.bbc.co.uk#24 - Oborne vs The Telegraph, Radio Academy changes and Guardian hustings - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann
feedproxy.google.com
Thinkbox: decline in heavy TV viewing
Overall TV viewing fell slightly in 2014 as the number of people tuning in for more than four hours per day dipped by 7%. According to the study, based on Barb data and compiled by commercial TV body Thinkbox, total average daily viewing time fell by around 11 minutes - from 3 hours 55 minutes in 2013 to 3 hours and 44 minutes last year. Viewing via a TV set was broadly flat year-on-year at 98.4%. According to the data, 16-34 year olds watched 7% less TV via traditional sets in 2014, compared with the previous year. However they were the fastest adopters of new platforms, estimated by Thinkbox to create an additional 5% of viewing. - www.broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukHouse of Commons - Future of the BBC - Culture, Media and Sport
- www.publications.parliament.ukwww.publications.parliament.ukFriday 27 February 2015, AM
Why Everyone Was Wrong About Net Neutrality
A year ago, Kevin Werbach, a thoughtful and prominent analyst, predicted that quotThe political and marketplace costsquot of strong net-neutrality rules would be just quotToo great.quot He warned, among other things, that Congress would quotGrind the FCC to a standstill, starve its budget, and do everything in their power to inflict permanent harm on the agency. Unlike in 2010, the F.C.C. has written an exceptionally well-defended rule that depends on its broadest grants of authority to regulate quotCommunications by wire.quot Predicting the outcome of an unfiled suit is hazardous business but it is fair to say that knocking out the rules will be rather hard. - www.newyorker.com
www.newyorker.comJohnston Press chief 'excited' by possibility of news deal with BBC
He thinks the select committee's call for a quotMore symbiotic relationshipquot between the BBC and local press industry reflects not only his views but also those of the head of BBC news, James Harding. quotThe BBC must not expect to receive others' news content without providing something in return. We are attracted by the idea of exchanges of content and information, where the BBC local websites link to the source of local material they have used, and in return the BBC allows others to use its content and embed BBC clips on their sites, where these would be of local interest, under a licence agreement. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comHouse of Cards: how Netflix's $100m gamble made them internet video kings
What is its secret Netflix's chief content officer Ted Sarandos recently reaffirmed that the company relies on its rich subscriber data to take editorial decisions where quotSeventy is the data and thirty is judgement, the thirty needs to be on topquot. Television must mine bigger data or risk being Netflixed. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.compick a page