Great things to read about British TV from March 2008 to today

Mobile phone coverage maps are SO confusing - BBC Newsbeat

The government says it wants to make phone operators share coverage to cut out so-called notspots - areas where there's no signal. At Newsbeat we admit we're finding it a bit difficult to get our heads around the various maps. It's the coverage map by the regulator Ofcom, the people in charge of keeping the phone companies in check. - bbc.co.uk

Sky Sports must be offered to BT’s YouView customers, says regulator | Media | theguardian.com

The decision by the Competition Appeal Tribunal follows four years of legal wrangling, and, while it is an interim ruling, it nevertheless marks a major victory for Skys rivals and media regulator Ofcom. In 2010, Ofcom first tried to force BSkyB to offer Sky Sports 1 and 2 at a 23 discount to rivals as a curb on the satellite broadcaster abusing its dominant position in the market. The new pricing structure proposed by Ofcom is referred to as wholesale must offer. - theguardian.com

Complete guide to 4G - Phones - Which? Technology

4G is a step up in speed from the 3G network that most current phones use to access the internet. 4G is all about faster internet speeds it offers no improvement in making calls or sending texts. With 4G, your phone can open webpages instantaneously, download apps and songs in seconds, and stream videos without any annoying buffering. - which.co.uk

www.which.co.uk

Tuesday 04 November 2014, PM

Ariel - O'Reilly: Let older women read the news

Giving evidence to a select committee inquiry into representation of women in news and current affairs broadcasting, she quoted from a number of women who'd corresponded with her after they left the News division. One felt 'women over 50 should never show their faces or necks in public', another that 'men were able to get old and peculiar, but not women'. 'I'd like to see a much older woman reading the news in peak time. - bbc.co.uk

iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk

Monday 03 November 2014, PM

Date set for radio licence rollover briefing | RadioToday

These will be followed by a Parliamentary briefing on 25 November. Their rollovers will start to expire in the next few years from 2017, and there is currently no mechanism to enable these licences to be extended further. Instead radio stations would be subject to a wholesale re-licensing process. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

FCC proposal could support online television | informitv

The Federal Communications Commission in America is to consider extending its definition of a multichannel video programming distributor to include online television services. The move could enable online television services to compete with cable, satellite and telco operators but will not necessarily lead to an unbundling of channels. That would give online services the same rights that satellite services already have in accessing the programming of cable operators and broadcast television stations. - informitv.com

informitv.com

Monday 03 November 2014, AM

Fan TV Web video settop box maker looking for buyer | Re/code

Industry sources say the set-top-box maker has spent much of this year looking for a buyer, and a person familiar with Fan says a deal is likely to be announced this week. Conventional wisdom among industry sources is that Fans investors, who put at least 40 million into different incarnations of the company over the years, will be unlikely to get all of theirmoney back. Some sourcessay the company was recently looking for something in the 15 million range. - recode.net

recode.net

BBC Radio Streams - Change in Audio Formats

Why is BBC Radio changing the audio format of its radio streams As part of this change, from the end of 2014, we will no longer supply programmes in the Windows Media Audio format. When will the BBC stop using Windows Media Audio - iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk

BBC - Blogs - Internet blog - Audio Factory: BBC Radio to stop supporting Windows Media on December 31st

Hello, I am responsible for the BBCs online radio streams, from source to delivery to the products that consume them. Primarily it needs to replace the ageing equipment and infrastructure that encodes and delivers the BBCs audio streams. This has grown in different ways across the BBC over the years and we need to standardize as we replace. - bbc.co.uk

stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk

Ofcom | Small Scale DAB trial

Consultation published 29102014 This consultation sets out Ofcoms proposals for licensing a number of short-term trial small scale DAB multiplexes. During the consultation period, we will be holding a small number of events based around our consultation proposals. The first of these will be a technical demonstration event held at our facility at Baldock, Hertfordshire, on 13 November 2014. - stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk

Ofcom | List of Applicants

- licensing.ofcom.org.uk

licensing.ofcom.org.uk

a516digital : UTV Radio launches festive DAB pop-ups

- a516digital.com

www.a516digital.com

EE TV vs rivals: How does it stack up? - Recombu

With the launch of EE TV imminent, there are now even more digital TV services to choose from. Here, we take a look at the latest, EE TV, to see how it compares to established rivals. What does it offer than Freeview doesnt - recombu.com

recombu.com

Sunday 02 November 2014, PM

Windows Installation Guide

Windows users should install get_iplayer with the provided installer. Download the latest version from http//www.infradead.org/get_iplayer_win/get_iplayer_setup_latest.exe NOTE You must have administrator privileges to install get_iplayer. This handy video might help you if you are new to get_iplayer Perl Support The installer will install a private customised version of Strawberry Perl that includes all necessary Perl modules. - squarepenguin.co.uk

squarepenguin.co.uk

Sunday 02 November 2014, AM

Arrow

There were podcasts about politics, sports, literature, comedy. There were podcasts that sounded like NPR, and ones that sounded like Rush Limbaugh. Today, a very different problem exists There are too many great podcasts to keep up with. - nymag.com

nymag.com

Saturday 01 November 2014, AM

Scottish broadcaster STV bids for three more local TV licences | Media | theguardian.com

The bids were revealed on Friday as Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, released details of the bids for licences advertised in the summer to run local TV services in seven locations in cities and towns across the UK. Its partnership with further education colleges and universities will provide access to media students, who will have the opportunity to learn and train in a live TV environment, the company says. STV Glasgow, transmitted as a digital Freeview channel, reaches a monthly audience of more than 500,000 people in Glasgow and the west of Scotland, with 60 of the transmission area tuning in at some point since launch, according to the company. - theguardian.com

Friday 31 October 2014, PM

Feedback: Radio drama in surround sound: 31 Oct 14

Birmingham local TV launch delayed | News | Broadcast

The launch date for Birmingham’s local TV channel has been pushed back after Ofcom continues its hunt for a suitable operator. The regulator set a revised launch date of 3 November for the channel after preferred bidder BLTV went bust in August. BLTV’s administrators Duff & Phelps were charged with finding a suitable replacement to take up the licence but the regulator has been forced to extend the search on an “interim basis” as potential bidders are assessed. An Ofcom spokeswoman said it was vital to ensure the local TV channel operator was healthy.. - broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

BBC now has more staff outside London than in the capital | Media | theguardian.com

The BBC now has more staff outside London than in the capital for the first time following the relocation of more than 2,000 posts to Salford, finally reaching a target first set in 2004. The corporation said that 49 of its staff work in London, which equates to some 8,169 full-time equivalent roles based on the 16,672 number of staff given in the most recent annual report, for the 12 months to the end of March. The proportion of BBC staff working in London has fallen from 58 in 2007. - theguardian.com

Talking TV: Tom Bradby BBC Productions

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Thursday 30 October 2014, PM

Pay television approaches a billion homes | informitv

Pay television is big business, but nobody seems to agree quite how big. Contrary to popular opinion, the number of pay-television subscribers is growing. It could be approaching a billion households worldwide, but recent reports appear to disagree on when that figure will be reached. - informitv.com

informitv.com

RT launches dedicated UK news channel – RT UK

Airing from its new London studios at Millbank, the channel will cover local, regional and national UK stories, focusing on issues that matter most to Britons. It will also examine a diverse spectrum of international news, analyzing the implications of major global developments for a British and wider international audience. Now, with a dedicated UK channel, we can serve the needs and interests of the British public by promoting debate and new ways of thinking about specifically British issues, Simonyan said. - rt.com

rt.com

RT: Russia Today's six most memorable moments | Media | theguardian.com

To mark its arrival, we look at back at some of its most memorable moments. As such well be sending her to Crimea to give her an opportunity to make up her own mind from the epicentre of the story. Martin did not go to Crimea. Didnt Georgia attack Russia, and didnt Russia retaliate - theguardian.com

Thursday 30 October 2014, AM

BBC3 TV closure ‘completely wrong’, says June Sarpong | Media | theguardian.com

Sarpong, recently hired by BBC2s Newsnight as a contributor, said the decision to slash the channels budget and make it online-only was a lost opportunity for new and emerging talent. If you look at the data, 75 or 80 of the audience is consuming that content on television, theyre not watching it online, said Sarpong. In slashing the budget in the way they are, there is no real pull for developing young talent. - theguardian.com

The Great British TV Sell-Off: What do foreign companies own? | Media | theguardian.com

- theguardian.com

Wednesday 29 October 2014, PM

Media: Guardian Media Group, Russia Today, Broadmoor, Facebook

Tuesday 28 October 2014, PM

BBC executive: broadcasters thought viewers didn’t want older women on TV | Media | theguardian.com

Broadcasters have been guilty of wrongly thinking that British viewers did not want to see older women on television, a senior BBC news executive has admitted. Unsworth said that broadcasters including the BBC were now taking steps to address the lack of older women on air, but added that it would take time for the current generation of female journalists to come through as they continued in their careers. She was responding to an assertion made by Lady Deech that television suffered from a culture of lookism and that there was a difference between the output of BBC radio and television. - theguardian.com

Tuesday 28 October 2014, AM

One week later, Google algorithm change hits streaming, torrent sites hard | Ars Technica

One of Project Free TV's domains has dropped in traffic since Google's algorithm change. Video streaming and torrent sites have dropped precipitously in Google rankings after the company altered its algorithm last Monday, according to reports from Searchmetrics. One of Project Free TV's main operating domains, free-tv-video-online.me, fell 96 percent in Searchmetric's rankings, one of the biggest drops alongside torrentz.eu and thepiratebay.se. - arstechnica.com

arstechnica.com

Monday 27 October 2014, AM

The Great British TV Sell Off - interactive | Media | theguardian.com

Channel 4s chief executive recently warned that the UK TV production sector was being snapped up almost wholesale by foreign media companies. Roll over the evening schedules for the five main terrestrial channels below, from Monday 22 September, to see where ownership of programmes ultimately rests - theguardian.com

Sunday 26 October 2014, PM

American television: Switching channels | The Economist

Most cable subscribers will find the title an appropriate description of their viewing experience. Couch potatoes are forced to spend around 90 a month for their subscription. They receive over 160 channels, most of which they skip straight past. - economist.com

www.economist.com

Sunday 26 October 2014, AM

The BBC ageist? Not with this roster of prime-time septuagenarians | Television radio | The Observer

Now, what new charges can we bring against the BBC What new ism goes with on-screen racism and sexism David Attenborough 88 is just off and running with his new Life Story. - theguardian.com

Friday 24 October 2014, PM

Feedback: Moral Maze's controversial trail: 24 Oct 14

www.hollywoodreporter.com

#15 - RAJARS, Vice Media plans, Whisper scoop - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann

feedproxy.google.com

Friday 24 October 2014, AM

Connected Red Button comes to YouView | SEENIT

Connected Red Button offers a range of internet-delivered programming, news and sport content and is used by the broadcaster to boost coverage of live events such as Glastonbury and Wimbledon. It also integrates access to the iPlayer, allowing viewers to catch up on missed shows from within the Red Button experience. YouView boxes were originally expected to get the service in time the summers run of sporting events but delivery was delayed and pushed back to before the end of the year. - seenit.co.uk

www.seenit.co.uk

AMC Networks to Buy 49.9 Percent Stake in BBC America for $200 Million

The cable networks company and the commercial arm of U.K. public broadcaster BBC announced the deal Thursday after reports of their talks first emerged over the summer. BBC America is currently available in approximately 80 million U.S. households. The U.S. is an important market for the BBCs commercial activities. - hollywoodreporter.com

AMC Networks buys 49.9% share of BBC America | Media | The Guardian

Tony Hall, the director general of the licence-fee funded arm of the corporation, said that the deal brings together the whole BBC. AMC will also jointly invest in a range of future BBC productions. - theguardian.com

U.S. broadcasters win preliminary injunction against Aereo | Reuters

Aereo shuttered its service three days after the high court's decision and has since been pushing the courts and regulators to see it as analogous to cable, eligible for a license under the Copyright Act. Aereo's future became imperiled when the Supreme Court ruled on June 25 that the company had infringed broadcasters' copyrights by capturing live and recorded programs through antennas and transmitting them to subscribers who paid 8 to 12 a month. - reuters.com

www.reuters.com

Thursday 23 October 2014, PM

Exclusive Interview: EE CMO Pippa Dunn on EE TV | Mobile News Online

We looked at the overall market and really identified where the consumer pain points were and also what was available now from a technology point of view in terms of what was the best device and technology to go for. So we did that first and then selected NetGem as a partner and worked with them closely in putting mobile at the centre of the whole experience and making sure we were creating a user experience which felt more akin to a mobile than to TV. My principles going into this were to keep it simple and to keep it intuitive. - mobilenewscwp.co.uk

www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk

My new book is out today. Here is the introduction. Hooray!

Theres nothing complicated about science, and people can understand anything, if theyre sufficiently motivated. Thats why Ive spent the last ten years lashing science to mockery its the cleanest way I know to help people see the joy of statistics, and the fascinating ways that evidence can be distorted or ignored. All too often, people hoping to make science accessible fall into the trap of triumphalism, presenting science as a canon, and a collection of true facts. - badscience.net

www.badscience.net

Media: David Liddiment and Alison Hastings leave the Trust; Women in the media; Mirror complaint

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Thursday 23 October 2014, AM

What's Behind Big Media's Big TV Push Into Europe

Its economies, in contrast to the boom territories of China and India, are seen as sluggish, its population aging and growth slim to nonexistent. When it comes to the global TV business, studios are looking to Europe for the next gold rush. The past year has seen a flood of billion-dollar deals as U.S. congloms snatch up European TV assets. - hollywoodreporter.com

Ariel - 6 Music leads summer's digital rush

23 October 2014 Last updated at 0917 The BBC's digital radio networks have been gaining listeners over the summer as some of its bigger hitters have lost them. Around 600,000 fewer people tuned in to hear Chris Evans on Radio 2 in the third quarter of 2014 and around 150,000 opted out of Nick Grimshaw's Radio 1 flagship. Over on 6 Music, mid-morning presenter Lauren Laverne is being hailed as the season's success story. - bbc.co.uk

Wednesday 22 October 2014, PM

Which? puts the new Tesco Hudl2 to the test - October - 2014 - Which? News

22 October 2014 We've just published our full review of the brand new Tesco Hudl2. If you're tempted by this cheap tablet - read our review of the original Tesco Hudl before parting with your cash. - which.co.uk

www.which.co.uk

BBC open to charging subscriptions for premium content, head of Corporation's trust reveals - Telegraph

How the BBC is funded will form a key part of these negotiations with the possibility of a subscription model replacing the traditional licence fee. If such changes were introduced it would be the biggest shake-up since the BBC was founded in 1922. Some members of the Cabinet are understood to believe that the compulsory 145.50 annual charge for television ownership is outdated and does not represent the changes in how people watch television in the modern world. - telegraph.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk

Media: David Liddiment and Alison Hastings leave the Trust; Women in the media; Mirror complaint

RadioToday with RCS | UK stations get ready for RAJAR results

Its that time of the year when radio stations receive quarterly listening figures direct to their web browser. Come back at midnight for all the news, and keep an eye on RadioToday.co.uk/rajar for really nice and easy to use graphs. Posted on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014 at 237 pm by Radio Today UK. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

BBC News - New BBC Radio 3 controller 'will not dumb down'

Listening figures released in July had Radio 3's weekly reach averaging 1.884 million listeners, to 6 Music's 1.89m. - bbc.co.uk

Ariel - Radio 4 debates some big ideas

22 October 2014 Last updated at 1331 Big questions that have preoccupied thinkers down the ages will be debated for a major new series on Radio 4. A History of Ideas will pose one question every week to a group of four contributors - from lawyers and theologians to mathematicians - with Melvyn Bragg presiding over the exchange of views for the 60-part series. They will together discuss philosophical topics such as 'what does it mean to be me' and 'how do I live a good life' In subsequent programmes, each of the four contributors will further develop their arguments in an authored programme, using the tenets of philosophers and historical thinkers to back them up. - bbc.co.uk