BBC News - BT apologises for broadband outage

Users complained they were unable to connect to some websites - including social media, banking and shopping sites - as a result of the problems. BT said it was unable to say how many customers had been hit, but issues were reported in various parts of the UK. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Moderate TV viewing linked to premature death - Health News - NHS Choices

Watching TV for three hours a day can be deadly doubling your risk of dying early, the Mail Online reports. The participants were asked to self-report time spent on three types of sedentary behaviour TV viewing, computer use and time spent driving. They were then followed for between 2 and 10 years to see if any of the participants died prematurely, and if so, if there was a significant association between premature death and types of sedentary behaviour. - nhs.uk

www.nhs.uk

Feedback: Anti-Austerity Coverage: 27 Jun 14

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Public TV Station Seeks Supreme Court Review of Ban on Ad Spots - Variety

The day after the Supreme Court issued its decision in Aereo, the justices are weighing whether to take another case that could have a significant impact on broadcasting. The station challenged the penalty, but also sought to invalidate the 1981 law that restricts public stations from airing ads for commercial products or political candidates, and even challenged the FCC on First Amendment grounds. Late last year, an en banc panel of the 9th Circuit agreed that the government was on solid legal ground and that it had a vested interest in ensuring that public TV retained its non-commercial nature. - variety.com

variety.com

Channel 4 to launch two new HD channels Digital TV Europe

June 26, 2014 UK terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4 is due to launch two new high definition channels on the Freeview platform. Were excited that these Channel 4 channels are joining the HD community, said Arqivas director of digital terrestrial television, Mike Finchen. - digitaltveurope.net

www.digitaltveurope.net

RadioToday - Global makes London DAB multiplex changes

Global Radio is making a number of changes to the platforms used by its London radio stations broadcasting on DAB. XFM is also on the move from London 2, where it was broadcasting at 112kbps, to London 1 where it returns to 128kbps stereo. A Global Radio spokesperson told RadioToday We are moving these services in order to use our digital capacity more effectively. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

DTG :: News :: BBC to continue 4k trials at Commonwealth Games

This time the research development trial will be broadcast to a public screening, giving people the opportunity to see the very first live UHD broadcast of a Commonwealth Games. This new broadcasting system is BBC RD's vision in order to increase speed and ubiquity of internet networks. New forms of content could take advantage of this information to provide richer, more interactive and more personal ways of telling stories to audiences. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/our_work/rural_impartiality/rural_impartiality.pdf

- downloads.bbc.co.uk

downloads.bbc.co.uk

Ariel - BBC Three triumphs at Broadcast Digital Awards

In what was a triple sweep, it also took best factual channel and best entertainment channel. The recognition comes as the youth channel faces moving solely to iPlayer next year, subject to approval by the BBC Trust. Its challenge is to maintain that level of excellence as an online channel next year.' Overall, the BBC won half of the awards up for grabs, a total of nine out of 18 categories. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Media: Hacking trial special

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BBC receives £500m offer for UKTV - Media - theguardian.com

It is understood that Scripps has made multiple attempts to convince BBC Worldwide to sell up, with the best offer thought to be in the region of 500m. This option was never exercised, as BBC Worldwide lacks the financial muscle or flexibility within its 350m borrowing facility. UKTV made a healthy operating profit of 71m last year, albeit flat year-on-year, with Scripps boosting programme investment to a record high of 110m. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

DTG :: News :: More than 1bn homes will have Digital TV by the end of 2014.

The research says that by year-end, two thirds of all households using TV's will be using a digital platform to watch programming. There will still be large disparities in the digital penetration by region as North America for example will be 97.1 Digital while Latin America will be just 51.5. China will have the highest number of Digital Homes at 289 million, followed by the US at 114 million and India with 96.4 million. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

Ariel - Weather is big news for most adults, finds Ofcom survey

25 June 2014 Last updated at 1328 The weather rates ahead of crime and worldwide current affairs as a topic that people consider to be news. Six in 10 UK adults nominated the weather as a news topic, ahead of crime 53, worldwide current affairs 53, UK-wide current affairs 51 and UK-wide politics 49. The statistics come from Ofcom's research into news consumption, which included a survey of nearly 2,800 people across the UK. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC's James Harding to newspaper publishers: let's work together - Media - theguardian.com

BBC head of news James Harding has said the differences between the corporation and publishers have been overdone. It means a society in which the decisions of powerful people go unreported and unchallenged, undermining any belief in local democracy and institutions, public services and private businesses. And, to my mind, the squabbles in recent years between the local press and the BBC are getting us all nowhwere. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Supreme Court Ruling a Likely Death Knell for Aereo - WSJ

Interviews with Mr. Hurwitz and others were conducted before the ruling was announced on Wednesday. Aereo could also lobby to try to change the law, though most experts familiar with the ways of Washington put the odds of success between slim and none. Aereo is a two-year-old company that picks up television signals and sends them to the Internet-connected devices of Aereo subscribers, all without permission from or payment to the broadcasters who provide the programming. These fees have become increasingly important to broadcasters, making up 3.3 billion for the industry last year and expected to hit 7.6 billion by 2019, according to SNL Kagan. - online.wsj.com

online.wsj.com

The Verge

With a success under its belt with the Chromecast, Google is officially renewing its assault on the living room with Android TV. Google TV, launched in 2010 with its apparent ambition to turn your television into a smartphone, is now firmly in the past. Android TV is Google's rekindled vision for your home's largest screen, and it's considerably sleeker and more in line with the competition's offerings. - theverge.com

www.theverge.com

Statement from Aereo CEO and Founder Chet Kanojia on United States Supreme Court Decision - All Aereo

Weve said all along that we worked diligently to create a technology that complies with the law, but todays decision clearly states that how the technology works does not matter. Consumer access to free-to-air broadcast television is an essential part of our countrys fabric. Using an antenna to access free-to-air broadcast television is still meaningful for more than 60 million Americans across the United States. And when new technology enables consumers to use a smarter, easier to use antenna, consumers and the marketplace win. - blog.aereo.com

blog.aereo.com

BBC News - US high court rules Aereo violates copyright law

Aereo uses thousands of tiny antennas to pick-up TV signals and transmit them to subscribers who pay as little as 8 5 a month for the service. Aereo offered its service for subscribers to watch on smartphones and other portable devices. It is available in New York, Boston, Atlanta and some other major US cities. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Lets work together: BBC in olive branch to local press - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage

A senior BBC executive has held out the prospect of content-sharing with local newspapers in an apparent olive-branch towards the industry. James Harding, director of news and current affairs at the corporation, says the BBC is considering making its audio and video archive to local media as part of a new partnership approach. Said James We share a belief in local journalism because we have a responsibility to the country we live in to ensure that local journalism gets back on its feet. - holdthefrontpage.co.uk

www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk

Ofcom - News consumption in the UK - 2014 report

Published 250614 This summary report provides key findings from Ofcoms 2014 research into news consumption across the four main platforms television, radio, print and online, and highlights where these have changed since 2013. It is published as part of our market research range of publications that examine the consumption of content and attitudes towards that content on different platforms. The aim of this report is to inform an understanding of news consumption across the UK, and within each UK nation. - stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk

stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk

Lenny Henry tells MPs ethnic diversity plan of BBC does not go far enough - Media - The Guardian

Henry told MPs on the culture, media and sport select committee that Britain had been losing talent because of the mistaken belief that ethnic minority actors did not have star power. Ejiofor recently won acclaim for his role in the film 12 Years A Slave. Henry added Development funding is great but there are people absolutely trained and ready to rock. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Ariel - Diane Coyle expresses fears on BBC independence

Coyle was critical of the hurried negotiations between the BBC and the government as part of the latter's spending review in October 2010. The resulting settlement froze the licence fee at 145.50 until 2017. They include improving the quality, range and originality of BBC One drama, especially in peak time control of overall headcount, particularly cuts in the number of senior managers. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Selling door-to-door carries too much risk of damaging the BSkyB brand - Business - The Guardian

550 door-to-door salesmen could lose their BSkyB jobs, and have already been taken off the streets. Photograph Chris Radburn/PA Believe in better, say the Sky ads, a philosophy hard to marry with the very old-tech idea of paying salesmen to go door-to-door flogging television and broadband contracts. Door-to-door selling is what gas and electricity suppliers do, or used to do, often landing themselves in hot water with their regulator when the sales techniques proved too aggressive or plain misleading. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Diana Coyle warns government influence over BBC is growing - News - Broadcast

Clearer terms of engagement between the BBC and the government must be put in place to protect the corporation’s independence, according to Diane Coyle. The acting chairman of the BBC Trust used a speech, titled A 21st Century BBC, to warn of the growing creep of government influence. Speaking at the London School of Economics (LSE) on Monday evening, Coyle argued that the BBC has become “more and more entangled with parts of the machinery of government, parliament and the state” over the past decade. She highlighted the fact the BBC attended 14 select committee hearings last year, compared with six in 2003. She also said the licence fee is often classified as a “tax” and the BBC is described as an “arm’s length body” of the Department for Culture, Media and Sports.- broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Predictable BBC1 needs to improve drama, says BBC Trust chair Diane Coyle - TV Radio - Media - The Independent

Ms Coyle, who took over from Lord Patten after he resigned for health reasons, criticised the BBCs flagship channel in a speech indicating her candidacy to fill the vacant role. Lord Coe, the Conservative peer and leader of the London 2012 Olympic Games organising committee is favourite for the role, although the high-profile job may prove incompatible with his outside interests. Diane Coyle took over the role from Lord Patten following his resignation The Independent revealed that the job criteria has been tweaked to allow for a candidate unable to commit three to four days a week to the role. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Licence fee should be charged to iPlayer users, says acting chair of BBC Trust - Media - theguardian.com

Diane Coyle said her speech on Monday evening was likely to be seen as her application for the job as BBC Trust chair. She said it was right that there should be a debate about decriminalisation of licence fee evasion, including the potential impact on BBC income. Coyle reminded her LSE audience that this had resulted in the negotiation being lumped together with the government's spending review, which led to the BBC being forced to take on extra funding obligations while the licence fee was frozen until 2017. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

UKTV Play online - informitv

UKTV has announced a new digital service that will be delivered online direct to viewers. Programming will be compiled in collections, such as by topic and events, as well as editorial selections, box sets and advance previews of new programmes. - informitv.com

informitv.com

xkcd: Throwing Rocks

Warning this comic occasionally contains strong language which may be unsuitable for children, unusual humor which may be unsuitable for adults, and advanced mathematics which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. - xkcd.com

xkcd.com

TV drama tax credit helps put UK in the global game - Media - The Guardian

The conversation is always you can do it in Georgia, you can do it in Vancouver, or you can do it in the UK. The government will refund up to 20 of the UK spend of qualifying TV productions those that have a budget of 1m an hour or more. The TV tax credit sprang from the UKs longer-established tax credit for feature films and from losing TV productions to countries with lower wages and costs. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Help at hand for TV viewers over signal (From Swindon Advertiser)

The 4G roll-out in May included an upgrade of the mast on Tewkesbury Way, and residents were left at a loss when terrestrial aerials were badly affected by the network surge in the area. Engineers have now visited some properties, including in Park Springs, to install new aerials and filters to solve the problems, and anyone else experiencing disruption is asked to contact At800, a company set up to solve the issues. Bart Hathaway, 90, of Park Springs, lost reception for at least two weeks. - swindonadvertiser.co.uk

www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk

BBC News - National roaming plan to tackle mobile phone blackspots

21 June 2014 Last updated at 1311 Mobile phone operators could be made to share their networks in rural areas of the UK where signals are weak under plans being considered by ministers. Some parts of rural Britain have just one or two of the main mobile phone networks available, or none at all, leaving some people without any signal. It is hoped so-called national roaming could be used to plug blackspots. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Freeview Connect could use Freesat's Freetime catch-up service - Recombu

Will Freesat's catch up service beam down on Freeview Connect or will it go its own way Broadcasters have argued that using Freesats Freetime technology in the new terrestrial tech would be a better way of spending the cash. - recombu.com

recombu.com

What the convergence of technology means for trademark registration - Media Network - Guardian Professional

YouView's defeat in the High Court highlights the risks involved if a new brand name is too similar to an existing trademark. Photograph Tammy Hanratty/Corbis Coming up with a distinctive brand name that differentiates a company's service offering from its competitors, and protecting that name through trademark registration is increasingly important for any business. A high court judgment earlier this week highlights the risks involved if a new brand name is too similar to an existing trademark, and the need to undertake sufficient clearance procedures before a brand is launched and significant money has been invested in it. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

BBC - Blogs - About the BBC - Making the most of summer 2014 on Red Button

These streams will be available from the first day of Wimbledon, 23rd June. These streams will be EPG listed on all platforms so that you can record your favourite events. 90 of UK households, because we are using capacity on a commercial multiplex to deliver these services. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Feedback: Radio 2 Schedule Changes; 20 Jun 14

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Ariel - BBC launches new diversity targets

I am not content for the BBC to be merely good or above average. I believe in this and want our record to be beyond reproach. The money will be prioritised from other budgets to support BAME staff, writers and other talent. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC diversity push to include work with director general - Media - theguardian.com

We will have six people from BAME backgrounds, one of whom will work with me for a year or more, adding that he would also learn from whoever gets to work with him. Itll be open to people inside and outside the BBC. You need to network, you need to see how other people do it. Hall added Ive been talking to ITV, Channel 4 everybody is on this agenda. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Ariel - The office jargon that staff hate

20 June 2014 Last updated at 0911 Unsurprisingly, Ariel's recent appeal against office jargon struck a chord with many BBC workers frustrated by corporate waffle. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Ofcom - Consent to renewed agreement between Sky and Arqiva for provision of three channels on Multiplex C

Notice of Ofcom's decision is set out in the letter to Arqiva below. - licensing.ofcom.org.uk

licensing.ofcom.org.uk

TV news is about to change - Comment - Broadcast

So the Sambrook v Ryley slagging match about the future of TV news – particularly rolling news channels like Sky News, which John Ryley heads up – has become a cause célèbre. As the former head of BBC News and a 30-year veteran of TV news, Richard Sambrook (now vice-chair and head of content at PR giant Edelman) has form. He says instant access to news, supplied by a growing number of online providers, propelled by social media sites and accessed via smartphones and tablets, under- lines the cost inefficiencies of 24-hour rolling news channels. Why, he wonders, do we need endless and sometimes pointless crosses to “our man in the field” – who often knows less than the Twittersphere? - broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Bskyb: Copyright reform for digital services would 'do more harm than good'- The Inquirer

However, Sky has said that now is not the right time for such a move. Sky's comments followed those from Maria Martin-Prat, head of the copyright unit at the European Commission, who said that a copyright reform is essential due to the shift from owning content to accessing it digitally, in contrast to Pilcher's remarks. - theinquirer.net

www.theinquirer.net

RadioToday - Sky looks at closing Sky Sports News Radio

Bosses at Sky are proposing to close down its sports news radio service with the potential loss of 18 radio jobs. The company says the closure is due to evolving customer habits and that the service is no longer viable. Head of Sky Sports Andy Cairns told staff about the plans yesterday, just a few months after the station secured a spot on Radioplayer. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

http://www.ses.com/4233325/news/2014/19720721

This additional capacity will be used to broadcast multiple high definition and standard definition video streams and will be available to satellite and cable viewers in the UK. These households will enjoy the flexibility that satellite has to offer through simultaneous live feeds of events. The company provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators and business and governmental organisations worldwide. - ses.com

www.ses.com

BBC and ITV battle Arqiva on future of Freeview - Telegraph

For ITV and Channel 4 the growth of pay-TV via the internet is a threat to advertising revenues. For the BBC anything that erodes audience share raises questions over the licence fee. The broadcasters have radically reduced their funding of YouView and diverted it to Freeview Connect. - telegraph.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk

BBC News - UK rural broadband fund winners revealed

19 June 2014 Last updated at 1441 The UK government has revealed the winners of a 10m fund aimed at finding new ways to get superfast broadband to very remote areas of Britain. Eight schemes have been shortlisted, using a variety of technologies including fixed wireless and satellite. The government said it would use the trials to work out the best way to get superfast broadband to the final 5. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

After 25 years at the helm Jeremy Paxman presents his final Newsnight - Telegraph

Paxman described the iconic bikes as rubbish, lumbering and uncomfortable although the mayor hit back saying they were beautiful machines. He also asked the mayor why it was such a bloody nightmare cycling in London. He also said recent polls suggested Ed Miliband had about as much appeal as a flatulent dog in a lift. - telegraph.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk

Broadcast radio accounts for two-thirds of all audio listening in US

Some interesting figures today from Edison Research, who have looked at radio's total share of all audio consumption above, or here if you're reading this via RSS or email. When in New York last year, I noted cable carrying a set of services including radio simulcasts and non-stop radio-like music channels. Of note, this research reports podcast share at 1.7. - mediauk.com

www.mediauk.com

Jeremy Hunt reaffirms his faith in local TV despite low viewing ratings - Media - theguardian.com

Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary who championed the launch of local TV stations in his previous job as culture secretary, has been defending his initiative. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

RadioToday - Absolute 80s 5 live get Freesat Awards

Absolute 80s last won the award in 2010 whilst Absolute Radio won it in 2011 and 2013. Controller Jonathan Wall tweeted Delighted that 5 live has won best news channel at the freesat awards for 3rd year running. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk