DTG :: News :: Channel 4 to premiere new Freeview TV Ad

Freeview has agreed an exclusive deal with Channel 4 as part of its next TV advertising campaign. Starting from the 10th February a 10 second teaser film will introduce 'cat' and 'budgie' to viewers watching Channel 4 and its digital channels E4, More4 and Film 4. Media buying agency MEC brokered the deal with Channel 4 Sales. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

Public service broadcasters join forces on catch-up service for smart TVs - Media - The Guardian

It was originally envisaged that YouView would be used as the future brand and technology for public service broadcasting, eventually replacing less advanced Freeview which is in more than 13 million homes. With as many as 3m households set to have a smart TV by the end of this year, and given that the user experience is controlled by the TV manufacturers, it has become increasingly important for broadcasters to secure their prominence. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Advertising sales could transform as programmatic trading takes off - Media - The Guardian

Photograph David Levene for the Guardian Programmatic trading of advertising has been around for a decade or so, but advocates believe 2014 could be the year it breaks out beyond its online display roots and takes hold in other media sectors. A highly complex, computer auction-based system of buying ads with transactions taking fractions of a second programmatic trading is similar to how stocks and share are traded in the City. The trading, which takes the form of automated real-time bidding based on complicated algorithms, matches ads with audiences. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Bad week for BBC technology as DMI, Freeview and Trust review woes pile up - Media - The Guardian

Some iPlayer numbers are eye-wateringly large but ultimately it represents only 2.3 of BBC hours viewed. At the public accounts committee on Monday, even senior managers who had once been ardent supporters of the project coalesced around the view that the technology had failed to deliver effectively. Again, there were clear signs in both cases that the BBC's technology division was on the wrong end of a strategic tussle. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Danny Cohen: 'TV panel shows without women are unacceptable' - Media - The Observer

Yes, it's high in the new Broadcasting House, and in a corner, so it comes with plenty of light and lovely rooftop views. But, were you to swing a cat in it something that would obviously contravene the BBC's no doubt extensive health and safety rules, things would rapidly become very messy. There are three of us here today me, him and the inevitable minder and it's, well, cosy. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

BBC - Blogs - About the BBC - What's on BBC Red Button, 8-15 February

If you arent able to keep up with the days action, dont miss the Red Buttons highlights of the best of the days sport at 8pm each evening. It's going to be a busy week, not least for our BBC Sport team We hope you enjoy week one of the games because we've got lots more coming up next week. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Feedback: Who sets the news agenda? 7 Feb 14

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Ofcom - Television Broadcast Licensing Update January 2014

Television services that have ceased to be licensed handed back or revoked in this period The following services are no longer licensed. The relevant licence is either no longer required by the licensee so has been handed back, or the service has been removed from a licence covering multiple services, or revoked as a matter of routine usually for non-payment of the annual licence fee. Other announcements Ofcom has varied the Channel 3 and Channel 5 licences to reflect the decisions set out in Ofcoms statement of 23 July 2013 on amendments to their programming obligations http//stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/c3-c5-obligations/statement/statement.pdf. - licensing.ofcom.org.uk

licensing.ofcom.org.uk

To Grow, Netflix Must Learn From the Quietly Brilliant UI of Regular TVs - Wired Design - Wired.com

Smart TVs have failed because theyve always assumed more is better. The same problem plagues the services that power those smart TVs. Netflix offers thousands of options for what to watch, but instead of giving you a chance to skip through and sample them, it makes you evaluate each one, like a title on a video-store shelf. - wired.com

www.wired.com

Ariel - Five decades since Wales got its voice

It was on February 9 1964 that a small team of engineers gathered below the new Wenvoe transmitter just outside Cardiff and switched on Wales' first national TV channel. It was arguably the most important milestone in Welsh broadcasting since the very first radio broadcasts back in the 1920s. The launch of BBC Wales at last gave a nation the ability to see itself and to speak to itself on its own terms, about its own affairs and to do so in both its languages. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Abolition of retransmission fees on hold - News - Broadcast

It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Lisa Campbell: 10 Years in TV - In-depth - Broadcast

I joined Broadcast at the end of 2003, when all the talk was of the uninspiringly named Codes of Practice in the 2003 Communications Act. I wondered what sort of dry and dusty rag Id joined and when Id get to talk proper telly Brooksides last ep, after 21 years, perhaps The live version of The Bill, marking its 20th anniversary - broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Cable television: News you can lose - The Economist

Every weekday at 9am he confers with his teams in New York, Atlanta, Washington, DC, and other bureaus to discuss ratings and web traffic, and to decide what news to cover. Previous bosses at the channel rarely attended morning news meetings, but Mr Zucker has been hands-on since January 2013, when he took over the role. However, he also believes that CNN cannot live by news alone. - economist.com

www.economist.com

Vodafone eyes pay-TV as UK revenues tumble - Business News - Business - The Independent

Today, theres not an urgent need to be there. He would not comment on whether cash-rich Vodafone was considering specific moves, although analysts have speculated about a takeover of TalkTalk or an alliance with Sky. Colao said the convergence of mobile, broadband, home phone and TV meant it was increasingly important for Vodafone to offer all these services. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Aereo Reopens New York Online-TV Service to New Subscribers - Bloomberg

Aereo Inc., the online-television company thats battling broadcasters in the Supreme Court, reopened its service to New York subscribers after regaining enough capacity to handle demand. People who were on a waiting list are being notified first before the company reopens its website for sign-ups, Virginia Lam, a spokeswoman, said in a statement today. The company had stopped accepting new users in New York about a week ago. - bloomberg.com

www.bloomberg.com

Media Talk podcast: Rajars, The Bridge, Adam Boulton and more BBC woe

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Arqiva acquires Capablue Digital TV Europe

February 6, 2014 UK media and communications infrastructure supplier Arqiva has acquired connected TV, video-on-demand and content solution specialist Capablue. Capablue will join Arqivas Digital Platforms division. According to Arqiva, Capablue will strengthen its growing investment in IP and connected TV capabilities. - digitaltveurope.net

www.digitaltveurope.net

BBC urged to review investments in YouView, Freeview and Freesat TV - Media - theguardian.com

BBC must provide content in the way viewers want Trust vice chair Diane Coyle. The report noted that the BBC is finding the dual mission of saving money while needing to provide its content on all the platforms consumers use an increasingly difficult task. The report also criticises a scattergun approach to the management of the tens of millions of pounds of investments which the corporation holds in YouView, Freeview and Freesat. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

RadioToday - Communicorp buys 8 Global Radio stations

Communicorp is wholly owned by Denis OBrien, subject to regulatory approval. Most importantly the conclusion of this deal solidifies Globals position as the number one commercial radio company in the UK, and enables our brands to continue to grow, extending their reach into all parts of the UK, making Globals offering truly national. Its clear that the UK advertising market is buoyant, and this move will make us the 4th largest commercial radio group in the UK from a standing start. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Decade of change at the ‘TV bible’ - Comment - Broadcast

In an ever-changing landscape, Broadcast has been at the forefront I didnt get the warmest of welcomes from one early contact when I joined Broadcast more than a decade ago. The Communications Act 2003 was my baptism of fire and, asked to analyse its impact, I called the great and the good, eventually getting to terms with the Terms of Trade thanks to a certain plain-speaking Scot. Not the drinking and debauchery I could handle that but the lack of TV glamour in the sweaty pit of the Palais, where shows were flogged like fridges. - broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

RAJAR Q4 2013 - good news, bad news, and winds of change

This quarter's RAJAR radio audience figures are almost totally good news for the radio industry. Somehow, we've added 1.3 million listeners to radio year-on-year, and we're up to 90.9 of the UK adult population listening to radio at least once a week. All sectors of the BBC and commercial radio are up. - mediauk.com

www.mediauk.com

BBC - Media Centre - RAJAR Q4 2013

BBC Radios share of listening remained steady at 55.2, from 55.3 last year and 53.4 last quarter as the overall radio audience grew. We are a nation of audiophiles and so, despite the ever-increasing competition for peoples time and the growing range of online audio providers, radio is thriving in the digital age. Its share of 12.5 was the same as last year and up on last quarters 11.8. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

CNN Shutters CNN Latino - TVNewser

Mediabistro Course Were kicking off a brand NEW boot camp on February 18th - mediabistro.com

www.mediabistro.com

BT Launches UK Pay-to-own Service for Films, TV Box Sets Coming Soon

Titles are available to download in standard definition or high definition and are prices from 5.99 and 8.99 respectively. Purchases are streamed to the YouView box and are as you would expect available to watch as many times as you like. The company added that TV box sets will be added to the roster of purchasable titles in the coming months. - thenextweb.com

thenextweb.com

BBC - BBC Trust - Trust publishes report into BBC distribution

The Trust has today welcomed the findings of a report which shows that the BBC's distribution arrangements for its UK programmes and services are fit for purpose and offer good value for money for licence fee payers. Mediatique also looked at the governance structures in place covering the BBC's distribution activities, to review the effectiveness of the BBC's distribution arrangements in light of future potential challenges. The BBC Executive has published itsresponse to the report. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Media: DMI; Royals; media ownership; journalists in Egypt 05 Feb 2014

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BBC to be more transparent on distribution - News - Broadcast

It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

play 90 years of the time pips

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audioboo.fm

'Ofcom's decisons too easily derailed by companies it regulates' - Media - theguardian.com

The latest round of cuts to the cost of calling a mobile was blocked for 14 months by legal challenges from network operators before being approved on appeal earlier this year. Ofcom, which is partly publicly funded, has faced 61 appeals over the last five years, with nearly all of its rulings challenged in the Competition Appeals Tribunal. The regulator says fighting these cases has cost between 2m and 4.5m a year. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

BBC to slash YouView investment - Media - The Guardian

YouView's colourful history has involved repeated delays, more than 100m of costs and stand-up rows between Five owner Richard Desmond and former chairman Lord Sugar. YouView, which features digital video recording and catchup services from all the broadcasting partners, was originally billed as the internet-connected, on-demand version of the hugely successful Freeview service, which receives free-to-air channels via rooftop aerials. Of the more than 1m homes with YouView, just 3 are estimated to have bought one direct from a retailer. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

BSkyB 'pay light' push targets Freeview households - Media - theguardian.com

Since hitting former chief executive James Murdoch's target of 10 million pay-TV subscribers in 2010, customer growth has slowed to a trickle, reaching just 10.5 million at the end of 2014, with a significant number of those new additions cheaper internet TV users. With Sky's cheapest basic channels package costing 21.50 a month and premium packages including sport and movie channels starting at more than 40, the broadcaster appears to have reached the limit of the pay-TV strategy that has served it so well over more than 20 years. However, with the boosters priced at 5, 15 and 30 respectively they have not proved overly popular with consumers who signed up for a cheap pay-TV service. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

RadioToday - Smooth Radio to be removed from Digital 1

In the latest Ofcom update, Global Radio has also been granted permission to add a new station, with an unconfirmed name, playing music from the 70s, 80s and early 90s with particular appeal to audiences aged 35-54. Smooth Radio broadcasts nationally on DAB, enabling five regional stations to carry national programmes 24 hours a day. Its current format puts the station targeting those aged 50 plus with easy listening music including music influenced by jazz and soul, plus lifestyle oriented speech. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Sky television at 25: has it changed the TV landscape? - Telegraph

Today Sky offers dozens of its own channels and hosts hundreds more from other providers. In 1990, Murdoch has said, he remortgaged his New York penthouse to save Sky from bankruptcy. It has been in the vanguard of digital TV, high definition, and 3D, and has allowed viewers to timeshift its programmes using Sky and on-demand. - telegraph.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk

Have 24-hour TV news channels had their day? - Media - theguardian.com

The 24-hour news channel has come of age. Citizen journalism ensures that pictures of demonstrations and the resulting crackdown are beamed directly to a global audience. Spin on to April 2013 and the Boston marathon bombings. - gu.com

gu.com

DTG :: News :: Google opens up Chromecast platform

Google have announced that it is releasing a software developer kit for its Chromecast TV dongle and thus opening it up to both developers and companies who want to launch content on the platform. For the rest of us, that means even more of our favourite movies, TV shows and music will become available on Chromecast as developers work with the SDK. DTG Staff 04.02.2014 Links open in a new window. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

RadioToday - Local radio praised in House of Commons

MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven Simon Kirby has urged small businesses in his constituency to recognise the potential of advertising on local radio. The Kemptown MP announced that in the last four years over six hundred businesses have benefitted from advertising on Brightons Juice 107.2 station. Mr Kirby, Member of Parliament for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, has praised the role of local radio stations in supporting small businesses through advertising and promotional opportunities. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Nets, Stations Push Back On Retrans Via TVfreedom.org - Broadcasting Cable

Broadcast networks and their affiliate associations have teamed up with broadcast groups, mobile digital broadcasters and others to launch TVfreedom.org, which will advocate for broadcast retransmission consent rights in the ongoing battle with cable operators in Washington. NAB has taken the lead on pushing back against cable operator arguments that retrans blackouts are a growing trend and an example of an unfair system skewed toward broadcasters. Now broadcasters are launching an ATVA-like coalition to add more firepower on their side of the contentious fight. - broadcastingcable.com

www.broadcastingcable.com

Ariel - Linwood blames Television over DMI

Speaking before the Public Accounts Committee on Monday, the former director of technology said there was a 'lack of engagement from the business side' with the technology project. The business did not take ownership of the project.' Linwood - who was sacked for the failure of DMI last July - argued that the system was 'ready to go live' in October 2012. The metadata archive - containing searchable information about all the programmes the BBC had made or broadcast in the last 20 years - had around 3000 users, he said, while the 'Production Tools' element had been piloted throughout 2012 and all 'showstopper bugs' had been removed. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC News - Mark Thompson apologises over project failure at BBC

He added there had been other larger, successful technological innovations at the BBC. The Public Accounts Committee is examining why the efforts to move the BBC away from using video tape failed. The gross estimate of the amount spent on DMI was 125.9m, although the net cost to the licence fee payer was estimated to be 98.4m. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Ian Burrell: You might get a good sitcom out of it – the belated tarnishing of Mark Thompsons BBC ca

Earlier the former Director General had attempted his own rather glib humour over a fiasco that has cost 100m of public cash. I want to apologise to you and the public for the failure of this project. His strategy in deflecting the wrath of MPs who believed they had been deceived by his earlier testimony in February 2011 was to argue that he believed what hed said at the time. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Lords warn against top-slicing BBC - News - Broadcast

It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Ofcom should have final say on media takeovers, say peers - Media - The Guardian

News Corporation abandoned its bid to take full control of BSkyB in 2011. Lord Inglewood, the committee's chair, said the industry regulator Ofcom should have the final say on plurality and competition issues surrounding any major media deal. Inglewood indicated that Ofcom was better positioned as a neutral, non-partisan body for evaluating media takeovers. - gu.com

gu.com

Mark Thompson faces MPs over BBC's £100m IT debacle - live coverage - Media - theguardian.com

Thompson repeatedly declines to be drawn into such a bald statement. He says what is now clear is that there was a difference of opinion between the BBC's technology department and other departments about DMI. - gu.com

gu.com

DTG :: News :: EBU puts subtitles on line

The specification is derived from the base W3C TTML specification. This builds on work done by MPEG, not yet published in international standard form. DTG Staff 03.02.2014 Links open in a new window. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

News Republic

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www.news-republic.com

Former BBC boss Mark Thompson faces MPs over £100m IT fiasco - Media - theguardian.com

He is one of a handful of current and former BBC employees giving evidence to the public affairs committee about the scheme which was intended to create an integrated digital production and archiving system and ended up being abandoned having cost 100 million of licence fee cash. DMI was meant to allow staff to handle all aspects of video and audio content from their desks, but after years of difficulties during which 125.9 million was ploughed into it the plug was pulled last year leaving a net cost of 98.4 million. - gu.com

gu.com

Ian Burrell: One casualty of the digital revolution we should not lament – the old-school newsroom bully - Opinion - M

Bullying, Im sad to say, has become a potent topic in modern British media. For some it will be a non-issue, particularly those old-stagers who argue that it was forever thus in an industry that rewards ruthless ambition. Traditional media is under pressure surely a factor in workplace tensions but for the multi-skilled, digital natives emerging from colleges with a hunger to tell stories there have never been so many career options. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

BBC News - Why radio has an enduring appeal

Down the years plenty of technologies have looked set to curb the appeal of radio - the cassette tape, the CD, the iPod and streaming services like Spotify to name but a few. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC attempts to break into a global audience by harnessing the viral power of YouTube - TV Radio - Media - The Ind

The BBC2 flagship news programme has become active on the Google-owned video platform since the arrival four months ago of new editor Ian Katz and has scored a number of online hits with short clips taken from the show. The closest Newsnight has come to going viral is an interview with Russell Brand in which the actor and comedian discussed democracy, revolution and beards with Jeremy Paxman. The 10-minute clip has had 9.7m views since it was uploaded in October. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

BBC News - Radios star continuing to shine

The intent was clear the channel was going to kill off old-fashioned radio. Down the years plenty of technologies have looked set to kill off radio talking pictures, TV, the cassette tape, the CD, the iPod. What may surprise you is that there are plenty of venture capitalists betting big that good old, steam-age radio cannot just survive but thrive. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk