Ofcom - Television Broadcast Licensing Update December 2012

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. Licence transfers The following licence has been transferred to a new company who is now the legal licensee. - licensing.ofcom.org.uk

licensing.ofcom.org.uk

BBC - Blogs - Internet blog - Christmas 2013 on BBC iPlayer

With new gadgets being at the top of many Christmas wish lists, we see a lot of new devices accessing BBC iPlayer over the holiday period. 2013 truly proved to be the year of the tablet and after they were all unwrapped, Boxing Day saw tablet viewing overtake computer viewing for the first time in iPlayer history. BBC iPlayer daily requests for TV programmes by device type millions. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Ariel - Director of BBC Trust Nicholas Kroll to retire

7 January 2014 Last updated at 1005 The director of the BBC Trust has announced his retirement. Nicholas Kroll, who is 59, will retire from the BBC at the end of June. He has been director of the trust since it was established in 2007. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BSkyB and BT rivalry could provide a cash bonanza for Richard Desmond - Media - theguardian.com

BT is already thought to have run the rule over a potential acquisition of Channel 5 last year, when Desmond was quietly sounding out potential buyers for a private sale, although certainly not at a valuation in the region he is now aiming for. Free-to-air options For BT, Channel 5 would increase its access to content beyond its bedrock of sport and films, as well as providing a free-to-air platform it could use to promote its pay-TV service. Channel 5 has six channels flagship Channel 5, 5 and 5 USA and a 1, one-hour time-shifted variant for each. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

DTG :: News :: Dolby unveils its new Dolby Vision .

Even though most TV shows and movies are recorded using camera technology that captures the colours and brightness of real life, much of that richness is lost by the time consumers get to watch it. Dolby Vision changes that, giving creative teams the freedom to use the full gamut of colours, peak brightness, and local contrast, with the confidence that those will be reproduced faithfully on televisions that feature Dolby Vision. Televisions manufactured with Dolby Vision from Sharp and TCL are expected to retail later this year. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

Radio Today - Absolute Radio blocks international streams

Bauer Medias new station Absolute Radio has blocked international listeners from receiving the station outside the UK. The station now says it is not economically viable for them to have their audio streams available outside of the UK, after over a decade of doing so. The station has invested in online streaming recently, using InStream technology to give advertisers the opportunity to buy online spots determined by geographical location, age and gender. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

BBC News - Is niche internet television broadcasting the future?

Yet the marina here is still busy, its piers teeming with hundreds of motor cruisers and yachts that need to be looked after until the next holiday season comes around and their wealthy owners return. For Jason Wilkinson, a 41-year-old expatriate Briton, those boats and the industry that has grown up around them represented an ideal business opportunity. Any fan of cable TV, for example, will be well aware of the kind of obscure and esoteric material that can be found hidden deep within the channel list. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

ITV Border s new Scottish political programme Representing Border - Border - ITV News

- itv.com

www.itv.com

All there in black and white: People still love old sets - Anglia - ITV News

Snelling in Blofield Heath in Norfolk has been selling televisions since the 50's but it's been a while since a black and white set left their shop. They don't make them like they used to... - itv.com

www.itv.com

Black and white TV licenses: who still has them? - News - theguardian.com

We've summarised how the number of black and white licences has changed and which are the biggest cities to still have them below. These days, a colour TV licence costs 145.50 while the price of a black and white one is 49 and will stay fixed until 2016. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

BBC Trust director to retire - Media - theguardian.com

Nicholas Kroll, director of the BBC Trust, has announced that he is retiring from the position in June. Kroll, who has worked at the BBC's governing body since 2004, will leave at the end of June, aged 60, the trust announced on Monday. He was one of seven senior BBC figures past and present to give evidence before the House of Commons public accounts committee in September last year about the level of controversial payments to outgoing corporation executives. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Hands on ... Humax DTR-T1010 YouView - Herald Scotland

First digital video recorders such as TiVo and Sky allowed you to pause, rewind and record live TV. More recently, on-demand services like BBC iPlayer allow you to watch programmes you haven't even recorded, streaming them in HD quality. All modern TVs support live digital broadcasts but only some support on-demand services, while others offer built-in recording features. - heraldscotland.com

www.heraldscotland.com

David Cameron's internet porn filter is the start of censorship creep - Laurie Penny - Comment is free - The Guardian

'The worst thing about the porn filter is not that it accidentally blocks useful information but that it blocks information at all.' Illustration Satoshi Kambayashi Picture the scene. Actually, it's a nice lady in a telesales warehouse somewhere, employed on behalf of your service provider let's call her Linda. Linda wants to know do you want to be able to see hardcore pornography - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

DTG :: News :: 0.04 per cent of UK viewers still watching in black and white

Despite colour TV licences being around for nearly 48 yearsand the digital switchover forcing black and white viewers to buy an additional set top box0.04 per cent of households adhere to viewing black and white television. A colour TV licence currently costs 145.50 and a black and white licence 49 both are not due to be reviewed until 2016. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

Americans want to see Downton Abbey at the same time as the Brits - Heather Long - Comment is free - theguardian.com

The show has plenty of devotees and people mocking it on both sides of the pond, but Brits get to see the latest season months ahead of their American counterparts. That episode premiered in the UK on 22 September. Downton Abbey was the biggest television hit on Twitter on Christmas Day, but only in UK. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Hypercritical: Fill Your TV

The reactions of my co-hosts and the feedback from listeners has made it clear that the entire concept of calibrating a home TV is foreign to most people. Before calibrating, dont forget to turn off all the image enhancement features of your TV. Check your TVs manual for explanations of what each setting does, if youre curious, but you really do want to turn them all off. - hypercritical.co

hypercritical.co

BBC - Blogs - Internet blog - What's on BBC Red Button - 4-10 January

The play along is not available on Virgin TiVo but remember you can also download the BBC's free mobile play along app. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Market for TV sport to hit record £16bn in 2014 as broadcasters play hardball - Media - The Guardian

English Premier League football is among 10 competitions that generate 75 of all broadcast rights revenue. The accounting company added that sports rights payments will outpace global pay TV revenues, which are expected to grow 4 this year, with premium sports content more valued than ever as a lure for audiences. European football will contribute 46 of the 2014 rights total with 6.5bn, Deloitte said, with the Premier League accounting for 1.9bn. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

YouView set-top box sales 'as expected' in 2012-13

YouView sales reached expected levels during 2012-13, it has been claimed. Only 30,000 are believed to have been bought through high street retail outlets to date. The YouView partners invested 42.1 million in the service during 2012-13, up 30 per cent from the 32.6 million spent in the previous financial year. - uswitch.com

www.uswitch.com

TV Player streams Freeview channels on your phone and tablet - Recombu

Channels can be streamed on cellular 3G or 4G connections as well as via WiFi and you can also browse the now and next programme guide while watching another. A new app has been launched that will let TV viewers watch all Freeview channels on their smartphone or tablet. Software firm Simplestream has developed the app, called TVPlayer. - recombu.com

recombu.com

DTG :: News :: BARB signs agreement with Experian

Mosaic uses more than 340 demographic, lifestyle and behavioural variables to determine its groups and has been a trusted source of targeting for many years. This means that media planners will be able to examine how their clients' television advertising campaigns perform among the Mosaic lifestyle groups and gives further insight into programme profiles. Combined with BARB, the Mosaic classification system gives planners an additional predictor of viewers' lifestyles and how they spend their money. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

Former BBC boss Mark Thompson to face MPs again over report into failed £100m digital project - TV Radio - Media

DMI was being developed to allow BBC staff to create, share and manage video content at their desks. The report, which cost the BBC 263,340 to produce, found that no single event or issue caused DMI to fail. Serious weaknesses in project management and reporting, a lack of focus on business change, together with piecemeal assurance arrangements, meant that it took the BBC too long to realise that the project was in serious trouble and unlikely to deliver its objectives. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Ariel - Council approves plans for TV Centre

Developers Stanhope can now press ahead with the regeneration of the former home of BBC television at White City, which also includes building restaurants, shops, a cinema and offices. The Grade II listed central ring of the building will be preserved, while three of the eight studios will be upgraded and used to make programmes again. BBC Studios and Post Production has taken out a 15 year lease on them from 2015. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Radio Today - New national DAB station to launch in Feb

The exact genre of the new station has yet to be announced, but it is expected it will be on-air in February. Until then Birdsong will occupy the slot vacated by Jazz FM yesterday. Jazz FM announced plans to remove itself from national digital radio last month, and Arqiva advertised for a replacement jazz station in the summer in preparation for the change. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

BBC News - BBC rejects subscription fee calls

It warned a subscription model - where users only pay for the services they want - would exclude many who could not afford it. It added the licence fee was funding a public service everyone could use. The government inquiry comes ahead of the licence fee and royal charter renewals in 2016 and 2017 respectively. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC - Blogs - About the BBC - TV Licensing Annual Review 2012/13

So it feels like an apt time to reflect on last year and the challenges and achievements that came with it. It goes without saying 2012 was a huge year for live TV events. We collected more revenue - 3.7bn, up 6.7m from last year. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

YouView shareholder funding up 30% - Media - theguardian.com

This represents an increase of almost 30 on the 32.6m Youview's shareholders forked out the previous year, as time and resources were ploughed into getting the much-delayed TV service to launch last July. YouView's annual financial filing reveals the extent of the upscaling of the business, which almost doubled staff numbers from 29 to 55 between the end of March 2012 and the end of March this year. Research and development numbers rose from one to 15, while those in administration grew from 28 to 40. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Richard Desmond appoints Barclays to explore sale of Channel 5 - Media - theguardian.com

Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond has appointed Barclays to advise on a possible sale. The process is understood to be at a very early stage with Barclays, which was involved in evaluating the potential value of Desmond's magazines including flagship title OK in 2011, not yet thought to have approached potential buyers. The most obvious buyer which would gain the biggest strategic synergy would be ITV. - theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

BBC - Blogs - Internet blog - Connected Red Button: a first look at the new service on Smart TVs

This new service will run alongside the existing Red Button service during its beta period, giving viewers a chance to try the new service whilstit istested and refined. Viewers will be able to try the new service, gain familiarity and provide feedback that we can potentially incorporate into the product as we continue development. They can do this while continuing to use the existing Red Button service as usual. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Over half of You and Yours listeners use DAB

You Yours frequently returns to sensationalist, and negative, coverage of DAB. I was asked onto the programme in October to talk about the slow take-up of digital radio - and was subject to a barrage of negative questioning. In it, he made the not unreasonable point that a significant amount of listeners to You Yours will probably already have chosen DAB, and that the programme's constant rubbishing of the technology would suggest that they are calling their audience fools. - mediauk.com

www.mediauk.com

https://plus.google.com/u/0/110681770517923715807/posts/91DhVKyvcyP

- plus.google.com

plus.google.com

Media Talk podcast: predictions for 2014

download.guardian.co.uk

Rethinking TV news, Part I: Whats broken, whats possible BuzzMachine

Id like to see TV news be reinvented, yet Im astounded so little innovation is occurring in the medium. That could be because TV news is in better financial shape than print for now. It could be because in a highly competitive market, no one wants to leave the pack and risk failure trying something new. - buzzmachine.com

buzzmachine.com

Media: TV presenter Chemistry 1 Jan 2014

downloads.bbc.co.uk

diamond geezer

I've had it since the 20th century, so perhaps that shouldn't be a surprise. I bought it in the January Sales 1999, by which time it must already have been out of date, and I've been living firmly in the past ever since. There had been this strange smell in the room earlier in the evening. - diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk

diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk

BBC Trust boss Lord Patten 'busted flush' says Greg Dyke - Media - The Guardian

This year, Patten has been criticised in the fallout from the Jimmy Savile scandal and for agreeing to a 450,000 payout to short-lived director general George Entwistle . Dyke said Patten had suffered an enormous amount of damage from Entwistle's resignation as director general at the height of the Savile scandal last year after just 54 days in the job. He said Patten had also mishandled criticism of the severance payments. - gu.com

gu.com

Media: BuzzFeed, BBC governance; Danish writers' rooms 18 Dec 2013

downloads.bbc.co.uk

Ariel - PwC report criticises DMI management

Its authors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, blamed a lack of proper scrutiny at different stages of the project for the BBC's failure to spot that the digital end-to-end production tool was unlikely to deliver its objectives. The accountants said that effective decisions about the project's future were prevented by weaknesses in project management and reporting, as well as 'ad-hoc' assurance activities. Lack of knowledge PwC believed that DMI governance arrangements were 'not fit for purpose'. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC - Blogs - About the BBC - Review of the BBC’s management of the Digital Media Initiative – DMI

However we got DMI wrong, which we regret. We know it is vital to spot problems early, which is why we have overhauled how our major projects are run to ensure this doesn't happen again. The report sets out a number of changes which will strengthen the Executive Board by increasing the number of Non-Executive Directors from four to six, and will improve reporting so that performance can be monitored more effectively. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

DTG :: News :: Siano launches receiver chip for DVB-T2

Supplier of mobile broadcast DTV solutions Siano has announced the launch of a new receiver chip designed exclusively for automotive and mobile consumer electronics applications. Similar to previous Siano chip solutions, the SMS4470 combines an RF tuner with a channel decoding processor, optimized for automotive and mobile devices. DVB-T2 offers higher spectrum utilization and improved overall performance than previous technologies. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

Radio Today - Go Digital Day: Ed Vaizey s speech in full

The radio industry is in the midst of probably its greatest ever period of change certainly the greatest change since the birth of commercial radio. The shift to digital is growing steadily year on year. In 2010 we inherited from the previous Government an ambitious goal to switchover to digital. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Radio Today - Podcast: Lack of love for radio s D Love

An enforced premature DAB switchover was not in the interests of our sector of the industry, nor the listener, Said William. James Cridland backed him up saying D Love is a failed attempt a virility whilst others asked why a made up character from the 70s is promoting the future of radio. You can listen below, on the Audioboo Channel or within the RadioToday App. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

DTG :: News :: Industry welcomes Government confirmation of digital future and investment in local DAB coverage

They also welcomed the announcement of a second national commercial multiplex in 2014 which will allow for new national stations on DAB. These major initiatives will help towards meeting the switchover coverage and listening criteria, and so support the preparations for a future radio switchover. Minister Ed Vaizey confirmed that we are not ready for a radio switchover and that consumer listening and DAB coverage criteria would need to be met in order for switchover dates to be set. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

Phase 2 of Digital Radio in the UK - Matt Deegan Writes

If the papers are to be believed, he wont be binding the Government to a switchover from FM to digital but then he wouldnt be the first politician to alter their direction of travel with an election coming up. What he will talk about is the kick-off of another round of changes that alter the direction of radio. In truth, it will bring together many of radios factions and bind them around a plan to suit how listeners have changed how they now listen to radio and consume media. - mattdeegan.com

www.mattdeegan.com

A Digital Radio Future - adambowie.com

The event was DRUKs Go Digital conference their third annual get together. - a second national commercial digital multiplex, potentially allowing ten or so new national services to launch. - further investigation into hyper-local DAB potential following the Ofcom test in Brighton. - adambowie.com

www.adambowie.com

DTG :: News :: Digital UK responds to Ofcom TV White Space consultation

TV White Spaces are gaps in the spectrum airwaves used by terrestrial television that could potentially be used by new devices for communications and services in some areas. Potential applications identified by Ofcom include wifi hotspots, rural broadband and machine-to-machine communications. The response calls on Ofcom to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to protect terrestrial television services from interference which could be caused by the use of white spaces. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

BBC News - Digital radio to get £21m investment

16 December 2013 Last updated at 0816 ET More money is to be invested in digital radio as the industry gears up to switch off FM transmitters within the next few years. Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said up to 21m will come from the BBC, government and commercial radio. It will be used to increase digital radio coverage so more homes can receive DAB signals. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

informitv - Online television revenues grow but remain marginal

People in the United Kingdom are among the most likely to access television programming distributed over the internet. Online television and video revenue in the United Kingdom has risen by almost 300 in three years. Yet it still represents less than 3 of total television subscription, advertising and licence fee revenue in the country, or 28 of the total export value of television programmes. - informitv.com

informitv.com

informitv - Rethinking television trends

Television as we know it will be redefined by the smartphone and the tablet, with future viewing experiences ranging from handheld screens to wall-sized multiscreen environments, all connected to ever more capable networks. A characteristically provocative new report from Rethink Research suggests that sales of the traditional television display are destined to decline, while viewers will be taking to tablets as secondary screens. He says these traditionalists are tired of change and just want to get through to their retirement before it matters to much and then let someone else deal with the problems imposed by smartphones, tablets and ubiquitous connectivity. - informitv.com

informitv.com