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

John McCririck loses age discrimination case against Channel 4 - Media - theguardian.com

The racing pundit John McCririck has lost his case against Channel 4 for age discrimination. The 73-year-old argued that he was sacked by the broadcaster because of his age. Both firms denied discrimination in the 3m case. - theguardian.com

BBC is in a 'soft power' battle with international broadcasters - Media - theguardian.com

The BBCs target of having a global reach of 500 million faces stiff competition from other broadcasters. This target, set out last month, would be ambitious at the best of times, but looks extremely challenging after all the cuts that the World Service has had to digest in recent years, including the loss of 15 language services since 2006. The BBC remains the world's leading international broadcaster, with a weekly reach of 256 million, including 192 million watching or listening to the World Service. - theguardian.com

Wednesday 13 November 2013, AM

Vodafone eyes entry into UK pay-TV - Business - The Guardian

Its efforts will be focused on London, with 150m spent improving coverage in the capital. Vodafone will use its stronger balance sheet to fund more acquisitions. Some of those are expected to be in the pay-TV arena. - theguardian.com

BBC News - Plug pulled on rural broadband projects in favour of BT

It comes just weeks after a report criticised the government for wasting taxpayers' money by giving all of its broadband funds to BT. Those involved are angry that BT will monopolise rural broadband rollouts. Both Oxfordshire and Dorset county councils have signed contracts with BT to provide broadband services to rural areas. - bbc.co.uk

Tuesday 12 November 2013, PM

Departing BBC director Lucy Adams using licence fee cash to sue journalists union - TV Radio - Media - The I

She informed Director General Tony Hall this summer that she was leaving in the spring of 2014. It is not the first time that the BBC has providing licence fee money to pay for senior executives to defend their personal reputations. The broadcaster paid 107,000 for Mr Entwistle's costs during internal inquiries into the scandals. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Monday 11 November 2013, PM

Gavin Patterson: the man behind BT Sport's Champions League raid - Media - The Guardian

There may be some intriguing small talk at the school gates next time Gavin Patterson and Jeremy Darroch turn up to collect their respective kids. The first of the two is BT's recently appointed 46-year-old chief executive, and the man behind this weekend's staggering 900m grab for Uefa Champions League football. The second is his principal rival BSkyB's chief executive, the man who has run the Murdoch-controlled satellite broadcaster, which has considered itself the home of football on television for a generation. - theguardian.com

BT's Champions League deal leaves BSkyB worrying about keeping crown - Business - The Guardian

Champions League football accounts for only 3 of viewing across BSkyB's sports channels. In a battle of chequebooks, the key statistic to bear in mind is that BSkyB currently generates free cash flow of about 1bn a year whereas BT, utterly transformed over the past five years, throws off about 2.3bn. For the time being, BSkyB can console itself that Champions League football accounts for only 3 of viewing across its sports channels. - theguardian.com

Changes to Freeview for ITV Border region - Border - ITV News

Engineering work is expected to be completed by midday and anyone who finds they are missing ITV Border should retune after this. Freeview viewers watching English services do not need to retune. Some homes in the Borders can receive services from both England and Scotland, giving them a choice of regional services. - itv.com

www.itv.com

British Sky Broadcasting Group plc Lowered to Reduce at Nomura (BSYBY) - WKRB News - WKRB News

British Sky Broadcasting Group plc has a 52-week low of 46.45 and a 52-week high of 62.02. The stocks 50-day moving average is 58.35 and its 200-day moving average is 52.80. The company has a market cap of 23.564 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86. - wkrb13.com

www.wkrb13.com

ISSUU - Broadcast UKTV Special 2013 by Media Business Insight

There are 318 digital channels that have sprung up around it, but Gold endures as one of the nations favourite channels. With the same inventive disposition, UKTV has developed an outsized ambition for original programming, with notable success. Plus, this year, we will commit 110m to screen, allowing us to take an even more imaginative approach to every new series that we make or buy. - issuu.com

issuu.com

Monday 11 November 2013, AM

BT's Champions League deal hits BSkyB shares - Business - theguardian.com

BSkyB shares have fallen on news that BT has won the rights to show Champions League games. The loss of the contract is a major blow for BSkyB and ITV, which currently share the rights. Shares in BT, a newcomer to sports broadcasting, were trading 2 down amid fears in the City that it has massively overpaid. - theguardian.com

Sunday 10 November 2013, PM

Television wars: U better get used to it - Independent.ie

www.independent.ie

Xbox, watch TV: inside Microsoft's audacious plan to take over the living room - The Verge

Smith and Whitten first began talking about the greater potential of the Xbox in 2007, just as Microsoft began work on adding Netflix to the 360. The heart of the TV industry beats with the blood shed from fierce negotiations between networks and cable companies, each of which have developed decades of expertise in raising prices, locking out competition, and forcing virtually all consumer-friendly innovation to go elsewhere. Movie rentals now happen entirely over the internet Blockbuster just announced that its closing its last 300 stores. - theverge.com

www.theverge.com

Sunday 10 November 2013, AM

BBC - Blogs - Internet blog - What's on BBC Red Button - 9-15 November

Did they really save each other's lives and is the new couple prepared for life in Walford together Kate also learns about the camera techniques used to capture the amazing footage featured in the programme. - bbc.co.uk

The BBC is an institution we should cherish, not denigrate - The big issue - From the Observer - The Observer

Eamonn Butler dismisses the BBC as a taxpayer-subsidised entertainment business, which is a bit rich, but his description of the licence fee as a poll tax is not entirely unfair. Nevertheless, while advertising or pay per view are all very well for large-audience channels, can anyone think of a way to generate significant revenue from, say, BBC4 Both Hutton and Mark Damazer dwell on the ever-swelling background of political denigration of the BBC and both point out that it started with the previous government. - theguardian.com

Saturday 09 November 2013, PM

BBC News - Can Sky bounce back from BT defeat?

Well, the newish chief executive of BT, Gavin Patterson, told me that his company's financial model of what the broadcast rights are worth would have allowed him to bid more though not much more. Meanwhile, a senior BSkyB source said that his company simply could not justify shelling out the 300m per year offered by BT. Start Quote The battle for supremacy in the broadband market just got vicious End Quote The answer is that there is probably a bit of both going on. - m.bbc.co.uk

m.bbc.co.uk

Friday 08 November 2013, PM

Feedback: Reith Lectures: 8 Nov 13

BBC executive says US TV industry is more favourable to ethnic minorities - Media - theguardian.com

Friday 08 November 2013, AM

Mosey: consider carving up BBC licence fee - News - Broadcast

Former BBC editorial director Roger Mosey has suggested the licence fee could be carved up for the benefit of audiences -and claimed the corporation veers to the left politically. Mosey, who left the BBC in September to become the master of Selwyn College at Cambridge, said the broadcaster must confront the hard question of why, in a digital age, it should have the whole pie to itself forever

James Cridland: Mobile phones: how we re using them to listen to the radio - NextRad.io

nextrad.io

Thursday 07 November 2013, PM

Evening Standard's London Live to air Twenty Twelve and Peep Show repeats - Media - theguardian.com

Wednesday 06 November 2013, PM

Media: People website, Indy relaunch, Sports on TV, Mirror ruling 06 Nov 2013

Media Talk podcast: BBC bias swings both ways

download.guardian.co.uk

Ariel - Cohen: Set-up is right at BBC Four

'There should be a number of moments each year where they join up and become more than the sum of their parts.' He also dismissed any notion that BBC Four would become an arts and music channel, insisting it would remain a mixed genre channel identified by its 'characterful, very distinctive, slightly eccentric' output. 'Ripe for reinvention' Cohen told the audience of programme makers that his channels were hungry for new ideas and new kinds of storytelling. Factual on BBC One was 'ripe for reinvention', he believed, as its new controller Charlotte Moore sought to put her mark on her channel. - bbc.co.uk

Wednesday 06 November 2013, AM

UTV to launch Irish TV channel - 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

Tuesday 05 November 2013, PM

BBC News - Former BBC boss Mark Byford: Never heard Savile rumours

www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk

Tuesday 05 November 2013, AM

UTV now part of U in HD by Michael Wilson

However, until today the biggest single issue in my viewer mailbag was the lack of UTV in HD on satellite services. I'd like to thank our team of engineers and transmission crew, the ITV team and all our other technology partners for delivering the service. - u.tv

www.u.tv

Monday 04 November 2013, PM

informitv - BT TV reaches over 900,000 homes

BT TV added 70,000 customers in the last quarter, taking its installed base in the United Kingdom to over 900,000. There were more net additions for BT TV in those three months than the preceding two quarters, or the three quarters before that. BT has added 154,000 television customers over the year, since the launch of YouView and following its massive investment in BT Sport. - informitv.com

informitv.com

Monday 04 November 2013, AM

Publisher Archant set for Spring TV channel launch - Journalism News from HoldtheFrontPage

A regional publisher willnot start broadcasting itslocal TV station until next spring following the launch ofits online version earlier this year. The company had been expected to launch its digital TV channel on Freeview Channel 8thisautumn, but a spokesman said it had been delayed because media regulator Ofcom awarded the multiplex licence three months later than planned. The delay meant thenecessary infrastructure could not be completed in time for an autumn launch. - holdthefrontpage.co.uk

Sunday 03 November 2013, AM

The many challenges facing a beleaguered BBC - Comment is free - The Observer

Yes, the BBC has made mistakes, but so have the royal family, the British army and, indeed, most of us. Yet few are subject to such routine excoriation from our press, itself hardly a paragon of virtue. Once again, notwithstanding the esteem in which the BBC continues to be held by the vast majority of its viewers and listeners, it is clear that it is going to have fight for its existence over the next two years. - theguardian.com

Saturday 02 November 2013, AM

BBC - Blogs - Internet blog - What's on BBC Red Button - 2 - 8 November

Theres also a packed schedule of sport with international rugby union and league, Formula 1, football, cycling and squash. We may never know the true version of events, but are the new couple prepared for life back in Walford together Sit tight and enjoy the ride with Wizards vs Aliens Extra, only on the Red Button. - bbc.co.uk

Friday 01 November 2013, PM

Feedback: GF Newman's The Corrupted, 1 Nov 13

Media Talk podcast: Press regulation royal charter gets seal of approval

download.guardian.co.uk

Friday 01 November 2013, AM

Radio Today - Humberside wins BBC Station of the Year

The event was held in Windsor as BBC Radio Berkshire won the main award last year. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Thursday 31 October 2013, PM

Ofcom awards second wave of local TV licences - 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

Thursday 31 October 2013, AM

UKTV adds on-demand to Sky carriage deal - News - Broadcast

Wednesday 30 October 2013, PM

Media: Press regulation, JacksGap, Bedlam 30 October 2013

IsoHunt Resurrected Less Than Two Weeks After $110 Million MPAA Deal - TorrentFreak

The people behind the recreation of one of the worlds largest torrent sites, who are not in any way related to the old isoHunt site, say the aim was to give isoHunt refugees access to their much-loved database of torrents wrapped up in a familiar interface. The amount that owner Gary Fung would have to pay to the MPAA was publicized at 110 million, a somewhat scary quantity of money by anyones standards. Of course, Fung doesnt have that kind of money and wouldnt pay it freely to the MPAA even if he did. - torrentfreak.com

torrentfreak.com

Wednesday 30 October 2013, AM

Google: policing digital content for kids does not require legislation - Media - theguardian.com

Google has said legislation should not play the biggest role in policing digital content for children. That's going to go away so we'll have to find another form of differentiation a 30-second clip is different to a 45-minute/one-hour long-form video, it may be that's the point of differentiation. However, Google UK public policy and government relations manager Theo Bertram said he did not think that policing digital content required legislation, pointing out there are filters available for parents to use to control their children's viewing. - theguardian.com

MediaPost Publications Consumers Remain Indifferent To Smart TVs 10/29/2013

www.mediapost.com

Tuesday 29 October 2013, PM

New dawn for The Sky at Night - 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

Tuesday 29 October 2013, AM

UK mobile phone coverage: the country's signal blackspots - interactive map - Money - theguardian.com

We asked you to tell us if you were experiencing problems with mobile phone coverage. Here is what you have told us so far With all four UK networks launching 4G services this year, universal access to superfast internet on a mobile phone is finally becoming a reality. The response from many of those now receiving the hard sell from their network is that they would like a decent 3G internet signal, or even the ability to make a phone call or receive a text from their home or office, before upgrading to a more expensive 4G package. - theguardian.com

Graham Norton: how BBC handed out multimillion payoffs 'defies belief' - Media - The Guardian

The presenter, who has a chatshow on BBC1 and a Saturday morning slot on Radio 2, is among the stars who have taken a pay cut in recent years but his salary is still thought to be in excess of 1m. - theguardian.com