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Thursday 29 August 2013, PM

Sky+ HD Boxes With WiFi and 2TB of Storage Now Available

Existing customers that havent previously used the On Demand service can get a free connector sent out allowing them to set it up for the first time. Sky says that customers with an HD subscription package or an Entertainment Extra package can get a new box for free. A Sky spokeswoman told The Next Web that all new Sky customers will receive the new boxes and that existing customers could get the new boxes from 49. - thenextweb.com

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http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/research/radio-research/Software-DAB-Research.pdf

- stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk

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Thursday 29 August 2013, AM

Media Talk podcast: can Lord Hall nudge the BBC to gender equality?

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Hall promises end of BBC finger pointing - News - Broadcast

Tony Hall is bidding to end the BBC’s internal blame game and boost the confidence of programme- makers to give it back its “creative bounce”. The director general used his surprise appearance at the Edinburgh International Television Festival to preface his plans for improving the BBC’s culture following a series of scandals. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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I was, uh, wrong: Chromecast does what Google claims

Now that I have my own Chromecast and have been playing with it for a few days I have to admit I was wrong. Chromecast appears to be every bit as good as Google claims. Thats not to say its perfect more below but pretty darned good. - betanews.com

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Wednesday 28 August 2013, PM

Media: Women on Breakfast

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David Blunkett accuses broadcasters of failing deaf and blind people - Politics - The Guardian

Labour's former home secretary David Blunkett, who has criticised broadcasters. Photograph Ian West/PA David Blunkett believes broadcasters are failing deaf and blind people by using garbled subtitles and by being reluctant to dub foreign programmes. He also complained that blind people were left frustrated when foreign dramas and documentaries were not dubbed. - theguardian.com

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BBC expenses fall, but key members of top brass still get plenty of free rides - Media - theguardian.com

No free lunches external hospitality at the BBC was down 47 quarter on quarter. There was bad news for those looking for a free lunch from the Beeb, with external hospitality down 47 quarter on quarter to 13,396. However, staff looking for a free beer from their boss did a little better, with internal hospitality spend up 10 to 7,764. - theguardian.com

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BBC News - BBC director general Tony Hall to cut bureaucracy

Lord Hall also said he wanted to see more women on screen and in senior roles. He also pledged to recruit more people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. - bbc.co.uk

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Radio Today - Regional DAB turned off in West Midlands

The MXR regional digital radio multiplex for the West Midlands is being turned off today, after 12 years on-air. The Bromsgrove transmitter frequency block will transfer over to MuxCo Herefordshire and Worcestershire from September 2013. Listener choice will be significantly reduced once again, following recent switch-offs in South Wales and the North East. - radiotoday.co.uk

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Monday 26 August 2013, PM

How the Time Warner Cable, CBS Standoff Could Set the TV Standard - The Hollywood Reporter

As the fall season approaches, CBS leverage grows. When cable and satellite distributors start losing customers, they have a history of caving in. In its view, CBS already has a financial buffer because it can use the free government-provided spectrum to reach audiences who dont subscribe to cable. - hollywoodreporter.com

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Broadcasters Up Their Attack on Aereo-Like FilmOnX - TheWrap TV

In the D.C. suit, set for a hearing Sept. 20, both FilmOnX and the broadcasters have cited favorable court rulings. FilmOnX engages in copyright infringement, said the filing. Neither system pays the retransmission fees that cable systems pay to offer broadcast channels on their systems. - thewrap.com

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Kevin Spacey Delivers the Definitive Wake Up Call to Anti-Tech TV Execs

The House of Cards star had plenty of ammunition to demonstrate definitively that the anti-tech approach will eventually result in the old guard's demise, unless viewers are allowed to determine the means of consumption. - gawker.com

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Kevin Spacey's MacTaggart lecture prompts defence of traditional TV - Media - theguardian.com

Those millions of soap fans could be forgiven for thinking the technological revolution espoused by the Hollywood star had passed them by when in fact, it is just beginning. There was no shortage of warmth in Edinburgh for Spacey's sentiments. Figures released the following day revealed that mobile viewing on iPads, smartphones and laptops still has only niche appeal, accounting for an average of three minutes and 30 seconds a day, compared with the four hours we still spend in front of a TV set. - theguardian.com

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Monday 26 August 2013, AM

Media Monkey's Edinburgh diary: Tony Hall, Peter Fincham and Club X - Media - The Guardian

Hall had not officially been due to attend the festival at all, but waited backstage before making his Surprise Surprise entrance about 20 minutes before the session's end. He added that Club X producer Charlie Parsons revelled in the bedlam and later tweaked the concept for another live late-night show The Word. Do I protect my life or my modesty - theguardian.com

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Tony Hall should look back 40 years if he wants to restore the BBC's ethos - Media - The Guardian

As scandal after scandal about pay and rations rocks the BBC, and the grandest of its mandarins are humbled before the public accounts committee, it is hard to recognise the institution as it was 40 years ago. Then though far from perfect, especially if you were female its faults were not those of luxury and excess in pay and perks. Staff knew we'd earn more if we took the commercial broadcasting shilling, but there were other rewards. - theguardian.com

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UK TV beware: As Spacey's House of Cards shows, too much power corrupts - Media - The Guardian

That show was Hill Street Blues a global hit that Spacey identified as the forbear of many great TV dramas of more recent times. There will not be a producer in the land without stories to tell of all the above. Had television here remained the producer-driven medium it once was and not embraced the kind of professionalised, audience-focused commissioning now so prevalent, there is every chance that irrelevance and the slow death that inevitably follows might already have taken hold. - theguardian.com

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Sunday 25 August 2013, AM

BBC - Blogs - Internet blog - What's on BBC Red Button 24 - 31 August

For a full list and times of sport coverage on Red Button see the BBC Sport website. - bbc.co.uk

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Saturday 24 August 2013, PM

NewsHour at a crossroads : Columbia Journalism Review

On September 7, the program will expand to seven days a week, debuting a weekend edition of the NewsHour and ending years of frequent questions from viewers, along with the services own ombudsman, about the lack of scheduled weekend news programming. This set of changes might be the shake-up the NewsHour desperately needs, especially since 2013 hasnt been the best year for news at PBS. The staff and funding used to produce the weekend NewsHour were mostly transferred from the cancelled Friday night newsmagazine Need to Know, a program which, despite winning several awards, failed to build a significant audience in its three-year run. - cjr.org

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Guardian Edinburgh International TV Festival 2013 - Media - The Guardian

- theguardian.com

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Sky Living director: 'I am de-pinking the channel' - Media - theguardian.com

Sky Living director, Antonia Hurford-Jones, says she is rebranding the channel so that it will appeal to men as well as women. Antonia Hurford-Jones, the director of Sky Living, said the channel is undergoing a makeover that will involve swapping the pink branding for a blue and silver logo. They don't want to sit alone in their pink fluffy bedroom, wearing their pink fluffy negligee, watching shows on their own. - theguardian.com

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Yentob: BBC to drop in-house quotas - News - Broadcast

BBC creative director Alan Yentob has suggested that the corporation may scrap its in-house commissioning quota in the next five years. The Imagine host said it was right that the BBC’s programming supply was a “mixed ecology”, but said the current system of quotas will change as the corporation evolves. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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Alan Yentob: BBC must tackle 'toxic' issue of pay - Media - theguardian.com

BBC creative director Alan Yentob has said he is a programme maker and not one of the officer class at the corporation. Yentob said he could understand staff anger about the controversial issue of payoffs, with 60m paid to outgoing BBC executives over an eight-year period. The question of how creatives are looked after is not total abandon. - theguardian.com

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Ariel - DG out to close appalling divide at BBC

23 August 2013 Last updated at 1100 Tony Hall wants to close the rift between management and staff created by severance pay revelations. The director general, speaking at the Edinburgh International Television Festival on Thursday, said staff fury over the 60m spent over eight years by the corporation on senior manager pay-offs - some of which went beyond any contractual entitlement - was justified. 'I really do want to heal this appalling divide between the people who are running the BBC and the people who are doing really hard work day in, day out, doing amazing things,' he told delegates. - bbc.co.uk

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BBC - Blogs - About the BBC - Edinburgh TV Festival 2013: Looking forward to even more from BBC Three

In comedy, new sitcoms like Bluestone 42 pictured proved a big hit with our audiences Weve had a great year on BBC Three. Weve also commissioned Siblings, a brand new scripted comedy series from the producers of The Inbetweeners. Next year we will continue to tackle emotive issues with our Justice Season, reflecting on crime and punishment in the UK and the US and asking whether young adults are treated fairly. - bbc.co.uk

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File:TV Licence 1946-2012 at NPV.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a candidate to be copied to Wikimedia Commons. Any user may perform this moveplease see Moving files to the Commons for more information. Please thoroughly review the copyright status of this file and ensure that it is actually eligible for transfer to Commons. - en.wikipedia.org

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Media Talk podcast: Edinburgh TV Festival 2013

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Saturday 24 August 2013, AM

ITV named Channel of the Year as hit drama series Broadchurch wins award

These formats all date to a narrow period at the beginning of the last decade and nobody could have predicted they would have the life they have had but I think they have still got a lot of life in them. The corollary of that is that it has become a difficult period to launch big new entertainment programmes. - independent.co.uk

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ITV boss Peter Fincham calls for "new Big Brother" to safeguard British television

These formats all date to a narrow period at the beginning of the last decade and nobody could have predicted they would have the life they have had but I think they have still got a lot of life in them. The corollary of that is that it has become a difficult period to launch big new entertainment programmes. - independent.co.uk

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Friday 23 August 2013, PM

Media Talk podcast: Edinburgh TV Festival 2013

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Feedback: Comedy: 23 Aug 13

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Friday 23 August 2013, AM

Tony Hall admits to BBC 'officer class' - News - Broadcast

Director general Tony Hall has acknowledged an “appalling divide” between the people running the BBC and programme-makers on the ground and a perceived “cosiness” with the likes of consultants KPMG. Hall was the surprise guest on the panel Tony Hall’s Big Decisions’ after flying straight into the Edinburgh International Television Festival from San Francisco.. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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BBC - Blogs - About the BBC - Edinburgh TV Festival 2013: Looking ahead to BBC One in the next twelve months

Ive inherited the channel in a great place, 2012 was a record-breaking year for BBC One and it remains Britains most-watched channel so far this year, with by far the biggest reach of any other. My focus is to build on that success and ensure BBC One remains the nations favourite. My vision for BBC One is all about storytelling. - bbc.co.uk

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BBC payoffs caused divide between managers and staff, admits Tony Hall - Media - The Guardian

Hall made the comments during a surprise appearance towards the end of a panel session on the issues facing the director general. Liz MacKean, one of the two Newsnight reporters responsible for its aborted Jimmy Savile investigation who has since left the corporation was one of the panel's members and had earlier criticised the payoffs. Hall announced a new BBC initiative to put more female voices on air, with a quota that will require at least 50 of presenters on BBC local radio breakfast shows to be women by the end of 2014. - theguardian.com

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Ariel - Hall wants more female breakfast hosts

The director-general told the Edinburgh Television Festival on Thursday that he wanted 50 of local stations to have a woman presenting their most important show - either alone or as part of a team. 'We have got to be more reflective of the audiences who are listening to our programmes,' insisted Hall during a panel session at the festival.' The move could have wider implications for the industry, for which BBC local radio has traditionally been an important training ground. David Holdsworth, English Regions controller, said that finding new and diverse voices was key to local radio's role. - bbc.co.uk

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Kevin Spacey Mactaggart lecture – full text - Media - theguardian.com

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Thursday 22 August 2013, PM

Spacey dismisses line between TV, film News C21Media

The labels are useless except perhaps to agents, managers and lawyers who use these labels to conduct business deals. The obligation of a pilot from the writing perspective is that you have to spend about 45 minutes establishing all the characters, create arbitrary cliffhangers and generally prove that what you are setting out to do will work, Spacey said. When the story is good enough, people will watch something three times the length of an opera. Spacey told the audience that the king of television is the creatives, but said he was disappointed the industry did not do more to support new talent. - c21media.net

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Twitter / Search - #geitf

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BBC - Blogs - About the BBC - Edinburgh TV Festival 2013: Introduction

There will be posts from them on this blog, showreels and a selection of announcements posted on the BBC Media Centre site. - bbc.co.uk

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BBC - Blogs - Internet blog - Designing new icons for the BBC's Global Experience Language

This included an insight into the development of a distinctive new suite of icons for GEL. All the new icon sets were designed over the last three months, in collaboration with the agency Planning Unit. As done previously, these icons were designed to enable a consistent visual language across all BBC digital platforms - web, mobile and television. - bbc.co.uk

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http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/jonathan-boseley-to-shake-up-british-television-with-new-london-

Details have been revealed of Londons first dedicated 24-hour television channel, London Live, which will go on air in the Spring of next year. He told the audience that London Live was not interested in celebrity driven formats. Boseley said the channel would share cross platform reach opportunities with the London Evening Standard, also owned by Mr Lebedev. - independent.co.uk

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Wednesday 21 August 2013, PM

Police investigate News Corporation for ‘sabotaging rival to Sky’ - ExaroNews

Renamed ITV Digital three years later, it was plagued by widespread piracy and folded in 2002. The development is bound to rock News Corporation, which is listed on stock exchanges in New York, London and Australia. News Corporation, which owns 39 per cent of Sky, is due to be split into one entity for newspaper and book publishing, and another for television and movie companies. - exaronews.com

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Media: David Miranda, New Statesman, Int Herald Tribune

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European broadcasters shut down emergency Greek TV service - Media - theguardian.com

ERT some staff are still occupying the main Athens building. EDT, the new broadcaster has been airing mainly documentaries and old Greek movies over the last two months but on Wednesday morning launched its first news service with a two-hour programme. The broadcast that began at 8am, focused mainly on the analysis of domestic news by a panel of journalists, but also included international news items based on BBC website stories and footage from al-Jazeera and Sky News. - theguardian.com

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BBC News - Groklaw news website abandoned over US surveillance

Groklaw had promised its sources anonymity, but said it could not now ensure contributors would stay secret. Experts said they were worried that a site like Groklaw was closing. One of those services, Lavabit, alluded to harassment by the US government in a statement to its customers when it shut down. - bbc.co.uk

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London Live eyes short film commissions - News - Broadcast

Local TV broadcaster London Live is looking to commission a raft of short films from young directors after teaming up with The Smalls Film Festival. This is the company’s first major commissioning initiative since it acquired the license and comes after the broadcaster hired former Disney executive Jonathan Boseley as head of programming.. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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Google Helpouts let you get -- or offer -- video guidance on any topic

Google is testing a new Hangout-based feature which will allow experts to offer video tips and advice. According to Google, Helpouts is a new way to connect people who need help with people who can give help, over live video, anytime, anywhere. Helpouts is at the sign-up phase at the moment. - betanews.com

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MHL 3.0 specification -- 4K Ultra HD video on your smartphone

However, this new format is not the only benefit of MHL 3.0. - betanews.com

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DTG :: News :: Comux announces technical infrastructure partners for local TV

Comux UK has announced details of its technical infrastructure and the companies selected as infrastructure partners and suppliers. Alongside broadcasting on digital terrestrial TV, some of the local channels are planning carriage on satellite and cable TV, and online. DTG Staff 20.08.2013 Links open in a new window. - dtg.org.uk

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