Minister of Fun bends Ofcom's ear on Freeview-4G knockout • The Register

Culture minister Ed Vaizey has published an open letter to Ofcom broadly supporting the regulator's efforts to mitigate disruption to Freeview by next-gen mobile broadband. When LTE 4G telephony kicks in there's likely to be some interference in the neighbouring TV channels, so 180m of the money raised from selling the spectrum will go into stopping telly screens from going blank. The real problem is that no one knows how many people fall into that category, so deciding what to do about it is tough. - theregister.co.uk

www.theregister.co.uk

BBC News - S4C: Welsh broadcaster to axe high definition service

The announcement came as the Welsh language broadcaster said it made a loss of more than 6m last year. S4C Authority chairman Huw Jones said the figure, published in its annual report, reflected an 11m reduction in its public funding. He said the channel had used some of its reserves rather than implement the whole cut in its programme budget in the short term. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC Sport - BBC Sport launches Olympics app for smartphones

The app will provide up to 24 streams of live coverage, detailed schedule and results pages, and daily news stories. Alongside full live streaming, catch-up coverage and highlights, the app will offer facts, statistics and information for every athlete, country and sport. Extra functionality of the app allows stories to be saved for offline reading, ensuring the latest information is accessible even when mobile reception is unavailable. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

BBC News - BBC director general bids farewell to Bush House

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

DTG :: News :: Digital TV Group Council's Statement on Intellect's Consultation on HbbTV

The DTG looks forward to working with others in the digital industry to continue to develop the D-Book. The DTG consistently works to harmonise international standards, while ensuring the UK maintains its reputation as a leader in digital television. The DTG is committed to ensuring a highly stable, open and innovative digital television market in the UK and will work with industry partners across the sector to enable the continuing success of that market. - dtg.org.uk

www.dtg.org.uk

DTG :: News :: Food Network goes 24/7 on Freeview

Food Network UK has announced its expansion from a four-hour programming block to all day, every day on Freeview. DTG Staff 12.07.2012 Links open in a new window. - dtg.org.uk

www.dtg.org.uk

Ariel - Unions urge BBC to scrap licence fee settlement

In the proposals the group of unions ask Entwistle, who takes over from Mark Thompson as director general in September, to 'rip up' the agreement from 2010 where Thompson agreed to freeze the licence fee until 2017. The subsequent Delivering Quality First plan devised how the BBC can save 700m a year. Criticising the licence fee being used for what it calls the government's 'pet projects' it says 'the BBC should not be used as a piggy bank which the government can dip into whenever the money runs low'. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Channel 4's 4seven attracts 45,000 viewers a night in first week - Media - guardian.co.uk

The most popular show on launch night was a repeat of the first episode of the new series Gordon Behind Bars which managed 150,000 viewers. The channel, which launched on 4 July, aims to give viewers the chance to catch repeats of Channel 4's most popular shows. A number of shows on the channel, which is available on satellite and cable services, will be selected on the basis of having created a critical buzz in newspapers as well as chatter on Twitter and Facebook. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Google TV will not fail again

It took just about six months for the first generation of Google TV to be declared a failure. Logitech launched its Revue set top box in October 2010, and by July 2011, they couldn't even give them away. The company subsequently took a 30 million writedown on the venture, and Intel, who provided chips for Google TV, quietly divorced itself from the product. - betanews.com

betanews.com

YouView review - hands on (Humax DTR-T1000 review - hands on) - Expert Reviews

Officially announced at the end of December 2008 with a planned launch for 2010, it's fair to say that the YouView TV-on-demand platform has been a rather long time coming. Now, YouView has officially been launched and products are due out by the end of month. The first version to go on sale will have a 500GB hard disk and will cost 299. - expertreviews.co.uk

www.expertreviews.co.uk

Intellect launches UK trial HbbTV spec

Technology trade body Intellect has released a specification that would enable the deployment of HbbTV over the UK terrestrial system and made a test stream available. There has long been disquiet among the manufacturers many of whom run their own connected TV platforms over the island mentality of the UK broadcasters. Intellect wants to open up a discussion with broadcasters and plans to run a roadshow that demonstrates how HbbTV is already being used. - broadbandtvnews.com

www.broadbandtvnews.com

Ed Richards: what next for the Ofcom chief? - Media - The Guardian

Richards was the only one of the five candidates confirmed as being interviewed to replace Mark Thompson who was not a BBC staffer. However, it has been claimed there were several external candidates on the interview list drawn up by executive search firm Egon Zehnder.There are those who believe he was enticed into entering the race to give credibility to a process that would have been heavily criticised without some heavyweight external candidates in the public domain. Ed must have been given certain assurances he would be treated seriously and was unwise to believe them. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

BBC - BBC Internet Blog: What's on BBC Red Button 7th - 14th July

First Night of the Proms begins the world's greatest classical music festival in 2012 on BBC Two. Join in the conversation during the First Night of the Proms by including bbcproms in your message. We'll be featuring some of your Tweets on Red Button throughout the programme. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Major YouView marketing push for autumn - News - Marketing Week

YouView is planning a major above the line marketing push this autumn, positioning the service as extraordinary TV for everyone. The service is being aimed at the 13 to 15 million people who are either Freeview customers or those who are not subscribed to a paid-for TV package. YouView chairman Lord Alan Sugar hopes it will replace the Freeview box. - marketingweek.co.uk

www.marketingweek.co.uk

MP: act now to tackle 4G threat to Freeview - News - Broadcast

6 July, 2012 An opposition MP has demanded urgent government action over fears that Freeview services will be disrupted by 4G mobile signals. 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

YouView: a marketer’s guide - News - Marketing Week

Marketing Week answers marketers questions on how they might leverage YouView following its consumer launch this month. YouView is an internet-connected TV service that consumers can access via a set-top box, priced at 299 and available from a variety of retailers from the end of July. Broadband partners BT and TalkTalk are set to announce pricing for their YouView-linked phone and broadband packages later this month. - marketingweek.co.uk

www.marketingweek.co.uk

I wanted to love YouView, but I don't. Yet. - Pocket-lint

The development of YouView has been a long and arduous affair, not just because of the technical hurdles, but because of other broadcasters and rights-holders. The service started as a brilliant notion that IP TV was quickly becoming a reality, and that there should be a Freeview-like service to capitalise on it. Like the BBC or not, it gets things right more often than not. - pocket-lint.com

www.pocket-lint.com

BitTorrent usage increases in Europe, following the blockade of The Pirate Bay - ExtremeTech

Yet again, this is strong proof that trying to force a change in behavior simply doesnt work especially on the internet, where its denizens value freedom above all else. The sad truth, though, is that its actually easier to persecute file sharers than to navigate the insane morass of rights holders and licensees on any given TV show, movie, game, or song. If it was easy to create an official, legal version of The Pirate Bay, then the entertainment industry wouldve done it already theyre not that stupid. - extremetech.com

www.extremetech.com

Lord Sugars YouView service gets thumbs down from analysts - IT PRO

Launch of free digital and on-demand TV service gets picked over by onlookers. Sugar, whose Amstrad computer company supplied satellite dishes for the launch of Rupert Murdoch's Sky TV in the late 1980s, said cheaper set-top boxes would follow. YouView will also be packaged in broadband subscriptions from BT and TalkTalk, but software glitches meant no launch dates were unveiled at Wednesday's event. - itpro.co.uk

www.itpro.co.uk

George Entwistle: A good chap in the trenches who can command respect - TV Radio - Media - The Independent

Other than that, he has been a relatively low-key figure, slowly but surely climbing the rungs of the BBC for the past 23 years after joining the organisation as a trainee. Married with two children, he celebrates his 50th birthday on Sunday. Although he was quickly among the front-runners for the top job when Thompson announced he was stepping down in April, Entwistle has until recently been a relatively anonymous BBC executive. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Locus Online Perspectives Cory Doctorow: Music: The Internet s Original Sin

In a recent Search Engine podcast, host Jesse Brown wondered about musics ongoing centrality to the debate over file-sharing and freedom. After all, the music industry has all but abandoned lawsuits against fans, and services from Last.fm to the Amazon MP3 store present a robust set of legit ways of hearing and acquiring music. So why is the music industry the enduring bogeyman of Internet policy fights - locusmag.com

www.locusmag.com

Can we reimagine TV news (please)? BuzzMachine

- buzzmachine.com

buzzmachine.com

New report reveals the economic impact of Sky

It also shows how the company has stimulated economic activity in a wide range of associated companies and industries, through relationships with thousands of UK suppliers and business partners. In that year, Sky generated sales of 6.4 billion and over 75 of this revenue was retained in the UK. For every 1 billon Sky contributes directly to GDP itself, it generates another 1.4 billion in the rest of the economy through its purchase of goods and services and staff spending their wages. - corporate.sky.com

corporate.sky.com

NOW TV to be available on YouView

Powered by Sky and launching this summer, it will offer access to some of Skys most popular programming. Sky Movies will be available from launch and the service will later expand to offer sport and entertainment. With no minimum contract, customers will be able to choose from a variety of pricing options - for example, paying monthly for unlimited access to Sky Movies, or renting a single movie on a simple, pay-as-you-go basis. - corporate.sky.com

corporate.sky.com

ITV online restructure puts 40 jobs at risk - Media - guardian.co.uk

Pembrooke joined ITV in 2010 and will leave the broadcaster at the end of the summer. Pembrooke's job title was managing director of ITV online and on-demand. ITV staff were told on Thursday that cost-cutting changes could put 40 jobs at risk in the 100-strong office. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

George Entwistle named as new BBC director general - Media - guardian.co.uk

Currently the corporation's director of vision and a former editor of Newsnight, Entwistle will take over from Mark Thompson in the autumn on a salary of 450,000 a year. Entwistle beat his BBC colleague and the corporation's chief operating officer Caroline Thomson to the role. He has a formidable track record as a programme maker and in recent years has also shown his calibre as a leader. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Vaisey gets Commons grilling over 4G interference with Freeview - News - TechRadar

Culture Secretary Ed Vaisey has come under fire for the potential costs Freeview user may be saddled with in order to remedy expected interference from 4G masts. The masts, which are scheduled to go up around Britain next year we'll believe it when we see it, will help bring the next generation of mobile internet to gadget users across the nation. However, it is expected that the activity of the structures will negatively impact the Freeview reception in 900,000 homes. - techradar.com

www.techradar.com

YouView digital supplier launched - ITV News

The 'on-demand' version of Freeview, the free-to-air digital service, will allow customers access to third-party content using a set-top box connected with an internet connection. YouView was launched by Lord Sugar in London today. about 1 hour ago Quiet and dull start to 2013 A calm and quiet start to the year but how long will it last - itv.com

www.itv.com

4seven

With so much choice out there, viewers are increasingly telling us that they sometimes just miss the best stuff, despite their PVR and VOD. The new channel gives you more chances to see the programmes that everyone's talking about, the programmes that you can't afford to miss. - channel4.com

www.channel4.com

What Saorview will really cost you - National News - Independent.ie

WHEN the analogue signal is switched off on October 24, television viewers will need to access a digital signal via one of these options 60 to 100 once-off fee, plus aerial installation if required, which will cost 120 to 160. Combi box for both the Irish stations and the British freeview stations. - independent.ie

www.independent.ie

The future of YouView depends on ease of use - Business - The Guardian

The broadcast industry is waiting to see whether the results will resemble an Apprentice task gone wrong or the future of budget pay-TV in the UK. Some have argued that YouView is too little, too late. Sugar has been working on the project since last year, when he took over as chairman, but it was originally due to launch in time for Christmas 2010. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

BBC says MNOs must pay for Freeview filters - Advanced Television - Advanced Television

A BBC director has called on mobile network operators to pay for the costs of filters to stop 4G mobile services interfering with Freeview. Freeview managing director Ilse Howling said that government plans to force households to pay for the filters was wrong and really unfair. - advanced-television.com

advanced-television.com

BBC - Research and Development: What is Perceptive Media?

Perceptive Media has not been formally explained, only mentioned in passing here. However, outside the formal channels of BBC RD, theres been much talk about the concept of Perceptive media. What it is, what it enables and its potential impact on traditional broadcasting. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

DAB agreement is a complete shambles : Radio Today

The much awaited Memorandum of Understanding just published by the Government has been branded a total waste of time and energy by at least one radio group CEO. Multiplex operator MuxCo says they intend to launch very much towards the beginning of the 18 month period. Rogers, who is usually vocal on all things digital, said This is tantamount to kicking the can down the road and does absolutely nothing to end the uncertainties around the local DAB situation. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Global Radio to launch two TV music channels - Media - guardian.co.uk

The announcement on Tuesday came on the same day as the launch of Bauer Media's celebrity gossip magazine spin-off, Heat TV. To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editormediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

New BBC director general could be named this week - Media - guardian.co.uk

There is speculation that there is a fourth candidate but their name is as yet unknown. They are expected to grill the candidates for about an hour and a half on their experience, their thoughts about the future of the BBC and challenges that public service broadcasting faces. For the first time in recent BBC history the entire governance board will not interview all the candidates. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

DTG :: News :: Government unveils boost for digital radio

The agreement includes a commitment to consider further funding if necessary. The agreement paves the way for the launch of at least five new local radio multiplexes, including in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, which will provide new local digital radio services to approximately 1.25million listeners. The agreement also confirms the Government's commitment to a decision on radio switchover in 2013. - dtg.org.uk

www.dtg.org.uk

Ariel - BBC to pay £7m for digital radio transmitters

The agreement between government, commercial radio providers and the BBC sees the corporation paying a third of the 21m bill. The plan sets out that over the next five years digital radio will be available to the same amount of people who can listen to FM radio. Part of the money will pay for five multiplexes which will provide digital radio to approximately 1.25 million people. - bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Ariel - Megabits gets a crack at code

- bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

YouView recommends radio hams' pet peeve • Reg Hardware

IPTV outfit's set-top box to prompt powerline usage surge YouView is currently running a closed trial of service. Trial support documents seen by The Register recommend punters whose broadband box is more than a Cat 5 cable length from their TV should bridge the gap with a pair of powerline adaptors. - reghardware.com

www.reghardware.com

Ofcom needs to act on 4G TV interference, says Labour - uSwitch.com

Up to two million households could see their Freeview services affected when next-generation mobile broadband services launch in the 800MHz frequency band. Ofcom has acknowledged the problem and earlier this year carried out a consultation, which closed on April 19th, in a bid to tackle the issue head on. She asked Ofcom to indicate when it plans to make recommendations, and also to inform the public of its strategy to resolve the issue prior to the launch of super-fast mobile broadband. - uswitch.com

www.uswitch.com

Three million Freeview viewers face £200 bill to stop 4G phone network interfering with signal - Mirror Online

Everyone living within 1.2miles of a 4G transmitter will face serious interference to the Freeview digital signal. You will get significant pixellation and the picture will break up and you wont be able to carry on watching, says Freeview chief Ilse Howling. Every home affected estimated at between 2.3 and three million will need filter equipment. - mirror.co.uk

www.mirror.co.uk

Ian Burrell: Will YouView catch the eye in such a crowded TV market? - Opinion - Media - The Independent

YouView, we were informed when it launched in 2010, would be the living room box that changed everything. It would allow us to scroll backwards for a week on our programme menus, as well as forwards, and offer interaction with social media sites. We were led to expect channels from a host of new internet broadcasters, ranging from arts organisations to charities, and we were promised the service would be available from last summer. - independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Will Barclays' Agius quit his BBC role? - Media - guardian.co.uk

Agius, as mentioned here last week, is the senior non-executive director on the BBC's executive board. With Thompson on his way out and Grade having long gone, Agius's BBC tenure must surely be coming to end as well. To find out more information about driving traffic to your content or to place this widget on your site, visit outbrain.com. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

DAB Memorandum of Understanding signed : Radio Today

Plans to extend local digital radio coverage moved a step closer today as Government, the BBC and commercial operators signed a joint agreement, establishing the framework for up to 21 million of new investment in radio infrastructure. The MoU also means at least five new local multiplexes, including in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire, will be launched within 18 months. In addition, the MoU confirms the Governments commitment to a decision on radio switchover in 2013. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

France may extend TV licence fee to computer screens - World news - The Guardian

- guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

informitv - BBC Red Button reinvented

The BBC is proposing to reinvigorate the red button in the connected television environment. After more than a decade since its inception, pressing the red button has become synonymous with interactive television in the United Kingdom. It was not until 2002 that the BBC was able to offer enhanced television services such as multiscreen Wimbledon coverage across satellite, cable and terrestrial platforms. - informitv.com

informitv.com

BT Vision's Marc Watson: How we stole a share of the Premier League crown jewels - Media - The Guardian

The 42-year old former barrister heads BT Vision, the pay-TV minnow that has so far struggled to make an impact. Watson was a member of the small group of BT executives who plotted the telecoms giant's dramatic entry into the top tier of live football last month. No rival, and certainly not one with such deep pockets as BT, has established such a foothold since Sky won its first Premier League rights deal in 1992. - guardian.co.uk

www.guardian.co.uk

Freeview customers should not pay for 4G disruption, BBC says - Telegraph

John Tate, director of policy and strategy at the BBC, has now said the enormous payment ought to be met by mobile phone companies, under the principle of the polluter pays. This is a hugely profitable business for the companies, and hugely cash-generative for the Government, and the viewer shouldnt be the party that loses out, he said. Freeview and the BBC argue the cost should not be met by viewers. - telegraph.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk

Argyll News: Freeview and Virgin Media deliver for BBC ALBA - For Argyll

Over 200 short films made by individuals, schools and communities can be viewed here at the FilmG website. - forargyll.com

forargyll.com