Wednesday 30 June 2010, PM
BBC Trust bows to pressure to publish star presenters salaries | Media | The Guardian
The BBC's governing body has bowed to public pressure and ordered the corporation to publish more details of the salaries paid to its top presenters and stars. It risks opening a rift with BBC managers, who have fiercely resisted calls to publish details of individual contracts on confidentiality grounds. The BBC has already told staff paid more than 37,726 a year they will have their pay frozen this year, while those on less will get a flat 475 rise. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukWho will take a punt on the future of Five? | Markets Analysis
- www.thisislondon.co.ukTV series skipping TV broadcasts in favor of the web: how to watch them for free -Media, News - The Independent
Since the rise of BitTorrent, peer-to-peer P2P sharing, and live video streaming sites, broadcasting companies have been fighting against consumers who download content illegally on the web. For consumers, P2P sharing, BitTorrents and on demand video streaming provide the flexibility of being able to consume their favorite TV shows at a time that is compatible with their busy schedules. According to a 2009 study conducted by German-based bandwidth management company Ipoque, the transfer of BitTorrent files made up an estimated 27 to 55 percent of all internet traffic in 2009. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukBBC Media show: Impartiality, Al Jazeera and World Cup rotters 30 Jun 10
downloads.bbc.co.ukAl-Jazeera English to launch on Freeview | Media | guardian.co.uk
David Frost presents a weekly chatshow on al-Jazeera English. The English-language version of the Arabic news channel will be available in about 10 million homes that get digital TV via Freeview from tomorrow. Al-Jazeera English is currently available in about 10 million homes that subscribe to Sky's digital satellite TV service or have Freesat. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBBC content-sharing deal live from today - Brand Republic News
- www.brandrepublic.comWednesday 30 June 2010, AM
ITV endures worst day in 55 years | 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.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukBBC Trust loses two trustees | Media | guardian.co.uk
This year, eight of the BBC's 12 trustees come up for re-appointment. However, while Hodgson is understood to be continuing for another four years, some of the other trustees are requesting they serve only a two-year term. Bharucha and Lewis-Jones have been trustees since the trust was established in October 2006. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukInView ends Freeview box EPG updates
InView Technology, the company which provides 14-day updates to Freeview electronic programming guides, has terminated the service to certain receivers. InView/4TV is also not thought to be in negotiations to renew the contract, meaning that the updates will most likely never return for the affected receivers. The removal of EPG updates for the PVRs means that their recording functionality is significantly reduced as the box will not provide any advance programme information. - digitalspy.co.ukwww.digitalspy.co.ukWindows 8 Plans Leaked: Numerous Details Revealed | Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Office 15 | Stephen Chapman @ MSFTKitche
A big thanks to floo1989 for the heads-up Over the weekend, the Italian Windows site Windowsette got a hold of some super secret squirrel Microsoft presentations apparently laying around on the internet somewhere. Long story short, these slide decks are chock full of internal thinking on Windows 8 everything from customer target audiences to the Windows 8 developer market to the Windows 8 product cycle and much, much more. - msftkitchen.commsftkitchen.comProposals for product placement on TV and paid-for references to brands and products on radio | Ofcom
Independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries. 4G auction bidders announced December 20, 2012 Ofcom has today announced the bidders in the forthcoming 4G mobile spectrum auction the largest ever sale of mobile airwaves in the UK. npower fined for making abandoned calls December 6, 2012 The conclusion of an Ofcom investigation has today found npower, the gas and electricity supplier, to be in breach of rules on abandoned calls. - ofcom.org.ukwww.ofcom.org.ukWe thought they had it all now baby boomers get own TV channel -TV Radio, Media - The Independent
Now, when they are tired of roaring about on their new motorbikes, working out at the gym or renovating their Umbrian farmhouses, the baby-boomer generation will be able to relax with its own television channel. Vintage TV, which is due to begin broadcasting in September, is aimed at the over-fifties. It will focus on culture and music from the post-war rock'n'roll years from the Berlin airlift to the fall of Mrs Thatcher. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukProject Canvas, the BBC-backed next generation of Freeview boxes, to be offered for free - Telegraph
Alexander also revealed that TalkTalk would actively discourage consumers from buying the new set-top box who are not achieving sufficient line speeds as they will struggle to stream content from the web. He said that at peak TV watching time, in the early evening, 20 per cent of the population, would not be able to achieve sufficient line speeds to successfully stream content from the web, using Project Canvass offering. Halton said that this figure averaged out at 10 per cent, and mainly affected those people the Government is already focused on helping who live in very rural areas, with limited web connectivity. - telegraph.co.ukwww.telegraph.co.ukMonday 28 June 2010, PM
BBC Trust approves Project Canvas
Project Canvas, or YouView as it may be branded, is a proposed joint venture between the BBC and six other partners to develop a new platform for television devices and displays that can access programming delivered on demand over broadband as well as through traditional broadcasts. One condition is that the specification must be published, but critics of Project Canvas remain unimpressed. Project Canvas is a proposed partnership between the BBC and the main commercial public service broadcasters in Britain, together with two leading broadband service providers and the national transmission service operator. - informitv.cominformitv.comMonday 28 June 2010, AM
Sky Sports 1 and 2 available to BT Vision customers
Customers will be able to view the channels from 1 August, in time for the start of the domestic football season. In March, Ofcom ruled that Sky would have to cut the price it charged rivals to show its premium sports channels. In the past it said it would charge about 15 a month for Sky Sports 1, but Ofcom's charges were higher than it expected. - news.bbc.co.uknews.bbc.co.ukAdding up the cost of the downturn | Peter Kirwan | Media | The Guardian
In his debut Channel 4 results presentation last week, chief executive David Abraham was surprisingly upbeat. Pessimism surrounds the chances of ITV, C4 and Five rebuilding revenues and profits to anything like pre-recession levels. Meanwhile, looming ever closer, there's the question of whether commercial broadcasters after years of under-performance can finally capitalise upon the web without destroying the traditional broadcasting business that sustains such huge programme-making budgets. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukIs this the end of daytime TV? | Stephen Armstrong | Media | The Guardian
Yet at least his most high-profile work was late-night rather than a slot daytime TV that has been written off by commentators. In part, it's because daytime is undergoing something close to a revolution. Meanwhile there has been speculation the BBC will have to review its daytime programming, given concern over cost-cutting in areas not seen as core public service output. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBSkyB, BT Group sign sports channel deal - MarketWatch
BT said that it will disclose pricing terms shortly. BSkyB is roughly 39-owned by News Corp., the parent of MarketWatch. - marketwatch.comwww.marketwatch.comChannel 4 News to be revamped as part of post-Big Brother shake-up | Media | The Guardian
Channel 4 has said that it will not be replacing its main news presenter, Jon Snow Channel 4 is to overhaul its news and current affairs output as part of a creative revamp partly prompted by the axing of Big Brother. An integrated news website to mesh with Channel 4 News is being built in a 500,000 upgrade, and will include a new fact-check facility, plus special reports and a distinctive take on the day's news. Stories about culture and arts will have greater prominence, with a new culture editor to be named this week. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukGAMETANK TAKES OVER TV NEWS FREEVIEW CHANNELS 89 90
Fans of the latter game will also be delighted to see an exclusive interview with Charles Martinet the voice of Mario himself at the recent midnight launch of the game. You can also check out the YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/GameTankTV, where you can view all previous shows. - presszoom.compresszoom.comFriday 25 June 2010, PM
You cant beat the sports TV pirates, so join them | Seth Freedman | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
The epic Wimbledon match between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner was widely available on pirated live internet streams. Photograph Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters As millions sat glued to their television screens watching the epic Isner-Mahut tennis battle this week, countless others took the opportunity to watch the match illegally over the internet. Thanks to the proliferation of illicit websites offering live streaming of every major sporting event, huge amounts of broadcast revenue are being siphoned out of the world of sports threatening the industry in the same way that Napster and Limewire decimated the music business. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBBC Trust approves Project Canvas
Please visit the BBC Trust homepage to find the information you want. you may have typed the web address incorrectly - please check the spelling, or that there are no spaces or capital letters. Alternatively, please try the other links and search box on this page. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukBBC - BBC Internet Blog: Round up: Friday 25 June 2010
Briantist, aka Brian Butterworth or should that be Brian Butterworth aka Briantist, has put together the excellent little icon iPlayer image featured at the top of this round up. I've made 5,000 of the programme images into a single relevant image. The Archive team have put up a World Cup collection, starting with interviews with the 1966 World Cup winning squad but over the next couple of weeks they'll be adding to it. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukBBC Trust approves Project Canvas | Media | guardian.co.uk
BskyB has questioned whether the BBC should be involved in such a commercial service. These include a guarantee to properly engage with industry, a thorny issue that has led to criticism from industry trade body the Digital Television Group. The trust has said that the cost of Project Canvas, including development, launch, and to the end of the first four years it is running, will be 115.6m. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBBC Trust approves Project Canvas - TV news - whathifi.com
- www.whathifi.comThursday 24 June 2010, PM
Arqiva plans terrestrial 3D tests | Broadband TV News
UK transmission company Arqiva is working on a terrestrial 3D test using the Service Compatible format favoured by public service broadcasters. Initial transmissions would be conducted outside of London to a closed user group. Arqiva has confirmed to Broadband TV News that following a series of internal tests, it was currently seeking rights clearance for some selected 3D content, though an initial licence application was already with Ofcom. - broadbandtvnews.comwww.broadbandtvnews.comRoku and Clearleap present complete solution to cable companies for over the top video on demand | Tech Gear News - Beta
Entertainment hardware company Roku and Web-based TV platform maker Clearleap today announced an interesting partnership which could result in cable companies offering their own video on demand station on Roku's popular streaming set top box. Except, of course, it would be available over IP, and would only require an over-the-top solution like the Roku box. - betanews.comwww.betanews.comMediaTel: Newsline: Television Viewing Round-Up: May 2010
May 2010 television viewing figures show that BBC One was the only terrestrial channel to see a rise in its share of viewing. ITV1 suffered a 3.4 percentage point fall, despite the continued success of hit show Britain's Got Talent, leaving its viewing share at 15.9. Channel 4 and BBC Two were down by 0.6 and 0.7 percentage points respectively. - mediatel.co.ukmediatel.co.ukOfcom opens debate on net neutrality | Ofcom
Independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries. 4G auction bidders announced December 20, 2012 Ofcom has today announced the bidders in the forthcoming 4G mobile spectrum auction the largest ever sale of mobile airwaves in the UK. npower fined for making abandoned calls December 6, 2012 The conclusion of an Ofcom investigation has today found npower, the gas and electricity supplier, to be in breach of rules on abandoned calls. - ofcom.org.ukwww.ofcom.org.ukThursday 24 June 2010, AM
Virgin Media To Release 400Mbps Broadband - ITProPortal.com
Virgin Media is all set to release a revolutionary new modem and router with the ability to handle speeds of up to 400Mbps. The network upgrades will be officially launched by the end of this year. Virgin Media has around 70,000 subscribers for its current network, providing speeds of up to 50Mbps. - itproportal.comwww.itproportal.comTwo in running to head Project Canvas | Media | guardian.co.uk
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.ukwww.guardian.co.ukTV labelling - Technology labelling - Which? Advice
The reality The TV may be capable of displaying a huge colour spectrum, but the number of colours that can be broadcast or perceived by the viewer is far fewer. This can be an indication of faster processing software, which could mean improved picture performance. 100Hz and 200Hz The label says 100Hz TVs double the number of frames per second that make up a picture, creating the illusion of smoother motion. The reality Pictures do appear smoother, but it can make the picture look so unnatural that our viewing experts quickly switched it off. - which.co.ukwww.which.co.ukWednesday 23 June 2010, PM
YouTube Blog: YouTube wins case against Viacom
Today, the court granted our motion for summary judgment in Viacoms lawsuit with YouTube. The decision follows established judicial consensus that online services like YouTube are protected when they work cooperatively with copyright holders to help them manage their rights online. This is an important victory not just for us, but also for the billions of people around the world who use the web to communicate and share experiences with each other. - youtube-global.blogspot.comyoutube-global.blogspot.comLive IP streaming hits a new UK record - James Cridland
800,000 concurrent viewers is a pretty massive figure for online streaming. No. Back in 2008, Google used Akamai to stream a live concert for them, which got a peak of 893,000 live concurrents, according to TechCrunch. This match was on a Saturday night, when most people were at home or in the pub 2. - james.cridland.netjames.cridland.netMore BBC iPlayer Encryption FOI Materials Paul Jakmas Blog
I received some further materials from the BBC about the iPlayer encryption issues. My request is covered in theBBCs Final Response. It is very much a goal of mine in all this to seek to provoke useful, productive dialogue. - pjakma.wordpress.compjakma.wordpress.comChannel 4: Tough, smaller, focused, independent, but stressed | Media | guardian.co.uk
Tough, smaller, focused, independent, but stressed and facing the fight of its life. That's the impression left by Channel 4's 2009 annual report, accompanying press briefing today, and performance so far this year. The slimmed down workforce of 692, nervously enjoying the recent recovery in advertising, are basically gearing up to trial loads of new programmes after the current and last series of Big Brother ends, taking away their decade-long commercial comfort blanket. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukLord Burns: Channel 4 does not need public subsidy | Media | guardian.co.uk
Lord Terry Burns 'We have to make our way in the market'. Burns also said the channel was not in talks to buy Channel Five. Ruling out any future attempt to seek a public subsidy, the strategy pursued by Channel 4's former chief executive Andy Duncan, Burns instead outlined a strategy of self-reliance. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukMedia: David Abrham (C4), Alan Yentob and French football 23 Jun 10
downloads.bbc.co.ukBBC iPlayer on mobile: a new version and Adobe Flash 10.1 streaming on all Android 2.2 phones
Last week we launched the mobile version of the new BBC iPlayer website which Anthony Rose announced a few weeks ago. If you add a series to favourites, BBC iPlayer will automatically add all new episodes in that series as soon as they are available in iPlayer so you will never miss your favourite programmes. We are always looking to deliver the best BBC iPlayer experience on mobile. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukDigital TV helps Channel 4 weather the recession | Media | guardian.co.uk
Channel 4 made a small profit of 300,000 in 2009 as a strong performance from digital TV and costcutting helped offset a 61.6m loss on its main network. Last year's recession, described by Channel 4 as the worst in its 28-year history, led to a 14 year-on-year decline in advertising revenues for the broadcaster's main terrestrial network, from 668.7m to 575.1m. The main channel's loss widened from 9.9m in 2008 to 61.6m last year, according to Channel 4's annual report for 2009, published today. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukWednesday 23 June 2010, AM
Budget 2010: broadband tax on telephone lines scrapped | UK news | guardian.co.uk
Private broadband coverage has been encouraged in George Osborne's debut budget. Photograph Corbis The coalition government has dropped Labour plans to introduce a controversial 50p-a-month levy on phone lines to pay for the rollout of superfast broadband, opting instead to use TV licence fee money to improve coverage in rural areas. As widely expected, chancellor George Osborne announced that the previous administration's plans for a telephone tax, designed to raise up to 175m a year, will be scrapped. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBT helps million of Freeview viewers enjoy World Cup fever in high definition
By the time the switchover is complete, the vast majority of TV viewers will be able to view high definition HD services. This provides the delivery of all the digital terrestrial TV programmes to people's homes via their aerial and Freeview set top box or decoder. BT has already migrated one third of the transmitters - covering approximately 8.5 million homes - to its UK media network. - tmcnet.comwww.tmcnet.comTuesday 22 June 2010, PM
A Cumulative Update is available for Windows Media Center in Windows 7
A Cumulative Update is available for Windows Media Center in Windows 7. You reference a backup database when the guide database in Windows Media Center is corrupted. If you set a manual recording on a channel that is not listed in the backup database, the Mcupdate.exe process crashes. - support.microsoft.comsupport.microsoft.comMobile phone firms test TV broadcast service | Media | guardian.co.uk
Mobile TV suffers from congestion if more than a handful of customers use the service in the same place. The three companies, who control the bulk of the UK mobile phone market, are testing technology which would enable them to provide broadcast TV over their existing 3G mobile phone spectrum, without clogging up their networks, which are being used by smartphone users to access the web and send emails. All the UK mobile phone companies offer mobile TV services on their 3G networks but they suffer from congestion if more than a handful of customers use the service in the same place. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBBC defends staffing levels at key events -TV Radio, Media - The Independent
The corporation said that of the 292 staff sent to the event, covering sport television production, BBC interactive, Radio 5 Live, online and news, around 35 would go home early and numbers could reduce further, depending on England's progress. Nicky Campbell is hosting his Radio 5 Live show from South Africa. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukDigitalP: 22 June 10: 3D TVs at CEDIA
downloads.bbc.co.ukITV Live tops one million viewers
ITV Live, the new dual-screen initiative from ITV.com has attracted more than one million users in its first week. Launching with the World Cup, ITV Live allows users to watch games on screen while interacting online. The service saw 90,000 unique users for England v USA and 121,000 unique users for England v Algeria. - dtg.org.ukwww.dtg.org.ukGoogle targeted by BPI for linking to illegal downloads | Music | guardian.co.uk
Google asked to remove links to illegal songs. To bolster its case, the BPI even cites the search queries that bring up the offending links. Last October, Google removed links to the Pirate Bay one of the most notorious illegal BitTorrent trackers from their search index. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukFreeview hands senior role to BBC marketer - Marketing news - Marketing magazine
Joining next month, she will report to managing director Ilse Howling, who also worked at the BBC, before moving to Freeview in 2005. Leach joined the BBC in 2002 and was most recently responsible for marketing activity for factual programming. Freeview is also facing competition in its bid to become the UKs premier HD TV service. - marketingmagazine.co.ukwww.marketingmagazine.co.ukMum hits out at TV switchover charges - The Star
Sheffield Homes is preparing 9,500 of its properties which have communal aerials for the digital switchover. Sheffield Council deputy leader Coun Bryan Lodge said a resident in his Birley ward had received a letter warning that her old aerial would be disconnected within 28 days - without offering work to connect her to a new communal aerial. Specialist engineers have identified where aerials must be replaced in order for everyone in the blocks affected to receive a high quality digital signal. - thestar.co.ukwww.thestar.co.ukpick a page