Why the BBC is worth saving

Is the BBC worth saving I am not and never have been a BBC executive. The newspaper proprietors lobbied the government and the early BBC was forbidden to broadcast news at any time during the day before 8pm. In the 1950s, traditionalists at Broadcasting House tried to put a stop to television on the grounds that it would destroy radio and lead to the terrible dumbing down of news. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Ofcom to investigate Celador's DAB decision

Radio regulator Ofcom is to officially investigate Celador's decision to remove Fire Radio from DAB in Bournemouth. The licence for Fire was renewed in 2010 for 12 years, on the condition that a DAB service is provided on the Bournemouth multiplex throughout the relevant licence term. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

S4C 'cycle of decline' funding fear

The think tank has also called for the Welsh language TV channel's independence to be safeguarded and for BBC Wales' budget to rise by 30m. The IWA's Audit of Welsh Media has been published ahead of a sell-out summit in Cardiff on Wednesday. The audit found that spending on TV programming for Wales has been in decline since before the 2008 banking crisis, while BBC Wales' English language television service has seen a 27 reduction in hours of programmes since 2006/07. - www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Sony says goodbye to Betamax tapes

The firm launched the format in 1975, a year before JVC's rival the VHS cassette - which eventually became the market leader after a long battle between the two brands and their fans. Although many felt Betamax was the superior format, most cite the longer recording length of VHS tapes - three hours versus one - and the cheaper manufacturing costs for VHS machines as the main factors as to why VHS eventually won out. - www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Virgin Media losing television subscribers

Virgin Media has hovered around 3.7 million television customers for the last five years and has lost customers throughout 2015. Liberty Global reported 'record Q3 customer growth' for the combined Virgin Media operation, on the basis of a net gain of 40,000 'customer relationships' -driven mainly by 60,000 broadband additions. - informitv.com

informitv.com

Lord Burns: 'They seem to believe you can keep Channel 4's remit while privatising it'

Most media analysts including Claire Enders credit Burns and the management team led by David Abraham with bringing the channel into the black, when the last management team had to ask for state money to survive. Career 1980 chief economic adviser, Treasury, head of government economic service 1991-98 permanent secretary, Treasury 1998 made Lord Burns 1999 chairs financial services and markets joint commission 2002 chairman, Abbey National 2003-05 leads government's BBC charter review 2004-05 chairs review of FA 2010 chairman, Channel 4. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Free speech and Guantanamo reporting

open.live.bbc.co.uk

BBC TV braced for 30m cuts

The BBCs television division has been tasked with making cuts of up to £30m in 2017/18 as the corporation bids to close the £150m funding gap created by the iPlayer loophole. Broadcast can reveal that director general Tony Hall and Anne Bulford, managing director of finance and operations, have set a stretching savings target with proposals for where the axe will fall currently being discussed. The figure is yet to be finalised, but sources have suggested it could be in the region of £30m.. - www.broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

BBC shelves plans to shut news channel

The BBC is understood to have shelved plans to potentially shut its 24-hour news channel. The corporation has been exploring plans to make the BBC News TV channel online-only and replacing it with a mobile streaming service if further cuts need to be made. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

DAB Updates: November and December 2015

The station's DAB label will change week commencing 9th Nov. SMALL SCALE DAB TRIALSAll but the Glasgow Small Scale DAB multiplexes are now on-air. DAB listeners in Sussex look set to have to retune their radios next month as part of a programme to expand local DAB coverage. - www.a516digital.com

www.a516digital.com

Let the spectrum games begin

The EBU firmly believes that future mobile data traffic growth can be addressed without compromising the future of DTT, which remains a popular medium, particularly as recent data shows that the majority of mobile content is consumed using fixed networks and WiFi. The report suggests that the use of C-band spectrum for mobile broadband can be achieved through the development of sharing techniques to allow mobile services to co-exist with other users of the band, such as satellite and fixed link services. - www.csimagazine.com

www.csimagazine.com

Investors circle around Channel 4 as privatisation draws interest

Ownership of free terrestrial channels has formed a key part of Discovery's expansion strategy in European markets and it recently acquired pan-European rights to the Olympics, which come with obligations to show the games on free-to-air TV. Discovery is also a joint owner of one of Channel 4's biggest programme suppliers, the production company All3Media, which makes hits including Gogglebox, so could further benefit from sway over the broadcaster's commissioning. David Abraham, Channel 4's chief executive and a former senior Discovery executive, has voiced industry fears over American takeovers of British television assets. - www.telegraph.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk

Sony Bravia YouView update: Everything you need to know

YouView already exists on a number of set-top boxes - from TalkTalk, BT and Humax for example - but its integration into Sony's televisions in the UK is a big deal, both for Sony and YouView, but more importantly for you, the owner of one of these sets. When you open the new YouView EPG on your Sony TV, it looks practically identical to that of a YouView set-top box. - www.pocket-lint.com

www.pocket-lint.com

Private investment among options for Channel 4, David Cameron confirms

David Cameron has confirmed he is looking at ways to get private investment into Channel 4, after months of speculation that the government is looking at selling off all or part of the broadcaster. Burns, a former Treasury economist and chair of Santander UK, is believed to be preparing various proposals that would allow Channel 4 to maintain its remit to provide distinctive public service programming in the event of a sale. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Vaizey working with Germany for DAB future

Speaking to an international audience of over 200 radio experts at the WorldDAB General Assembly in London, the two Ministers emphasised their commitment to digital radio and the importance of working together to accelerate the growth of DAB in Europe. Patrick outlined WorldDAB's priorities for the coming 12 months - with a particular focus on extending the international footprint of digital terrestrial radio and ensuring that DAB secures its position in cars and mobile handsets. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Project Uno: how collaboration is reshaping the TV industry

To help assist the bridge between content provision and device conformance required by operations such as Freeview Play, Access, Pixsan and ST joined forces and develop Project Uno, a shared source code base for DVB and OTT hybrid TV platforms. Built to provide a 'close to turnkey' solution for DVB and HbbTV, that acts as a device reference platform, Project Uno works X86, meaning that Project Uno collaborators can work from their PC workstations, laptops or Next Units of Computing with a Freeview USB dongle, right up to sophisticated multi tuner test environments to test more complex use cases. - www.tvbeurope.com

www.tvbeurope.com

Chromecast Can Now Stream Live Television With Added Sling TV Support

While Chromecast today supports dozen of apps, including Netflix, Hulu, Google Play Movies, HBO NOW, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, and many more, Sling TV provides a way to watch live and on-demand television for the reduced price of 20 per month. To promote the launch, Sling TV is giving new customers who pre-pay for three months of Sling TV's service a free Chromecast device. - techcrunch.com

techcrunch.com

Brits reluctant to change TV provider

The average Brit is more likely to switch partners than bank, energy or TV provider, according to research by TNS for TV service Freeview. Freeview conducted the research to promote the recent launch of the Freeview Play connected TV service. - www.telecompaper.com

www.telecompaper.com

The countdown is on for DAB radio events

The conference entitled Radio's Digital Countdown marks the start of the countdown to major landmarks for digital radio in content, coverage and cars in the next year with the launch of the second national commercial digital radio multiplex, Sound Digital, in the next 6 months the completion of the planned expansion of national and local DAB coverage in the next 12 months and the expected completion of the provision of digital radio in over 90 of new cars, also within 12 months. The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy will highlight the launch of Sound Digital in early 2016, the second national commercial digital radio multiplex, which he will describe as game-changing. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Pure to launch accessible DAB car radio adapter

Pure is partnering with Sound Digital for a major on-air campaign to promote its new in-car digital radio adapter. An information campaign aimed at encouraging new listeners to retune their radios to receive the new stations will also be a key part of the promotional activities. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Freeview vs YouView vs Freest vs Freeview Play

At present, we have Freeview and Freesat providing basic TV, and YouView, Freeview Play and Freetime providing regular TV with on-demand services. If you want HD channels you need an HD TV that has a Freeview HD or Freesat HD receiver, or a set-top box with a Freeview HD or Freesat HD receiver. - www.expertreviews.co.uk

www.expertreviews.co.uk

BBC World Service goes DAB+ in Brussels

The BBC World Service is launching on DAB radio in Brussels this month, as the station launches a new series called World Questions. World Questions gives people across Europe the chance to question key players and discuss issues impacting Europe and the EU. The first debate will take place in Brussels on 17 November, to air on 21 November. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Rajar Q3 2015: How commercial radio has closed digital gap with BBC

Existing stations will invest into programming to retain their listeners, and new stations will invest in marketing, which will increase their awareness and listenership. Existing stations will invest into programming to retain their listeners New stations will invest in marketing, which will increase their awareness and listenership There will be more digital choice, which will lead to more listening hours There will be a natural increase in digital, pushed up by car listening as new cars have DAB fitted as standard. - www.mediaweek.co.uk

www.mediaweek.co.uk

30/10/2015 Radio 4 Feedback

open.live.bbc.co.uk

Memo to John Whittingdale: make peace between publishers and the BBC

Culture secretary John Whittingdale has declared himself in favour of curtailing the BBC's online news service in order to avoid it intruding on turf traditionally trodden by local and regional newspapers. Publishers need to acknowledge that in countries where there is no equivalent to the BBC newspapers are suffering, often a great deal worse than in the UK. So the BBC should not be cast as the villain of the piece. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Lord Puttnam: Chariots of Fire producer to launch own inquiry into the future of public service broadcasting

The film producer Lord Puttnam, who opposes government proposals to reduce the size and scope of the BBC, is to chair his own alternative inquiry into the future of public service television. The Puttnam inquiry is likely to be seen as a rival body to an eight-person advisory committee - including Dawn Airey, former boss of Channel 5, and Dame Colette Bowe, former chairwoman of Ofcom - appointed by Mr Whittingdale to guide his conclusions on the renewal of the BBC's Royal Charter. - www.independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Ofcom announces details of 2016 spectrum auction

An auction is planned to take place in early 2016 for the spectrum, which has been made available by the Ministry of Defence as part of a wider Government initiative to free up public sector spectrum for civil uses. Ofcom proposes to auction the spectrum in lots of 10 MHz for the 2.3 GHz band and 5 MHz for the 3.4 GHz band. - media.ofcom.org.uk

media.ofcom.org.uk

Progress on DVB UHDTV specs

David Wood confirmed draft commercial requirements will go through the formal DVB approval process in the next few weeks. DVB UHD-1 Phase 1 set out the means a 2160p image at up to 60 FPS. DVB UHD-1 Phase 2 will add additional features including High Dynamic Range and High Frame Rate. - www.broadbandtvnews.com

www.broadbandtvnews.com

BBC Trust on the brink of BBC3 decision

BBC3’s fate is set to be decided in under a fortnight, as the BBC Trust finalises 11 months of work assessing if the channel should move online. Broadcast understands that the governing body will announce its formal decision on BBC3’s future during the week commencing 9 November, drawing a line under a process that it originally hoped to complete in around six months. - www.broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

BBC says 'troubling' Terrorism Act did not allow it to argue against giving reporter's laptop to police

The South East Counter Terrorism Unit, which is led by Thames Valley Police and also covers Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey and Kent, used a Production Order under the Terrorism Act to obtain the laptop through a crown court in August after he interviewed a British-born Islamic State fighter. Press Gazette has asked the BBC, Thames Valley Police and SECTU which section of the Terrorism Act the laptop was applied for under. - www.pressgazette.co.uk

www.pressgazette.co.uk

Freeview Play or YouView: what should you buy?

Retailers provide an easy route into the world of YouView via a standard or DVR-enabled YouView set-top-box or through one of nine YouView-enabled Sony Bravia TVs. After that things turn into a rabbit warren of YouView branded devices. If you subscribe to YouView through BT, it will exclude YouView usage from your data allowance, allowing you to watch catch up services to your heart's content without worrying about going over the limit. - www.alphr.com

www.alphr.com

Closing BBC's 'iPlayer loophole' would harm other broadcasters, says Channel 4

The broadcaster says the current proposals are inappropriate as they would also ensnare the catch-up TV services of other public service broadcasters such as ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Channel 4 said that if the legislation cannot be implemented to fairly cover all TV on-demand services than it must only focus on the BBC iPlayer. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

DAB increases; analogue listening declines to 50% of total

Over 30 million people or 56 of adults listen on a digital platform every week, with digital listening hours growing year on year by 12.5 and to a new record platform share of nearly 42. Listening on all digital platforms grew year on year led by a 14 increase in DAB listening and a 9 increase in online listening. In its first Rajar period, digital-only station Smooth Extra recorded 930k listeners while Capital Xtra's digital listening surged by 55 to 600k listeners on digital. - media.info

media.info

RAJAR - Data Release Infographic Q3 2015 Our latest infographics available here

90.6 Year on Year 89 of the population tune in to radio every week 90.7 89.6 89.1 Q3 2010 Q3 2011 Q3 2012 89.0 Q3 2013 89.3 Q3 2014 Q3 2015 AVERAGE HOURS PER LISTENER On average a listener tunes into 21 hours and 36 minutes of Live Radio per week. DIGITAL SHARE OF ALL RADIO LISTENING The share of all radio listening via a digital platform now stands at 41.9, up from 37.8 for the corresponding period last year. - www.rajar.co.uk

www.rajar.co.uk

Radio 4 Extra becomes biggest digital station

In its first RAJAR period, digital-only station Smooth Extra recorded 930k listeners while Capital Xtra's digital listening increased by 55 to 600k listeners on digital. Over 30 million people or 56 of adults listen on a digital platform every week, with digital listening hours growing year on year by 12.5 and to a new record platform share of nearly 42. Listening on all digital platforms grew year on year led by a 14 increase in DAB listening and a 9 increase in online listening. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

John Whittingdale, ITV News at 10 revamp with Tom Bradby

open.live.bbc.co.uk

London Live cuts loss to £6m with breakeven target of 2017

The TV business, which has gone through a major restructuring and content strategy shift, is understood to have made an operating loss of about 6m in the year to the end of September. The channel, which Lebedev originally pledged to back with 15m over three years, is aiming to reduce losses to just 3m in the year to the end of September 2016. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

John Whittingdale: BBC funding still dependent on charter review

In return for taking on the cost of over-75s' licences, the BBC secured a number of measures to partly offset the funding gap, including linking the licence fee to inflation. Speaking on the panel during the recording of the show, which is to be broadcast on Tuesday morning, the BBC director of strategy, James Purnell, said he did not believe Whittingdale's statement indicated an intention to renegotiate the deal, but that if the review of the BBC did lead to a change in the funding the BBC received, the cost of providing free licences would have to be part of the debate. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

REUTERS INSTITUTE DIGITAL NEWS REPORT 2015

This is our second report this year on developments in digital news. Whereas the 2015 Reuters Institute Digital News Report, published in June, covered 12 countries, of which 10 had also been covered in 2014, this supplementary report turns the focus to six additional countries within Europe, none of which we have examined before. - reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk

reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk

A Future for Public Service Television:

- futureoftv.org.uk

futureoftv.org.uk

Arthur Miller - Your Reviews

open.live.bbc.co.uk

Digital UK urges Europe to 'protect future of free TV' » Digital TV Europe

The Europe-wide reallocation of 700Mhz spectrum from broadcast to mobile broadband is due to be finalised at the World Radiocommunications Conference, with discussion also expected about the reallocation in the lower frequency bands of 470Mhz-694Mhz up. In September 2014, Pascal Lamy, the European Commission's chairman of the group on the future of the Ultra High Frequency spectrum, recommended in his Lamy report that the 700 MHz band should be dedicated to wireless broadband across Europe by 2020 - give or take two years. - www.digitaltveurope.net

www.digitaltveurope.net

Vice eyes UK linear channel

Vice is to double the size of its production presence in the UK ahead of the launch of a linear TV channel. The youth-skewing brand is to strike a local partnership to aid the launch of a channel and it is leaning towards a free-to-air approach. It has been hearing pitches from broadcasters and channel operators this week, with a decision set to be made shortly. - www.broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Sky trumpets 10% earnings hike to £375m

Sky said it was its strongest first quarter growth in four years, with revenue up by 6 to 2.8bn. The company added some 134,000 new customers, and 937,000 new paid-for subscription products, with 133,000 new broadband subscribers in the UK. In terms of content, Sky trumpeted the release of The Last Panthers to launch across the group, as well as multi-year agreements with Disney and SANZAR rugby. As we continue to place customers right at the heart of our business, we are focused on offering the very best content at the same time as anticipating customers' evolving needs, delivering the programmes that they love across multiple platforms and devices. - www.ibtimes.co.uk

www.ibtimes.co.uk

DAB radio reception extended in West Wiltshire

Wiltshire is one of the leading counties in the UK for digital radio with 65 of all households having a DAB digital radio and 41 of radio listening to a digital platform, well ahead of the national figures of 51 and 40 respectively. The engineering work and launch of the new digital transmitter serving Trowbridge, which was delivered by Arqiva, is part of an industry and Government programme of work that aims to expand the coverage and listening to DAB digital radio across the UK. Government, BBC and commercial radio have agreed plans to build a further 182 local DAB transmitters to extend local DAB coverage to more than 90 of the population which will bring eight million listeners across the UK into coverage and will add over 6,700 km of roads. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk