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

Thursday 26 March 2015, PM

Viacom to bring Breaking Bad to Freeview with Spike launch - Media news - Media Week

- www.mediaweek.co.uk

www.mediaweek.co.uk

Alexandra Palace secures £18.8m funding for theatre revamp

Chief executive of the Alexandra Palace and Park Charitable Palace Trust Duncan Wilson said he was quotThrilledquot with the announcement. Chief Executive of Heritage Lottery Fund Carole Souter said quotAlexandra Palace has played a pivotal role in the development of popular entertainment - culminating in the birth of British television. - www.bbc.co.uk

BBC3 has become 'the living dead', claims senior TV executive

Elstein, a former executive at BSkyB and Channel 5, said a unitary BBC board with a director general and non-executive chairman, the preferred option of the BBC Trust chair Rona Fairhead, would have studied the proposal - and approved or rejected it - much quicker. The first chair of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons, warned against viewing a unitary board as a quotPanaceaquot to the BBC's ills. - www.theguardian.com

#26 - What is Top Gear’s future? - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann

Vaizey kicks off local DAB expansion plan

Ed Vaizey said quotDigital radio is the future of radio in the UK and I am delighted that Government has been able to play its part in this major expansion which will help accelerate the transition to digital radio, in the car and at home. Ford Ennals, CEO of Digital Radio UK added quotWe welcome the UK expansion of digital radio - it's great news for listeners as it means that millions more listeners and thousands more miles of roads will be able to receive DAB loud and clear. - radiotoday.co.uk

Wednesday 25 March 2015, PM

Media: Jeremy Clarkson fired by the BBC plus SNP media policy

Monday 23 March 2015, PM

BBC considers plan to stop in-house production being sold to private sector

BBC Studios will at first operate within the publicly-funded corporation but then be transferred out and become a separate subsidiary of the BBC group, operating at arm's length. General secretary Gerry Morrissey has written to Hall suggesting staff within BBC Studios be given a say in what happens to the new company by having two classes of shareholders. - www.theguardian.com

Saturday 21 March 2015, PM

#25B - Radio Days Europe 2015 - The Media Podcast with Paul Robinson

Friday 20 March 2015, PM

Feedback: Reporting from Putin's Russia: 20 Mar 15

Damazer to return to BBC as trustee

The chairman of BAE Systems is a former deputy chairman of the Bank of England, president of the CBI and chairman of Centrica plc. 'These are three really strong appointments to the trust and, with their top level experience built up across a range of backgrounds, they will be invaluable in helping ensure the licence fee payers' perspective is brought to bear as we enter Charter Review,' said chairman of the trust Rona Fairhead. 'I look forward to working with them. - www.bbc.co.uk

Friday 20 March 2015, AM

Service review of BBC music radio: Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, 6 Music and Asian Network

Analysis of the music played on each of the six BBC music radio stations found that they play a wider range of tracks and genres than is available elsewhere on radio. Service licence changes - In order to enable savings, the number of live sessions on Radio 1 is being reduced, Radio 1 and 1Xtra will increase the number of documentaries shared between the stations, and the number of dramas on Radio 3 will reduce. - www.bbc.co.uk

Thursday 19 March 2015, PM

Radio 1 to cut back on live music

The latest music radio service review, published on Thursday, confirmed that BBC Radio had made almost half of its requisite Delivering Quality First savings, although this had curtailed the scope of and spending on music radio. The BBC's six music radio stations are doing well and are seen as go-to services for millions of UK listeners on a quest to discover and be entertained by music. - www.bbc.co.uk

Sky raises sports and entertainment package prices

Sky, which normally increases its prices in September, said the price of a sports TV package - covering seven channels - would rise by pound1 to pound47 a month from June. Sky feared subscribers' defections to BT, which won the right to show 42 games a season and has also beaten Sky to show Uefa Champions League matches later this year. - www.theguardian.com

Wednesday 18 March 2015, PM

Media: The Clarkson row and how best to handle "difficult" stars; the future for Netflix; and the Green Party media po

Wednesday 18 March 2015, AM

BBC national DAB radio reaches 95% population

In total, the new transmitters bring 138,000 households into the BBC's national coverage area and improves digital radio reception for a further two million households. Helen Boaden, Director of Radio, says quotIt is fantastic that more listeners will be able to enjoy the full range of BBC services. Extending national DAB coverage is an important part of building a digital future for radio. - radiotoday.co.uk

Unbundling Pay-TV Brings New Questions

quotIf you buy retail and you have six or seven of these things, that might cost you as much as a bundle that gives you 400 different networks,quot said Philippe Dauman, CEO of Viacom, which earns money from bundled channels but also recently launched a subscription streaming service aimed at preschool children that it imagines will be complementary to the bundle. Comcast offers an quotInternet Plusquot package of HBO, fast broadband and local channels for 40 a month, and ATT has been peddling a similar 49-a-month bundle that also includes Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime free-shipping and streaming-video service for a year. - www.wsj.com

www.wsj.com

Tuesday 17 March 2015, PM

BBC3 being 'dismantled' before its TV closure, claim producers

The BBC has been accused of asset-stripping BBC3 before it has been given permission by the BBC Trust to close the TV channel. The pair said the corporation had already quotEmbraced commercialityquot with the sale of assets such as Top Gear magazine - still branded BBC Top Gear - and half of its BBC America operation to Mad Men producer AMC. - www.theguardian.com

Tuesday 17 March 2015, AM

Scripps steps up pressure on BBC over UKTV bid

A BBC Worldwide spokesman said quotWe have no plans to sell our stake in UKTV - a successful business that provides ongoing strategic and financial benefits to BBC Worldwide, and indirectly to licence fee payers. A spokesman for the BBC Trust said quotSince taking up her role, the chairman has regular meetings with a range of media industry representatives and similarly she has an introductory meeting scheduled with Scripps. It is not the trust's role to consider interest in BBC assets from third parties. Any such proposals would have to be put to the trust by BBC management for approval. - www.theguardian.com

Monday 16 March 2015, PM

Local TV station debuts with a C-bomb in 'how to pull' show | Media | The Guardian

- www.theguardian.com

Saturday 14 March 2015, AM

Jeremy Clarkson: TV producer reveals what it s like having to endure presenters tantrums - Features - TV Radio - The

- www.independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Friday 13 March 2015, PM

Feedback: The Archers: 13 Mar 15

#25 - Clarkson’s third strike, British Press Awards - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann

#25 - Clarkson’s third strike, British Press Awards - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann

Friday 13 March 2015, AM

Ariel - Just stop the rot at Ally Pally

- www.bbc.co.uk

Offshore workers Sky TV switched off in latest North Sea cut-backs | Herald Scotland

- www.heraldscotland.com

www.heraldscotland.com

Thursday 12 March 2015, AM

Ofcom invites applications for Suffolk DAB

Ofcom has advertised a new local radio multiplex to provide DAB digital radio stations in Suffolk. As ever, 128kbits/sec is reserved to the BBC for the broadcasting in digital form of its local radio service, BBC Radio Suffolk. - radiotoday.co.uk

Top Gear: How a monster was born

Telegraph columnist Alex Proud told BBC News that despite Mr Clarkson being a quotMassive earner for the BBCquot, the broadcaster could also attract new talent. quotThe BBC has a dilemma. Nobody in the end can ignore the BBC guidelines. That said this is a very popular programme - BBC Two's most popular factual entertainment programme. The BBC would be loath to lose it. - www.bbc.co.uk

Nielsen Charts Reach of Video Streaming

Homes with subscription streaming services spend 66 minutes a day watching time-shifted television, while households without subscriptions spend 56 minutes a day with it. Television executives are voicing concerns that streaming services like Netflix are cutting into the amount of time that people spend watching traditional television analysts estimate that total television viewing declined by almost 10 percent during the third and fourth quarters of 2014. - www.nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com

Wednesday 11 March 2015, PM

Media: Older people in the media; Top Gear brand; TV election debates.

Tuesday 10 March 2015, PM

Reducing costs through Delivering Quality First Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General presented to the BBC Trus

We assessed the BBC's work in developing such a culture as part of the Programme through document review of BBC savings plans and progress reports review of documents covering BBC continuous improvement initiatives analysis of BBC savings data and annual accounts interviews with BBC staff involved with these initiatives and interviews with BBC staff and Our conclusions We assessed the BBC's progress and its management through review of BBC's management and reporting processes including case review of a sample of savings initiatives to underlying plans. The documents included BBC Executive proposals and BBC Trust reviews during 2011 and 2012 internal and external reviews of the Programme such as those by Ernst Young, KPMG and BBC Internal Audit BBC progress reports across the whole of the BBC and at divisional level BBC guidance on process and monitoring and BBC documents on its work on developing continuous improvement. - downloads.bbc.co.uk

BBC risks having to cut more services after it misses long-term targets

The NAO said the programme of savings, a response to the 2010 licence fee settlement in which the BBC's funding was frozen but given extra responsibilities, including the World Service, rural broadband and local TV, would get even tougher in the years ahead. quotThe BBC's plans for future productivity savings involve more significant and potentially riskier changes to organisational structures and ways of working,quot it said. quotIf the BBC is not able to make planned productivity savings, it risks having to make further reductions to scope. - www.theguardian.com

Tuesday 10 March 2015, AM

Margaret Hodge: BBC Trust chair Rona Fairhead 'should quit'

The current chair of the BBC Trust should consider resigning or be sacked by the government, chair of the Public Accounts Committee Margaret Hodge has said. Rona Fairhead took over as chair of the BBC Trust last year, but before that she was chair of HSBC's audit committee until 2010 and subsequently led the bank's risk committee,. - m.bbc.co.uk

m.bbc.co.uk

Labour and Lib Dems commit to keeping C4 in public hands

Business secretary Vince Cable and shadow minister for the arts Chris Bryant have committed to keeping Channel 4 under public ownership if Labour or the Liberal Democrats win the general election. Speaking at a House of Commons event to celebrate the growth of the creative industries in the UK, Cable said his party was “committed to making absolutely sure that C4 isn’t offloaded into the private sector”. C4 chief executive David Abraham was in the audience to hear Cable’s speech, after which Bryant gave his party’s commitment to “keep C4 in public hands and not sell it off”.- www.broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Where can you watch classic Doctor Who episodes? The Horror Channel!

- www.radiotimes.com

www.radiotimes.com

Monday 09 March 2015, PM

Horror Channel to rise on Freeview

- www.broadbandtvnews.com

www.broadbandtvnews.com

BBC in the internet era | informitv

- informitv.com

informitv.com

Monday 09 March 2015, AM

BBC questions 25% indie quota | News | Broadcast

The BBC has raised concerns about its ability to continue commissioning 25% of its content from qualifying indies amid seismic market consolidation. The corporation has argued that if “vertical integration” in the production sector continues at its current pace, the legal guarantee “may prove unrealistic and unachievable” for PSBs to maintain. “There is a risk that the level of the quota could distort commissioning decisions and the diversity of programming reaching audiences could suffer,” the BBC added in its submission to Ofcom’s PSB review. It said the media regulator should be given the power to “amend the level” of the quota. - www.broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

Ed Vaizey overplays the local TV factor | Media | The Guardian

- www.theguardian.com

The Media Column: ITV ratings are falling, but with digital and ad revenues up, US buyers are interested - Media - News

- www.independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

Sunday 08 March 2015, PM

#24B - John Waite on presenting - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann

Friday 06 March 2015, PM

Feedback: BBC licence fee: 6 Mar 15

Thursday 05 March 2015, PM

Vaizey: We want a BBC fit for the digital age

Echoing comments made two days earlier by BBC Director General Tony Hall that the BBC must reinvent itself for the Internet era, UK Minister for the Digital Economy Ed Vaizey has suggested that a future government conducting the BBC Charter review should strive for a BBC that is fit for the digital age. quotThere are many reasons why we need the BBC. Their recent commitment to work with UK-wide arts institutions and to support coding in schools are just two recent examples of this. Radio 1's commitment to new music is another. We want to see a BBC that is fit for the digital age, able to fulfil the many roles that the BBC has done so successfully for many years - not just great content, but education and training, technical innovation, and a huge and irreplaceable contribution to civic society. But as I say, that debate won't begin until May 8, and we won't be expressing any views before then,quot he confirmed. - advanced-television.com

advanced-television.com

Wednesday 04 March 2015, PM

Media: The Director General of the BBC, Tony Hall, on funding, efficiency and governance.

Sound Digital reiterates D2 commitment

quotOne of our overarching aims in making this submission is to dispel any doubt as to the unequivocal nature of the commitments underpinning Sound Digital's ambitious proposals. Our submission is made openly and publicly, and our reassertion of Sound Digital's unwavering commitment is addressed as much to the wider digital radio industry as it is to Ofcom,quot Sound Digital tells Ofcom. quotOur innovative, contractually secure and responsible business approach offers assurance that if awarded the UK's second national DAB multiplex licence, Sound Digital will launch its ambitious content line-up and 45 site transmitter network within 12 months and successfully maintain the multiplex for the full 12 year licence term. There will be no attempts to roll back on our commitments following the award of the licence and our proposals will be delivered in full. - radiotoday.co.uk

Wednesday 04 March 2015, AM

ITV chief: we didn't get everything right in 2014 schedules

ITV chief executive Adam Crozier has admitted that the broadcaster quotDidn't get everything rightquot in its schedules in 2014, and said it had taken action to halt falling viewing figures. quotOur digital channels were down last year for the first time in many years, but if you look at their performance in the first half of the year, they were down 10, if you look at the second half of the year they were down 2 and year to date they are up 4.quot. - www.theguardian.com

ITV's pre-tax profits soar 23% to ?712m | Media | The Guardian

ITV, which has sought to develop its production capabilities and non-advertising revenue sources to avoid being at the mercy of ad markets, said its non-ad-based revenue was now up 10 to make up 45 of total revenue. ITV chief executive Adam Crozier said quotITV delivered another strong performance in 2014 as we continue to rebalance the business, drive new revenue streams and invest in our future growth. Across ITV we maintained our emphasis on cash generation, cost control and improving margins as we continued to strengthen ITV creatively, commercially and financially. - www.theguardian.com

Steve Coogan backs bid to buy channel

The comedian Steve Coogan, and his independent TV production company Baby Cow, have backed Jimmy Mulville and Jon Thoday's bid to buy BBC3. Coogan's support will be one of the central planks of a letter to be sent on Wednesday by Thoday and Mulville to Danny Cohen, the BBC's director of television. The letter will also display the mischievousness for which Thoday and Mulville are renowned in the TV industry, by challenging both Cohen and BBC director general Tony Hall to a debate on the future of BBC3. quotThe subject should be 'Is a reduced spend on younger viewers by the BBC avoidable and will BBC3 online succeed' We suggest this be broadcast live on BBC3,quot Mulville and Thoday's letter will say. - www.theguardian.com

Tuesday 03 March 2015, PM

UK leads the way with in-car Digital Radio

New cars with DAB now stand at 60 in the UK and Norway, whilst Switzerland has 45. Norway and Switzerland are the likely to be the first countries in the world to set firm dates for Digital Switchover. Patrick Hannon, President of WorldDMB said quotOur aim with this research is to demonstrate clearly that DAB digital radio is the platform of the future in Europe. With the first countries moving to Digital Switchover, and motorists driving between these markets, it is becoming increasingly important for car manufacturers to include digital radio as standard. - radiotoday.co.uk