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Tuesday 20 January 2015, AM

Anne Mensah: Why Sky's drama supremo worries about her customers, not her viewers

With Sky's commitment to spending pound600m on original content and four channels to fill, Mensah now presides over one of the biggest drama budgets in British television. quotWith Fortitude, I thought that, although Sky dramas have dark moments, we tend not to be grim - our shows have colour and vibrancy. A little blue sky helps. - www.independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

DTG :: News :: Ofcom seeks industry views to lay 5G foundations

Known currently as '5G', these future mobile communications could use very high frequency spectrum above 6 GHz, as well as the current mobile spectrum from 800MHz-2.6GHz. According to Ofcom, this could support a variety of uses, ranging from financial trading and entertainment to gaming and holographic projections. The key issue for 5G services is developing the commercial use of the spectrum above 6 GHz without infringing upon the spectrum's current non-commercial uses, from scientific research to satellite broadcasting and weather monitoring. - dtg.org.uk

dtg.org.uk

Hat Trick and Avalon to make BBC3 bid

Hat Trick Productions and Avalon Entertainment are to make an audacious bid for BBC3 in an attempt to save it as a TV channel. The two production companies are preparing to team up to buy the corporation’s youth channel and have drawn up proposals to increase its budget from £81m to £100m a year. In a statement, a spokesman for Hat Trick and Avalon said: “Under the new ownership, BBC3 would continue to broadcast on all digital platforms, all current contracts would be honoured and the channel’s programme budget would be increased from £81m to £100m a year.- www.broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Monday 19 January 2015, PM

Culture select committee report expected to back axing of BBC Trust

MPs on the Commons culture, media and sport select committee are expected to join the growing chorus calling for the BBC Trust, the corporation's governance and regulatory body chaired by the recently arrived Rona Fairhead, to be scrapped. The committee, chaired by Conservative MP John Whittingdale, is expected to recommend that the trust be abolished in its upcoming report on the future of the BBC. It is understood that committee members have mostly been receptive to an idea for the BBC to be governed instead by a unitary board - a single board of directors comprising executive and non-executive directors, overseen by a single chairman. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

'The BBC has deep specialism, 50 or 60 years of heritage. Netflix can't buy that'

David Attenborough will start shooting a brand new natural history epic for the BBC in February three months after his latest landmark series, Life Story, came to an end on BBC1. quotIt's a huge scoop, a huge story, we are really excited,quot says Natalie Humphreys, controller of factual and daytime at BBC Production. Big questions remain, not least where the new entity will sit - one option is that it will go alongside BBC Worldwide as part of BBC Commercial Holdings, wholly owned by the BBC - and whether it will retain some sort of guaranteed programme quota, which would be fiercely contested by the independent sector. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Woody Allen, House of Cards what's next for the television revolution?

Streaming services have breathed fresh life into all manner of shows, from allowing British comedies such as The Wrong Mans and Peep Show to find a US audience to providing a UK home for everything from bloody epic Vikings to the computer drama Halt and Catch Fire, set in the 80s. quotIn the last five years we've seen a huge change in television,quot says Jane Featherstone, chief executive of Kudos. The new classical music comedy Mozart in the Jungle feels refreshingly different from most other shows on TV. quotI feel as though every good UK TV production company is either in business or going to be in business with Netflix and Amazon,quot says Featherstone. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com
Friday 16 January 2015, PM

Scheduled and VoD can live harmoniously

Reports of the death of linear TV are greatly exaggerated, says Digital UK boss Jonathan Thompson Anyone reading the media business pages will be familiar with the stories declaring the imminent demise of television. Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings got the ball rolling by proclaiming that broadcast TV would be obsolete by 2030. Then Ofcom stated that children are watching half as much linear television as their parents, and that the number of homes with a TV set has fallen for the first time in decades.

www.broadcastnow.co.uk

BBC has greater responsibility than other broadcasters to recruit women in news and current affairs, report says

quotAlthough on the surface it appears that women are well represented, the facts tell a different story. We heard, for example, that men interviewed as experts outnumber women 4 to 1 on radio and TV.quot. quotLord Best said working in current affairs posedquotadditional barriers to women - for example, the fast-paced nature of news which can mean anti-social hours, and freelance work that can make it harder for women with caring responsibilities - the situation is simply not good enough. - www.independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

BBC uses RIPA terrorism laws to catch TV licence fee dodgers in Northern Ireland

quotA lack of transparency, accountability and oversight of how these powers are used has allowed the use of the powers to reach unacceptable levels. A BBC spokesman said quotLegislation explicitly grants the BBC the right to use these powers to detect unlicensed use of television receivers. We're regularly inspected by independent regulators and have always been open about using this power when there is no other option to help reduce evasion on behalf of the vast majority of the population who pay for their licence. - www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
Thursday 15 January 2015, PM

#21 - Charlie Hebdo coverage, TV Debates, UTV sales - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann

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Wednesday 14 January 2015, PM

Media: Publishing Charlie Hebdo images; Newsbeat's editor; Channel 4's diversity plan

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Hall: Production will not be privatised

He shared two other priorities for the year ahead - to strengthen the BBC's role as a 'trusted meeting place' and to progress plans to personalise the BBC. After a 2014 in which it had brought people together for big events like the World Cup, told stories like the Scottish Referendum to the whole of the UK and attracted four out of every five people to some of its World War One season, the BBC was about to be tested by 'the most unpredictable elections in living memory'. Answering questions on a range of topics, Hall hailed BBC News' use of Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed as 'part of the storytelling' and 'wholly appropriate', believed the BBC was being 'more on the front foot' to combat negative newspaper headlines and agreed there was scope to make more money from commercial sales of BBC programmes. - www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Tony Hall: 2015 a high risk year for the BBC

Director general Tony Hall has called on all BBC staff to become â??ambassadorsâ? for the corporation as it faces a â??high riskâ? year which includes the general election and charter renewal. The former Royal Opera House chief executive addressed all staff from the radio theatre at New Broadcasting House on Wednesday afternoon with a rallying cry for the next 12 months. Hall said there is a real danger that the BBC could emerge from post-election charter renewal negotiations â??diminishedâ? or â??stuck in an analogue cul-de-sacâ?. The corporation must make a strong and coherent case to ??keep advancing in the digital age?, he added. ??We live at a time of unparalleled change in media. Never have audiences changed so fast, or global competition changed our environment so radically,? Hall told staff. ??That makes this charter review matter much more than most: we face big choices about the future of public service broadcasting and the BBC. But I am confident that at the end of the process we will emerge stronger, re-energised and with our best days ahead of us. ? www.broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Tuesday 13 January 2015, PM

Are you wasting hundreds on your TV package?

There are 13 HD channels, 58 entertainment channels, 5 children's channels, 7 news channels and a load more regional, local and radio channels. There are 13 channels you won't find on Freeview that you can gain access to for pound6.99 a month, you can get Sky Movies for pound9.99 a month or grab the latest football games with all seven Sky Sports Channels for pound6.99 - alternatively, there's currently a deal letting you see a single game, or a week, for one-off fees. - www.mirror.co.uk

www.mirror.co.uk
Monday 12 January 2015, PM

High Dynamic Range on display at CES

With respect to images, high dynamic range refers to representing a greater span of luminance levels to accommodate wider differences between the darkest and the brightest areas of a scene. All the major manufacturers seem to have some version of HDR. Seen side by side, HDR displays deliver visibly improved images, which it is difficult to illustrate in a comparative image. - informitv.com

informitv.com

Charlie Hebdo coverage provides huge ratings boost for TV news channels

BBC News had the biggest audience of any news channel bulletin with 932,000 viewers at 4pm, up 696 on average. BBC1's late bulletin had around three times the audience of ITV's News at Ten, which had 1.8 million viewers on Thursday and 2.2 million viewers on Friday. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com
Sunday 11 January 2015, AM

A Rare Look Inside The Sausage Factory Of Media Consolidation

UBS estimated Sony's television and movie business had revenues of 8.4 billion, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of 752 million, and a multiple - meaning the ratio between a company's per share earnings and its overall value and a measure of investor's estimate of growth of future revenues - of 8X. The new company with AMC would have revenues of 10.7 billion, EBITDA of 1.47 billion and a new multiple of 10.5X. Sony Pictures, the bankers estimate, is worth 10 billion, and the two companies together would have an enterprise value of 18.5 billion. The leaked emails show that Sony executives, including Lynton and Sony Television chief Steve Mosko, have relationships with AMC CEO Josh Sapan and have discussed deals with the companies in the past. - www.buzzfeed.com

www.buzzfeed.com
Saturday 10 January 2015, PM

Blinkbox name to be ditched, TalkTalk to take on Netflix under own brand

TalkTalk has revealed that it plans to jetison the Blinkbox name now that it has bought the movie and TV show streaming service from Tesco. As we previously revealed in our news story about the acquisition, TalkTalk also plans to exploit Blinkbox's smart streaming technology. - www.pocket-lint.com

www.pocket-lint.com
Friday 09 January 2015, PM

No ban on depictions of prophet Mohamed as BBC changes guidelines

A BBC spokesman said quotThis guidance is old, out of date and does not reflect the BBC's long-standing position that programme makers have freedom to exercise their editorial judgement with the Editorial Policy team available to provide advice around sensitive issues on a case by case basis. The guidance is currently being revised. The BBC had shown a brief image of a Charlie Hebdo cover, featuring an illustration of the Prophet, during its news coverage of the attacks. - www.independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk
Friday 09 January 2015, AM

Absolute Radio goes mono on DAB

Bauer's decision to reduce Absolute Radio to 80 kbps mono has sparked an interesting debate about DAB sound quality and the radio stereo listening experience. Absolute Radio is not available nationally on FM and is still a better experience at 80kbps on National DAB than on MW. Absolute Radio is available at 112 kbps on London DAB and of course is available online. - media.info

media.info

LBC News 1152 changes to reflect London

A new year and a new name for LBC's sister station LBC News 1152 - to LBC London News. Global says LBC London News offers quotNews, travel and weather in 15 minutes, every 15 minutes. - radiotoday.co.uk

radiotoday.co.uk

Local DAB network expansion 2015-16

The document is a non-legally binding Framework Agreement between DCMS, BBC, commercial local DAB multiplex operators, Arqiva and Ofcom, which sets out the commitments of all parties to support the expansion of the local digital radio network to commercial ILR FM equivalence as set out in the local DAB expansion plan developed by Ofcom. The programme of work to build out the local DAB network is scheduled to begin in March 2015 and, when completed, will extend local DAB coverage from around 72 of homes at present to circa 90 of UK households by late 2016. - www.gov.uk

www.gov.uk
Thursday 08 January 2015, PM

Netflix: VPN crackdown claims 'false', says executive

Netflix said its existing policy against the use of VPNs to circumvent geographical content barriers remained unchanged. A spokesman told the BBC that the firm used industry standard technology to stop users doing so and that, contrary to the reports, it had not recently changed the way it did that. - www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk
Thursday 08 January 2015, AM

Kids Channel Tiny Pop Launches On Freeview - TVWise

- www.tvwise.co.uk

www.tvwise.co.uk

BBC moves up a gear with plans for production arm

The BBC could finalise its radical plans to commercialise its production division as early as March, as the project begins to gather pace The corporation has told external stakeholders that a preferred option for the future BBC Productions could be in place in three months’ time if there are no hitches in getting it signed off by the executive board. Project lead Anna Mallett, the former BBC Studios and Post Production boss, is currently assessing how to unravel in-house from its existing structure. She is working closely with director of television Danny Cohen and Anne Bulford, managing director of finance and operations, on the roadmap, which is at the top of the agenda for the BBC executive board over the coming weeks. The plans will then be submitted to the BBC Trust for formal assessment, although the corporation currently believes a full public value test, which the BBC3 proposals are undergoing, will not be necessary. - www.broadcastnow.co.uk

www.broadcastnow.co.uk
Wednesday 07 January 2015, PM

Media: Prince Andrew coverage; postponing of Royal doc; Peter Greste retrial; 10 years of FOI.

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Steve Hewlett abdicates for BBC's royal documentary inquest

BBC Radio 4's The Media Show will have a guest presenter for its first 2015 outing on Wednesday, with Andrea Catherwood revealing on Twitter that she'd landed the gig. As eagle-eyed readers may summise from Catherwood's tweet, the regular host's absence is not entirely unrelated to the BBC's decision to postpone its TV documentary about royal spin tactics presented by ... Steve Hewlett. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com
Wednesday 07 January 2015, AM

You could be prosecuted if your broadband interferes with radio signals

As well as networking adapters, Ofcom said that in the past two years it had received complaints of electromagnetic interference from TV aerial amplifiers, electrical transformers, high voltage power cables and lighting, among other equipment. The regulator received 114 complaints of electromagnetic interference last year but had powers to resolve only three, it said. - www.telegraph.co.uk

www.telegraph.co.uk

Official Android Blog: Coming to a TV near you

In 2014, Android evolved and opened up to new screens for your wrist, car and living room. If you want to get in on the action using your current television, Razer just announced a gaming console powered by Android TV. Razer's Forge TV has high-performance specs, a wireless game controller and allows you to stream PC games to your TV. It will start shipping to consumers in February. - officialandroid.blogspot.co.uk

officialandroid.blogspot.co.uk
Tuesday 06 January 2015, PM

Interactive Streaming - Interactive streaming service features have consumers leaving cable behind

- www.trendhunter.com

www.trendhunter.com

CES 2015: TV makers redefine 4K battleground

Bosses at LG's morning event repeatedly stated that they had the edge thanks to their expertise in making OLED TVs, which are famed for displaying deeper blacks, producing more vibrant colours and being more energy efficient than traditional LCDs. LG has seven new OLED sets for sale in its refreshed line-up, including a giant 77in flexible model that can switch between being flat and curved at the press of a button. Samsung is switching all its sets to Tizen - a Linux-based operating system it already uses on some smartphones Sony, Philips and Sharp are adopting Google's new Android TV platform Panasonic is releasing its first TVs powered by Mozilla's Firefox OS in the Spring. - www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk
Tuesday 06 January 2015, AM

Lenny Henry's radio dream still distant

A few minutes later, I was still puzzling over the comment 'Are you looking for a computer' when looking through the workshop window into the open-planned office I saw the producer now at his desk, and a man from computer support attending him and a hot flush of recognition washed over me that my fellow producer had mistaken me for a technician from computer support. End Quote Colin Grant Keeping status quo If some supposedly enlightened people in the BBC find it difficult to conceive of a black producer is it surprising that black subjects for programme-making are similarly invisible to them or inconsequential - www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

Google hopes Android TV means third time lucky for their home invasion

Now in 2015 there's Android TV. Will it take off The trouble with quotConnected TVsquot is that though almost every TV now sold can go online, few owners take advantage of it. Google's Android TV has plenty of competition there are about 20m units of Apple's set-top box, Apple TV, installed worldwide Roku has sold 10m devices in the US alone since 2008 and Amazon offers Fire TV. Samsung uses its home-grown Tizen software for smart TVs, while LG has webOS. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com
Monday 05 January 2015, PM

STV Edinburgh's The Fountainbridge Show broadcasts on January 12

The city channel will launch with the magazine show at 7pm, which will be followed by Edinburgh's Murder Mysteries at 9pm, STV Edinburgh News at 10pm and Peter Roughie's Football Show at 11pm. The Fountainbridge Show will be presented nightly from the studio by former Heart and Real Radio breakfast show host Ewen Cameron and broadcaster and presenter Hayley Matthews. STV Edinburgh will broadcast on Freeview channel 23, Sky channel 117 and Virgin channel 159 and will be available to watch live on the STV Player. - edinburgh.stv.tv

edinburgh.stv.tv

Ian Burrell: BBC survived Margaret Thatcher's hostility but still faces political opposition

David Cameron's criticisms of the BBC over its quotWigan Pierquot coverage of the Autumn Statement can be seen in a broader context departing Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards complained to this newspaper last week of the cosy relations between Government officials and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp as it sought to outgun the BBC by taking full control of BSkyB. Douglas Hurd, the Home Secretary at the time, has since written of his alarm at a quotGrowing obsession against the BBCquot. Mrs Thatcher was furious about a 1985 Real Lives documentary that gave a platform to former IRA commander Martin McGuinness - and the BBC's governors pulled the programme under intense political pressure. - www.independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk

UTV Ireland becomes Republic's first new commercial broadcaster since 1998

UTV Ireland, the first new commercial terrestrial TV broadcaster to launch in the Republic since TV3 in 1998, arrived on air on New Year's Day with a line-up including Emmerdale and Pat Kenny's Out With the Old and In With the U. The new offering by Belfast-based UTV, the channel 3 broadcaster in Northern Ireland and TalkSport owner, is up against TV3 - for 16 years the country's only significant commercial terrestrial TV broadcaster - its spin-off service 3e, and public service broadcaster RTE's two networks. UTV Ireland's flagship evening news programme, Ireland Live, launches on Monday night, hosted by Alison Comyn at 6.30pm before Comyn and Chris Donoghue team for a late bulletin at 10pm. Ireland's newest channel's viewing figures have been billed as disappointing in the Irish media - although new TV networks always take time to bed in, with viewers having to find the new service and get into the habit of coming back regularly. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com

Anticipating developments in 2015

Expect to see a lot more interest in 4K or ultra-high-definition television and video, as screens become more affordable and services begin to launch. Cloud-based approaches to processing and storage will become increasingly important as broadcasters and service providers move from specialist equipment to general purpose computing platforms and software defined workflows. - informitv.com

informitv.com
Monday 05 January 2015, AM

Seiki First To Deliver Freeview Connect To The U.K.

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ - - With the goal of delivering simple connected TV experience, Seiki, a leading brand in HD and emerging 4K Ultra HD display market, today announced it will be the first major TV brand to introduce HD TV models in the U.K. featuring the new Freeview Connect TV service. quotThe goal of integrating Freeview Connect to Seiki TVs is to enable universal access to public service broadcasts via connected TVs in the U.K. market,quot said Mickey Cho, general manager at Seiki U.K. quotSeiki is proud to be one of the major TV brands working with Digital UK to build and provide Freeview-branded connected TVs. Seiki aims to bring to the market its own unique approach to make the connected TV experience simple and accessible to every TV buyer. - www.prnewswire.com

www.prnewswire.com
Sunday 04 January 2015, PM

Netflix Cracks Down on VPN and Proxy "Pirates"

Netflix is starting to block subscribers who access its service using VPN services and other tools that bypass geolocation restrictions. Netflix is not the only streaming service that's targeting VPN and proxy users. - torrentfreak.com

torrentfreak.com

James Harding: British man plans ambitious project to globalise news

Brit media outlets, Brit passport holders at risk What does it mean for the quotFuture of Newsquot His Future of News deliberations feature quotThree interwoven strands technology, stories and peoplequot. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com
Sunday 04 January 2015, AM

The simple guide to changes at Magic Radio RadioWise

You're about to get TFM2, which is really Magic from Newcastle, which is becoming Metro Radio 2, on AM. However, if you continue to listen to Magic on DAB in any of these places, you'll hear soft pop from London. In a nutshell, your local Magic on AM will change its name to mirror its sister station, and Magic on FM in London will expand to be available on DAB radio everywhere. - radiowise.uk

radiowise.uk
Friday 02 January 2015, AM

'Fun' DAB+ test ends, but it's just the beginning for DAB+ in the UK

The UK's first major 'real life' test of the next generation of DAB digital radio involving the public has ended after four months on air, as broadcasters and multiplex operators continue to assess the advantages of using DAB in the UK. Fun Kids from Folder Media was made available on a trial basis from September 2014 to DAB listeners in North East Wales, West Cheshire and Liverpool, providing they had a next generation DAB set. As the number of radios that are compatible with DAB increase, Ofcom has stated that some of the capacity on the forthcoming second national commercial DAB multiplex can be reserved for such DAB services, but what exactly might launch in DAB will depend on who wins the coveted Digital 2 licence. - www.a516digital.com

www.a516digital.com
Thursday 01 January 2015, AM

#20 - Predictions 2015 - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann

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Wednesday 31 December 2014, PM

Is Vodafone Group plc Really About To Launch A Takeover Bid For Sky PLC?

As Sky points out, more than 60 million customers across its key markets of Britain, Ireland, Germany, Italy and Austria do not currently take pay-TV services, providing plenty of product penetration opportunities for Vodafone. Vodafone undoubtedly has the financial firepower to initiate a takeover of Sky, and promisingly the latter's shaky financial platform may allow Vodafone to walk away with a terrific deal - indeed, Moody's downgraded Sky's credit rating last month after the Brentford firm's European expansion doubled its debt to around pound7bn. I believe that any potential deal has the potential to vastly enhance Vodafone's earnings outlook. - www.fool.co.uk

www.fool.co.uk

Media: Chat shows with Graham Norton 31 Dec 14

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Wednesday 31 December 2014, AM

Wind-up radio inventor gets New Year Honour

Mr Baylis is currently heading a venture called Baylis Brands, which advises inventors about the best way to develop ideas and puts them in touch with other experts that can help turn their creations into marketable products. Mr Baylis' best known invention is the Baygen wind-up radio, which he came up with in 1991 while watching a documentary about Aids in Africa that proposed using educational radio programmes to tackle the virus' spread. An appearance on the BBC's Tomorrow's World in 1994 helped turn his invention into a commercial product. - www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.co.uk

In Its Last 6 Months Of Existence, Aereo Subscriptions Grew 40%

CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves said in August that Aereo got quota lot of attention for a service that virtually nobody was using.quot Skeptics have questioned whether Aereo would have really garnered widespread consumer usage, since broadcast TV signals are already free over the air with an antenna. It's no wonder the same broadcasters who sued Aereo have been raising concerns in bankruptcy court that potential buyers of Aereo's technology could use it against them and once again infringe their copyrights. - blogs.wsj.com

blogs.wsj.com
Tuesday 30 December 2014, PM

Dish, Fox News Feud Again Illustrates How The Cable TV Industry Is Digging Its Own Grave

quotSince Dish dropped Fox News, Dish has focused on shifting blame instead of getting Fox News back on the air. But the facts speak for themselves - Dish has blocked more than 10 channels in the last six months alone,quot said the network statement. quotConsequently, Fox's fan base has besieged Dish with calls and emails since the channel went dark. By Fox's tally, about 180,000 complaint calls have been registered with the toll-free line Fox established for the Dish fight. At last count, 140,000-plus emails have been sent as well. - www.techdirt.com

www.techdirt.com

Margaret Thatcher secret papers: PM tried to force BBC to have ads to curb spending

A memo of their discussion shows that Mrs Thatcher raised quotThe possibility of introducing advertising on light music radio programmes should be consideredquot. A memo to the Home Office later in 1979 suggested that Mrs Thatcher had turned against the idea, saying quotThe Prime Minister... has decided that - on reflection - it would be a mistake for the Home Secretary even to raise the possibility of the BBC accepting radio advertising at this stage. - www.independent.co.uk

www.independent.co.uk
Monday 29 December 2014, PM

Ofcom boss 'surprised' by informality between Murdoch and government

News Corp abandoned the controversial deal when it emerged that journalists at the News of the World had ordered the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler to be hacked. Richards told the Independent that communications between politicians' offices and News Corp lobbyists during the process had not been balanced. - www.theguardian.com

www.theguardian.com
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