Wednesday 14 January 2015, PM
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.ukTuesday 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.ukMonday 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.comSunday 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.comSaturday 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.comFriday 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.ukwww.independent.co.ukFriday 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.infoLBC 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.ukLocal 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.ukThursday 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.ukwww.bbc.co.ukThursday 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.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukWednesday 07 January 2015, PM
Media: Prince Andrew coverage; postponing of Royal doc; Peter Greste retrial; 10 years of FOI.
downloads.bbc.co.ukSteve 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.comwww.theguardian.comWednesday 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.ukwww.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.ukTuesday 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.ukwww.bbc.co.ukTuesday 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.ukwww.bbc.co.ukGoogle 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.comwww.theguardian.comMonday 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.tvedinburgh.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.ukwww.independent.co.ukUTV 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.comwww.theguardian.comAnticipating 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.cominformitv.comMonday 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.comSunday 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.comJames 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.comwww.theguardian.comSunday 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.ukFriday 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.comwww.a516digital.comThursday 01 January 2015, AM
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.ukwww.fool.co.ukMedia: Chat shows with Graham Norton 31 Dec 14
downloads.bbc.co.ukWednesday 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.ukwww.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.comTuesday 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.ukwww.independent.co.ukMonday 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.comwww.theguardian.comSunday 28 December 2014, PM
SES: ASTRA 2G SATELLITE ROARS INTO ORBIT
Martin Halliwell, Chief Technology Officer of SES stated, quotWe would like to congratulate Airbus Defence and Space and ILS for the successful ASTRA 2G mission, a launch that marks the 24th SES satellite to be launched by ILS Proton, and the ninth Eurostar satellite in the SES fleet. The ASTRA 2G satellite completes our significant replacement investments at a strategic orbital neighbourhood over Europe and provides 10 incremental transponders for expansion while cementing our unique co-positioning satellite back-up-scheme. Detailing the programme, Halliwell added, quotThe spacecraft furthermore includes the capability to connect West Africa to Europe via Ka-band. In combination with ASTRA 2E and ASTRA 2F which were launched in September 2012 and 2013 respectively, ASTRA 2G is the culmination of our fleet renewal programme at the 28.2/28.5 degrees orbital arc. The new state-of-the-art SES satellites provide more focused and higher power to our broadcast customers, while the Ka-band on board supports the delivery of next-generation satellite broadband services as well as intercontinental connectivity between Africa and Europe. - www.ses.com
www.ses.comCourt allows Aereo to auction TV streaming technology assets
Dec 26 - A bankruptcy court has allowed defunct video streaming company Aereo Inc to auction its TV streaming technology assets, according to court papers published on Friday. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan ruled on Wednesday that Aereo could sell its assets, after the company reached an agreement with broadcasters over the sale process. - www.reuters.com
www.reuters.comWednesday 24 December 2014, PM
MediaGuardian quiz of the year 2014
What is former Radio 5 Live controller Adrian van Klaveren's new job at the BBC Head of values, BBC Controller digital strategy, future media, BBC Director of strategic governance, BBC Head of strategic change, BBC News 21. Which of these BBC programme launches did Tony Hall NOT go to - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comMedia: ABC Entertainment, Monty Penguin, Snow Wolf
downloads.bbc.co.ukWednesday 24 December 2014, AM
Change in Audio Formats
Why is BBC Radio changing the audio format of its radio streams We think most internet radios will still be able to receive our live radio streams. - iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.ukiplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.ukMonday 22 December 2014, PM
Latest news from the licensing industry
Set to fully launch on January 7th 2015, Tiny Pop will be available on Freeview channel 126 across the whole UK. This extends SPT Networks' reach of children's programming on Freeview to two channels, with POP - aimed at older kids - already available on channel 125. Announcing the launch, Kate Marsh, SPT's EVP, Networks, Western Europe, said quotThis extended distribution on Freeview marks our commitment to continue to invest in our UK networks business. With the extension of Tiny Pop, SPT's reach on Freeview now spans five channels, and the introduction of this well-loved and established channel enables us to deliver a quality and fun alternative for families in Freeview homes. - www.licensing.biz
www.licensing.bizLandmark 20 millionth digital radio set sold
The Christmas digital radio industry advertising campaign features Formula One host and ex-Gadget Show presenter Suzi Perry, running on over 100 commercial radio and BBC national and local radio stations, with the message that digital radio is the perfect gift and the endline quotIf you love radio, give digitalquot. Digital Radio UK CEO Ford Ennals says quotDAB is an overnight success story 20 years in the making. The sale of the 20 millionth digital radio, together with the expansion of DAB coverage and digital radio stations is a real milestone. There has never been a better time to buy or give a digital radio. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.ukMonday 22 December 2014, AM
SES: ASTRA 2G READY FOR DECEMBER 28 PROTON LAUNCH
LUXEMBOURG, December 22, 2014 - SES S.A. is pleased to announce that the ASTRA 2G satellite is ready for its scheduled launch on board an ILS Proton booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 28 at 033749 Baikonur Time. ASTRA 2G will be the twenty-fourth SES satellite to be launched by ILS Proton, and the ninth Eurostar satellite in the SES fleet. - www.ses.comwww.ses.comBBC iPlayer tops list of corporation downloads
The BBC iPlayer app is by far the corporation's most popular download, with 30m transactions since its 2012 launch, while CBeebies Playtime is the most popular programme-related app with 3.4m. The iPlayer app was recently tweaked to extend the catch-up window for TV and radio programming from seven to 30 days making it even more attractive to users. In second place in a list of the BBC's 10 most popular apps published on Monday is BBC News, the corporation's oldest app launched in 2010, with 15m downloads. - www.theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comFriday 19 December 2014, PM
Feedback: Controller of Radio 4: 19 Dec 14
downloads.bbc.co.uk#19 - Sony’s PR Disaster, Serial breaks records - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann
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