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

RadioToday with RCS | Indies wants statutory 25% of BBC radio

Leading radio production companies have called on the BBC to introduce a statutory 25 quota of value of programme making for radio in the corporations next charter in 2017. As well as the quota, he also called for the BBCs Window of Creative Competition to be expanded to cover 25 of the value of contracts issued. In 201213 indies won 80 of WoCC hours, in 201314 they won 75 of hours. - radiotoday.co.uk

BBC looks to develop ‘hybrid’ radio to allow mobile users to listen without the internet

The BBC is one of the companies looking to develop a hybrid radio for mobile phones, which will combine the strengths of broadcast radio - free-to-receive, robust reception and reliability - with the digital enhancements and interactivity of internet radio. New research commissioned by the BBC shows the majority of smartphone users want to use radio in their devices but have worries around mobile data costs, battery use and reception issues when using streamed audio services. The coalition, named Universal Smartphone Radio Project, has been discussing hybrid radio with mobile and technology manufacturers, and how to build the functionality into handsets. - thedrum.com

www.thedrum.com

#14 - Radio Festival 2014 SPECIAL - The Media Podcast with John Plunkett

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Tuesday 14 October 2014, PM

Ed Vaizey's full speech to #radfest2014

Ed Vaizey made his first appearance in person at a Radio Festival, more than four years since taking over as the minister responsible for radio. Read his keynote speech in full below This is the first time I have actually spoken at the Radio Festival I have been here twice virtually. I also spend a lot of time with Absolute 80s and their incredibly long playlist and of course Jack FM, my fantastic local independent station which I visited recently. - radiotoday.co.uk

Ed Vaizey urges radio stations to engage young listeners | News | Broadcast

Culture minister Ed Vaizey has claimed that the decline in younger audiences for radio is “troubling” and urged the industry to engage with new listeners. Speaking earlier today at the Salford Radio Festival, the minister for culture, communications and the creative industries claimed that while radio’s strengths included the “human touch, the live presenter, the active curation of content, the engaging and entertaining formats along with trustworthy news and information,” it faced a raft of challenges. Vaizey dubbed Ofcom’s Communications Market report, which charted a decline in listening among 15-24 year olds from 18.7 hours in 2007 to 15.5 hours in 2013 as “troubling”. However he acknowledged that the awareness level among young people of stations such as Kiss, Capital Xtra and BBC 6 Music remained high, and called on broadcasters to develop an active social media presence to continue to grow their reach and engagement. - broadcastnow.co.uk

Aereo to the FCC: Let us join the cable companies we tried to replace - The Washington Post

It's been weeks since we last heard from Aereo, the shuttered streaming video service that lost bigat the Supreme Court this summer. Now it's back, and the company isrolling over in its fight against TV broadcasters in hopes of a longer-term victory in Congress. Other MVPDs pay broadcasters money for the right to retransmit free, over-the-air television signals to their subscribers. The last few months has seen Aereo looking for creative waysof getting out of payingretransmission fees. - washingtonpost.com

www.washingtonpost.com

RadioToday with RCS | Hybrid Radio planned by BBC and partners

The BBC is working on the development of a new generation of hybrid radio with international partners in Europe, America and Australia. New research commissioned by the BBC shows the majority of smartphone users want radio in their devices but have concerns around mobile data costs, battery use and reception issues when using streamed audio services. Together they will research and develop a new radio unit which combines internet and broadcast DAB or FM radio for use in mobile phones. - radiotoday.co.uk

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#13 - Viacom invests in C5 / MIPCOM preview - The Media Podcast with Olly Mann

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Sky urged to pay for content from Freeview channel providers ahead of results | This is Money

Analysts have estimated the three companies could share 150m in fees if Sky and Virgin Media were forced to pay out. Until last year, free channels had to pay Sky down 6.5p to 880p and Virgin to show their programmes. - thisismoney.co.uk

www.thisismoney.co.uk

Ofcom | The Use of Non-Geographic Numbers in Broadcasting

RadioToday with RCS | 0 to 60 in 4 years for in-car DAB radio

The government minister responsible for radio has told the Radio Festival in Salford that the number of new cars with DAB as standard has now reached almost 60 percent. Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy announced that in September 2014, 58 of all new cars registered almost 250,000 came with digital radio. Four years ago, the proportion of new cars with digital radio was 0 according to industry body Digital Radio UK. - radiotoday.co.uk

Tuesday 14 October 2014, AM

RadioToday with RCS | Ofcom to invite small scale DAB testers

Small-scale DAB is to get a boost as Ofcom prepares to licence a number of smaller multiplexes. The regulator will launch a consultation next week inviting stations to be part of the test, which will giveexisting stations a chance to go on DAB for a nine month period. Peter started off his session by admitting that DAB has not been a good platform for small scale radio so far and this new consultation will take a look at the licence conditions and awards process. - radiotoday.co.uk

Monday 13 October 2014, PM

BSkyB Invests in Internet-Video Startup Pluto.TV | Variety

Pluto.TV, launched this spring, pullsinvideo from across the web andorganizes it inabout 100 thematicchannels like music, news, sports and comedy as well as more niche areas like anime and cats 24/7. Users then watch the channelsaslinear, TV-like continuous streams or access the video on-demand on a range of devices. Pluto.TV, meanwhile, expects to tap into the pay-TV providers experience packaging and promoting content. Pluto.TV is currently available in the U.S., but the startup expects to roll out worldwide eventually. - variety.com

variety.com

The battle for male viewers heats up | Comment | Broadcast

Can Viacom crack the male audience with the UK launch of Spike TV? Stephen Arnell weighs up the evidence In taking youth-skewing music/entertainment channel Viva off Freeview to make way for male-biased Spike TV, Viacom is showing it means business in the UK, and is moving fast. The Channel 5 family is already integrated into Viacom’s cross-promotion across UK channels and there’s been a steady stream of announcements of co-commissioned shows.. - broadcastnow.co.uk

BBC News - No charges for broadcaster Paul Gambaccini in Yewtree case

10 October 2014 Last updated at 1816 BBC broadcaster Paul Gambaccini will not face action over alleged historical sex offences, prosecutors say. The 65-year-old was held at a south London address in October last year as part of the Metropolitan Police's Operation Yewtree investigation. The Crown Prosecution Service said the inquiry followed claims of sex offences against two teenage boys in the early 1980s. - bbc.co.uk

Chinese demand for British TV shows rises 40% | Media | The Guardian

The annual TV export report, published on Monday by independent producers trade body Pact, reveals that for the second year running China represented the fastest growing market for British shows and formats. The Chinese have fallen for dramas including Downton Abbey and formats such as gameshow The Cube, fuelling a 40 year-on-year rise in the amount spent on programmes to 17m. Mexico was the second fastest grower, up 23 to almost 1m. - theguardian.com

Americans test next-generation standards | informitv

An American broadcaster has transmitted an ultra-high-definition signal over the air in a test of next-generation television standards. It is the first test transmission using the proposed ATSC 3.0 standard, in which scalable video and audio can be delivered over the air to the home and mobile devices simultaneously. It is claimed to be the first successful broadcast of Scalable High Efficiency Video Compression anywhere in the world. - informitv.com

informitv.com

TV licences - hundreds of thousands still pay by cheque | News | theguardian.com

Cheques have been declining as a method of tender for years now but there is still a sizeable minority who are using them to pay for their TV licence, according to new data from the BBC. There are roughly 350,000 people from across the country who paid the 145.50 needed for their access to British television using cheques last year, making up around one percent of the 25m plus licences in circulation. We do not have the figures for what proportion cheques make up of overall licences in each of these towns but an alternative measure is to look at how the use of cheques compares to the number getting e-licences - a paperless way of paying online, which 5.6m used last year. - theguardian.com

Monday 13 October 2014, AM

UK TV exports grow 5% to ?1.3bn | News | Broadcast

Mipcom: Demand for UK television shows abroad has increased 5% over the past 12 months, fuelled by growing sales in the US and China. Pact’s annual UK Television Exports Survey found that total TV programming sales were worth £1.28bn in 2013, compared to £1.22bn in 2012. China was the largest growth market with a 40% boost in this period, taking total sales to £17m in 2014, compared with £12m last year. This meant that the country overtook Holland and Spain, which both acquired £16m of UK content respectively.- broadcastnow.co.uk

Saturday 11 October 2014, AM

Feedback: BBC iPlayer Radio: 10 Oct 14

Friday 10 October 2014, AM

VoD: time for a united front | Comment | Broadcast

PSBs must play the likes of Netflix at their own game, says Kate Bulkley Nostalgia in the TV business used to mean looking back a generation, or at least a decade, to spot an emerging trend. But the rapid uptake of new technologies means the ‘next big thing’ happens as fast as you can say Snapchat. Lord only knows which app will be attracting a $10bn (£6.2bn) valuation next week. For broadcasters, video-on-demand (VoD) has had a similarly swift development. It was only in 2009 that the Competition Commission killed Kangaroo, the shared VoD platform proposed by BBC Worldwide, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5, saying it would harm the nascent VoD market in the UK. Rivals at the time, such as Joost, are now defunct – despite there never being a Kangaroo.. - broadcastnow.co.uk

New Best Buy 4K ultra HD TVs revealed - October - 2014 - Which? News

09 October 2014 We've just published 16 new TV reviews online, with 8 models having the latest 4K ultra HD picture quality. This includes our highest scoring TV so far in 2014, but also one 4K set that failed to impress us. Which members can log in to find out how these TVs have done. - which.co.uk

www.which.co.uk

Thursday 09 October 2014, AM

Ariel - Rona Fairhead begins life at BBC Trust

'They understand that they need to operate efficiently and to rectify some of the high profile issues of the past, while building this compelling future.' And as leader of the trust, she promised to 'defend vigorously the BBC's independence while holding it accountable to its audience and to its public service mission'. 'As the future of the BBC is debated over the next few years, I look forward to working with you all to make sure it stays that way.' - bbc.co.uk

Motors TV goes FTA in UK | Advanced Television

New viewers are encouraged to re-tune their Freeview box or TV and switch to Channel 71, while YouView devices will automatically update. Compatible devices will also be able to pause and record programming, just like other standard free-to-air channels. Motors TVs free-to-air service, which begins broadcasting around 1100 October 9, will initially mirror that of its current full-time Sky, Virgin Media and connected-free-to-air programming. - advanced-television.com

advanced-television.com

BBC Playlister reveals usage figures - media.info

BBC presenters also get a playlist of their own, but once more, only one playlist per presenter. 10 million tracks means that the average user has 50 tracks in their playlist. This seems a high figure, and given that many users of the service would be expected to use it a few times and then abandon it, would point to a small subset of power users. - media.info

media.info

Cool FM found in breach of rules by Ofcom - media.info

Belfast radio station Cool FM has been found to have misled its audience in a pre-recorded request show hosted by Kathryn Wilson. A listener complained that the presenter had been doing a live DJ set in a nightclub on 6th April, while simultaneously asking for requests on-air on a programme on Cool FM. Ofcom's website contains some examples and also points out that text messages to the station are charged at premium rate. - media.info

media.info

Channel 5 owner wants to overtake Channel 4 | Media | theguardian.com

Philippe Dauman, the Viacom chief executive, was asked if Channel 5 beating Channel 4 in the ratings over a week for the first time last year the statistical basis was hotly contested by its rival made it a target to overtake. Thats the first step, Dauman told journalists at a Broadcasting Press Guild breakfast on Wednesday morning. We do not put bounds on our ambitions. - theguardian.com

London Live gets go-ahead to cut local output | Media | theguardian.com

Evgeny Lebedevs London Live has secured Ofcoms permission to reduce its local programming output at the second attempt, after a more radical proposal was thrown out by the media regulator. The struggling London TV service has been given the go-ahead to reduce its local programming repeats from 10 to six hours a day, and from an hour and a half to zero in peaktime 6pm-10.30pm. London Live will continue to air eight hours of first-run local programming each day, and three hours in peaktime, in line with the undertaking on which it won its Ofcom licence last year. - theguardian.com

Viacom to launch Spike TV in UK | News | Broadcast

Viacom is to launch male-skewing US channel Spike TV, home to shows such as Bar Rescue, on Freeview. The broadcaster, which acquired Channel 5 for £450m in May, will replace entertainment channel Viva with Spike TV in the first quarter of 2015, although its channel slot is yet to be decided. Viva will continue to air on pay-TV platforms Sky and Virgin Media. Spike TV will carry a raft of US factual formats including Eyeworks USA-produced Bar Rescue (pictured), which currently airs on 5*, as well as repeats of Channel 5 factual series such as Cowboy Builders and Police Interceptors.. - broadcastnow.co.uk

Ariel - Midlands Today touches history at 50

Users can explore the map to discover video clips from the programme's archive relating to different parts of the region, whether it's Birmingham boys employed to be scarecrows or Midlands football teams winning the European Cup. 'We've tried to steer clear of murder and mayhem,' explains John Bray, Midlands Today assistant editor, who helped select the 100 films. 'We haven't included 2003's New Year shootings when two teenage girls were shot dead outside a party in Birmingham, for instance. - bbc.co.uk

BBC News - EE launches home TV service in UK

Mobile network EE has announced a TV service that lets up to three phones or tablets be used to watch different live programmes in the home simultaneously, while a television screens a fourth. The facility is powered by a set-top box, which also lets content broadcast over the past 24 hours be replayed, even if recordings were not scheduled. The service is included in the price of EE's broadband and landline packages. - bbc.co.uk

UK viewers ‘spend five hours a week watching TV, clips and films online’ | Media | theguardian.com

Tech-savvy Brits spent an average of more than five hours a week watching TV shows, clips and films on internet-connected devices in the first half of 2014 largely due to the popularity of tablets and smartphones. TV programmes proved to be the most popular form of online content viewed by UK users, at an average of two hours and 35 minutes a week, according to a report from the Internet Advertising Bureau. Films were watched an average of one hour 50 minutes a week, and video clip views averaged 51 minutes. - theguardian.com

Wednesday 08 October 2014, PM

Media: Facebook's apology to drag queens; anonymity online; an inquiry into the use of RIPA

Tuesday 07 October 2014, AM

Richard Desmond’s Northern Shell back in profit thanks to Channel 5 | Media | theguardian.com

Richard Desmonds Northern Shell bounced back into profit in 2013 thanks to a record performance from Channel 5, which countered a revenue slump at the newspapers and the ailing Health Lottery, which has lost more than 80m. Northern Shell, the owner of Express Newspapers and OK magazine which just sold off Channel 5, made an operating profit of 37m in 2013. A major recovery from the 5.6m operating loss in 2012. - theguardian.com

Monday 06 October 2014, PM

Media Monkey: Harding upsets staff (again!) and Morgan on Mail bosses | Media | The Guardian

Monkeys communicator of the week award goes to James Harding, BBC director of news and current affairs, for a staff email defending a divisional shake-up that some have accused of being bewildering and shambolic. Still, the upheaval has produced some classic W1A-style quirks, such as the fact that Jamie Angus will now report to Allen just appointed head of daily news programmes, whom he beat to win the job of Today editor. Details are murky but it apparently involved an awards bash, a disobliging Horrocks remark about the ratings of a Panorama made by Campbell, and some sort of contact swiftly ensuing that resulted in him appearing at work the following morning with a cut lip. - theguardian.com

Ariel - iPlayer gives us more time to catch up

Until now, there has been just a seven day window in which to stream many shows after transmission. The director general said that iPlayer had been a pioneer of online viewing since its 2007 launch, now receiving more than seven million requests to view every day. 'Extending the catch up window to 30 days now makes the best value on-demand service even better. - bbc.co.uk

Internet blog

Until now all our radio shows have been available for at least 7 days. We have the rights to keep some factual programmes such as Desert Island Discs and In Our Time indefinitely and this has been very popular. From now on almost all the programmes that are currently available for only 7 days will be available for 30 days. - bbc.co.uk

YouView settles trademark dispute | SEENIT

Total argued that granting the YouView application for the same classes of goods and services as it owns the Your View trademark could cause confusion with, or dilute, its own brand. That case was heard earlier this year with the court backing Totals claims that YouViews use of its claimed trademark could cause confusion. However the two sides have now reached a confidential settlement which allows YouView to continue using its name and avoids a costly and embarrassing rebranding. - seenit.co.uk

www.seenit.co.uk

http://advanced-television.com/2014/09/29/freeview-tears-and-laughter-ad-campaign/

Freeview this week launches a new advertising campaign to promote the wealth of programming available to Freeview viewers this autumn. - advanced-television.com

advanced-television.com

YouView appoints Nick Thexton as CTO - ComputerworldUK.com

He has recently worked on projects including cloud-based video distribution to hybrid devices and the development of dynamic advert insertion technology, which is now used in the Sky Adsmart programme. The organisation recently announced a recruitment drive to expand its technology team by over 50 percent. It plans to add more than 50 roles in product design, development and test engineers over the next 12 months. - computerworlduk.com

www.computerworlduk.com

How to watch UK TV abroad: Sky Go, iPlayer and more for free | Expert Reviews

In the UK we're spoilt for great TV. Thanks to web-based catch up TV services like iPlayer there's no reason to miss out on your favourite shows if you aren't able to watch them live.It's not quite so simple if you find yourself out of the country, however almost every service blocks access to foreigners based on their IP address. Thankfully, there are plenty of quick, easy, and most importantly free ways to make sure you don't miss that crucial episode when you're away on business or out on holiday. - expertreviews.co.uk

www.expertreviews.co.uk

Synapse brings Vision TV to Freeview | Online Video | News | Rapid TV News

Synapse TV uses technology from Strategy Technology ST and specialist third parties to provide a cloud-based managed service for content owners and aggregators. It allows over-the-top OTT delivery of on-demand content and linear services. A number of content monetisation models are supported, including BARB-rated linear advertising, targeted on-demand advert insertion, pay-per-view and subscriptions. - rapidtvnews.com

www.rapidtvnews.com

MPs consider trashing compulsory BBC licence fee for subscription service | The Drum

The BBC licence fee has come under review from MPs, with critics calling into question the ethics behind enforcing the fee during a period of national austerity - especially with the internet offering arguably more competitive content. The fee, first introduced in 1922, currently sits at 145.50 annually and is legally compulsory for all UK TV owners to pay who actively watch live or stream TV. However, MPs claim that this is no longer fair during austerity where public services are seeing cuts. - thedrum.com

www.thedrum.com

BBC opens window to catch up | informitv

However it will remove the ability to download multiple episodes of television programmes retrospectively, known as series stacking. The BBC is planning an online store to sell access to some programmes beyond the 30-day period, but perhaps it needs a bolder vision. The extended window will initially apply to television and network radio programmes available to stream on demand, with regional radio and the World Service to follow. - informitv.com

informitv.com

Friday 03 October 2014, PM

RadioToday with RCS | Competition confirmed for second UK DAB

Ofcom has confirmed the awarding of a second national digital commercial multiplex will be a competitive process. The news comes as the regulator extends the closing date, to allow a prospective licence applicant sufficient time to obtain information from Arqiva, which owns many DAB transmitter sites. The first DAB national commercial multiplex is known as Digital One. - radiotoday.co.uk

Ofcom | Ed Richards to stand down as Ofcom Chief Executive

Under his leadership, Ofcom has helped to deliver superfast broadband, 4G, lower prices, innovation, competition, and sustainable public service broadcasting in the UK. The executive search process to appoint a replacement is under way, led by Zygos Partnership. Ofcom seeks to complete the recruitment process early in 2015. - media.ofcom.org.uk

media.ofcom.org.uk

Feedback: Reporting tough foreign news: 3 Oct 14

Talking TV: Plebs TV sexism