Monday 09 September 2013, PM
BBC payoff row: Mark Thompson and Lord Patten face MPs - live - Media - theguardian.com
Ahead of the hearing at 3.15pm, here is a useful primer on the key issues at play for Thompson and Patten. The BBC Trust has claimed it was unaware of key elements of the two high-profile payments to Byford and Baylay and specifically that they involved payments in lieu of notice and a delay in the serving of notice. Patten and Fry told the PAC hearing that, had they known that the Byford payment was greater than his contractual entitlement, they would have acted. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com
Sony announces game-changing PlayStation Vita TV
Basically, the device turned mobile games into home console games. At this point, I will have to roll dice to decide which one to watch Netflix on. However, the true killer feature of this 100 box is PlayStation 4 remote play. - betanews.combetanews.comBBC payoff row: how the drama has unfolded - Media - theguardian.com
Last week, the NAO revealed that the BBC paid out a total of 2.9m to former bosses that went beyond contractual entitlement between 2006 and 2012. The 1m severance deal handed to Byford has long been the corporation's most contentious payout. Baylay's departure too was planned in September and October 2010, alongside that of Byford, before she left the corporation in November that year. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comBBC Severance Dispute Goes to Parliamentary Panel - NYTimes.com
In July, Mr. Patten had expressed surprise at the details of key severance payments, which were larger than contractually mandated, according to the auditors, while Mr. Thompson insists that the trust was fully informed and raised no objections. One of the documents Mr. Thompson has presented is a briefing memo prepared for Mr. Patten explaining the payments, which were approved before Mr. Patten became chairman of the trust. The auditors found that of 150 senior executives who left in the three years ending December 2012, which cost the corporation 25 million pounds, the BBC paid more salary in lieu of notice than contractually mandated in 22 cases, for an extra cost of 1.4 million pounds. - nytimes.comwww.nytimes.com
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbc-director-general-tony-hall-defends-bbc-policy-on-payoffs-8804585.ht
BBC director general Tony Hall says the corporation has a grip on the money it gets from licence-fee payers ahead of a parliamentary hearing examining hefty pay-offs given to senior staff. Mr Byford departed the BBC with a total payout of 949,000. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukMonday 09 September 2013, AM
Mark Thompson vs Lord Patten - US press keeps a watchful eye - Media - theguardian.com
Mark Thompson's position as chief executive of the New York Times makes him a high-profile media figure in the United States. Ahead of Thompson's crucial appearance before the commons public accounts committee, most of the US media carried only news agency copy, without comment. US papers that ran stories from their London-based correspondents were studiedly neutral. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/ian-burrell-british-tv-looks-into-the-future-and-gets-ready-to-bang-its
The corporation can expect a thrashing more violent than even the most energetic of the Channel 5 owners drum solos. The RTS convention has set itself the ambitious target of trying to predict what will happen to the medium we now call television over the coming decade. The exercise is all the more interesting for having been attempted in 2003 when Greg Dyke was in the chair. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukSunday 08 September 2013, PM
UKTV shrugs off its reliance on Dave and repeats and tries to lure the young - Media - The Guardian
More than a one-trick pony UKTV boasts the award-winning magician Dynamo. Darren Childs, chief executive of UKTV for the past three years, highlights a surge in programming investment, a shift to a part-pay, part-free channel strategy, and a leap in viewing numbers thanks in part to a street magician called Dynamo. That it is succeeding, he says, can be seen in the numbers which UKTV has revealed in full for the first time. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comIn fight with broadcasters, Aereo has time on its side: Supreme Court ruling unlikely before 2015 Tech News an
The California hearing was just the latest twist in a complex series of cases that many lawyers predict could land before the Supreme Court and redefine the rules for TV. By the time that happens, however, rapidly expanding Aereo or some other streaming service may have already disrupted the current business model for television. Aereo says the service does not violate copyright law because the individual antennas result in a private, not a public, transmission. - gigaom.comgigaom.comBBC payoffs: the system was broke - Media - The Observer
Maybe Chris Patten's role as chairman of the BBC Trust lies in pawn. The clash of evidence between the two over who knew about and who authorised sundry whopping payoffs to departing BBC executives is stark, crucial and will surely end in court if the PAC scratches its head over so much vitriolic detail. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comSaturday 07 September 2013, AM
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/opinion/bbc-severance-row-corporations-big-beasts-lord-patten-and-mark-thompson-
At the heart of the latest row over pay-offs is the relationship between Lord Patten and the former Director-General. The Trust has dismissed Thompsons analysis in a witness statement as a bizarre document. Thompson had been planning to move on but Lord Patten set the process in motion with an interview in The Times in January 2012 in which he revealed that headhunters had been appointed to find a replacement. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.uk
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/lord-hall-the-directorgeneral-who-pledged-to-clean-up-bbc-told-to-retur
It has emerged that Lord Hall, who has vowed to crackdown on a culture of excessive pay-offs at the corporation, was given the bonus payment when he left his 204,000-a-year job as BBC head of current affairs in 2001. They asked why he did not disclose the payment when he was grilled during a session on BBC pay-offs in July. Questioned over the 25m which was paid to 150 outgoing executives, including 2m on top of contractual obligations, Lord Hall told MPs Wed lost the plot. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.uk
Apple Won't Change Apple TV Box Will Upgrade Software Gabe Rivera - Peter Kafka - Media - AllThingsD
There are very, very good odds youre going to hear about new iPhones at Apples event next Tuesday. Despite speculation about new Apple TV hardware on the way, Apple wont be unveiling any new boxes next week, according to people familiar with the companys plans. That said, the company will be tweaking the software inside its Web TV box. - allthingsd.comallthingsd.com
Radio Today - New DAB transmitters turned on in Wales
The official switch-on of three new DAB digital radio transmitters has taken place in Llanelli this evening, at an event in Llanelli. Over 1,000 km of roads will also get DAB coverage for the first time. Together with this launch, 900,000 listeners in Wales can now get national stations on DAB for the first time. - radiotoday.co.ukradiotoday.co.uk
BBC humanities graduates 'dumbing down science' - Telegraph
As a result science presenters are told to avoid using any technical terms for fear of alienating people, while arts presenters can reference relatively obscure cultural figures without any further explanation, she said. - telegraph.co.ukwww.telegraph.co.uk
BBC - Blogs - Internet blog - What's On BBC Red Button - 7-14 September
For sports fans, there's Diamond League athletics action and its over to Italy for Formula 1. For the first time you can watch all four Proms in the Park concerts live, and in full, online at www.bbc.co.uk/proms. Watch an extra special secret episode of Wolfblood only on the Red Button. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukFriday 06 September 2013, PM
Former BBC chairman contradicts Thompson in £1m payout row - Media - The Guardian
Witnesses including Thompson and Patten will be interrogated, while sitting next to each other, as a way of flushing out the truth. The NAO, which triggered the current row with its initial report, revealed this week in a supplementary note that 2.9m in payments by the broadcaster between 2006 and 2012 went beyond contractual entitlement. Five current members of the BBC Trust broke cover to distance themselves from Thompson's claims that they were involved in the Byford payment. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com
Thompson on Savile: 'I have told the truth' - Channel 4 News
- channel4.comwww.channel4.comBBC ordered to disclose names and details of payoffs to 150 managers - Media - theguardian.com
The BBC has been ordered to disclose details of payments to 150 managers while Mark Thompson was director general. The Commons public accounts committee is to invoke the power of a standing order to force the broadcaster to release information about 150 redundancy payments to senior managers between 2010 and 2012. Citing data protection issues, the BBC has previously fought attempts to divulge the names, but has now written to the former managers alerting them that the nature of their severance arrangements may now be made public. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com
Philips 9000 Series 4k Ultra HDTV: Hands-on pictures - Recombu
The 65-inch 65PFL9708 in the company's flagship 9000 Series proved mightily impressive in our hands-on demo. That will only become relevant when and if a new high capacity Blu-ray format and player is decided upon. In October Philips will also put on sale the 84-inch 84PFL9708 13,000, latter on sale in a month. - recombu.comrecombu.com
MuxCo.com Mid and West Wales
The Mid West Wales local multiplex launched on 30th August 2013. It currently carries the following services If there are any stations that you listen to at the moment on analogue radio that you would like to hear on DAB, we suggest that you contact those stations directly, encouraging them to join the multiplex. We do, however, currently have room for additional stations to join the multiplex. - muxco.comwww.muxco.com
MuxCo.com Mid WestWalesLaunch
Comments must remain on topic to the blog post, otherwise they will be removed. Firm launch dates will be announced in blog posts and referenced on the relevant multiplex section, they will be updated there as soon as we know. Name required Mail will not be published required Website Notify me of follow-up comments by email. - muxco.comwww.muxco.com
Chris Patten: from 'double whammy' to 'Fat Pang' - Channel 4 News
It is not the first time Lord Patten has been involved in a scrap and it will not be the last. He and Lady Thatcher were on opposite sides of the wet/dry divide in the party, with Chris Patten a devout wet who questioned the monetarist direction of the government. This did not stop him becoming environment secretary in 1989, the year before Lady Thatcher was forced out. - channel4.comwww.channel4.comBBC director general under pressure over 'outrageous' pension payment - Media - The Guardian
Hall was given 24,500 of public money in extra contributions on top of the BBC's contractual obligations when he resigned from the corporation to become Royal Opera House chief executive in 2001. MPs on the public accounts committee PAC, to whom Hall gave evidence on executive payoffs, have called for the money to be repaid and asked why he did not mention it when he appeared before parliament in July. It follows widespread condemnation of the corporation for making severance payments costing taxpayers 2m more than contractual obligations. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comBBC Payout Row: Someone Is Telling Porkies
It would be nigh on impossible to underplay the significance of Monday's session of the public accounts committee. Neither is it a case of former and current BBC men having differing recollections of events. Place to one side the issue of excessive severance pay, and this is a frankly astounding battle between the BBC executive and the Trust. - news.sky.comnews.sky.com
Freeview to remain at centre stage
Yet while DTT also has to embrace change, the 700MHz harmonization will require significant planning and will result in disruption. In the proposed changes, mobile broadband would take up the 694-790 MHz band and Ofcom is trying to replicate the existing multiplexes in the process. - broadbandtvnews.comwww.broadbandtvnews.com
War of words of BBC pay-off row - London Evening Standard
Mr Byford departed the BBC with a total payout of 949,000. In another development, under-fire HR boss Lucy Adams admitted making a mistake in her evidence to the committee. It also emerged the BBC has written to four former staff, whose pay-offs were investigated by the National Audit Office, to tell them they could be named to the committee. - standard.co.ukwww.standard.co.ukNY Times head accuses BBC chief of misleading parliament - Reuters
The scale of the severance payments, many of them made as austerity cuts swept Britain, angered politicians and members of the public, who fund the broadcaster through a compulsory license fee. He stepped down to take responsibility for a BBC news report which falsely accused a former senior politician of child abuse and allegations the corporation covered up decades of sex abuse by one of its late stars, Jimmy Savile. A National Audit Office report found a string of huge payments were made to departing executives who were not always entitled to the money. - uk.reuters.comuk.reuters.comDTG :: News :: Comux selects Ericsson for delivery of local TV services in the UK
A further 30 licenses for local TV are under consideration for launch in 2014/15. After a thorough evaluation of a number of compression platforms, carried out jointly with our systems integrator Techex, the Ericsson AVP 4000 solution delivered the performance and support package that best meets our needs. - dtg.org.ukdtg.org.uk
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbc-trusts-lord-patten-responds-to-mark-thompsons-accusations-that-he-m
Mr Byford departed with a total payout of 949,000 and Ms Baylay's settlement was worth 394,638. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.uk
Ariel - Daly is proudest of Rough Justice case
White was jailed in 2002 for the murder, while his friend Keith Hyatt was found guilty of perverting the course of justice. Their two-year inquiry resulted in a 2005 film that discredited the prosecution's claims - based on the views of a forensic expert - that it was likely that Manning's body had been transported in Hyatt's van. 'No greater honour' The pair were subsequently freed by the Court of Appeal in 2007. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.uk
BBC payoffs: written evidence to MPs - full text - Media - theguardian.com
- www.theguardian.comBBC HR chief corrects evidence to MPs on executive's £1m payoff - Media - theguardian.com
In a letter made public on Friday, Adams said it was not clear which document the committee was referring to at the time. The BBC Trust has since claimed not to have been fully briefed on these redundancy deals. In one email exchange, Adams is asked to give advice on changes to the briefing note requested by the BBC Trust. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comFriday 06 September 2013, AM
BBC News - Ex-BBC chief Thompson accuses BBC Trust of misleading MPs
Mark Thompson says he has emails which show that trust members, including the chairman Lord Patten and a senior BBC boss, approved the payments. The BBC has been criticised for paying 2m more than contracts necessitated. The BBC Trust says the claims are bizarre and it denied MPs were misled. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukLord Patten, Mark Thompson and BBC payoffs: what you need to know - Media - theguardian.com
Earlier this week, the National Audit Office revealed that the BBC paid out a total of 2.9m to former bosses that went beyond contractual entitlement between 2006 and 2012. Lord Patten has been chairman of the BBC Trust since 1 May 2011. Anthony Fry is a member of the BBC Trust. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comBBC Trust: Mark Thompson s claims are bizarre - ITV News
33 minutes ago 130 vehicles in 'biggest fog accident' in the UK The New Sheppey Crossing bridge has re-opened after the largest ever fog-related crash in Britain. - itv.comwww.itv.comChris Patten 'misled parliament over BBC payoffs' - Media - The Guardian
Thompson said that Patten knew in 2011 that both had received settlements of more than they were contractually entitled to, and their formal notice of departure was delayed. The public spending watchdog revealed this year that the BBC paid 25m to 150 departing bosses between 2009 and 2012. This week after further scrutiny of the BBC accounts, the NAO said the broadcaster paid out a total of 2.9m in payments that went beyond contractual entitlement between 2006 and 2012. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comThursday 05 September 2013, PM
Simple.TV partners with SiliconDust: new hardware, 2.0 software update on the way - IFA - CNET Reviews
The new box ditches the curvy, white look of the original Simple.TV, opting for a somewhat smaller footprint and more conventional, black set-top box design. The big hardware upgrade is dual-tuner support, which opens up a lot of convenient functionality, such as the ability to record two shows at once or watch one live show while another is recording. A significant software update is also on the way, dubbed Version 2.0, which will be available on the new box and the existing Simple.TV hardware. - reviews.cnet.comreviews.cnet.comBBC was in 'total chaos' over payoffs, says leading MP - Media - theguardian.com
Margaret Hodge the public accounts committee chair will question current and former BBC executives about payoffs on Monday. The former deputy director general received just over 1m when he left in 2011, although Thompson at the time feared it could be as much as 2.5m. To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.com
BBC - Blogs - Internet blog - BBC iPlayer Video Downloads for Android
One of these was to deliver mobile video downloads to these devices. This is because these devices are able to provide the appropriate level of protection for our programmes. Our figures show this will mean 70 of Android app users with compatible devices will be able to use this functionality from today and over the coming months we will be extending this to include new Android devices as well as some older ones. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukThursday 05 September 2013, AM
Media Talk podcast: Spotify, the Sun, ITV News, MediaGuardian 100
download.guardian.co.ukSony betting big on 4K, launches Video Unlimited 4K download service Tech News and Analysis
Technology is a fickle mistress and no-company knows it better than Sony. There was a time when its television sets were a fixture in every upwardly mobile household. Sony game consoles were on every teenage boys Christmas wish-list and many of us grew up plugging into the Sony Walkman. - gigaom.comgigaom.comWednesday 04 September 2013, PM
Media: BBC severance pay; reporting the Scottish referendum; political interviewing
downloads.bbc.co.ukBBC agreed to fund £687k payoff after executive's move to commercial arm - Media - theguardian.com
Jana Bennett 687,333 redundancy payment was funded by the BBC, but later repaid by its Worldwide arm. BBC Worldwide later repaid the 687,333 redundancy money to the corporation's licence fee-funded public service arm. Jana Bennett, the executive in question, was unaware her redundancy payoff was initially funded by the licence fee. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comLocal TV steps up activity ahead of launch - Media - theguardian.com
This was far in excess of the tiny budgets most of the smaller operators were planning, and other local TV pioneers in the room looked shocked. Local TV might be a way to try out new acts. Estuary TV has grown out of a community TV station that has been operated since 2001 by the Grimsby Institute, which uses it to train its media students. - theguardian.comwww.theguardian.comDTG :: News :: HDMI Forum releases Version 2.0 of HDMI Specification
The HDMI Forum currently has a membership of 88 companies. DTG Staff 04.09.2013 Links open in a new window. - dtg.org.ukdtg.org.ukTuesday 03 September 2013, PM
Ofcom - Radio Broadcast Update August 2013
Yorkshire Addition of Reading 107 a locally-oriented, broad music and information station for 25-54 year olds in the Reading area. a service devoted to playing rock music with attitude designed to appeal to 15-34 year olds. Birmingham Addition of Heart - a melodic adult contemporary music-led service for 25-44 year old West Midlanders, supplemented with news, information and entertainment. - licensing.ofcom.org.uklicensing.ofcom.org.ukOfcom - Television Broadcast Licensing Update August 2013
Television services that have ceased to be licensed handed back or revoked in this period The following services are no longer licensed. The relevant licence is either no longer required by the licensee so has been handed back, or the service has been removed from a licence covering multiple services, or revoked as a matter of routine usually for non-payment of the annual licence fee. Licence transfers The following licences have been transferred to a new company who is now the legal licensee. - licensing.ofcom.org.uklicensing.ofcom.org.ukTelevision woes for thousands of people - News - North Devon Gazette
Bideford television repairman Andrew Harding, who owns FixIt in Bideford, said he had received more than 400 calls about the problem from disgruntled Freeview viewers in the last month. Television repairman Andrew Harding, who owns FixIt in Bideford, said he has been losing sleep over the amount of calls he has received. He said I must have had in excess of around 400 calls about the problem from disgruntled television viewers in the last month. - northdevongazette.co.ukwww.northdevongazette.co.uk
Ariel - BBC brings in redundancy cap for all
3 September 2013 Last updated at 1404 Redundancy payments for all staff will be capped at 150,000 from next month. Employees will be entitled to redundancy of one month's pay for each year of service up to a maximum of 24 months' salary or 12 for those who joined after January 1 2013 or 150,000 - whichever is lower. The BBC had previously proposed to limit accrual to 12 years' service and to freeze it for those who had been at the BBC longer than 12 years. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukpick a page