Tuesday 03 February 2009, PM
Whats in a name? In TV, quite a lot - TV Radio, Media - The Independent
With comfort brands reportedly faring well in these times of economic hardship, the broadcaster has chosen decidedly feel-good names for the re-branding of three of its channels. It is a process that began with UKTV G2 being renamed as Dave nearly 18 months ago. Matthew Littleford, UKTV's controller, refutes such simplicity, wafting his multi-coloured graphs and computer printouts to demonstrate the scientific nature of the exercise. - independent.co.uk
www.independent.co.uk
Directgov gets its own Freeview channel | News | TechRadar UK
The government has formed a partnership with Teletext to bring the delights of the Directgov to Freeview. Directgov is the government's digital information service, helping people with things as diverse as motoring, finding a job or how to receive benefits. The service will now be available to people through page 750 on Teletext, but there is also a dedicated service on Freeview channel 106. - techradar.com
www.techradar.comSignals to switch in district - Midhurst and Petworth Today
- midhurstandpetworth.co.uk
www.midhurstandpetworth.co.ukMonday 02 February 2009, AM
informitv - Digital delay uncertainty confuses switch off message
The end of analogue television transmissions in America continues to be covered in confusion. The House of Representatives failed to reach the required two thirds majority to pass a fast-tracked delay to the end of analogue broadcasts. The Senate had unanimously approved a bill to postpone the planned switch off on 17 February until June 12. - informitv.com
informitv.com
Charlie Brooker: Chudge, nowtrage and plebbledash - just three of the words to learn from my New Media Dictionary |
This week, in a break from my traditional self-centred misanthropic festival of whining, here's an abridged version of the New Media Dictionary a useful compendium of terms and definitions for the exciting world of modern mass communication. To believe that airing one's views in either a newspaper column or the Have Your Say section accompanying the online version of said newspaper column is a meaningful activity. Self-consciously odious celebrity who trades on their own widely accepted repugnance to infuriatingly lucrative effect, thereby creating an unassailable feedback loop of violent loathing in absolutely everyone other than themselves eg Piers Morgan. - guardian.co.uk
www.guardian.co.ukSaturday 31 January 2009, PM
Industry reaction
It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. Broadcast Subscribers If you are a Broadcast subscriber please sign in with your email address and click submit - broadcastnow.co.uk
www.broadcastnow.co.ukFriday 30 January 2009, PM
DTG News: Two thirds of Tourism TVs still need to switch
Two thirds of tourism businesses in the West Country have televisions that risk going blank when the region completes the switch to digital this summer. Research from Digital UK reveals that only 40 of hoteliers and BB owners across the region have fully converted televisions in all guest rooms up from 27 in January 2007. 25 have partly switched to digital and more than a third have analogue only. - dtg.org.uk
www.dtg.org.ukThursday 29 January 2009, PM
Six weeks to strike C4/BBCW deal
It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukinformitv - Channel Four and BBC discuss future of UKTV channels
Quite how Channel 4 would contribute cash is currently unclear. In 2007 Channel Four made a profit of just half a million pounds on a turnover of nearly a billion. The corporation has around 200 million in reserves and a 250 million borrowing facility. - informitv.cominformitv.com
ITV prepared to set 35m cap on PSB programming | Media | guardian.co.uk
Michael Grade spoke before the Lords communications committee today. Grade added that ITV would provide international and national news as part of the 35m public service broadcasting spend and government could decide what it should do with the remaining budget. Under the Ofcom proposal, ITV might continue to provide airtime for regional news supplied by other companies. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBBC - Press Office - Charlie Brookers News Wipe for BBC Four
The series will be a funny, thoughtful and scabrous digest of recent news events. News Wipe will take a look at the brilliant or preposterous way the news is presented to us. There will also be experts on hand to pick apart certain stories and analyse the news media's obsessions. - bbc.co.ukwww.bbc.co.ukDigital Britain: Report is a rope bridge to the future |Media |guardian.co.uk
Very few people will find much to argue with there. Given the current pulsating madness of the media world, with its structural collapse, its almost daily dilemmas and scandals played out in public, Stephen Carter has produced a report which does just enough to reassure us that the direction of travel is correct but stops short of detailed planning and analysis. For that we have to wait for Carter Part II, due out in the summer, which will produce the framework for any changes in law that will be required. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.uk
Digital Britain: Lord Carter reports, we report |Technology |guardian.co.uk
Today, the British government has published the Carter report, which is intended to position us for our digital future Stephen Carter published the Digital Britain report today. No, forget that you can just skim this passage Today's interim report from Lord Carter sets out the scale of our ambition to compete in the digital economy, a market currently worth over 50 billion a year in Britain alone and expected to grow rapidly in the future. Our digital networks will be the backbone of our economy in the decades ahead. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukBroadband for every home by 2012 - Online, Media - The Independent
Lord Carter's Digital Britain report proposed to scrap BT's obligation to ensure every home has access to a telephone line and replace it with a requirement to provide broadband. This so-called universal service commitment would aim to ensure everyone had quick enough internet access to watch videos online. The report also proposed the creation of a new body to deal with the problem of people illegally copying and sharing music and films over the internet. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukThursday 29 January 2009, AM
M-Lab | Welcome to Measurement Lab
- measurementlab.net
www.measurementlab.netBBC Worldwide facing stricter control
It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukDigital Britain report set to be unveiled
It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukWednesday 28 January 2009, PM
Tanya Byrons role in Digital Britain |Media |guardian.co.uk
Tanya Byron part of communications minister Stephen Carter's review team. The specific challenge, as far as children are concerned, is to give fresh impetus to tackling peer to peer file sharing of child pornography, and the use of social networking sites by paedophiles. For instance, the Internet Watch Foundation, established 12 years ago, has won the respect of ISPs, which take down sites identified as hosting illegal content on its recommendation. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukOfcom: ITVs Home Office deal broke rules
It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukEmily Bell on the historic plan to preserve C4 from topslicing |Media |The Guardian
For those of us clustered in and around the tightknit, intense community of media policy wonks, last Thursday's Oxford Media Convention bordered on the historic. For those in the room with their Moleskine notebooks and MacBooks it was like seeing the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club - only with more specs and lanyards. It has taken an almost ridiculous number of reports, civil servants, thinktanks and ink to reach the unusual conclusion that what public service content provision really needs is for C4 to be topsliced in order to augment the BBC. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukDTG News: TV Retune required for DTT viewers in South Coast
Digital UK announced that the changes are part of a re-organisation of the airwaves which will protect existing digital services from interference from neighbouring areas in the UK and France where switchover is starting in mid-2009. Analogue viewers who make the switch to digital now will be able not only to continue enjoying Five but also many extra TV channels, radio and text services. For digital viewers, retuning their equipment should only take a few moments and we are here to offer advice to anyone who needs it. - dtg.org.ukwww.dtg.org.ukBBC Media Show: 28 January 2009
downloads.bbc.co.uk
The DTV Delay Act might not delay DTV for some | Betanews
328 released this morning to the Library of Congress. Should broadcasters within a given region vacate the analog spectrum prior to June 12, the FCC may determine whether public safety officials may be granted access to the vacated frequencies...evidently in separate determinations per region. Should an individual have been given a government coupon toward the purchase of a digital converter box, the Act states, and that coupon has not yet been redeemed, the government may issue a replacement coupon. - betanews.comwww.betanews.com
House Republicans invoke bin Laden to expedite DTV transition | Betanews
That should be reason enough to go full speed ahead with the DTV transition. Rep. Waxman apparently worked with Speaker Pelosi to suspend the usual rules in which the bill would have debated in committee during a markup session this week. That suspension fast-tracked the bill, so it could be debated on the House floor without alteration. - betanews.comwww.betanews.comGovernment delays UK net report | BBC NEWS | Technology
The full report and action plan will be unveiled in late spring 2009. The report is examining a number of different areas, including broadband development, public service broadcasting and digital radio. It is thought the report may set minimum broadband speeds and impose obligations on telecom suppliers to provide universal coverage. - news.bbc.co.uk
news.bbc.co.ukMonday 26 January 2009, AM
Greg Dyke on how Ofcoms big idea is too little too late for ITV |Media |The Guardian
ITV was created as a regional system to counter the blatant London metropolitan bias of the BBC during the 1950s. We ended up with 15 ITV companies each running at least one regional news service - some ran two or three which the individual ITV companies were proud to broadcast. In fact, for the smaller ITV companies regional news was their raison d'etre. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukWhat will Ofcoms second BBC mean for Channel 4 and other broadcasters? |Media |The Guardian
And, if they come to pass, they are likely to affect all the major players in public service broadcasting in one fell swoop. Ofcom's proposals could see Channel 4 as we know it subsumed into a wider entity with a completely new corporate structure. This idea of creating a second major public broadcaster is new and, according to government insiders, has come straight from the good Lord himself. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukSunday 25 January 2009, PM
Broadband for all plan under threat |Business |The Observer
Last week's dire profit warning from BT has put the company's plans to build a new super-fast broadband network for 10 million British homes in jeopardy. The warning also appears to have made it critical that the rest of the telecoms industry now help meet the estimated 3.5bn cost of realising the government's ambition to bring some form of broadband to every home by 2012. It emerged on Thursday that BT's corporate IT business had wildly over-estimated the potential profits it could make from a handful of large contracts. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukITV to become "limited" PSB
It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.ukwww.broadcastnow.co.ukOfcom risks making a pigs ear of C4 if we lose gourmet selection of quality TV | Business
-www.thisislondon.co.ukRadio Today with United Radio: Instore DAB loud and clear
-
radiotoday.co.ukDTG News: New ASTRA 1M satellite ready for operation
DTG Staff 20.01.2009 Links open in a new window. - dtg.org.ukwww.dtg.org.ukTeletexts public service remit at risk |Media |guardian.co.uk
The growth in internet usage and the arrival of nationwide digital television in 2012 means there may no longer be any reason for Teletext to have any public service remit, according to Ofcom. Losing its public service protection would mean Teletext would have to pay for the television signal which carries its text-based news service. It wants to merge some of its regions and reduce national news to 20 pages. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukUKTV: its origins and its destiny |Media |guardian.co.uk
To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editormediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukThe DTV delay -- would this be the last? | Betanews
The Act would push mandatory rollover back to June 12. The coupon program will be extended to July 31, and customers whose coupons expired before they could be used will be allowed to get fresh coupons. Rockefeller has been an outspoken critic of the timing and details of the changeover for years now as the current chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, he's gone from being one of three lonely votes against changeover-related issues to leading the pack on how to make it right. - betanews.comwww.betanews.comFriday 23 January 2009, PM
Premier League braced for ruling on pubs showing live football |Football |The Guardian
Legal experts said yesterday that the case, the latest round of a long-running battle with publicans over showing overseas broadcasts on a Saturday afternoon, could overturn the basis on which the Premier League sells its TV rights. Lawyers at Denton Wilde Sapte, which has acted for a range of sporting bodies including the Premier League, said the threat was significant. If it were to lose the case, then not only would pubs be able to avoid paying an average of 9,000 a season to show Sky and Setanta matches, with a knock-on effect on the amount broadcasters were prepared to pay, but it could impact on Saturday match attendances. - guardian.co.ukwww.guardian.co.ukPay-TV grey market could be fully legalised in Sky pubs challenge - What Satellite Digital TV
-
blog.wotsat.comEXCLUSIVE: New Freesat HD box on its way
-blog.wotsat.comTV regulator says C4 should merge in order to survive - Business News, Business - The Independ
The possibility of diverting some of the licence fee to C4 also remains on the table. Among the proposals were those relating to C4, and Ofcom called for an overhaul of the broadcaster to create a rival to the BBC. It proposed a remit of public service broadcasting content including news, current affairs, older children's programmes, shows made outside London and a range of digital media content. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukIn Febrooary 2009, Ur Lolcats n Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
-icanhascheezburger.comWednesday 21 January 2009, PM
Tuesday 20 January 2009, PM
DTG News: Switchover Help Scheme to launch in Wales
The Digital Switchover Help Scheme will soon be offered to older and disabled people living in Wales. The Switchover Help Scheme has been set up to help eligible older and disabled people to switch to digital on one of their TV sets. People are eligible if they are aged 75 or over, are receiving or could receive attendance allowance, mobility supplement or disability living allowance, have lived in a care home for six months or more, or if they are registered blind or partially sighted. - dtg.org.ukwww.dtg.org.ukDTG News: Switchover messages to appear in Devon and Cornwall
From today, analogue viewers will see a series of intermittent messages such as This TV gets its signal from the Huntshaw Cross transmitter group, and needs to be ready for digital switchover on 12th August 2009. Viewers in the West Country who see the messages know they have to get ready. There are a number of ways to go digital depending on where you live. - dtg.org.ukwww.dtg.org.ukDTG News: Isle of Man to switch in 6 months
The Isle of Man is less than six months away from starting the switch to digital TV on 18 June 2009. Digital UK has published a message to all the island's residents don't leave it too late to get advice or buy equipment. If you are unsure about the different ways to get digital television, speak to your local retailer, call Digital UK on 08456 50 50 50, or visit digitaluk.co.uk. - dtg.org.ukwww.dtg.org.ukRadio Today with United Radio: Digital One plans DAB expansion
-radiotoday.co.ukTuesday 20 January 2009, AM
Is Radio 4 too posh? Mark Damazer serves up his recipe for change - TV Radio, Media - The Ind
5 Live, with its cab drivers calling in to debate their favourite topics traffic wardens, roadworks and UK immigration policy Late last year, I suggested to Damazer that I should spend a week of continuous listening to his station, after which he'd talk to me in his office at Broadcasting House. From October 2009, Stourton 51 will be replaced by Justin Webb, currently North American editor. - independent.co.ukwww.independent.co.ukMonday 19 January 2009, PM
Senate considers delaying DTV transition until June | Betanews
If approved, Sen. Rockefeller's bill would extend the transition date by 90 days to June 12. This despite the fact that broadcasters say they are already ready, and most US stations are already broadcasting in DTV -- the real switch being thrown would be the one that turns off the analog signal. Already, broadcasters are being permitted to leave those signals running after February 17, if only to show images informing viewers that regular analog broadcasts have ceased. - betanews.comwww.betanews.comFriday 16 January 2009, PM
Media Talk: Putting the 'Da' into the Evening Standard
download.guardian.co.uk
Rochdale Online -Are you ready to go Digital?
With less than 12 months to go before Rochdale makes the digital television switch over, Digital UK is urging viewers to make sure they are ready. Almost nine out of ten households in the town now has a digital television set ahead of the 4 November switch over. Television in Rochdale is powered by the Winter Hill transmitter, which lies between Manchester and Preston. - rochdaleonline.co.ukwww.rochdaleonline.co.uk
Telegent chip to bring Freeview to netbooks? | News | TechRadar UK
Telegent has developed a new single-chip TV receiver that will allow laptop manufacturers to bring Freeview enabled computers out of the box. The TLG2300 offers both digital and analogue television integration on a chip, opening up the possibility that your netbook or laptop will come fully equipped to act as a digital television. We've contacted Telegent Systems to find out just how effective the chip is without an external aerial, but the early suggestions are that it should work fine. - techradar.comwww.techradar.compick a page