May 16, 2008

Five and ITV say no to Licence Fee Cash

by David Allen
As the public service broadcasting question continues, both ITV and Five have ruled themselves out of receiving any cash from the licence fee pot. However, this would mean that both channels could be considering pulling out of public service broadcasting altogether. It has only been Channel Four who has been voicing openly about getting a share of the cash that is generated through the licence fee. ITV may continue ...

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May 15, 2008

Sky ordered to hand over documents to Virgin

by David Allen
In the Court of Appeal, three judges have ordered BSkyB to hand over documents to Virgin Media which relate to BSkyB’s market dominance and potentially how their position could be abused to influence the market. The reason for BSkyB’s objection to handing over the documents, actually has nothing to do with the case, rather it has more to do with the lawyers working for Virgin Media. It turns out ...

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No licence fee cash for C4

by David Allen
Recently there has been a request from Channel Four for some cash help from the money that the TV licence brings in for the BBC, in order for them to continue making public service programmes. But in reply to these requests the Chairman of the BBC, Sir Michael Lyons, has let it be known that there is no spare cash available. The suggestion that Channel Four should get a ...

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Lost soap to be shown online

by David Allen
The thing about broadband is the ability to watch video online and the TV producers have realised this, which is why we have such a rich supply of shows available online to watch. But sometimes a small piece of television history is uncovered and in an old ATV archive in London, an old tin containing a tape has soap fans frothing at the mouth. The discovery is a lost ...

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May 14, 2008

Pace to supply equipment to BT

by David Allen
The UK based set top box manufacturer Pace Micro are to supply BT with the latest equipment which will enable users of BT’s on demand service to watch and record programmes. The set top box will be known as the Pace V Box, which is in line with other similar equipment as it will use two tuners and is capable of connecting to seventy freeview channels as well ...

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BBC could still save more cash

by David Allen
The BBC has a spending budget of around £500 million over a three year period. But this has been thought of as being far too high and so cuts of £75 million were put in place. The BBC are virtually on target for these cuts. But instead of congratulating them, they have been told to make more cuts. This has come from House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, who ...

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Kangaroo to be renamed “SeeSaw”

by David Allen
It may have been full steam ahead on project Kangaroo a while ago, but recently the plans would appear to have run out of steam and the whole thing is slowing down. Two problems are in the way of this project; one is the BBC as SeeSaw, as it will become known, is going to be a commercial exercise and all parties within the BBC are going to have ...

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May 13, 2008

BBC upheld complaints about soap

by David Allen
It was said to be the storyline of the Easter holidays, but many viewers were shocked as the soap Eastenders descended into a dark place. The storyline centred on a couple, the “Brannings”, where the wife drugged her husband and with the aid of her lover, took the lifeless body to the forest where they intended to bury him alive in a coffin. These scenes covered two episodes shown ...

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May 12, 2008

BBC in trouble again over live concert

by David Allen
It is the highlight of the year for Radio 1, when they put on the One Big Weekend series of concerts, which covers a wide range of musical tastes and is branded as the first UK music festival of the year. However showing the concert live on BBC3 is always going to be a risky affair, and this proved right with the performance by Madonna. The BBC have reportedly ...

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BBC in charity cash scandal

by David Allen
Is there never going to be an end to the scandals that surround the premium rate phone calls which viewers make, when it comes to voting for the winners on certain TV programmes? Or is it just that these phone polls have created such a mistrust of those who run them, that they are scrutinised more thoroughly than before? Whatever the reason, the outcome is going to be the ...

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Sky and Virgin talk about channels

by David Allen
With a change of senior management in both camps, it would to be a great time for the two sides to start talking, in an attempt to try and sort out the dispute over the Sky’s channels once and for all. There is no doubt that Virgin Media are suffering, whether or not this is as a direct result of the loss of channels, in particular Sky News and ...

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May 9, 2008

Owner of Five hit by drop in ads

by David Allen
The owner of Channel Five, RTL, have been experiencing some problems with their advertisers as the market would appear to have dropped slightly for the first quarter of 2008. But RTL do have anything up to seventy channels across Europe and are reporting that the down turn in advertising revenues is not just restricted to the UK, it is a Europe wide problem. This is good news for the ...

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May 8, 2008

ITV Fined for serious breaches of code

by David Allen
The communications and media regulator, Ofcom, has finally come up with the amount that ITV will be fined for some of the most serious breaches of the broadcasting code and even their own terms and conditions. ITV will be fined a record breaking £5.68 million by Ofcom for the misuse of premium phone lines for competitions related to TV programmes. However despite the hefty fine, there were in fact ...

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May 7, 2008

Freesat to offer Broadband soon

by David Allen
With only a day gone by since the official launch of the joint venture between ITV and the BBC, Freesat has been giving some clear indications as to their intentions for the future. Not content with offering a free satellite channel to anyone willing to pay the initial up front payment, they are looking at broadband too; this will be available through the Ethernet port that has been built ...

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May 6, 2008

Finally Freesat takes off

by David Allen
It has been estimated by some, that only around two per cent of the population cannot receive satellite TV, which is a good reason for launching the Freesat system at this precise time. In a similar way to how satellite from Sky works, all a customer needs do is pay up front for the equipment, which includes dish, set top box and of course installation. The difference between Freesat ...

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ITV creates Crime Thriller Awards

by David Allen
In an attempt to get the ITV digital TV channels out there and in front of people, ITV have come up with a clever marketing scheme which if it does actually work could boost the popularity of the ITV digital channel ITV 3. These awards are planned for the autumn and will have a ceremony held in London to present the awards. But most importantly would be the run ...

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Scotland gets poor service from BBC

by David Allen
BBC viewers from Scotland are said to be getting a service that can only described as second class, that’s according to a report that was conducted for the BBC trust and produced by a Professor from Essex University. Yet the results are probably not what the BBC were looking for. It is not the actual news stories, but rather the way in which the news is being delivered to ...

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May 2, 2008

Sky launches online TV guide

by David Allen
Sky have come up with the ideal online tool for anyone who has ever gone out and forgotten to record the latest edition of their favourite soap or sci fi series. Initially this service would appear to just be a new online version of the Sky TV Guide which is available on the TV screen. But this service is so much more that, in fact by enabling the remote ...

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Channel Four to launch catch up

by David Allen
In line with what most of the other broadcasters are doing these days, Channel Four have finally come up with their own catch up service available over the internet at channel4.com. This service will follow the same pattern as the BBC’s iPlayer with user being able to catch up on programmes that have been broadcast in the previous seven days. This will be completely separate from 4oD, which is ...

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Launch of AKQA Film

by Lin Freestone
AKQA Film has been launched to create and distribute digital programming and content for clients and independent projects, combining the existing motion graphics and broadcast team of AKQA. Using its multi-disciplinary team to create feature length films, branded content, programming and entertainment, AKQA Film will also work in partnership with broadcasters and production companies. The company will produce and sponsor independent films and other ...

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