Curbs Urged for Behavioural Ads
A powerful alliance of privacy and consumer groups have likened behavioural advertising to "being followed by an invisible stalker."  They now want Congress to curtail the practice of tracking consumers online to tailor ads more effectively. Yahoo, Microsoft and Google all use targeted online advertisements. 

"It's not just about the right ad at the right time, it's about creating a profile about you," said the Centre for Digital Democracy's Jeffrey Chester. "These companies want to know about your likes and dislikes, if you are Hispanic, do you vote, are you on a low income or a high income, where do you travel, what do you like to read."
BBC News online 31/8/2009
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Outcry as Carr lets fly with a 4-Letter Tirade
Comedian Jimmy Carr is in trouble with TV watchdogs for swearing once every 60 seconds in his 90-minute stand-up show.  He used the F word 36 times and the C word four times in the first hour of the Channel 4 show, which is available to children via 4 On Demand and other internet sites. 

Jimmy Carr In Concert was broadcast an hour after the 9pm watershed on August 22 and caused further outrage by containing jokes about the Paralympics, incest and homosexuality. The studio audience included a boy of 14. 

John Beyer, director of mediawatch-uk, said: "This is a disgrace. It is typical of Channel 4 not to take any notice of guidance surrounding bad language."
Sunday Express 30/8/2009
Read more...     Swearing on TV

ITV Pins Hopes on Landmark Decision
The Competition Commission is poised to rule on whether troubled broadcaster ITV can shed some of its regulatory burden, giving it a chance of recovery.  The commission is considering changes to the broad­caster's Contract Rights Renewal (CRR) regime which regulates the sums that ITV can charge advertisers. It is expected to publish its provisional decision next week. 

ITV is hoping for a boost by having these advertising restrictions lifted or eased. The commission could recommend the regime be abolished or tweaked, or stick with the status quo. Earlier this year the Office of Fair Trading recommended the rules be adjusted. 

Michael Grade, the broadcaster's executive chairman who is stepping back to become a non-executive chairman, called the CRR a "straitjacket" that impeded his plans for a revival of the business. 

The rules were imposed in 2003, when ITV was formed from the merger of Carlton and Granada. They were designed to prevent the broadcaster abusing its dominant market position and to let advertisers keep their old contracts subject to changes based on ITV's market share.
Sunday Express 30/8/2009
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BBC's Robert Peston in Furious Face-to-Face Row with James Murdoch
The BBC's business editor, Robert Peston, was involved in an astonishing slanging match with James Murdoch following the News Corporation chief's speech to television executives in Edinburgh where he accused the BBC of mounting a "land grab". 

Peston, like other BBC executives, was critical of Murdoch's MacTaggart lecture to the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International TV festival on Friday, in which the News Corp chairman and chief executive in Europe and Asia described the size and ambitions of the BBC as "chilling". 

Murdoch also heavily criticised the media industry regulator, Ofcom, calling for regulation to be scaled down, and accused the government of "dithering" and failing to protect British companies from the consequences of online piracy.
The Observer 30/8/2009
Read more...     Read full speech

Cut the Licence Fee, says James Murdoch in Further Attack on BBC
James Murdoch repeated his call for the BBC to be reined in today, saying that the corporation should have its licence fee funding reduced by government so that it becomes "much, much smaller". 

In a question and answer session at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival following last night's MacTaggart lecture, the chairman and chief executive of News Corporation in Europe and Asia suggested the licence fee should be reduced significantly. 

"If you simply constrained the expenses - with plenty of advance warning - the next [licence fee] settlement or something like that - [you say] the number is 'X'. We have got a huge debt pile in this country. We have financial issues. I think the BBC would prioritise pretty fast," Murdoch said. 

He added that the corporation's 24-hour news channels and website were inhibiting the ability of commercial competitors to invest in news. "The news operation is creating enormous problems for the independent news business and it has to be dealt with," he said.
MediaGuardian 29/8/2009
Read more...     Broadcastnow

Channel 4 Exit Deal Lined Up for Chief Executive Andy Duncan
Andy Duncan is to step down from his Channel 4 job before the end of the year in a move that will leave the broadcaster effectively leaderless as it negotiates its future over the coming months. 

Despite repeated denials over the weekend at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, the Channel 4 chief executive is understood to have agreed his departure in principle. 

Sources close to the talks say he will leave the ad-funded public service broadcaster "soon", possibly at the same time as a deal with BSkyB over an advertising airtime sales partnership is agreed in the coming weeks. However, some industry sources have questioned how close Channel 4 and Sky are to concluding an ad sales deal. 

The decision for Duncan to stand down is said to be "mutual" by sources close to the talks although it is unclear whether he has a new job lined up. The decision over his departure was understood to have been made before the summer and no board meeting was held in August.
MediaGuardian 29/8/2009
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Jana Bennett, BBC TV Chief, says Stars' Pay is Too Complex to Understand
The BBC will not disclose the salaries of its top stars because the public would not understand why they are so high, according to one of the corporation's top executives. 

Jana Bennett, head of the BBC's television channels, said that members of the public could not fully comprehend the complexities of the television industry or contribute to the debate about the pay of stars such as Jonathan Ross, who is reported to be on a £6 million-a-year deal with the corporation. 

Speaking as part of a panel on presenters' fees at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, Ms Bennett, director of BBC Vision, said that BBC staff deserved to be treated differently from workers in other areas of the public sector. 

She said: "The BBC is in a market; in the broader sense it's part of the creative industries. It performs a fundamentally different role than that performed by, for example, policemen or teachers. It is a category error to suggest that the public would actually be able to contribute to working out what we do about it. It's like me talking about Tom Cruise's movie deals. I'm not of that sector."
The Times 29/8/2009
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James Murdoch Hits Out at BBC and Regulators at Edinburgh TV Festival
James Murdoch tonight launched a scathing attack on the BBC, describing the corporation's size and ambitions as "chilling" and accusing it of mounting a "land grab" in a beleaguered media market. 

News Corporation's chairman and chief executive in Europe and Asia also heavily criticised media industry regulator Ofcom, the European Union and the government, accusing the latter of "dithering" and failing to protect British companies from the threat of online piracy. 

Delivering the MacTaggart lecture at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival 20 years after his father Rupert, Murdoch described UK broadcasting as "the Addams Family of world media", comparing it unfavourably with the industries in India and France and complaining about the "astonishing" burden of regulation placed on BSkyB, the pay-TV giant he chairs.

"Every year, roughly half a million words are devoted to telling broadcasters what they can and cannot say," he said.  However, his most withering comments were reserved for the BBC. "The corporation is incapable of distinguishing between what is good for it, and what is good for the country," he clamed.

"Funded by a hypothecated tax, the BBC feels empowered to offer something for everyone, even in areas well served by the market. The scope of its activities and ambitions is chilling."
MediaGuardian 28/8/2009
Read more...     Edinburgh Television Festival

C4 Says Big Brother Cash Up for Grabs
Channel 4 has launched a rallying cry for producers to pitch for up to 200 hours of peaktime shows for 2011 after axing Big Brother.  The broadcaster has freed around £50m of its 2011 programming budget to spend on a mixed schedule that will replace BB on C4 and E4, with a particular push on expensive genres such as comedy and drama. 

C4 has committed to a Celebrity Big Brother next January and the final run of the regular show in the summer, but declined to renew its £60m-a-year contract with Endemol, which is now free to punt the format to rival broadcasters.
Broadcastnow 27/8/2009
Read more...     Channel 4 in the News

'Thank God this freak show is over' by David Wilson here

"Big Brother didn't just change British telly, it also changed Britain."
Hugo Rifkind
The Times 27/8/2009

Why Big Brother's Death could be the Key to Channel 4's Survival
However you dress it up, the decision by Channel 4 to drop Big Brother after next year is neither particularly brave nor prescient. Just inevitable.  It may also help Channel 4's survival as a publicly owned broadcaster. 

Kevin Lygo, director of television and content, and Julian Bellamy, head of Channel 4, have made public their decision now as a result of a tangle of factors.  These include the evident desertion of many of Big Brother's natural audience - the fact that during 2009 it has become Invisible Big Brother, and not capable of revival. 

Then there is the precarious commercial reality for an advertising-funded channel. Channel 4's efficient sales department is no longer able to spin the granddaddy of reality shows' dying audience appeal into the glorious profit margins of yore: these pertained until 2007, but the cost of the programme contract shot up just as its appeal was fading.
MediaGuardian 27/8/2009
Read more...    DigitalSpy

Channel Five's 35% Revenue Slide Leads RTL Losses
Channel Five's revenues fell 35% in the first half of the year as the advertising recession hit hard, making it the worst-performing part of RTL Group's pan-European broadcasting and production business. 

The UK broadcaster's revenues were €138m (£121m) in the six months to June, down from €212m for the same period last year.  This 34.9% year-on-year decline was far worse than the 18.5% fall RTL recorded in Germany and the 16.5% in the Netherlands. 

RTL, majority-owned by German company Bertelsmann, also said today that the Five family of channels - including the digital channels Five USA and Fiver - lost market share in the first half of 2009, accounting for 7.9% of the TV advertising market, down from 8.9% in 2008.
MediaGuardian 27/8/2009
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Five Signs Justin Lee Collins to Boost Viewers
Five has stepped up its talent-led drive to boost audiences by signing an exclusive two-year deal with Justin Lee Collins, thought to be worth more than £1m.  Collins has worked with a variety of broadcasters in recent years, including The Justin Lee Collins Show for ITV2, The Sunday Night Project for Channel 4 and Oops TV for Sky 1, but is now tied to Five, where he will front a raft of entertainment and factual shows. 

Five channel controller Richard Woolfe, who worked with Collins while at Sky 1, said: "We did some audience research to find out who our audience thought would help transform the channel, and Justin's name came out top. The great thing about him is he transcends all genres and he is loved by grannies and kids."
Broadcastnow 27/8/2009
Read more...      Five in the News

End of the Line for British TVs
On Thursday the final TV set made in England is due to roll off the production line at Toshiba's factory in Plymouth.  When it does, it will mark the end of mass TV manufacturing in the UK - a technology the country invented.  

When John Logie Baird demonstrated his first television set to the world in 1926, a reporter from the Times wrote: "The image as transmitted was faint and often blurred, but substantiated the claim that through the 'televisor', as Mr Baird has named his apparatus, it is possible to transmit and reproduce instantly the details of movement, and such things as the play of expression on the face."  

From those cautious beginnings, Britain was to lead the world.
BBC News online 26/8/2009
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Big Brother 'to be Scrapped'
This year's series, the tenth so far, has attracted an average of just 2 million viewers, from a high of eight million only a few years ago.  According to reports an announcement from Channel 4 is expected as early as Friday, although the 11th series is likely to still be screened. 

A source told the Sun: "The reality is people are bored with it.  Even at Channel 4 the vibe among staff is that if you like Big Brother you're not cool.  If the people commissioning the show don't think it's cool, what hope is there?" 

One final series will be screened, due to the £180m contract between Channel 4 and makers Endemol. Producers promised the most diverse contestants in the show's history for the tenth series, but the show has failed to grab viewers' attention.
Daily Telegraph 26/8/2009
Read more...     Broadcastnow    MediaGuardian    The Reality of Reality TV

Channel 4 to Launch 'Creative Overhaul' as it Axes Big Brother
Channel 4 said today that it will use the axing of Big Brother for the "most fundamental creative overhaul" in its 27-year history, with measures including an extra £20m a year for drama. 

The broadcaster is pitching the axing of the long-running reality show, which has provided the backbone of Channel 4's schedule for the best part of a decade, as a chance for creative renewal, with an overhaul of the programming lineup and a refocusing on its public service broadcasting remit. 

Channel 4's decision to scrap Big Brother after next year's Celebrity version and the 11th main summer series will free up 200 hours of peak-time airtime from 2011 on the main network and digital entertainment service E4. 

Kevin Lygo, the Channel 4 director of television and content, said the broadcaster was still making a profit from Big Brother despite its ratings decline in recent years and could have looked to renew a deal with producer Endemol beyond 2010.
MediaGuardian 26/8/2009
Read more...     Channel 4 TV

Ofcom has Today Published the August Edition of the Media Literacy e-Bulletin.
This edition features items on the European Commission Recommendation on Media Literacy and the new National Open College Network Media Literacy qualification. Also included is an update on the work of the Champion for Digital Inclusion and the Transformation Fund. As usual, there is also information on campaigns, news from the Nations and dates for your diary.
Ofcom Media Literacy bulletin No 24 here   pdf here

Channel 4 Exploitation Row after Film-Maker is Airlifted from Wilderness Dying of Starvation
It promised to stretch reality television to the limit: one man pitting his wits against the Yukon wilderness with just a camera for company.  But hopes for an epic three-month contest between man and nature were dashed when adventurer Ed Wardle failed to go the distance. 

Seven weeks after striding out into the rugged forests of western Canada armed with a rifle and a fishing rod, Mr Wardle had to be airlifted back to civilisation suffering from starvation.  He sent out a distress call five weeks before he was due to finish filming his one-man survival programme Alone In The Wild for Channel 4. 

John Beyer, Director of mediawatch-uk, said last night: 'This is a pretty foolish enterprise.  If Channel 4 are going to send people on this kind of expedition, they really must make sure they are up to it and have the skills necessary to survive.  If they first of all did not check that Ed Wardle was competent, then that is the height of irresponsibility on the part of Channel 4, to do that merely to provide entertainment for us all back home to watch this man steadily deteriorate.' 

Mr Wardle was chosen for the project because of his ability as a cameraman and producer, and his experience of filming in the North Pole and on the summit of Everest.
Daily Mail 26/8/2009
Read more...      Channel 4 in the News

Wikipedia Recruits 20,000 Editors to Stop Malicious Tampering
Wikipedia has been forced to abandon its policy of allowing anyone to edit its pages.  An army of 20,000 unpaid 'expert editors' will be drafted in to check all changes to articles on living people before the pages go online.  The move is a response to the hijacking of the site by those with political or personal motives. 

Experts said the latest change was much more significant and 'crosses a psychological Rubicon'.  The system of 'flagged revisions' will compromise the founding principle that everyone has an equal right to edit any Wikipedia page. 

But Michael Snow, who is the chairman of the Wikimedia board, said it was no longer acceptable 'to throw things at the wall and see what sticks'.  Jimmy Wales, one of the site's founders, said: 'We have really become part of the infrastructure of how people get information. There is a serious responsibility.'
Daily Mail 26/8/2009
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Internet Cut-Off Threat for Illegal Downloaders
People who persist in swapping copyrighted films and music will have their internet connections cut off under tough new laws to be proposed by the government today.  The measures also include taking the power to target illegal downloaders away from regulator Ofcom and giving it to ministers to speed up the process. 

The decision to cut off peer-to-peer filesharers is unexpected since it was ruled out by the government's own Digital Britain report in June as going too far. In the report, the then communications minister Lord Carter said illegal filesharers should receive letters warning them their activities could leave them open to prosecution. If that failed to reduce piracy by at least 70%, Ofcom would have the power to call on internet companies such as BT to introduce so-called "technical measures" to combat piracy.

The most draconian of these measures was to slow down a persistent filesharer's broadband connection, but it would not appear until 2012.  But today the government will take the unusual step of proposing much stricter rules midway through the Digital Britain consultation process.
MediaGuardian 25/8/2009
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Loophole Over DVD Age Rating Law
Retailers who sell violent video games and 18-rated DVDs to children cannot be prosecuted because of a legal blunder 25 years ago.  Dozens of prosecutions under a 1984 Act have been dropped because the government of the day failed to notify the European Commission about the law. 

But previous prosecutions will stand, according to the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS).  The Lib Dems said the error had "thrown film censorship into chaos". 

The Video Recordings Act (VRA) was brought in by Margaret Thatcher's government and set down that videos and video games must be classified and age rated by the British Board of Film Classification.  It made it illegal to sell violent video games to children and the most explicit adult films could be sold only in licensed sex shops. 

Culture Media and Sport Minister Barbara Follett has written to the industry bodies to inform them the act was "no longer enforceable".  In her letter, she said:

"Unfortunately, the discovery of this omission means that, a quarter of a century later, the VRA is no longer enforceable against individuals in United Kingdom courts."  Mrs Follett said the government hoped to remedy the "unfortunate situation" as quickly as possible.  She asked the industry bodies to handle the situation with "care and sensitivity" to ensure "minimal" advantage is taken of the loophole.
BBC News online 25/8/2009
Read more...     Daily Mail      The Times

Parts of Britain 'like The Wire'
The shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, has compared parts of the UK to The Wire, a US television show which portrays inner city drugs and violence.  In a speech later, Mr Grayling will argue that the UK now suffers from the same culture of gangs and street violence found in the US. 

He will also argue that Labour has failed to protect the poorest parts of Britain from crime.  But the government said crime had fallen by 36% since it came to power.  Mr Grayling will tell an audience in Westminster that British police are fighting an "urban war" against gangs and that violence in society has become "a norm and not an exception". 

The Wire, which is currently being shown on BBC Two, has been acclaimed for its realistic portrayal of the struggle between police and drug-dealing gangs on the streets of Baltimore in Maryland.
BBC News online 25/8/2009
Read more...     Daily Mail

Hulu Courts Broadcasters for 2010 Launch
US web-TV service Hulu is unlikely to launch until 2010, according to sources close to the video-on-demand platform.  Anticipation had been building for a September launch, but Broadcastnow understands that News Corp, NBC Universal and Disney are taking longer than expected to woo UK broadcasters, with Channel 4 understood to be a particular sticking point. 

Hulu is understood to need buy-in from at least two UK broadcasters to have enough content to launch and will bolster this with some content from the US broadcasters' back catalogue.  It is expected to pursue a non-exclusive deal with BBC Worldwide, which has supplied content to rival VoD platforms MSN Video Player and Blinkbox.
Broadcastnow 25/8/2009
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BBC Censured Over Star's Swearing
An interview with actor Tony Curtis has landed BBC Radio Ulster a rebuke from media watchdog Ofcom, after he peppered his conversation with swear words.  The Hollywood star was speaking on the Talkback programme in May, which is broadcast at lunchtime. 

The BBC said Curtis thought the show was being pre-recorded, and said sorry on air when he realised his mistake.  But Ofcom said his language "exceeded generally accepted standards", adding that guests should be properly briefed.  The broadcaster, which received two complaints from listeners, later issued a public apology. 

Ofcom said that, despite the apologies, the use of specific profanities were "likely to have gone beyond the expectations of the audience for a programme of this type and at this time". 

Virgin 1 was also found in breach of broadcasting regulations for screening an 18-rated episode of The X Files before the watershed.  The story showed someone undergoing an exorcism and struggling to the extent their neck bones made cracking noises.
BBC News online 24/8/2009
Read more...      Broadcastnow    

Broadcast Bulletin No 140 here

Government Responds to mediawatch-uk's Stop Swearing on TV Petition
The Government believes that it is important that we have high standards across our broadcasting sector particularly in public service broadcasting.

However, it is a long-standing principle that the Government does not interfere in programme matters, either on arrangements for scheduling or on content, as it is important to maintain the principle of freedom of expression which political interference could undermine. 

For this reason, Ofcom, the BBC Trust and S4C are independent of the Government and are responsible for safeguarding the public interest in broadcasting. They set out the rules and guidance with which broadcasters must comply. 

Within this framework, it is the broadcasters' job to make judgements about what individual programmes should contain and the time at which they are broadcast.
No 10 Petitions Team 24/8/2009      View Petition

'Bully Firms' Cash in on Contracts for TV icences
BBC chiefs were accused of treating viewers with contempt last night after refusing to halt a multimillion pound gravy train that allows private companies to make recession-proof profits for collecting licence fees. 

Call centre companies and advertising firms are raking in hundreds of millions of pounds to run a collection agency that regulators have criticised as "bullies". At least £120million of viewers' money drains into the private hands of TV Licensing every year, equivalent to almost a million licence fees. 

The cash is subsidising an army of enforcement officials, an unknown number of "detector vans" and last year a £10million pay, shares and bonus package for the boss of Capita Business Services, the main member of the collection consortium. 

John Beyer, director of viewer watchdog mediawatch-uk, said the spotlight should now be shone on Capita's role. "Viewers will be horrified that such large amounts are being paid to a private organisation they haven't even heard of rather than into programme making. This dead money is simply fuelling a bureaucracy and profits for someone else." 

TV Licensing said its costs were just 3.4% of the BBC budget and had been substantially reduced over the past decade. It added it had been successful in driving "record sales" of TV licences, which meant more money for programme making.
Sunday Express 23/8/2009
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Opera Perks Hit Wrong Note
Despite some BBC bosses earning more than the Prime Minister, it appears some just can't resist the temptation of a high-brow freebie.  In less than two years BBC directors have been showered with free tickets to operas and ballets worth up to £12,000. 

Mark Thompson, who earns £834,000 a year, accepted two free invitations to the opera in the space of 10 days, a dossier of the director general's perks revealed.  Only Mark Byford, the BBC's deputy director general, has made a habit of donating the value of his freebies to charities and other causes. 

John Beyer, director of mediawatch-uk, said Mr Byford's example should be applauded.  "It's good to know he has the common sense to make donations like that, so I would praise him for it."
Sunday Express 23/8/2009
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The Internet TV Revolution
Are you a slave to the TV schedule? Well, not for much longer. This year sees the arrival of a new generation of web-based TV services that build on the massive success of the BBC's iPlayer, allowing you to catch up with programmes you missed  -  or to revisit old classics. 

And instead of having to tune in at a particular time for a broadcast, internet TV allows you to become the scheduler, choosing what you want to watch, and when you want to watch it. It promises to revolutionise the way we watch TV. 

One of the most exciting developments comes from computer giant Microsoft, which this month began trials of its MSN Video Player, offering free access to over 300 hours of classic TV from the BBC and leading independent producer All3Media.
Daily Mail Weekend 22/8/2009
Read more...

From the archive
Why We'll Soon be Watching TV Via the Internet, by Bill Gates
The Internet will revolutionise television within five years, Bill Gates predicted yesterday. Instead of being slaves to network schedulers, we will be able to watch the programmes we want, said the founder of Microsoft.

He said high-speed Internet video streaming would be used to transform the way we watched major sporting events or major elections. Streaming technology has already been taken up by computer owners to watch films and video clips.

Mr Gates said wireless transmitters have been developed to send pictures and sound from a computer directly to a television in a nearby room. Viewers will become their own TV directors, switching cameras to the sports events or candidates or election results that they are interested in, Mr Gates told business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The changes will be bad news for television companies that are slow to adapt, Mr Gates warned. YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley said the impact on advertising would be profound with the future promising ads tailored to each viewers profile.

Advertisers are already racing to adapt to the growing power of the Internet and experts predict it will draw more and more promotional cash from television.
Daily Mail 29/1/2007

ITV.com Revenue 'Set to Triple this Year'
ITV's television advertising revenues may be plummeting but income from ITV.com, the broadcaster's online TV service, looks on course to more than triple this year to over £30m. 

To date, ITV has struggled to build a sizeable revenue stream from its digital activities, most recently selling off Friends Reunited at a £150m loss on its purchase price in 2005. However, analysts Screen Digest forecast ITV.com to make as much as £34m in ad revenue this year. 

Screen Digest believes that ITV.com, which offers simulcasts and a catchup service for the broadcaster's shows, is gradually amassing a sizeable audience. It estimated ITV.com's revenues at £8.9m in 2008. 

"The revenue increase comes from a mixture of increasingly large audience levels and ITV becoming a world leader in monetising its content," said Dan Cryan, an analyst at Screen Digest. "ITV have a higher number of ads running per programme viewed as video-on-demand than any other broadcaster in any other major market."
MediaGuardian 21/8/2009
Read more...     ITV in the News

Merger Proposed for Flagship Film Bodies
Plans to merge the UK Film Council (UKFC) and the British Film Institute (BFI) into a single body to support film could benefit both the film-going public and the industry, Film Minister Siôn Simon said today. 

An organisation with both a cultural and economic remit would mean public support for film is better coordinated, with more of the available funding channelled directly to frontline services. A proposed merger, designed to protect the key existing functions of both the BFI and UKFC while reducing gaps and overlaps, is now being considered by Government and industry leaders. 
DCMS news release 20/8/2009
Read more...

Commission sets New Information Society Challenge: Becoming Literate in New Media
The way we use media is changing, the volume of information enormous, demanding more of us than being able to read, write or use a computer. 

The European Commission today warned that Europeans young and old could miss out on the benefits of today's high-tech information society unless more is done to make them 'media literate' enough to access, analyse and evaluate images, sounds and texts and use traditional and new media to communicate and create media content.

The Commission said EU countries and the media industry need to increase awareness of the many media messages people encounter, be they advertisements, movies or online content.
EU News release 20/8/2009
Read more...     Being Media Literate

Famous Women Head BBC Four Season
A series of dramas about famous British women of the 20th Century leads the autumn season on BBC Four.  Jane Horrocks will play singer Gracie Fields, while Helena Bonham Carter portrays children's author Enid Blyton. 

The series, which also sees Anne-Marie Duff as ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn, explores what spurred on these women at the height of their artistic powers.  Another drama sees actress Sophie Okonedo play Winnie Mandela, former wife of South African leader Nelson.  The biopic looks at the controversy that has surrounded her life in the public eye.
BBC News online 20/8/2009
Read more...     BBC News release     BBC4 TV

Premier Christian Radio set for National Digital Launch
Premier Christian Radio is set to launch on national digital radio - and is asking its listeners to help meet the £650,000 annual transmission cost. 

The station, which currently broadcasts on medium wave and DAB in the London area, as well as on digital TV and online, is understood to have reached an agreement with the national commercial DAB operator Digital One to begin transmitting across the country on 21 September. 

"We have been hard at work with our lawyers to finalise the agreement for the licence," said Premier chief executive Peter Kerridge in an email to listeners.  "But now comes the really hard part. Beginning in September, we will start to incur the cost to transmit on this digital platform - £650,000 per annum - which is an expense that is over and above our current operating costs," added Kerridge.
MediaGuardian 19/8/2009
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Average Video Gamer is 35, Fat and Depressed
Playing video games is often regarded as a pastime for children and teenagers.  But the average age of players is now 35 - and it seems they have similar problems to their younger counterparts, according to researchers. 

Adults who spend hours in front of a games console every day are more likely to be fat and depressed than those who don't, a U.S. study found.  They also rely more on the internet - rather than flesh and blood friends and colleagues - for social support. 

Investigators from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in San Diego, California, looked at the behaviour of more than 500 adults aged between 19 and 90.  Around 45% of those who responded to a survey said they played video games.
Daily Mail 20/8/2009
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UK Games Market Being 'Strangled'
One of Germany's largest video games publishers has said that the UK's retail chains make it difficult for publishers to break into the UK market.  Georg Larch, Koch Media's marketing director, also blamed the exchange rate and UK pricing structure for the difficulties faced by games publishers.  

Industry experts say the second-hand market also stifles industry growth.  Mr Larch said at the Games Com meeting that a rise in digital distribution would make things easier in the future. 

He told BBC News while the firm's turnover in Germany had risen by 18% this year, in Britain that figure was much lower.  "We're seeing companies like Amazon take a larger market share, and the growth of digital distribution, but it's going to be a long-term development as people still want to have something in their hands," he said.
BBC News online 20/8/2009
Read more...

Audience complaints
Ofcom News release 19/8/2009

Censors Reject 'Sadistic' Horror
A Japanese horror film has been refused an 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) because of its graphic torture scenes. 

According to BBFC director David Cooke, Grotesque presented "little more than an unrelenting and escalating scenario of humiliation, brutality and sadism".   Its "unacceptable content", he added, meant cuts were "not a viable option".  

The BBFC rarely refuses to pass films, having denied only three titles seeking an 18 rating over the last four years.   These include violent sex thriller Murder Set Pieces and Terrorists, Killers And Other Wackos, a film comprising real clips of execution and torture.
BBC News online 19/8/2009
Read more...    BBFC News release    Press Association

X Factor Contestants to Face Judgment on Their Mental Health
Few reality TV contestants can be unaware of the pressures of celebrity after witnessing the overnight fame of Susan Boyle, the singer who became a global star when she won over an initially hostile audience on Britain's Got Talent.

An overhaul of the treatment of those taking part in this year's series of The X Factor, prompted in part by Boyle's collapse and admission to a private clinic, will see contestants in the later stages undergoing thorough psychological appraisals to judge their fitness to compete.

Production company TalkbackThames, which makes both ITV reality series, has introduced new guidelines for The X Factor, the new series of which begins on Saturday, in an attempt to give contestants extra support.

These will include psychologists being on set throughout the show's run - previously they were only on call - and special care being given to one contestant who has Asperger's syndrome. For the first time, full psychological appraisals will be undertaken on the final 24 contestants.
MediaGuardian 19/08/2009
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Ofcom Hires Headhunters to find new C4 Chairman
The media regulator Ofcom has appointed a firm of headhunters to officially begin the search for a new Channel 4 chairman to replace Luke Johnson. Johnson, the entrepreneur and head of venture capital firm Risk Capital Partners, will step down in January after six years in the job when his term of office ends.

It is understood that Ofcom has appointed the Zygos Partnership, which previously led the search for ITV's executive chairman Michael Grade, to begin the hunt for a successor to Johnson. Adverts for the role will be placed early next month.
MediaGuardian 19/08/2009
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TV Spend Holds Up as Public Stays in
People would rather scale back going out before cutting their spend on TV during the current recession, a study has claimed.

A report published by Deloitte/YouGuv for this year's Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival found that 43% of people would rather give up eating out than reducing their spend on TV subscriptions and pay-per-view. A further 38% said they would cut back on going to the cinema or the pub.

The contrast between staying in and going out was particularly stark among 35-to 44-year-olds, 45% of whom said they would eat out less before reducing their spend on TV, compared to 35% of the younger 18-24 age group.

The researchers also found that 45% of viewers were watching TV for more than an hour a day, with 19% saying they watched more factual programmes than they used to and 18% watching more news. The findings are in line with an earlier Ofcom poll that found fewer than one in five people planned to cut their spend on TV.
BroadcastNow 19/08/2009
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TV Goes Online Under Canvas
Crunch time is approaching for Project Canvas, the service designed to bring catch-up television from the internet into the nation's living rooms. The joint venture, combining the BBC, ITV, BT and the recent addition of Five, hopes to have its first set-top boxes on sale by Christmas next year, but it faces opposition from rival broadcasters and could still be scuppered by industry regulators. 

The next crucial date for the project is 1 September, when the BBC Trust closes its second consultation period and prepares to pass initial judgement on the viability of the scheme shortly afterwards. The trust will be the first regulatory hurdle, but if it passes, it is unlikely to be the last. 

Project Canvas was devised to agree a common standard for the free delivery of digital and online programmes. Viewers will be able to receive the service from a set-top box, using either a digital aerial through Freeview or a satellite dish with Freesat. A "hybrid" box would include a broadband connection to offer on-demand internet TV.
The Independent 18/8/2009
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'Screenagers' Use Computers and Video Games for up to Ten Hours a Day
Youngsters have turned into 'screenagers' who spend nearly ten hours a day glued to TVs, computers, phones and video games.  Much of the time they are texting, playing games consoles, surfing the internet, scrolling through their iPods or staring at screens during school lessons. 

But the television is still the main attention-grabber, with the average child watching for 19 hours a week. 

Clare McDougall, education programme director from the energy firm npower, which carried out research among 3,000 seven to 16-year-olds, said: "The summer holidays are traditionally a time when you expect children to be outdoors playing with their friends."
Daily Mail 17/8/2009
Read more...

Virgin Media signs Disney Exec to Lead TV Strategy
Disney's interactive chief Cindy Rose is to join Virgin Media to oversee the operator's TV strategy.  In the new role of executive director of television, Rose will also lead development of VM's digital platform and video-on-demand service. 

In 14 years at Disney, she has held the positions of UK and Ireland managing director and, most recently, managing director of the Disney Interactive Media Group for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

During that time, she was responsible for the launch of ‘virtual worlds' for franchises such as Pirates of the Caribbean and the social network Club Penguin.  The new position at VM effectively replaces the chief executive of content role occupied by Malcolm Wall, who left the company in March.
Broadcastnow 17/8/2009
Read more...     Virgin Media in the News

Legal Limit Planned for Top-Slicing of Licence Fee
The government could introduce legislation to ringfence the part of the licence fee it wants to use for children's programmes and ITV regional news, in the hope that this would mollify the BBC's trenchant opposition to the plan.

No new legislation would be needed to "top-slice" 3.5% of the licence fee each year from 2012 and make it available to provide public service content for other broadcasters, as the government proposes. However, it could agree to ringfence the proportion of the licence fee it wants to use in the forthcoming digital economy bill, to stop future administrations siphoning off more - one of the BBC's main fears about the top-slicing plan.

A consultation is under way about top-slicing, and is due to close in September. The Queen's Speech, in which the digital economy bill will be officially unveiled, is not expected until mid-November.

Microsoft Reveals First Online TV Figures
Microsoft's online TV player has attracted almost 170,000 views of shows including Shameless, Peep Show and The Young Ones in the first 11 full days since it launched in the UK.

The first figures on usage, revealed by MediaGuardian.co.uk, show that up until the morning of 14 August, 11 full days, there had been 167,487 views of shows and the video website has attracted 154,841 users. So far, the most popular shows are Derren Brown: Trick of the Mind, How to Look Good Naked, Peep Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look and The Young Ones.

Ashley Highfield, the managing director of consumer and online at Microsoft UK, described these as promising figures - especially as MSN Video Player offers archive programming, not a catchup service of the kind already proven to be a winner with consumers. "We are very happy with the first numbers - it is a very encouraging start," he said.
mediaGuardian 17/8/2009
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The issue came to light earlier this month after human resources and development manager Isabel Cosgrove wrote to BBC in-house magazine Ariel to ask "how on earth" execs were allowed to claim for flowers.
BroadcastNow 17/8/2009
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According to the Financial Times, the satellite giant said the Trust's conduct of a consultation process on Canvas "will only serve to undermine further industry confidence in its ability and inclination to act as a genuinely independent regulator of the BBC".

Since February this year, the Trust has been conducting a market impact assessment and public value test to see whether Canvas - the BBC ITV, BT and Five partnership seen as the successor to Freeview - is a suitable use of the licence fee.
BroadcastNow 17/8/2009
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Managing director of content and production Wayne Garvie said: "William is a rare beast: someone who has excelled in both television production and the retail world, and combined both. He will be taking talent literally outside the box, building an awareness of them overseas and establishing new routes to market for them around the world."

Miller added: "BBCW is already extending key television brands around the globe such as Dancing with the Stars and Top Gear. Britain has some of the best on screen talent in the world so I'm really looking forward to creating new commercial opportunities with them and BBCW in the same way."
BroadcastNow 17/8/2009
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New Laws Could Mean Children Disappear from TV, say Broadcasters
Children could disappear from our television screens if the Government decides to press ahead with plans to tighten regulations covering their appearance in entertainment, broadcasters claim. 

The Department for Children, Schools and Families is putting the finishing touches to proposals aimed at clarifying the rules governing reality shows such as Britain's Got Talent and Boys and Girls Alone, which campaigners claim can cause children unnecessary distress. 

The television industry is braced for a fierce battle with children's charities and the Government over the proposals, which will suggest that programme makers must obtain a licence from a local council virtually every time they want to include a child in a television show. Councils also want the power to do spot checks on production sets.
The Times 15/8/2009
Read more...

Alarm Sounded over Game Futures
A stark warning about the finances of the games industry has been aired at the Edinburgh Interactive conference.  The sector had suffered "significant disruption" to its business model, Edward Williams, from BMO Capital Markets told the industry gathering.  

"For Western publishers, profitability hasn't grown at all in the past few years and that's before we take 2009 into account," he said.   By contrast, he said, Chinese firms were still seeing improved profits. What makes the difference between Western firms and Chinese developers was the way they went about getting products to players. 

Western publishers, said Mr Williams, still relied on the traditional develop methods of putting a game on a DVD and then selling that through retail channels.  Chinese developers focussed primarily on the PC market and used direct download, rather than retail stores, to get games to consumers.
BBC news online 14/8/2009
Read more...    Games/Internet

Plans to Impose 18 Certificate for Smoking
Children under 18 will be banned from watching films that depict characters smoking under plans being considered by council 'thought police'.  An 18 certificate  -  usually reserved for movies with violent and sexual content  -  will be slapped on any film featuring smokers that fails to explain cigarettes are bad for you. 

The ban will target new releases, but could affect older films such as 101 Dalmatians and Disney's Peter Pan, the Little Mermaid and Pinnocchio if they are reissued and reclassified.  Casablanca, Titanic and Lord of the Rings would be restricted to adults under the plans proposed for Liverpool. 

One exception to the new rules will be movies which feature major historical characters who are known to be smokers. So any films with Winston Churchill brandishing his trademark cigar would not be affected.
Daily Mail 13/8/2009
Read more...     BBFC - News and Reports     Film is a very subversive thing

China Scales Back Screening Plan
China has scaled back its plans to install controversial net filtering software on its citizens' computers.  In June, the government said that all PCs would have to have the "Green Dam Youth Escort" software installed to filter out objectionable material.  The announcement caused an outcry in China and further afield. 

The government has now said that citizens can choose whether they use the program, although installations on public computers will still go ahead. 

"Installation is intended to block violent and pornographic content on the internet to protect children," said China's minister of industry and information technology Li Yizhong.  "Any move to politicise the issue or to attack China's internet management system is irresponsible and not in line with reality."
BBC News online 13/8/2009
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Vicar Fights Swansea Lap Dancing Club Application
A vicar in Swansea is fighting plans for a new lap dancing club and has called for the council to refuse the club's application.  Fantasy Lounge submitted its plans to the council last month hoping to convert a derelict warehouse into an adult club. 

The vicar of St Mary's in Swansea, Andrew Vessey, believes that the club would be an "inappropriate" use of space, and has told the council it has the chance to show it has standards. 

He said: "What people do with their own money and time is up to them, but when it's clearly open to the public in a city centre that has already got quite enough venues, there is a concern by those of us who have standards and ideals that this is inappropriate.  It's an inappropriate use of space and inappropriate use of the female body."
ChristianToday 12/8/2009
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Freesat to Launch On-Demand Before Canvas
Freesat has revealed plans to launch a video on demand offering before any initiative from IPTV joint venture Project Canvas reaches the market.  Speaking to Digital Spy, Freesat trade marketing manager James Atkins explained that when the Freesat platform was launched back in May 2008, there were efforts to ensure that the products would remain "relevant for a period of years rather than just a period of months". 

The platform currently supports various services, such as Red Button interactivity via MHEG-5, which Atkins said is "very, very quick" on digital satellite. However, he explained that the "real innovation" to come on the platform in future will derive from its utilisation of IPTV. 

"There is nothing worse than buying a product and then being told two months later that your product is out of date," he said. "We developed our product with a pretty high level of specification in the knowledge that IPTV was going to develop and we are at that stage now where it looks like it is going to happen."
DigitalSpy 12/8/2009
Read more...    Freesat

Kids' Top Searches Include 'Porn'
A survey of children's web habits shows that "sex" and "porn" are among the top 10 most-searched terms. 

The study logged webpage visits through security firm Symantec's OnlineFamily.Norton, a web-monitoring service for parents.  Video website YouTube topped the list, as did search engines Google and Yahoo, along with social networking sites Facebook and MySpace. 

The survey scanned 3.5 million searches between February 2008 and July 2009.  In a statement Symantec's internet safety advocate, Marian Merritt, said that with the service, "parents can stay in the loop on what their kids are doing online".
BBC News online 12/8/2009
Read more...    Time to strengthen the law

From the archive
Half of All Children are Logging on to Porn Sites
Millions of youngsters using the Internet are routinely exposed to pornography - and their parents have no idea, research has revealed.  More than half have viewed explicit material on the Web while a quarter have been sent pornographic e-mails. 

At least 50% have used an Internet chatroom and almost as many have given personal information to someone they met online - even though it may make them vulnerable to potential paedophiles. 

The finding are the result of a two-year study of 1,500 nine to 19-year-olds by the London School of Economics, backed by the media regulator Ofcom, children's charity NCH and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. 

Overall, 57% of youngsters had seen Internet porn.  More than a fifth of nine to 11-year-olds had been exposed to it but only 16% of parents realised their child, of any age, had seen such material.
Daily Mail 27/4/2005

Music, Videos and Clothing are Sexualising our Children
A leading rape expert has attacked the 'increasing sexualisation of children'.  Suggestive clothing and explicit music videos are eroding society's values, said Dr Catherine White, clinical director of the sexual assault referral centre at St Mary's Hospital in Manchester.  It opened a special suite in 2006 for under-18s, expecting to see 250 a year, but that soon rose to 400. 

Campaigners say girls are encouraged to copy provocative images and young males react by treating them as sex objects, putting girls more at risk of sexual assaults and domestic violence.  Dr White said parents had a key role to play.

"There's an increasing sexualisation of children. When you see a little girl wearing a T-shirt with a Playboy bunny, that's wrong isn't it? I've seen another that said "Porn star in the making".  "Music videos are extremely influential," she added.
Daily Mail 12/8/2009
Read more...     Pop Culture Goes Mad    Toxic Media Harming Children

How Facebook's $50m Deal Could Help it to Web Domination
Spurned by Twitter - for which it last year offered a rumoured $500m (£300m) - Facebook has instead this week bought FriendFeed, a social networking site that previously had barely scratched the surface of the public consciousness. 

The deal appears to be an attempt to confound Google by making Facebook the largest space on the web that the search engine cannot index properly. It will also gain three of Google's former star employees who played a vital role in developing its biggest money-making ideas. 

"Since I first tried FriendFeed, I've admired their team for creating such a simple and elegant service for people to share information," said Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder and chief executive of Facebook in the official announcement. It appears that he wants the team - not the site itself.
MediaGuardian 12/8/2009
Read more...    Games/Internet

Strictly Come Dancing scraps Sunday Show to up War Ratings War
It's strictly one show from now on. BBC1 intends to dominate Saturday nights by screening an extended version of Strictly Come Dancing.  Bosses have abandoned the format of the past two years, in which a prerecorded results show, complete with dance-off, was screened on Sundays after Saturday's main show. 

Instead, for the first time in Strictly's six-year history, the dancers will compete and then, after public voting and a danceoff, one act will foxtrot off.  A BBC spokeswoman told the Mirror: "We wanted to make Strictly Come Dancing an unmissable TV event so we are packing all the action into one dramatic show. Audiences will be watching, voting and seeing who is in and who is out on Saturday night."
The Mirror 12/8/2009
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Digital Switchover to Commence in Wales
Around 130,000 households in Wales will make the permanent transition to digital television tomorrow as the switchover begins in the country.  At midnight tonight, the Kilvey Hill transmitter group covering Swansea and Neath Port Talbot will switch off analogue BBC Two to be replaced with a multiplex of BBC digital channels. 

The second phase of the process will go ahead on September 9 when all analogue channels will be turned off permanently to be replaced with high-power transmissions of digital multiplexes.
DigitalSpy 11/8/2009
Read more...     Digital UK

Faster Broadband Won't Make us Watch More TV Online
Faster internet would make no difference to most people's online viewing habits, a survey has found.  The result calls into question hopes of an online TV boom fuelled by superfast broadband. 

The survey, commissioned from Deloitte and YouGov by the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival, found that 53% of people would not watch more online TV or video clips even with a faster, more reliable broadband connection.  Some 29% of the 2,123 viewers surveyed felt that there was "little importance" in being able to watch TV using an online service. 

Younger respondents, aged 18 to 24, were more likely to already watch TV online, but 43% still said that a faster broadband connection would not increase their internet viewing habits. 

The most viewed genres of online video were news and comedy, which 34% said they watched. Music ranked second, watched by 30%, with sport and documentaries/factual programming ranked third equal with 23% each.  Reality TV programmes and factual entertainment shows ranked bottom, with just 7% of respondents admitting watching such content online.
MediaGuardian 10/8/2009
Read more...      New safeguards needed     The Reality of Reality TV

Fox Out of Running to Take Over as ITV Chief
Simon Fox, the chief executive of HMV, is out of the race to run ITV, Britain's largest commercial broadcaster. The retail chain confirmed last night that Mr Fox had decided that he wanted to complete a turnaround of the music and DVD business. 

Mr Fox had been seen as a front-runner for the job as chief executive of ITV, replacing Michael Grade, the executive chairman, who has decided to step down to a part-time role later this year.  However, it is understood that Mr Fox has told the board of HMV that he will not be moving to the broadcaster because he is only two years into his three-year turnaround plan. 

The pressure on him to remain at HMV, which also owns Waterstone's, the book store chain, increased last week when analysts at Morgan Stanley forecast that the retail chain's figures would worsen next year as music, video and games markets continued to weaken.
The Times 10/8/2009
Read more...     ITV in the News

To Save the BBC, Strip It of the Licence Fee
by Frank Field
The BBC is dying. The race is on to save public service broadcasting for the nation. Auntie's death is not coming about by hostile market forces. The commercial sector of broadcasting is in even worse shape. It is, rather, the steady, remorseless march of the digital revolution that spells the end of the BBC as we have known it. 

The idea of the BBC, and its role as the provider of public service broadcasting, was very much the result of the limited scope for transmitting broadcasts back in the 1920s when our story begins. A strict limitation on the number of broadcasting wavelengths - and then TV channels - lasted until quite recently and made the case for a dominant BBC position.
Sunday Times 9/8/2009
Read article     Abolish the Licence Fee?

Jonathan Ross Loses 540,000 Listeners From his Radio 2 Show in a Year
Listeners are deserting Jonathan Ross's Radio 2 show in droves following the Andrew Sachs phone scandal.  The controversial presenter has seen ratings for his Saturday morning show slump in the past three months. 

The presenter's average weekly audience between March and June has been 2.85million.  That is 180,000 below the average of 3.03million for the first three months of this year, and 540,000 down on the 3.39million from the first quarter of 2008.  

Ross's falling audience figures come at a time when radio listening as a whole has hit an all time high, with middle-class favourites Radio 3 and Radio 4 enjoying a boom.
Daily Mail 7/8/2009
Read more...    MediaGuardian

How BBC Keeps it in the Family
A staggering £1.2million has been paid by the BBC in the past year to companies owned by relatives of corporation executives.  Details of the huge pay-outs emerged as another BBC boss came under fire yesterday over her husband's lucrative links with the broadcaster. 

Days after the revelation that BBC1 controller Jay Hunt helps run her husband's media training company which coaches BBC staff, the second row involved Jana Bennett, the third highest paid executive at the corporation on a basic salary of £406,000 a year. 

The BBC vision director's husband Richard Clemmow is a director and 10 per cent stakeholder in Juniper Communications, which received £715,000 of the £1.2million in the last year.  Altogether the company has raked in more than £2million of licence-payers' cash for making programmes for the BBC. 

The chief executive and majority shareholder in Juniper is Samir Shah, a non- executive member on the BBC board, and his wife Belkis is the third shareholder.  The fresh revelations raised new doubts about the BBC's conflict of interest regulations and prompted renewed calls from MPs for a formal investigation by the corporation's governing body.
Daily Mail 7/8/2009
Read more...     BBC in the News

Virgin Media Losses Narrow as Customers Spend More
Losses narrowed at Virgin Media as customers spent at record levels demonstrating the strength of the pay TV model over free-to-air counterparts in the downturn, but it failed to match the growth seen by rival BSkyB.  The Nasdaq-listed group's net loss fell to £49m in the second quarter, against £449m this time last year, although the company had taken a one-off hit on its mobile business.
The Independent 7/8/2009
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Timms to Lead 'Digital Britain'
Treasury minister Stephen Timms is to take charge of delivering the plan for the future of the UK digital industry.  Mr Timms, who remains as financial secretary to the Treasury, will report in the new role to Lord Mandelson and Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw.  

The Digital Britain blueprint was published in June by ex-communications minister Lord Carter.   The plan proposed measures including a £6-a-year charge on all phone lines to pay for next generation broadband.   The plan's other key points include making broadband access available to all by 2012, a changed role for Channel 4, a consultation on how to fund local, national and regional news and a push towards digital radio. 

Mr Timms is a former e-commerce minister who previously worked in the telecommunications sector.  Downing Street said creative industries minister Sion Simon would lead on aspects of the report in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, with the work overseen by Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw and Business Secretary Lord Mandelson.
BBC News online 6/8/2009
Media Politics

Grade's Successor at ITV Needs to Reunite it with Profits
The broadcaster appears to have made little progress since unveiling the biggest loss in the history of the media industry earlier this year.  Its revenue and debt positions were marginally ahead of expectations, there was a slight gain in market share and capital expenditure has fallen from £26m to £15m. 

However, these improvements are unlikely to address the longer-term challenges posed by its growing pension deficit, competition from pay-TV broadcasters and the slow shift towards online viewing that Mr Grade's successor will have to address.  Despite the ITV boss's claim that his team had shown "phenomenal achievements", analysts from Investec noted that there are "no new catalysts: on costs or chief executive".
Daily Telegrpah 6/8/2009
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ITV Digital Channels may Leave Freeview
ITV bosses have declared they would be open to putting their digital channels ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4 exclusively on Sky and Virgin Media, if a higher carriage fee for the channels could be negotiated. 

Speaking at this morning's annual results, executive chairman Michael Grade said "the key lesson of the recession" was diversifying ITV's revenues away from being reliant on spot advertising, and as such, finding other ways to generate revenue was "high on the agenda".  Chief operating officer John Cresswell added that premium ITV content exclusively on Sky or Virgin would be "brilliant" for either carrier.
Broadcastnow 6/8/2009
Read more...      ITV in the News

Why TV is a Massive Turn-Off for Over-65s: They're Fed Up with Repeats, Swearing and Violence
Almost half of over-65s believe television has deteriorated in the past five years because of bad language, violence and the soaring number of repeats.  Research by media regulator Ofcom found that 46% of older viewers think that content quality and the range of programmes that channels offer has worsened. 

At the same time, more than a fifth of pensioners claimed that falling standards were the result of broadcasters screening more violence and bad language in their shows.  And of the 2,000 over-65s surveyed, the majority - 62% - cited the steady rise in the number of repeats being screened on mainstream TV as a key reason for their frustration. 

Last year, the five main channels broadcast 33,165 hours of original programming - a fall of 3% from 2007 and a slump of 5.6% from 2003.

John Beyer, director of lobby group mediawatch-uk, said: 'Ofcom's findings show how strongly people feel about issues of taste, harm and offence. Over the past few years we have seen TV audiences increasingly state their dissatisfaction with the broadcast output - and it seems no one is doing anything about it.  I am calling on Ofcom to take seriously their own research and the complaints, and show they are listening to viewers' concerns.'
Daily Mail 6/8/2009
Read more...     Ofcom in the News

Communications Not Dented by Downturn
The recession is failing to dent our love of communications, with UK consumers spending more time than ever before watching TV, using their mobile phone and surfing the internet. 

But we are taking more control over how we use our communications, as well as seeking out and getting good deals in the downturn.  Ofcom's sixth Communications Market Report into the £52 billion TV, radio, broadband, telecoms and mobile industries reveals just how important these services remain to consumers despite the recession. 

When asked which items they were likely to cut back on, 47% would choose to cut back on going out for dinner, 41% on DIY and 41% on holidays.  This compares with only a fifth (19%) who would cut back on mobile phone spend, 16% on TV subscriptions and 10% on their broadband services.
Ofcom News release 6/8/2009 
Read more...    Communications Market Report     Full Document pdf

iPlayer Doubles its Reach
BBC iPlayer has more than doubled its reach in the past year and is five times more popular than ITV's catch-up service, Ofcom's annual communications market report has revealed.  The regulator has published figures from Nielsen Online that reveal that 15% of web users - 5.2m - access iPlayer compared to 3.3% who use ITV Player.

Demand Five, 4oD and Sky Player all have a 1% reach.  Almost a quarter of homes watched catch-up TV online in 2008, up from 17% in 2007 to 23%. The BBC launched iPlayer on Virgin Media's on-demand service last April and by the end of the year BBC content was receiving 17m views a month on the platform. 

However, viewing remains primarily online, with 41m views in December.  Channel 4 is experiencing the reverse, with 5.9m views of 4oD content on Virgin in December compared to 5m online.
Broadcastnow 6/8/2009
Read more...     Major gap in regulation    ATVOD

Ofcom: Social Networking on the Rise
The credit crunch means we are turning to Facebook, texting, on-demand TV and Twitter over holidays and nights out, according to Ofcom.  In its Communications Market Report, the communications watchdog found that up to May 2009, 19 million people were using social networking website Facebook for an average of six hours a month - up from four hours a month the previous year. 

But the number of 15-24 year olds using social networking sites fell during the year from 55% to 50%. Ofcom did not survey young people under the age of 14. 

Twitter's online presence has also shot up over the last year, from 0.1 million Tweeters to 2.6 million in May.  And mobile phone use is on the rise as consumers are getting better deals.

Around 80 billion texts were sent last year - an average of 100 texts per person per month - mainly as a result of mobile phone packages including unlimited texts.  Television consumption is also changing, with more and more viewers taking control of their viewing schedule through on-demand and online services.
Channel 4 News 6/8/2009
Read more...

Programme Spending 'Cut by £13m'
The BBC and STV cut spending on programmes in Scotland by £13m last year, said industry watchdog Ofcom.  Spending dropped by 20% to £54m for viewers, according to a report published by the body.  Scottish Culture Minister Mike Russell said he was "extremely disappointed" with the findings. 

BBC Scotland said it was reinvesting money in services following an efficiency drive, while STV insisted it was increasing original programmes.  The overall decrease, Ofcom said, included a £11m cut in areas such as comedy, drama and news, although spending on current affairs went up in Scotland by £2m - a 72% increase.
BBC News online 6/8/2009
Read more...

TV Subs Defy Credit Crunch
Fewer than one in five people plan to cut back on TV subscriptions as they tighten their belts in the economic recession, according to Ofcom research.  The regulator's annual communications market report found that spend on TV languished in ninth place behind luxuries such as going out for dinner, home improvement and holidays. 

In Ofcom's poll of 862 people, 16% of people said they would cut TV subscriptions, compared to 19% who said mobile phones.  Spend on TV services is at its lowest level since 2003, helped by a competitive pricing market and the growing popularity of bundled packages of TV, mobile and broadband.
Broadcastnow 6/8/2009
Read more...

In-House Production Falls at ITV
ITV Studios generated significantly more revenue from rival UK broadcasters during the first half of the year - but significantly less from the ITV channels themselves.  ITV Studios' external UK production revenues were up 11% from £28m to £31 million, with a bumper performance from the likes of Come Dine with Me for Channel 4, Eggheads and The Street for the BBC, and Animal Cops for Discovery. 

But sales to ITV channels fell by £7.5m to £128m as the broadcaster's commissioners ordered less from its production arm.  ITV blamed the fall on its reduced level of original commissions for 2009 and into the 2010 World Cup year.
Broadcastnow 6/8/2009
Read more...

ITV in £25m Friends Reunited Sale
ITV has sold Friends Reunited for £25m, despite having paid £175m for it.  The buyer is Brightsolid Limited, which is owned by DC Thomson, Dundee-based publisher of comics such as the Beano.  The announcement came with the release of half-year results, which were hit by the worst decline in UK television advertising on record.  ITV made a pre-tax loss of £105m in the period.

There was no more information given on the recruitment of a new chief executive to replace Michael Grade.  Mr Grade is due to stand down by the end of 2009, following a regulatory review.  The £105m loss compares with a £1.5bn loss in the same period of 2008, although last year's figure was hit by a £1.6bn charge, reducing the value of investments made in 2000 and 2004.
BBC News online 6/8/2009
Read more...

Hiatus over New Chief to Steal Sow at ITV's Results
ITV is not expected to disclose the identity of its new chief executive when it announces interim results today, as the final negotiations with the candidates drag on longer than expected. 

The front-runners for the job remain Simon Fox, the HMV chief executive, and Pascal Cagni, the Frenchman behind Apple's European operations, although others could come back into the race if terms with either cannot be reached. 

ITV has been desperate to avoid being held to ransom by any single candidate refusing to sign up in time for the results unless they received a generous pay package. The company has tried but failed to play down expectations of an appointment today. 

In reality, though, it had targeted this morning as the ideal time to present its new leader. The failure to agree terms means that the company is exposed to days more speculation until a replacement for Michael Grade is found.
The Times 6/8/2009
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Sir Terry Pulls Ahead of Moyles
BBC Radio 2's Wake up to Wogan is the UK's most popular breakfast radio show, according to new figures from industry body Rajar.  Figures for the first three months of 2009 suggested Radio 1 presenter Chris Moyles might be gaining on his rival.  But new data shows 7.93 million people tuned in Sir Terry each week, compared with 7.72 million who prefer Moyles. 

Elsewhere, BBC Radio 3 has reason to celebrate after achieving its biggest audience for more than two years.  A total of 2.02 million people tuned in each week during the last measurement period of 30 March to 28 June.  Rajar figures also show BBC Radio 4's audience now exceeds 10 million after attracting around 465,000 new listeners in the past year.
BBC News online 6/8/2009
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More funding for victims of sexual violence
The government has allocated a further £3.2m to help victims of sexual violence.  A total of £1.67m will help establish eight new sexual assault referral centres (SARCs), support 15 existing ones and fund 43 independent sexual violence advisers (ISVAs). 

The remaining £1.6m will go to the 39 members of Rape Crisis England and Wales, and The Survivors' Trust (new window). These charities provide specialist services, such as counselling and advocacy to women and men who have been raped or experienced sexual violence.
Home Office News release 5/8/2009
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BBC Casting 'Not Up To Ministers'
Ministers should not interfere in the BBC's casting decisions, its creative director Alan Yentob has suggested.  His comments came after two ministers expressed concern over Arlene Phillips' exit from Strictly Come Dancing. 

"Everybody around the building would like to be the person who decides who goes on that show or that show," Mr Yentob told London's Evening Standard.  Maybe Ben Bradshaw and Harriet Harman are no different." Neither minister was immediately available for comment.
BBC News online 5/8/2009
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Channel 4 Drops Noon and More4 News
From the new year, we'll be back to one programme a day - our evening news at seven.  The tough economic climate means we won't be able to bring you News at Noon or More 4 News.
Channel 4 news 5/8/2009
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Record Viewing Figures for Commercial TV
UK viewers have set a new record for watching commercial TV viewing an average of 16.7 hours each week for the first six months of the year.  The report from TV marketing body Thinkbox also showed that viewers saw an average 43 ads daily - a 2% rise year-on-year - equating to just under 2.5bn television ads being viewed each day across the country. 

According to Barb figures, total broadcast TV viewing in 2009 until the end of June was 26.2 hours, almost identical year on year but an increase of 18 minutes since 2004, said the report.  But the weekly average viewing of UK commercial TV was up nearly 10 minutes year on year.
Broadcastnow 5/8/2009
Read more...     MediaGuardian     ITV in the News

Audience Complaints
Ofcom news release 5/8/2009
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When Feminism Went Nuts
by Janice Turner
Feminism has never had it so bad. Britain is riven with porn culture and a generation is in thrall to a sexist agenda
The Times 5/8/2009
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Teenagers 'Bullied By Sex Texts'
More than a third of under-18s have been sent a distressing sexually explicit digital message, a survey by the charity Beatbullying suggests.  A large majority of the 2,094 respondents said a fellow teenager had sent it, compared with 2% who said an adult had sent the message. 

The charity said "sexting" constituted bullying and was a growing problem.  Beatbullying asked 2,094 teenagers aged 11-18, and 38% had received distressing sexual content via new technologies.
BBC News online 4/8/2009
Read more...    Toxic Media Harming Children    UKCCIS

Police Warn of Teenage 'Sexting'
A worrying number of teenagers are swapping intimate or sexually explicit photos, called "sexts", on their mobiles, police say.  The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre says it receives daily reports of harassment after private photos have been circulated.
BBC News online 4/8/2009
Read more...    Those Terrible Issues

Sexting: What Does it Mean?
Sexting is when a young person takes an indecent image of them self and sends this to their friends or boy / girlfriends via mobile phones.  The problem is that once taken and sent, the sender has lost control of these images and these images could end up anywhere.

They could be seen by your child's future employers, their friends or even by paedophiles.  By having in their possession, or distributing, indecent images of a person under 18 on to someone else - young people are not even aware that they could be breaking the law as these are offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
CEOP News release 4/8/2009
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The Fake World of Facebook and Bebo
by Victoria Moore
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Generation Sexting
by Penny Marshall
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Digital Economy Can Lift Europe Out of Crisis
The European Commission's Digital Competitiveness report published today shows that Europe's digital sector has made strong progress since 2005: 56% of Europeans now regularly use the internet, 80% of them via a high-speed connection (compared to only one third in 2004), making Europe the world leader in broadband internet.

Europe is the world's first truly mobile continent with more mobile subscribers than citizens (a take up rate of 119%). Europe can advance even further as a generation of "digitally savvy" young Europeans becomes a strong market driver for growth and innovation. Building on the potential of the digital economy is essential for Europe's sustainable recovery from the economic crisis.

Today the Commission has asked the public what future strategy the EU should adopt to make the digital economy run at full speed.
EU News release 4/8/2009

Microsoft's MSN Video Site Goes Live
The free video-streaming service is still in beta, and offers around 300 hours of television programmes at launch. Microsoft has signed content partnership deals with BBC Worldwide, the BBC's commercial arm, and All3Media, an independent production company responsible for shows such as Shameless and How to Look Good Naked.  

Microsoft said it was "looking forward to developing the service" in the coming months. MSN Video is overseen by Ashley Highfield, vice president of consumer and online services at Microsoft, the former BBC executive who helped to launch the iPlayer catch-up TV service.
Daily Telegraph 3/8/2009
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Internet Society Announces New Board of Trustees
The Internet Society today announced its new Board of Trustees, comprised of leaders from industry, academia, and the global Internet community. The diverse and distinguished board membership reflects the Internet Society's mission of providing global leadership in promoting the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world.
ISOC News release 3/8/2009
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MP Galloway's TV Shows Breached Broadcast Rules
George Galloway breached the broadcasting rules on impartiality during his shows on Press TV, the news channel funded by the Iranian government, Ofcom said today. 

The Respect MP accused the Israeli government of using "a Nazi tactic", conducting a "brutal apartheid-style occupation" and committing "war crimes" in various editions of his discussion programmes broadcast during the Gaza conflict in January. 

Ofcom said the Real Deal and Comment shows, hosted by Mr Galloway, had not ensured that appropriate weight was given to a range of views.  While it was not against the broadcasting code for Mr Galloway to express his opinions, Ofcom said, alternative viewpoints had to be aired on controversial issues.
The Independent 3/8/2009
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Ofcom Broadcasting Bulletin No 139 here

Facebook Criticised by Archbishop
Social networking websites, texting and e-mails are undermining community life, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has warned.  Archbishop Vincent Nichols said MySpace and Facebook led young people to seek "transient" friendships, with quantity becoming more important than quality. 

He said a key factor in suicide among young people was the trauma caused when such loose relationships collapsed.  "Friendship is not a commodity," he told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper.  He added: "Friendship is something that is hard work and enduring when it's right".
BBC News online 2/8/2009
Read more...   Sunday Telegraph

Culture Secretary Warns BBC Against 'Cult of Youth'
Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw has warned the BBC not to pander to the 'cult of youth' in the wake of the removal of 66-year-old dance expert Arlene Phillips from Strictly Come Dancing.  Mr Bradshaw said it would 'not be acceptable' if Ms Phillips was replaced purely on grounds of her age, though he accepted that BBC bosses may have had other reasons for their decision.
Mail on Sunday 2/8/2009
Read more...     Media Politics

We'll Sell off Radio 1, Say Tories
The Tory shadow broadcasting minister has proposed that the BBC should be forced to sell Radio 1 and has threatened to freeze the licence fee.  Ed Vaizey said the Conservatives, if they win power, would insist that the corporation came clean over the salaries it paid its top stars. 

The moves are intended to cut the BBC down to size. The Tories believe that its huge publicly funded budget and reach are damaging commercial broadcasters.  Vaizey, the party's spokesman on media and arts, said he wanted to see Radio 1's licence put up for auction.
Sunday Times 2/8/2009
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