Posts from
August 2007
Friday 31 August 2007
Normally I have no interest in gardening whatsoever (plants tend to die if I have anything to do with them!), but back in 1992 I recorded "25 Years of Gardeners' World" for someone and came across the programme again...
Read all of 'A tale of two programmes'.
It's time to talk about the growing Countdown. No, this is nothing to do with the Channel 4 game show which started on the same day that the channel did, but a news programme on US cable network MSNBC. Countdown...
Read all of 'US Cable News Ratings: Countdown's best figures!'.
Monday 27 August 2007
Dr Paxman's diagnosis That speech again, all on one page (possibly) in a more palatable form Last year, television executives at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival were treated to a MacTaggart lecture delivered by the ex-ITV chairman Charles Allen,...
Read all of 'Finding north'.
Saturday 25 August 2007
'Second Life' after the backlash Second Life's Real-World Problems This weekend the Hilton, in downtown Chicago, is playing host to the third Second Life Community Convention - SLCC 07 - along with around 800 'residents' of the on-line 'metaverse', or...
Read all of 'Third 'Second Life' Convention sees active media presence'.
?Anchorwoman? Canceled After One Airing We're used to so-called 'reality' shows crashing and burning, or getting themselves into deep water (or other substances). The latest tale that will hopefully contribute to the downfall of this tacky tabloid show format comes...
Read all of 'Another ?reality? show bites the dust'.
Friday 24 August 2007
The text of this year's MacTaggart Lecture as read by Jeremy Paxman (PDF file) This should be compulsory reading material for everyone in the media industry and politicians of all persuasions, plus it's the antithesis of last year's speech made...
Read all of 'Read this first'.
Channel 4 plans radical overhaul Dropping Big Brother altogether is still impossible financially for Channel 4 in the current media climate despite the steady decline in its ratings, but they've just gone and done the next best thing, namely 'resting'...
Read all of 'Showing the way forward'.
The Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) figures for Jun 06-Jun 07 have been released by Ireland's media regulator, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI). These are the figures for radio stations in Ireland. Of interest to me is the fact...
Read all of 'Ratings Review: JNLR year ending Jun 07'.
C4 headquarters to get giant logo When it comes to landmarks, London has a few. From the Palace of Westminster and its famous clock tower (and Big Ben bell!) and St Pauls Cathedral, through to the more modern Millenium Wheel...
Read all of 'Great Big Dockoff 4 for London'.
BBC scandals stoking crisis of distrust, say Paxman and Marr Despite all the alleged uncertainties, there are a lot of certainties in relation to the BBC's current position: the licence fee settlement has been resolved for the next few years...
Read all of 'Sort it out, Mark'.
Wednesday 22 August 2007
Hot on the heels of one piece of bad journalism from the Daily Star yesterday, comes a very different journalistic boo-boo from the ultra-conservative Daily Mail. This time, making a news story out of nothing. The story is basically that...
Read all of 'And now, the non-news, about the newscaster!'.
Tuesday 21 August 2007
Stories may go in and out of television and radio news bulletins and newspapers depending on how much has happened in the meantime, but rarely do you get stale news. Today, you did, from the Daily Star! The story is...
Read all of 'Repackaged 18 month old news? Must be the silly season!'.
Monday 20 August 2007
Channel 4+1 website (still claiming that the channel "will be available" at the time of writing!) The launch of Channel 4+1 (no, not Channel 5) today was an interesting move as it's the first time that a mainstream channel has...
Read all of 'Channel 4+1'.
Tuesday 14 August 2007
"Big L time is three o'clock, and Radio London is now... closing down...." This is what we heard Paul Kaye say, forty years ago today, virtually to the minute as I write this. The "Marine Broadcasting Offences Act, 1967" was...
Read all of 'Free Radio: 40 years on'.
Thursday 9 August 2007
TUAW Rumour: iTunes UK to promote Channel 4 video content So far, Apple Mac users (those not running Windows XP, that is) have been denied access to the back catalogue of UK TV broadcasters (apart from some free BBC programme...
Read all of 'Video on demand for Macs'.
BBC chairman will oversee reforms to win back public trust So it's official: the BBC Trust is still considering the possibility of axing whole channels and/or services, and although the chairman has "complete confidence" in Mark Thompson with relation to...
Read all of 'Never mind the width, feel the quality?'.
Wednesday 8 August 2007
Channel 4 accused of 'distortion' Not for the first time, we have a broadcaster using events out of sequence and out of context to create the impression it wanted. The story is supposed to fit the facts, not the other...
Read all of 'Creative editing'.
Thursday 2 August 2007
BBC Corrupted by Microsoft Free Software Foundation plans protest against "corrupt" BBC BBC Trust backs calls for Linux iPlayer So, let's look at this story in a little more detail. What this is fundamentally about is that the BBC's iPlayer,...
Read all of 'The BBC Sells Out'.
BBC corrupted by Microsoft In its defence, it's not exactly the BBC's fault that a) it's faced with a choice between DRM-protected downloads and no downloads at all, and b) the only implementation so far that fits the bill isn't...
Read all of 'Some might prefer blank screens'.
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