Published 18 November 2014
When it was suggested recently that the BBC’s current affairs division could somehow be separated completely and turned into a commercial entity, the mere thought of this certainly produced a…
Published 5 March 2014
BLOG: From rumours to facts – BBC Three is on the closure list
Published 1 January 2014
BLOG: How the anniversary of Top of the Pops went little marked
Published 7 June 2012
BLOG: It’s certainly not unusual for the BBC to be the subject of criticism when it comes to the coverage of any royal event apart from the most straightforward occasions. Getting the tone exactly right is an absolute nightmare and you are never going to satisfy everyone all of the time, especially when dealing with something that’s the least bit contentious.
Published 25 January 2012
With the news that Channel 4 is to report its first annual loss for more than a decade, How on earth did Channel 4 manage to drop the ball so…
Published 28 August 2011
This year’s Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival may have been relatively free of controversy It seems that after all the noises relating the BBC having to close down at…
Published 19 August 2011
Much has been said this week about proposed cutbacks that may (or may not) affect BBC Four, the ‘highbrow’ digital TV channel that has a relatively small but fiercely loyal…
Published 10 August 2011
When there’s a major event taking place, it’s natural that television viewers will want to seek out the most comprehensive coverage that’s currently available, therefore Sangat TV’s coverage of last…
Published 7 August 2011
The BBC’s popular and occasionally controversial Top Gear programme has been back in the news again for apparently upsetting car company Nissan; this is on top of another dispute over…
Published 29 July 2011
Aside from those wanting Rupert Murdoch’s influence to be curtailed, the News Corporation phone hacking saga so far hasn’t been bad news for BSkyB either, despite the fact that it’s…
Published 13 July 2011
If you wanted excitement, intrigue and unpredictability in the world of media news then this past week simply had the lot, starting off with what seemed like a minor escalation…
Published 6 July 2011
Can News Corporation still achieve its dream of taking over BSkyB despite what now appears to be difficult if not insurmountable obstacles that have been placed in its path? Up…
Published 13 June 2011
From a purely practical and logistical perspective, the BBC’s Television Centre is nowadays a large, old-fashioned and under-utilized building that must cost a fortune to heat and to cool, as…
Published 10 June 2011
As the BBC continues to wrestle with the prospect of making significant cost savings, the subject of channel closures (television or radio) has reared its head yet again, but this…
Published 5 June 2011
As a television channel, BBC Four has been the subject of much scrutiny as of late, and not just because it happens to be a digital-only TV channel with a…
Published 23 May 2011
Remember the days of regional ITV? Granada produced World In Action, Central produced Family Fortunes and The Cook Report, and Thames (R.I.P.) productions ranged from The Bill to This Week….
Published 17 May 2011
Having people like Sir David Attenborough and Prof Brian Cox defending the BBC in front of a Lords communications select committee is worth much more than a thousand “Delivering public…
Published 10 May 2011
A fair number of people are currently making a fuss about exactly what isn’t in the news, namely the current trend for what’s commonly known as a ‘superinjunction’. It’s an…
Published 4 May 2011
As the new chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten has wasted no time in signalling his future intentions, thereby abruptly drawing to a close an allegedly soft-touch Sir Michael…
Published 21 April 2011
The BBC’s “Delivering Quality First” (or should that really read Delivering Cutbacks First?) initiative, which has borne witness to a deluge of “trial balloons” in recent weeks, seems to (finally)…
Published 14 April 2011
What exactly constitutes an online video-on-demand service? Certain major newspapers are now pondering this very issue in earnest as the Authority for Television On-Demand (ATVOD) takes over online video regulation…
Published 6 April 2011
Is anything wrong with Of course based on the book that he’s also promoting, Grant Goddard firmly sits on the pessimist side of the fence in terms of any planned…
Published 4 April 2011
Ever since the last administration reclassified the UK TV licence fee as a tax (as opposed to a service charge) in 2006, there has been a theoretical danger that the…
Published 14 March 2011
To be honest I really wasn’t expecting this U-turn over the planned closure of the BBC Asian Network radio station, even though the BBC Trust’s reprieve of BBC Radio 6…
Published 11 March 2011
It’s hard to know exactly what BBC management are thinking with their latest money-saving proposal to be made public, namely to replace some local radio broadcasts with a simulcast of…
Published 7 March 2011
You know that the BBC is in serious financial trouble when it’s now floating an idea to replace daytime BBC Two with rolling news, aka BBC News 24 or the…
Published 3 March 2011
Admit it to yourself, this isn’t a surprise even if you initially thought it was. It seemed obvious that Sky News was going to be the sacrificial lamb in a…
Published 2 March 2011
To some outside observers, the loss of people like Pete Clifton from the BBC’s online news operation may seem relatively trivial from a day-to-day basis because it’s the journalists and…