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Editorial: April 2005

1 April 2005

Tessa Jowell’s Green Paper on the BBC, the subject of one of our articles this month, appears rather innocuous on the surface, but a more careful reading perhaps begins to…

Cross promotion

29 March 2005

Ofcom to vet programming promotion ban Having paid ‘commercials’ for programmes (as opposed to channels) might in theory benefit some of the smaller digital channels, but the smallest channels won’t…

Local television success?

26 March 2005

BBC News – Local TV takes off in Austria For reasons which have always escaped me, the “holy grail” of television has always been to get as local as possible….

My News Now and other stories

25 March 2005

Pete Clifton on cuts at BBC News One of the things that eight years of Labour government has brought us (besides war, lies and broken promises) is a long break…

“Fox News is not fair and balanced”, says Ofcom

24 March 2005

A few weeks ago I was flicking through channels on my Sky “freesat” (the quotes are because “Freesat” is actually, believe it or not, a BBC trademark) system upstairs to…

Everybody out!

24 March 2005

BBC News: ITV staff to strike over pay deal When ITV converted from being a broadcaster to being a FTSE100 ‘profit centre’ company last year, the management were delighted. After…

Business as usual

24 March 2005

Fincham outlines populist agenda The BBC has appointed Peter Fincham as the new controller for BBC One; a slightly controversal move in that it’s an appointment made from the independent…

A series of unfortunate occurances

23 March 2005

Logofreetv.org is a worthwhile cause: few if any of us like those on-screen logos that destroy the picture and burn a pattern into our TV screens. It’s a shame, therefore,…

Enough is enough

21 March 2005

Over 2000 more jobs to go at BBC – this time from production The news that 2050 additional jobs, this time primarily from the production side, are to go, is…

Worlds Worst Radio Group Name?

21 March 2005

Capital + GWR = GCap Media GCap? You have to wonder, don’t you…

Our survey said…

21 March 2005

New research backs up old TV favourites Just because something doesn’t last very long or is briefly watched doesn’t mean that it isn’t important or well-loved, with news bulletins being…

Take your pick

18 March 2005

ITV plans to revive quiz classics for 50th anniversary ITV might surprise us all and revive World In Action and Armchair Theatre one day, but whilst we’re waiting for hell…

Profit agenda

15 March 2005

BBC attacked for pushing Freeview The consumer electronics industry both likes and dislikes the BBC’s Freeview promotional push for various reasons. It likes the fact that the BBC’s big Freeview…

I Really Feel Like Watching Something Utterly Dire!

11 March 2005

Media Guardian: After FilmFour, it’s film flops Maybe the advocates of deregulating television are right – if there is a demand in the market, someone will fill it. After all,…

Twin dilemma

10 March 2005

Is satellite TV fixed in Sky’s orbit or heading for freedom? Despite it being essentially a BBC creation, Freeview has turned out to be (unsurprisingly) ITV’s best friend; there are…

Ratings Review: W/e 27 February 2005

9 March 2005

Well, after a couple of weeks where the freely available ratings didn’t show anything special, this week has proved rather different. First of all, Sky One has had a breakout…

Head in the sand, Pt. 39652871

9 March 2005

ITV ratings slump ‘nonsense’, says ITV boss Well he would say that, wouldn’t he? But what Charles Allen fails to mention is that the last “I’m a Celebrity…” didn’t do…

Time flies

9 March 2005

Carry on Doctor Firstly, a warning: this MediaGuardian review of the forthcoming first new Doctor Who episode contains plot revelations that are to be avoided if you want the episode…

A Tale of Two Countries

8 March 2005

BBC Complaints – Eurovision: Making Your Mind Up Saturday’s Making Your Mind Up was a live show and despite all our efforts we did have one small "wardrobe malfunction" which,…

Radio Four

7 March 2005

Media Guardian: C4 radio ‘will not be using Brother format’ The news that Channel 4 is to buy a controlling stake in struggling digital radio station OneWord isn’t a huge…

The local touch

7 March 2005

Ulster TV profits up by half It may be the case that Irish viewers appreciate “local character” more than English viewers, but even that alone doesn’t properly explain why UTV…

Nothing is better than something

7 March 2005

The Green Paper on the future of the BBC largely leaves well enough alone, thank goodness. At least it doesn?t appear to propose causing any lasting damage. I suppose I…

The Godmother speaks out

6 March 2005

BBC News report on Jowell’s opinions on burglar payment The Rt Hon Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has become quite famous for knowing little about any of…

Tommy Vance has died

6 March 2005

BBC News report See you around, Tommy.

Governors Gone

2 March 2005

BBC governors axed, license fee to stay (Media Guardian) BBC governors set to be scrapped (Note: BBC) Bore yourself silly with the whole thing (DCMS) Well, the governors are to…

Editorial: March 2005

1 March 2005

Welcome to the March edition of EMC, with four new articles for your delectation and pleasure. We lead off with a fascinating article from Russ J Graham on Britain’s first…

At least they tried

28 February 2005

C4 gets Friday night blues Some people said that Channel 4’s decision to spend millions on the terrestrial rights for The Simpsons was a highly risky gamble that was possibly…

Poor Ratings, Lots of Cash

28 February 2005

Media Guardian TV ratings: February 25-27 So the Simpsons aren’t exactly dragging in the viewers on Friday evening for Channel 4, which makes you wonder if all the cash the…

ITV vs. Channel 4

28 February 2005

ITV and Channel 4 put in bids for Freeview slot On parity alone, Channel 4 ought to be given this spare Freeview slot – made possible courtesy of technical improvements…

Politically incorrect

18 February 2005

US TV boss steps down after gay cartoon row Regardless of whether or not the cartoon was truly suitable for its intended audience, and whether or not Pat Mitchell’s departure…

Junk mail

16 February 2005

From today’s Grauniad… Channel Five was reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority watchdog yesterday for sending out a promotional mailshot that purported to be the case notes of a serial…

Ratings Review: BARB w/e 06/02/2005

16 February 2005

Well, it’s got to be said that there are few big surprises in the freely available channel data from BARB. Sky Sports 1 raised its rating again this week to…

Global impact

15 February 2005

Heggessey defends BBC One record “Among Ms Heggessey’s more controversial moves while at BBC One was her decision to” change the channel idents from the balloon globe to the current…

Heggessey off

14 February 2005

BBC One chief Heggessey to leave If we still had the balloon, we could send her floating off in it.

BBC Sport Channel on the way?

11 February 2005

Well, the Evening Standard yesterday reported that the BBC plans to launch an Free-To-Air sports channel, sometime after 2006. Quoting BBC Controller of Sport Peter Salmon, they speculate that the…

Ratings Review: BARB w/e 30/01/2005

9 February 2005

Well, as per last week, Sky One has been beaten by both ITV2 and Sky Sports 1. However this time, the ratings show that whilst ITV2 was helped by American…

Hospital Radio Awards Nominees announced

9 February 2005

The announcement has been made of all the nominees in the various categories of the National Hospital Radio Awards, which will be presented at the HBA Spring Conference in Belfast…

OFCOM details Digital Switchover Timetable.

9 February 2005

Finally, OFCOM have actually published a proposed timetable for the region-by-region switch off of Analogue Terrestrial Television (ATT). The proposed dates for switch off are, in switchover order… 2008: Border,…

OFCOM examines future of S4C.

8 February 2005

BBC News Wales reports that OFCOM is considering three options for the future of Welsh fourth channel Sianel Pedwar Cymru (S4C). The options are, maintaining the status quo, bringing S4C…

Money for nothing

8 February 2005

Channel 4 not to get instant cash, rules Ofcom To summarise, there’s nothing revolutionary or unexpected about Ofcom’s latest proposals. Channel 4 is currently in no financial crisis so alternative…

Time to move on?

7 February 2005

Heggessey in frame for Talkback job The position of BBC One controller has always been a very high profile job that carries both prestige and a huge element of responsibility,…

Test of loyality

7 February 2005

Warming to a shotgun wedding As well as recent cost savings, ITV plc is now benefiting from the combined ad income from the merged English and Welsh ITV franchises, enabling…

Ratings Review: BARB w/e 23/01/2005

6 February 2005

Well, having read the latest BARB ratings, freely published on BARB website, some things immediately stand out. First of all, Sky One is most definitely in trouble. For the second…

CBC appeals to Ottawa for more public money

5 February 2005

CBC is making their pitch to the Canadian Government in Ottawa for additional funding to improve regional television and local radio. This is the problem with being funded directly by…

Sound TV launch finally confirmed

5 February 2005

Sound TV have finally officially announced a launch date for the start of their channel. The channel will launch at 7pm on Saturday 26th February. Having seen the launch schedule…

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