Blog

Planning a demise of analogue.

16 February 2004

Media Guardian: Millions could face BBC TV switch-off in 2007 We all know it. Some may deny it. Some may stick their fingers in their ears and go "lar-lar-lar-lar-I can’t…

Johnny likes to offer more.

16 February 2004

MediaGuardian: ‘What you’ll see in my shed’ When it comes to defending BBC Three against the bashers, you don’t often find its stars saying much, but todays Media Guardian sees…

Sky ‘Solus’ cards

12 February 2004

Shropshire Star confused ‘news’ report Leave it to dire local news sheets to miss a point with such accuracy (can you hear the true story whistling as it passes their…

Culling the shots

12 February 2004

ITV Nottingham to close? We always knew ITV would start cutting costs. We also knew that after Crossroads ended, Nottingham would have a vastly reduced workload. ITV have put two…

Time to get tough

10 February 2004

MediaGuardian: Watchdog raps Channel 4 and Top of the Pops It seems that new media regulator Ofcom already has its work cut out with TV channels either breaking rules through…

Will you top up?

9 February 2004

Top Up TV website Yes the rumours really are true. Someone is actually bonkers enough to try and do pay-TV on digital terrestrial television. In a few months time you…

Pip pip pip pip pip piiiippppp…

5 February 2004

It’s 80 years of the BBC Radio pips!

Who dares wins

5 February 2004

News 24 does the Job Well, it seems that the News 24 rebrand has done some good – for two out of the last four weeks it has had greater…

Birt Blasts Beeb

4 February 2004

Ouch! Unpleasant to listen to the unpleasant Lord Birt, unlamented late BBC DG, laying into the Corporation in the Lords this afternoon. When Dyke departed the other day, people cheered…

Branding Analogue Switch Off

4 February 2004

Guardian: Government gives strong signal on digital TV You know that analogue-switch off is in trouble when someone thinks that the most important thing to do is hire Lambie Nairn…

MediaGrauniad non-story of the week

4 February 2004

Pay TV for Freeview Ignoring the fact we’ve seen this story ages ago on DigitalSpy (but two cheers for the Grauniad for being second with the news… as usual) would…

UKTV Rebrand

3 February 2004

Brand Republic: UKTV to launch two new channels to replace Horizons As part of an article on the splitting of UK Horizons into two, it’s also revealed that the whole…

Tyne Tees Logo Page Update

2 February 2004

Transdiffusion affiliate, the Tyne Tees Logo Page has just had an update. New additions include articles on Trident Television, Channel 3 North East, the City Road studios, the first night…

Good Morning, this is ITV plc

2 February 2004

Gone are Granada plc and Carlton Communications plc. No more do they exist. ITV is all ITV plc now. Except for viewers in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands….

The New ITV News

2 February 2004

ITV pull the surprise on us and actually launched the new look ITV News at 5.30am in the morning. The ITV Morning News on ITV1 and the ITV News Channel…

A match made in heaven?

31 January 2004

MediaGuardian: Dyke mooted as new ITV boss Much as I dislike the prospect of a pseudo-single ITV, I have to grudgingly admit that the combination of Greg Dyke and ITV…

Breaking News from Action Central: Andrew Gilligan Resigns

30 January 2004

Andrew Gilligan, who was BBC Radio 4’s Today programme’s Defence & Diplomatic Correspondent has resigned from the BBC with immediate effect.

Gilligan

29 January 2004

Can I just wonder why Gilligan has not yet gone?

A Bad Day for the Beeb

29 January 2004

Well, I was very sorry, and to a certain extent shocked about the news Greg Dyke had resigned. He has done so much for the BBC, and UK broadcasting in…

Greg Dyke Resigns

29 January 2004

BBC director general Dyke stands down By standing down at this point, Greg Dyke hopes that a line can be finally drawn under the whole Hutton Report affair; in the…

All the colours of darkness

28 January 2004

Reuters ‘short’ on the resignation of Gavyn Davies The main news story here is not that Gavyn Davies has resigned, but that the Chairmanship of the BBC is in the…

Here is the news… And the people reporting it.

28 January 2004

BBC News: Hutton Reporters’ Log This interesting page has comments from the vast range of reporters who have been covering the Hutton Inquiry for the BBC. It’s interesting in that…

BREAKING NEWS from Action Central: Gavyn Davies Resigns

28 January 2004

BBC News 24 is reporting that Gavyn Davies will tender his resignation as Chairman of the BBC to the board of Governors when they begin their informal meeting later tonight….

More on Hutton

28 January 2004

Well, it is interesting to hear the final report from Lord Hutton. I doubt I will ever plough through all 300-odd pages of it, but, I have been disappointed. To…

The Hutton Report

28 January 2004

Well, now that the Hutton Report has been published, let us take a moment to put the report into its proper perspective. The media continues to accuse the BBC of…

Hutton

27 January 2004

BBC News Online – Nick Higham on Hutton Not wishing to prejudice the Hutton report, but this article is a must read. Whatever side of the political spectrum you are…

The tale of two broadcasters

27 January 2004

MediaGuardian: BBC to be reined in, says Jowell’s adviser MediaGuardian: Watchdog eases burden of ITV licence Impressive. On the same day, the MediaGuardian is gleefully reporting an opinion that the…

BBC’s Hutton ‘Google AdWords’ buying spree

26 January 2004

Media Grauniad story The Grauniad’s well-known and much, much regretted rabid anti-BBC stance (made worse because it is evidently all from a biased view that the BBC is a ‘competitor’…

Bankrupt for ideas? Moi?

26 January 2004

Puff-piece pretending to be news ‘ITV mulls soap spin-offs’ So, ITV1 isn’t doing too well. We need a solution, and fast. I know! More crappy soap operas! They’re not at…

ITV News: lofty goals, almost no chance.

26 January 2004

MediaGuardian: War of the news walls I’m going to stake my reputation on the line. Not that I have a very big one, but I’m hoping to gain one from…

ITV getting big ideas

26 January 2004

News at Ten Thirty “Mr Mannion also told Media Guardian he wants the ITV News Channel to beat BBC News 24’s ratings within a year.” Of course. Is this while…

Pebble Mill: the end of an era.

26 January 2004

Independent: Lights go out for good at the BBC’s Pebble Mill studios Bye bye Pebble Mill.

Big Sky Brother is watching…

23 January 2004

MediaGuardian: Sky lifts lid on multichannel TV habits So Sky is hoping to get 20,000 subscribers to see how they use their service so that they can target their users…

Bye Bye John Suchet.

21 January 2004

BBC News: ITN newsreader Suchet to retire Quite how John Suchet has managed to remain a lot lower key than Trevor MacDonald when he has a much better onscreen personality,…

Credit Where Credit Is Due?

21 January 2004

BBC News: Actors call for more credit on TV Equity are complaining about the rushing of credits and their presentation in a split screen environment. It’s a tricky issue. The…

Hooray!

16 January 2004

No more Kilroy!

Channel launches ain’t what they used to be…

15 January 2004

Slow start on FX opening night Once upon a time a launch of a new TV channel was a major national event, but these days with numerous digital channels available…

And you thought ITV couldn’t get any worse…

15 January 2004

Media Week: Green light for launch of ITV?s third channel Apparantly ITV are developing ITV3, which will show the amazing combination of films and lifestyle programming, as well as providing…

The End.

13 January 2004

Granada green lights ITV merger Even though you know it’s going to happen, it still has a profound impact when it finally takes place.

Nice work if you can get it

13 January 2004

BBC to broadcast silent orchestra My latest artwork is 4’34” long and is also completely silent, save for a distant sound of someone giggling whilst rolling about on a pile…

Bye Bye News at Ten (again)

13 January 2004

ITV prepares for News at Ten shift It’s been muttered about for months, but we’re edging closer and closer to News at Ten being put out of its elongated misery….

Public Service Soaps

13 January 2004

Soaps and sports are public service TV, say viewers The “opinion formers”, those that control our media or those with vested interests elsewhere have long told us what is public…

Zero rated

13 January 2004

Audience with no one: 55 days on TV According to this article, “More than 55 days’ worth of programmes on the BBC’s digital channels last year were watched by so…

FX UK

12 January 2004

A new channel for people with no lives A rousing two cheers for Murdoch’s latest venture – FX-TV, a ‘lad’s channel’ which will launch all too soon with a mixture…

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