Home > Archives
Published 23 January 2017
The former editor of the Daily Herald decides what is public service broadcasting and whether the BBC manages to produce it
Published 21 January 2010
‘Set BBC targets to partner its rivals’, says ex-Channel 4 chief From the tone of Andy Duncan’s Oxford Media Convention speech, you get the impression that he thinks that he’s…
Published 26 August 2009
Channel 4 to launch ‘creative overhaul’ as it axes Big Brother Big Brother axed by Channel 4 Channel 4’s decision to axe Big Brother admittedly wasn’t that unexpected, but it…
Published 17 July 2009
Despite protestations from a number of Guardian/Observer readers (and the odd columnist) that there wasn’t much of a story in BBC executives’ expenses, now here’s a second round. There is even less of a story this time.
Published 3 July 2009
ITN newscaster Alastair Stewart calls for a “Beeching style enquiry” into the BBC to assess whether its services are all really “necessary and viable”. What a ridiculous idea.
Published 28 April 2009
Ofcom head Ed Richards sounds death knell for ITV regional news Yes we know that the media industry is going through hell at the moment – and this is particularly…
Published 1 April 2009
Channel Five boss claims government sees logic of merger with Channel 4 It seems that Dawn Airey and RTL have spotted a gap in the broadcasting wilderness and are desperately…
Published 2 February 2009
Merger of Channels 4 and Five still possible, says Dawn Airey The ever-hopeful and clearly optimistic Dawn Airey is still making noises about a merger between Channel 4 and Five…
Published 29 January 2009
digital britain – interim report: Government outlines plans for UK’s digital transition Today saw the publication of (Lord) Stephen Carter’s interim report entitled “Digital Britain”, which in one sense is…
Published 23 January 2009
The fall out of the recent Ofcom report into the future of commercial public service broadcasting continues, with The Guardian reporting that Ofcom are not aren’t convinced that there will need to be a separate Teletext franchise going forward.
Published 21 January 2009
BBC licence fee ‘digital surplus’ could help fund new PSB body, says Ofcom Ofcom: Report summary plus links to full versions Now that the long-awaited report from Ofcom has finally…
Published 11 December 2008
BBC outlines £120m partnership plans with other public service broadcasters After a couple of months where the BBC superficially seemed to be upsetting everyone from readers of the Daily Mail…
Published 26 November 2008
Government ditches plans to give Channel 4 £14m digital switchover help So the Government has decided rather tacitly to withdraw the earlier digital switchover help proposed for Channel 4 in…
Published 25 September 2008
NUJ warns of 500 ITV job cuts It’s no surprise whatsoever to learn that Ofcom has ‘bought’ the economic arguments put forward by ITV plc in its determination to cut…
Published 28 July 2008
Plans for reduced public service role are good news for ITV Despite much talk of ‘radical’ solutions being required for the “digital age” – whatever that is, although for the…
Published 20 July 2008
COO of BSkyB, Mike Darcey, writing in the Royal Television Society journal Television (Vol. 45:6, July 2008 p12), reckons Ofcom – and many of the rest of us – are…
Published 17 July 2008
Ofcom chairman disputes BBC’s ‘unique link’ with licence fee payers There’s more than a hint of trying to defend the indefensible when Ofcom chairman David Currie yet again attempts to…
Published 23 June 2008
BBC: ‘We’ll share expertise to save licence fee’ This could theoretically end up being the best solution to the lingering problem of how best to support broadcasters with public service…
Published 4 June 2008
EU minded to block BBC aid for Channel 4’s digital switchover This if anything is potentially good news for both the BBC and (paradoxically) Channel 4, namely that the European…
Published 14 May 2008
Andy Duncan ‘fed up’ by Channel 4 funding ‘squabble’ Hot on the heels of the BBC Trust chairman Michael Lyons declaring that the BBC’s piggy bank wasn’t to be raided…
Published 12 March 2008
Ofcom scraps ‘public service publisher’ plans The only surprise was what took them so long, namely Ofcom finally conceding defeat with the (expected) scrapping of the ‘public service publisher’ idea….
Published 22 January 2008
A top-sliced licence fee will trigger the BBC’s destruction Whether de-coupling the licence fee from the BBC is the way forward or not (and I personally have my doubts), I…