adamedia

Media Rumblings from C3

13 Broadcasting: News Stories (June 2008 update)

BROADCASTING IN THE NEWS 2008

Broadcasting has very much been inthe news over recent months. There has been plenty of debate about the future of Public Service Broadcasting and the ways in which PSB will be funded in the future.

As part of its responsibilities, Ofcom has to publish a report on PSB every five years. It has just completed this, and here is a summary of what it established:

Ofcom proposed four ways in which public service broadcasting may develop. These are options that will now need to be weighed up by Government:

· Let the current trend continue, resulting in declining commercial public service content

· Remove all public service obligations from ITV, Channel 4 and Five

· Only the BBC and Channel 4 retain a public service remit

· Make additional funding available to any commercial company that wants to make public service programming.

Some of these plans call for more cash, and Ofcom has suggested this money could come from:

· Direct public funding

· Slicing up the BBC’s licence fee

· Allowing commercial companies to charge more for adverts

· Tax on industry

 

 Here are some of the key news stories of recent months:
Freesat aims to link up with broadband

Attenborough delivers warning to BBC

Q&A: How Ofcom deals with mischief

ITV ponders public service options

Richards outlines possible BBC Trust reallocation role

If ITV opts out of public service broadcasting, who will take it on?

Adjusting the set

BBC big guns to counter licence fee threat

Ofcom’s PSB review in numbers

Ofcom unveils first stage of PSB review

Ofcom urges action to boost kids’ shows

Ofcom: viewers happy to pay for quality

BBC may be asked to share with rivals

You can listen to some of these podcasts:

Media Talk: The Tipping Point

Matt Wells, Owen Gibson and Robert Freeman discuss the future for Channel 4 after it reported its first operating loss in over a decade. Plus, the panel analyse Peter Bazalgette’s project ‘Boggle’

Media Talk: Get Smashed!

Sam Delaney joins the panel to discuss the golden age of British advertising. Plus, Ofcom’s new recommendations for public service broadcasting. And we hear from the winners at the British Press Awards

BROADCASTING IN THE NEWS (2007)

Try to read these summaries to have an idea of some of the most recent news stories about broadcasting:

 

The move of five BBC programming departments and 1,500 staff to
Salford was finally confirmed today after the broadcaster agreed terms with the site’s developer. “The modern multimedia broadcast and production centre in
Salford will shift the BBC’s centre of gravity away from
London, bringing a range of creative benefits to us and, I hope, helping us to better reflect and represent the whole of the
UK,” Mr Thompson said.http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2092384,00.html 

Lord Puttnam, the deputy chairman of Channel 4, has admitted that the row over Big Brother will “not help” any future campaign against privatisation and is calling for a review of the broadcaster’s remit.He is leading the attempts within Channel 4 to bring the broadcaster back to its public service roots, after Ofcom recently said it had made “serious editorial misjudgments” over the Celebrity Big Brother race row.http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2092590,00.html 

Freeview is to launch its first big advertising campaign to promote Freeview Playback, its personal video recorder brand, to consumers without digital TV.http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2090660,00.html 

The ten most influential people in British TV: http://media.guardian.co.uk/top100_2006/index/0,,1807831,00.html 

The BBC Trust chairman, Sir Michael Lyons, has asked for more time to consider controversial plans to introduce advertising on a global version of the BBC website.http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2088339,00.htmlhttp://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,1933646,00.htmlhttp://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,1741873,00.html 

An Ofcom report has revealed that between 2002 and 2006 the viewing of children’s programmes on BBC One and ITV1 has plummeted by half.http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2040245,00.html 

Ashley Highfield today defended innovation at the BBC, while admitting that waiting for BBC Trust approval can delay the launch of new digital media services.http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2080158,00.html 

BBC new media chief Ashley Highfield says that by 2013 the corporation’s online operation will cost licence fee payers the equivalent of just “one music download” a month.http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,1796712,00.html 

BBC radio’s podcasts clocked up almost 3m downloads in March - more than 1m up on the previous month.http://media.guardian.co.uk/radio/story/0,,1767525,00.html

 
The BBC has confirmed that online education service BBC Jam will close, with the loss of around 200
posts.http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2079487,00.htmlThe BBC today unveiled a web 2.0 prototype offering Radio 1 listeners a broadband package of video, audio and text information about a band or event.http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2070008,00.htmlThe BBC Trust has given final approval for the iPlayer, the corporation’s proposed online seven-day catch-up TV service.http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2068879,00.html

 
‘The BBC  needs to be saved from itself’. The national broadcaster must urgently re-establish its credibility http://media.guardian.co.uk/huttoninquiry/story/0,,1137448,00.htmlhttp://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,1136619,00.html 

 

 
 

The BBC wants to increase the reach of its online activities to six out of 10
UK internet users by the end of this year. New projects outlined in the BBC’s annual statements of programme policy include the launch of two “major online entertainment formats” and broadband video pilots of concerts broadcast on Radio 1. http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,1765952,00.html

 
Monty Python’s Flying Circus will return to the skies, Morecambe will be reunited with Wise, and Reginald Perrin rise again after the BBC yesterday moved a step closer to giving viewers access to every programme it has ever made. The corporation will next month launch a public trial of its ambitious BBC Archive project, offering 20,000 people the opportunity to access 1,000 hours of content drawn from a variety of genres. A more limited 50-hour library of programmes will also be available to internet users. http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2060514,00.htmlhttp://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2057505,00.htmlHave I Got News For You? is to launch a video podcast as part of a six-series deal with the BBC. HIGNFY’s podcast will feature specially produced material not seen on either BBC1 or BBC2, which broadcasts a weekly repeat of the show with 10 additional minutes. http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2053939,00.htmlITV and Channel 4 have both welcomed the BBC Trust’s approval of plans to launch free-to-view digital satellite service Freesat. “By filling in the current gaps in Freeview coverage, Freesat will ensure that a free-to-air, no strings attached option for accessing digital TV is available to the whole of the
UK ahead of digital switchover: http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2067133,00.htmlhttp://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2067034,00.htmlThe BBC could be forced to share the licence fee with rival channels offering public service programmes such as news and children’s television. Ministers plan to reopen the debate about who will provide programming that benefits the public - and how it should be funded. http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2015717,00.htmlHow can the BBC overcome the reported £2bn deficit it faces after the licence fee settlement? Maggie Brown asks leading industry figures to suggest where the cuts could be made http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,1995317,00.htmlAn injunction which had prevented the BBC from reporting fresh details of the cash-for-honours affair was lifted yesterday. The attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, who won a high court ruling preventing reporting by the corporation last Friday, did not contest the corporation’s appeal against the injunction at the high court yesterday. http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2028234,00.htmlBBC annual report: new media http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,1815472,00.html

Citizen journalism is poised to take a great leap into the mainstream media as the mobile phone network 3 pursues talks with ITN and Sky News about feeding clips produced by its customers on to television news bulletins.http://media.guardian.co.uk/tvnewsbattleofthebulletins/story/0,,1750753,00.html 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

The BBC may be forced to review the content strategy for its TV, radio and online services as a result of the less generous than expected licence fee settlement, the corporation has confirmed. http://media.guardian.co.uk/bbc/story/0,,2066181,00.htmlBBC news is preparing to axe hundreds of jobs as part of the plans by director-general Mark Thompson to cut the corporation’s budget.Thompson is demanding the cuts following the government’s decision in January to award the corporation a below-inflation licence fee increase, starting from April this year, instead of the inflation plus 2.3 per cent settlement the BBC asked for.http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2095082,00.htmlÂ