Month: January 2013

  • RAJAR Q4 2012

    The first release of 2013 is actually the last data from 2012. In general, last quarter, radio listening had fallen a bit – a combination of the summer and the Olympics. Television did well, which in turn meant that radio suffered. Did listening bounce back in Q4? Yes it did. Overall, 90% of UK adults…

  • Internet and Mobile Premier League Rights

    Recently News International won the rights for both mobile and internet highlights pacakges from the next season. These are the packages that are currently owned by ESPN (mobile) and Yahoo (internet), neither of whom will have any rights from next season. According to a source at The Guardian, News International paid £20m for these rights.…

  • Some Recent TV Thoughts

    Sorry, this is going to be a bit of a disparate entry about all things television. ITV As most people have noticed – well most people in the UK – ITV has rebranded, and no longer do we have ITV1. Instead, ITV has returned. It’s got a whole new curvy logo, and to be honest…

  • Ceramic Handmade Radios

    At lunchtime I chanced across this shop in Berwick Street, Soho. Inside they had handmade DAB radios and BlueTooth speakers built from ceramic bodies that were cast in Stoke-on-Trent before having the technology added down south. Josiah is the name they’re being sold under. They’re not cheap, but they’re functional pieces of art. Some of…

  • Screwball Continued

    [A continuation of my exploration of Hollywood screwball comedies of the thirties and early forties in the BFI’s season. See part one here.] And so the BFI’s Screwball season continues, and I’ve seen a few more films. A couple of weeks ago there was an illustrated introduction to the season from Peter Swaab. He’s the…

  • Kindle for Android Moans

    As I’ve been using my Nexus 7 more and more, it has also meant that my “old-school” Kindle has seen less action of late. I find it more convenient to carry a single device and use the Kindle for Android app on the tablet. Yet it does sometimes feel that the app doesn’t offer all…

  • Retail

    And so it has come to pass that HMV is in administration. When an unplanned “Blue Cross” sale popped up before the weekend, the writing was on the wall. At time of writing, we can perhaps remain hopeful of some kind of partially successful outcome of the administrators seeking a semblence of a successful business.…

  • Screwball

    If there’s a genre films I really love, it’s screwball comedies. His Girl Friday has always been one of my favourite films, and alongside Bringing Up Baby, epitomises what I love in the genre. The rat-a-tat dialogue, strong female characters, the prevalent design – lots of art deco, and in general the sheer delight. These…