Category: Media
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Hunting In Packs
In today’s Standard (I managed to get a copy at Kings Cross – they’re never available much beyond 5.30pm at Oxford Circus or Piccadilly Circus), David Sexton pontificates over two pages about why “bloggers” are so hostile towards Ian McEwan. This is the piece that Sexton is talking about. Following a series of Guardian Book…
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Inside Out Upside Down
Given that ITV barely does any local or regional news, it seems a bit unfair to target the BBC’s programme – Inside Out – that covers the English regions. And I’m not. But for reasons I can’t really explain, I decided to go channel surfing in the 970s and 980s on Sky to see what…
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Five Live
On Monday there was a Radio Academy event in London with Matt Wells asking the questions of BBC Radio Five Live’s controller, Adrian van Klaveren. The obvious area for questioning surrounded Five Live’s forthcoming move to a new facility in Salford. As someone who listens to an awful lot of Five Live, I’m still unconvinced,…
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Why Can’t I Download A Film and Burn It To DVD?
As Peter Mandelson continues to show us that he completely misunderstands the nature of the internet, a general failing of “content-owners” can be seen when you try to do something very simple that you should be able to do in this day and age but can’t. At the weekend I thought I’d try to get…
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RAJAR Q3 2009
Today sees publication of the latest RAJAR figures and there are a few things that are food for thought. FIrst of all, it wasn’t the greatest RAJAR for commercial radio which slipped back a little against a strong BBC which saw increases in share for all its national analogue networks with the exception of Radio…
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London Newspapers
Associated Newspapers has just announced that the London Lite will shortly be closing. This has surely been inevitable since the Evening Standard went free a week or so ago. Clearly as well the journalists mentioned in the The Guardian’s report, there are also an awful lot of part-time distributors losing their jobs, as well associated…
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Watching Football on the Internet
And so it has come to pass – this weekend’s dead rubber between the Ukraine and England, will only be available online or at your local Odeon cinema. The prices seem to range from £4.99 if you book now to £11.99 if you book on the day of the game. Odeon cinemas seem to be…
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Content
Warning. You are about to read a bit of a rant: if you haven’t already stopped reading already that is. It’s been a long time in coming, but I feel I have to say something about it. I loathe content. The word “content” that is. I really, really loathe it. It’s a hideous and yet…
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BBC, Ofcom and James Murdoch
The Edinburgh TV Festival is all very depressing isn’t it. The stories coming out, during a recession that’s probably hit TV today to a greater extent than ever before, all seem to be about shutting things down, and leaving well alone. James Murdoch has come out swinging with his McTaggart lecture and it’s depressing stuff.…
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All The Broadcast News That’s Fit To (Re)Print
As the Edinburgh Television Festival approaches, and Autumn line-ups begin are announced and begin, this week’s Broadcast magazine is chock full of exciting, and mostly slightly less exciting news. The big story is ITV reworking Blind Date into a new speed-dating format. Since even C4 who have previously piloted show called it “the cattle market…
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STV plc v ITV plc
Back in the summer of 2008, the radio station I work for was then called Virgin Radio which in turn was owned by SMG plc. Once upon a time SMG was a media force to be reckoned with. It also owned the Glasgow Herald, the cinema advertising group Pearl & Dean, an outdoor advertising company…
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The Ashes on TV
Yesterday evening, England won the final Test at the Oval, and doing so regained the Ashes. It was a fine moment. And it was a moment that I experienced via the radio listening to Test Match Special on Five Live Sports Extra. As it happened I spent most of the weekend at the V Festival…