Tag: TV

  • Sports Numberwang

    I’m really only posting this, because I spent a bit too much time putting together a Thread of a response to a clickbait-y post about the major sporting events’ viewerships. I really shouldn’t rise to the bait, but… The Threads algorithm threw up this post. (A reminder that “Verified” just means someone who is willing…

  • Peak TV vs Peak TV

    Peak TV vs Peak TV

    If you Google “Peak TV”, the first search result is a Wikipedia article called “Golden Age of Television (2000s-present)” It reflects an era that started a little earlier with series like HBO’s The Wire and NBC’s The West Wing, but obviously carried on through the early 2000s, and broadly speaking, continues to this day. The…

  • Rebundling Sports in the US

    Rebundling Sports in the US

    Interesting news in the US, where Disney, Warner Bros Discovery and Fox have announced a new as-yet-unnamed streaming service that will combine all their sports offerings into a single subscription. Combining the resources of ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPNews, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+ into a single…

  • Three TV Classics Still Not Available To Stream

    Three TV Classics Still Not Available To Stream

    There is, of course, an endless list of shows and films that are not available to stream on any platform. But I wanted to examine three series, all dating from the mid-eighties to mid-nineties that are still not available in the UK, but some of which have been appearing in the US. Last autumn Moonlighting…

  • Boxing Day TV and Radio – Radio Times – 2023

    The last of these this year, and the Festive choices continue. Not everything big has started airing yet, with more dramas lined up for later in the week and, in particular, New Year’s Day. But here is my final guide of the year! As ever, click through for larger versions, and don’t forget that a…

  • Christmas Day TV and Radio – Radio Times – 2023

    Christmas Day TV and Radio – Radio Times – 2023

    Merry Christmas! Here’s the next of this year’s three-day bonanza of annotated Radio Times pages. You obviously could be streaming Rebel Moon on Netflix, but honestly, I’m not sure I’d bother. Reacher on Prime is better, but not as good as the first season. And my family don’t seem to be super-keen to watch either…

  • Christmas Eve TV and Radio – Radio Times – 2023

    Christmas Eve TV and Radio – Radio Times – 2023

    It’s that time of year again, when I publish a few annotated pages from the Radio Times, with a few highlights – and lowlights – marked up for your delictation. Obviously, in a streaming world, everything is available all the time, making scheduling almost redundant. And we’re not in any way limited to the linear…

  • Premier League Rights 2025/26 – 2028/29 UK TV Deal

    Premier League Rights 2025/26 – 2028/29 UK TV Deal

    This evening, the first games in Amazon’s deal for TV rights to two rounds of the Premier League get underway. But Amazon’s coverage ends after next season’s Festive period games, because from the 2025/26 season, they will no longer have live rights. Amazon, you will recall, have the rights to a midweek round of games…

  • GCN+ Closing Down

    GCN+ Closing Down

    There was some sad news on Wednesday, when Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced that GCN+ will be closing down in December this year. Unfortunately, it perhaps wasn’t surprising news set against a plurality of WBD sports brands and a massive need for WBD to cut costs throughout its business to service an enormous debt load.…

  • The Rising Cost of Streaming

    The Rising Cost of Streaming

    There seems to be barely a week that goes by right now when a streaming service doesn’t announce a price hike of some description. And I’ve just had an email from Netflix about their price increase. Here, as far as I can tell, are some of the UK price rises coming soon. Netflix says that…

  • Premier League UK TV Rights – More Games, Fewer Packages

    Premier League UK TV Rights – More Games, Fewer Packages

    Regular readers will know that I’m a little obsessed with the TV rights to Premier League football, and I only last wrote about the upcoming rights round a month ago. According to the very well connected FT (£), the Premier League is likely to offer fewer rights packages this time around, but with more games…

  • Channel 4 and DOGs

    Channel 4 and DOGs

    Taskmaster returned to Channel 4 this week, with an all-new line-up of contestants. Having got drenched in rain on my way home, I was ready for some stupid challenges performed by comedians. But when I turned on, I was treated to the above image. In the TV world a “Digital On-Screen Graphic”, or DOG, is…