Julian Bellamy, head of Channel 4, has just confirmed that the broadcaster is in talks with Jonathan Ross, whose BBC contract ends in July. More in the Guardian HERE and Independent HERE. The announcement comes at a time when Channel 4 is looking to ‘fill the void after reality TV’, on which more HERE.
Today is Follow a Museum Day – over a million people already follow museums on Twitter, and today each of these is being asked to tell a friend about their museum, inviting them to follow too. The full directory of tweeting UK museums can be found HERE.
Amidst government and industry fears of an anti-switchover rebellion by fm radio listeners, Digital Radio UK, the organisation set up to drive switchover has held exploratory talks with leading retailers and manufacturers about a radio scrappage scheme wherein stores will accept analogue sets in part-exchange for new digital models.
One complementary idea being touted by senior industry executives involves sending a shipment of outmoded analogue radios to an African country, where they are one of the main sources of communication and the BBC World Service is popular. The event would generate huge publicity and could form the centrepiece of a PR campaign in the run up to switchover, when the public will be persuaded to dump their old sets. More HERE.
ITV is reported to have faced shareholder anger last night over the £15m pay package of the next chief executive, formerly of Royal Mail, Adam Crozier (as covered in our weekend summary HERE). One significant shareholder described Crozier as ‘totally unproven’, adding ‘The pity of it is one tends to associate the Royal Mail with bad management’. More in The Times HERE, whilst the Guardian discusses why ‘ad men like Crozier’ are coming to dominate television HERE.
TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, has called on the Government to invest resources in all creative industries with potential, rather than just traditional business sectors. Jason Kingsley, Chairman of TIGA and CEO and Creative Director at Rebellion Studios, said:
‘Just as the Government backs sectors like the film industry and the oil industry with tax breaks, so it should invest in the games industry through Games Tax Relief. The UK Government must support the creative industries in general, and the video games sector in particular, as part of a process of rebalancing the UK economy away from an excessive dependency on financial services.’ More HERE.
