Daily News Summary: 30th April 2010

April 30th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , ,

Sky

BT and Top Up TV have confirmed they will launch cut-price subscriptions to Sky Sports channels in time for the new football season. This has been made possible after BskyB reached an interim settlement to drop its fight to get the Competition Appeals Tribunal to implement a ‘stay’ to postpone the implementation of Ofcom’s ruling that it must cut the amount it charges to rival pay-TV operators to offer Sky Sports by more that 20%.

The CAT has brokered a deal under which Virgin Media, BT and Top Up TV can all take advantage of the reduced wholesale price for the two Sky Sports channels but they must place the difference between the new regulated price and Sky’s original wholesale price in a so-called ‘escrow’ account.

If Sky wins the case (likely to be held in September), then the money will be handed over to the satellite broadcaster as it will be able to put its prices up again. If Sky loses, the cash will be returned to the three companies. More HERE.

Film

After seven years and 24 outings (the Darth Vader one was our favourite) Orange’s spoof film board executive and his sidekick Elliott has been scrapped, a sad day indeed, more HERE.

BBC

Alan Yentob explains why the license fee payer should cover him flying business class HERE.

And finally

The Guardian has compiled a helpful selection of Wire quotes that Cameron, Clegg and Brown might have used, more HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

Daily New Summary: 15th April 2010

April 16th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , ,

Election stuff

David Cameron launched our proposal to run a X Factor-style talent competition for school children called Schools Stars, during a school visit with Take That’s Gary Barlow, more HERE.

The first ever televised Prime Minister’s debate attracted an impressive 9.4 million viewers last night, more than Coronation Street and EastEnders to become the most watched programme of the day. More HERE.

Fashion

Congratulations to Erdem who was announced last night as the first recipient of the £200,000 British Fashion Council / Vogue Designer Fashion Fund, more HERE.

Media

Goldman Sachs has produced a positive report on the media sector, upgrading its forecast for TV ad revenue growth to 10% year on year, more HERE.

Google has reported big increases in quarterly profits and revenue, more HERE.

Pay TV

The Premier League is to mount a challenge against Ofcom’s ruling that Sky must reduce its wholesale price by more than 20 per cent, saying it will ‘undermine not only English football but UK sport as a whole’ more HERE

Music

This year’s Proms will celebrate musical theatre composers Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, more HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

Weekly email: 1st April 2010

April 12th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We’d like to wish all our readers a very Happy Easter.

Today is April Fool’s day.

Tory Stuff

Ed spoke at the LGA Culture Tourism and Sport conference in Gateshead yesterday. Read his speech, and about the conference more widely, on their blog, including ACE chief executive Alan Davey who has been making the case for maintaining funding at local government level, HERE

Creative Industries

Ofcom – busy, busy, busy!

Ofcom – Pay TV

Ofcom has published the conclusion of its investigation into the pay TV market and concludes that: Sky must offer Sky Sports 1 and 2 to other retailers at a wholesale price set by Ofcom; give conditional approval to Sky and Arqiva’s request to offer pay TV services on digital terrestrial TV (Picnic), dependent on a wholesale deal; it will refer concerns regarding the sale and distribution of film rights  to the Competition Commission; and that Sky must offer wholesale HD versions of Sky Sports 1 and 2. More HERE and analysis on Media Guardian HERE .

BT does not think that Ofcom has gone far enough, saying : ‘Despite being a step in the right direction, it is disappointing that Ofcom seem to have compromised.  This is because their remedy does not apply to all Sky Sports Channels, there’s also no price for HD channels, they’ve set a price bundle of Sky Sports 1 and 2 at a higher rate than they suggested and they’ve left out the issue of premium movies.’

Sky have confirmed that they will appeal.

Ofcom – broadband

Ofcom has said that ISPs must do a better job of telling customers about broadband speeds, or face stiffer regulation, Full research HERE more HERE

Ofcom – media literacy

Ofcom’s report into media children’s media literacy suggests that a quarter of UK internet users aged eight to 12 have profiles on Facebook, Bebo or MySpace last year, despite the lowest minimum age set on any of the sites is 13, and band news for the music industry, finding that 44% of children between 12 and 15 thought downloading shared copies of films and music for free should not be illegal, more HERE Read the full report HERE

Ofcom – termination rates

Ofcom has published plans to reduce mobile termination rates (MTRs) – the charges operators made to connect calls to each others’ networks – to benefit UK consumers.

They will be consulting on these proposals until 23 June, more HERE

Ofcom – CRR

Ofcom has published the submission it made to the Competition Commission on CRR. It states that “Ofcom does not believe that retaining the undertakings in their current form is appropriate” HERE

Broadband

US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman, Julius Genachowski submitted a new “100 Squared” Nation Broadband Plan to Congress, full plan HERE, he raised the bar to an unprecedented height by proposing that that a 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds of at least 100M bps (bits per second) Internet, and upload speeds of at least 50 Mbps by 2020, more HERE

Virgin are using innovative methods to get broadband to rural areas, more HERE

Press Complaints Commission

Following the extension of the PCC’s remit to blogs , Rod Liddle’s Spectator blog is the first to have a complaint upheld, more HERE

Video Games

Skillset have pointed out, rightly, that while the promise of tax breaks are an important step for the sector, the need to tackle the skills gap is as, if not more,  important. More HERE.

Channel 4

The Culture Media and Sport Select Committee has published a report on Channel 4, more: HERE

It calls for increased over-sight of the channel if its PSB remit is extended to include other platforms including E4, More4, Film4 and online services. More in the Times,

HERE and from PA, HERE

Channel 4 is to double its budget for arts funding, under a new arts board chaired by its director of television and content Kevin Lygo. Tabitha Jackson has been appointed as commissioning editor art, more HERE

Advertising

Professor Tanya Byron published her progress review on child internet safety at Number 10 on Monday. Read it in its full 60-page glory HERE. The report commends the ad industry for the work done so far, especially the industry agreement to CAP’s remit extension – HERE.

UK internet advertising expenditure has grown 4.2% to £3.5bn in 2009, and IAB/PWC figures reveal that ad spend mushroomed by 2,200% during the last decade. Search has surpassed £2bn, while online video ads have enjoyed spectacular growth. The Internet Advertising Bureau’s Guy Phillipson appeared on BBC R5 and you can listen to him HERE.

Radio

The Lords Communication Committee has published its report into digital switchover of television and radio this week, a summary is on our blog HERE more on the radio aspects of the report HERE download the full report HERE

Film

The UK Film Council has published its three year plan and launches its new £15m Film Fund, following three months consulting on proposals across the film sector. More HERE

EM Media announces nine new digital media projects with the support of the East Midlands Development Agency, more HERE

Camelot

The National Lottery operator’s shareholders have agreed to sell their shares to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan for £389 million, more HERE .  Just think, it could have been you. Then again, if you used to teach in Ontario, it is you.

Fashion

Last week, twenty emerging London design talents flew to New York to show their work at the Soho Grand at the invitation of Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, more, and an analysis of the increasing profile of fashion in the political world, HERE

The British Fashion Council have launched their first ever ‘Pop-Up’ store to celebrate new British design talent at Bicester Village yesterday, featuring clothes from Erdem, Mark Fast, PPQ, Todd Lynn, House of Holland, Osman and Hannah Marshall, more HERE

Meanwhile Skillset’s remit is expanding to cover fashion and textiles creating one of the biggest Sector Skills Councils, more HERE

Arts and Heritage

Libraries

Following the Libraries Review, which promises to make an ‘affirmative order preventing libraries from charging for ebooks lending of any sort, including remotely’, the Booksellers Association has written to Margaret Hodge warning that the commercial book business risks being undermined by the free loading of ebooks by libraries in a letter sent to culture minister Margaret Hodge, more HERE The Booksellers Association have been joined in their protest by the Society of Authors and the Writers Guild, who have also written to La Hodge on the matter, more HERE

Visual Art

As part of its tenth anniversary celebrations, Tate Modern will host a festival of independent arts, No Soul For Sale, hosting over 60 of the world’s most innovative independent art spaces, not-for-profit organizations and artists’ collectives to take over the turbine hall, more HERE

Meanwhile Tate has appointed former Guardian and Observer marketing director Marc Sands to be director of audiences and media, congratulations to him, more HERE

Heritage

Ben Bradshaw has announced £250,000 funding for Bletchley Park Museum funding an urgent repair programme within the conservation area, more HERE

The Historic Houses Association have a lovely new website, HERE

The Heritage Lottery Fund has announced a £25m increase in its annual budget for new awards to heritage projects across the UK following a rise in National Lottery ticket sales, more HERE .  They’ll get even more if we win the election.

Dance

The Dance sector has a national campaign running to get as many Parliamentary candidates as possible interested in and connected to dance, more HERE

Music

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s In Harmony music project is the subject of a specially commissioned 30-minute film to be broadcast on BBC One North West on Easter Monday, 5th April, at 3.40pm , more HERE

Cultural Learning Alliance

The Cultural Learning Alliance brings together the cultural sector including museums, film, libraries, heritage, dance, literature, new media arts, theatre, visual arts and music with the education and youth sector to promote  the vision of a stronger cultural entitlement. More HERE It sounds great to us, and there’s a lovely film of David Cameron on their website.

Museums

Congratulations to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, which won the 2010 Guardian Family Friendly Museum Award today! More HERE

The NMDC’s monthly newsletter is out now, read it HERE

Writing

Congratulations to British writer Rosemary Sutcliff has been awarded the major US 2010 Phoenix Award, for The Shining Company more HERE

Culture Blogs

Lord ‘jostle like a dragon’ Tebbit has his own culture blog, more HERE

Election Fever

Rumour has it the election might be called shortly. We hope that this email will continue during the campaign, although we can’t quite confirm that as yet, so watch this space. Email-wise, during the campaign Ed will be on HERE. Helen will be delighted to receive your suggested Weekly contributions on HERE.

In Parliament

Parliamentary Questions

Pricey hospitality at the DCMS HERE

Payments to the Newspaper Licensing Agency HERE

Almost 23000 people employed at the BBC HERE

Public opinions of the BBC HERE

EDMs

1228 Hospital Radio Awards HERE

1223 Digital Economy Bill HERE

1215 Licensing of Live Music HERE

1206 National Anthem and the BBC HERE

Where we’ve been and who we’ve seen

Game Based Learning Conference, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner at Working Title, AOP, Getty Images, BAPLA, Video Games Hustings, City Screen, LGA Annual Culture Tourism and Sport conference, Newcastle City Library,  Great North Museum: Hancock, Telegraph digital team, Ofcom, UK Music reception, Big Society Seminar.

Ed Vaizey

Shadow Arts Minister

Jeremy Hunt

Shadow Culture Secretary

Posted in:
Weekly Email

Guardian features Ed’s complaints as to the ‘wilful misrepresentation’ of Conservative media policy

March 10th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , , ,

‘The shadow culture minister, Ed Vaizey, has denied that Conservative media policy is dictated by Rupert Murdoch and executives at his News Corporation media empire, dismissing the suggestion as “completely laughable”.

Vaizey told delegates at a Westminster Media Forum event in London that Tory policy on the BBC, in particular, has been “wilfully misrepresented”.

He singled out a column in the Guardian last week by Jonathan Freedland [HERE], which argued that the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, had decided to axe services in an attempt to prevent the Tories from making more swingeing cuts if they form the next government. Freedland also said Thompson was right to fear the Conservatives would do this because of “two words: Rupert Murdoch”.

Vaizey responded today: “If a Conservative has any kind of critique of the BBC then somehow this a ‘Sky agenda’. I noticed that in Monday’s Media Guardian James Purnell, a former BBC employee, said BBC2 should only broadcast in the evenings. Nobody has written that to understand where James Purnell is coming from you just have to understand two words: Rupert Murdoch.”

He added: “There is a legitimate debate to be had about the [size] of the BBC.” The culture secretary, Ben Bradshaw, had conceded as much, Vaizey argued.

Conservative opposition to the BBC Trust’s decision to close educational service BBC Jam demonstrated that the party did not have the corporation in its sights, he said.

“You shouldn’t lose sight of the fact the BBC has massive public support,” Vaizey said. “The idea that somehow there is any agenda to do down the BBC is completely laughable.”

Tory policy on the BBC was straightforward, he added. A Conservative government would replace the BBC Trust with an independent regulator and force it to be “more transparent about its finances”.

He said news organisations need to know how much the corporation spends on its news website in order to make judgments on how best to run their own online businesses.

Vaizey reiterated that Tory media policy is dictated by a “de-regulatory approach” but insisted he “liked Ofcom”.

The Conservative leader, David Cameron, last year set out plans to reduce Ofcom’s size and strip it of its policy-making powers.

“We felt there was a leadership vacuum from DCMS [the department of culture, media and sport] so Ofcom was driving policy. With a new and energetic Conservative government you would get leadership on media policy and Ofcom would return to its regulatory role,” Vaizey said.

He also said the Conservatives have no plans to privatise Channel 4 and defended the party’s proposals to fund rollout of high-speed broadband to rural areas with licence-fee money currently earmarked to meet the cost of digital switchover as “a perfectly sensible and intellectually coherent proposal”.

Vaizey added that the principle of using licence-fee money to fund other projects was now well-established.’

Original article HERE.

Posted in:
Daily Blog

News Summary: 8th March 2010

March 8th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , ,

BBC

The BBC is standing by a report that 95% of the aid raised to fight famine in northern Ethiopia in 1985 was diverted by rebels and spent on weapons, despite denials by Bob Geldof and leading charities (whose complaints can be see in our Weekend News Summary HERE).

BBC World Service’s Africa editor, Martin Plaut’s documentary is expected to find itself the subject of a formal complaint next week when Geldof and several charities send a letter to Ofcom and the BBC Trust. The BBC has declined to comment directly, instead referring to a blog entry written by the BBC World Service’s news and current affairs editor. Andrew Whitehead said the programme had presented ‘compelling evidence that some of the famine relief donations were diverted by a powerful rebel group to buy weapons’, adding that the BBC stood by Plaut’s reporting. He also noted that the programme had not suggested that any relief agencies had been complicit in the diversion of funds:

‘It explicitly stated that “whatever the levels of deception, much aid did reach the starving”… But there is a clear public interest in determining whether some money given as famine relief ended up buying guns and bullets. And that’s what the evidence suggests.’ More in The Guardian HERE.

Erik Huggers, the BBC digital chief, has promised its closure of 200 websites is not simply an exercise in cutting dead wood and will help commercial rivals. In an interview with MediaGuardian – which you can read in full HERE – he said the BBC expansionist tendencies that had angered commercial rivals were a natural consequence of the internet being a medium with no boundaries:

‘Our mistake was allowing our web presence to sprawl, a natural consequence of not being constrained by spectrum… We need to be more focused, and do it much better… we need to improve the quality level, and reprioritise on what we do best.’ More in The Guardian HERE.

Tech

A BBC World Service poll, which collated the answers from more than 27,000 people across 26 countries, has found that 87 per cent of internet users felt that web access should be a basic human right. More than 70 per cent of non-users felt they should have access to the net. Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union has said:

‘The right to communicate cannot be ignored… The internet is the most powerful potential source of enlightenment ever created. [Government’s must] ‘regard the internet as basic infrastructure – just like roads, waste and water’. More in The Telegraph HERE.

The Chinese government has pledged to punish the hackers who attacked Google if there is evidence to prove it, but said it has yet to receive any complaint; Google has never filed a report to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology over the cyber attacks or sought negotiations, Vice Minister Miao Wei has been quoted as saying by state news agency Xinhua:

‘If Google has had evidence that the attacks came from China, the Chinese government will welcome them to provide the information and will severely punish the offenders according to the law’. More in The Independent HERE.

Meanwhile today’s Times reports that urgent warnings have been circulated throughout Nato and the European Union for secret intelligence material to be protected from a recent surge in cyberwar attacks originating in China. The attacks have also hit government and military institutions in the United States, where analysts said that the West had no effective response and that EU systems were especially vulnerable because most cyber security efforts were left to member states. James Lewis, of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies has said British and American cyber defences are among the most sophisticated in the world, but:

‘… the EU is less competent… The porousness of the European institutions makes them a good target for penetration. They are of interest to the Chinese on issues from arms sales and nuclear non-proliferation to Tibet and energy.’ More in The Times HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

News Summary: 5th March 2010

March 5th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , ,

Advertising

Trinity Mirror – owner of the Daily Mirror and over 120 regional titles – has followed ITV’s announcement (on which more HERE) with further signs that the advertising recession may be over. Reporting better than expected full-year results, Trinity Mirror said that it expected advertising revenue to continue improving after a dire 2009, adding that it was considering reinstating a dividend. Trinity Mirror chief executive, Sly Bailey reports resilience:

‘We are emerging from the downturn leaner and fitter… Ongoing tight management of the cost base enabled costs to fall by £67.9m and was crucial in supporting our profits… During 2010, we will maintain a focus on costs whilst reaping the benefits of an improvement in the rate of decline in advertising revenues. Whilst the board remains cautious about the economic outlook, it anticipates a satisfactory performance for 2010.’ More in The Guardian HERE; Times HERE and HERE; and Telegraph HERE.

Broadcasting

ITV announced yesterday it had secured the UK broadcasting rights to this year’s IPL Twenty20 cricket competition, which gets underway in a week. ITV will show 59 live games over the 45-day tournament on its ITV4 channel, as well as its website, ITV.com. Zai Bennett, director of digital channels and acquisitions at ITV, said it was an ‘exciting acquisition for one of the UK’s fastest-growing digital channels’. Notably, neither Sky, which at present broadcasts all the live cricket shown in Britain, nor the BBC, which is under constant pressure to show cricket, has showed bidding interest. ITV’S deal will prove an interesting test to the hypothesis that cricket will garner an audience only on free-to-air. More in The Independent HERE and HERE.

BBC Radio 1 is to introduce a new mid-week rundown of the 40 pop bestsellers of the week — so far — in the “Official Chart Update”, every Wednesday between 3.30pm and 4pm. Gennaro Castaldo, of HMV, has said the move will give a boost to help up-and-coming artists, who tend to sell better towards at the start of the week:

‘With social media the charts are more relevant than ever before because you have an instant gauge of what people are doing… The charts remain hugely important to the industry because you know where you stand. And we all love the competition and the race.’ More in The Times HERE.

In other BBC news, BBC Worldwide has agreed a deal to buy out the remaining 40 per cent of DVD business 2entertain it did not previously own in a deal worth £17m. The sale, negotiated with the administrators of Woolworths, BBC Worldwide’s partner in the venture, started at the end of 2008. The BBC said the move secured the future of 2entertain, which publishes DVD titles toinclude Gavin & Stacey, Doctor Who and Fawlty Towers. John Smith, CEO of BBC Worldwide, has said:

“I am pleased that we have finally concluded these negotiations, and have secured the future of 2entertain… Licence fee payers will continue to benefit from 2|entertain’s contribution to BBC Worldwide, which helped us return a total of £153m to the BBC in the last financial year,” More in The Independent HERE.

There’s also more on BBC 6 Music, with The Guardian pondering the delivery of ‘new music’ HERE and The Independent arguing that ‘with more people doing their listening online, 6 Music has lost what little raison d’être it had in the first place’ HERE.

Jeremy’s letter to The Guardian

Jeremy has written to The Guardian in response to Jonathan Freedland’s Tuesday Guardian article entitled ‘The BBC is caving in to a Tory media policy dictated by Rupert Murdoch’, which you can read HERE. Jeremy responded as follows:

‘Jonathan Freedland suggests Conservative media policy can be summed up in two words: Rupert Murdoch. I would suggest his article can be summed up in two other words: Ben Bradshaw.

His article is so far off the mark, and bears so little relation to the facts, that he appears to have swallowed Labour spin hook, line and sinker. Every single accusation he makes has been made by Bradshaw, the culture secretary, at the dispatch box – but instead of scrutinising their accuracy, Freedland has simply reproduced them almost verbatim.

Let’s take the licence fee. He says: “The Murdochs constantly demand a cut in the licence fee. Last year Cameron nodded dutifully, and called for an immediate freeze in the licence fee.” We did propose a freeze last year – why should the BBC get a rise when there was no inflation?

But it is Labour, not the Tories, who have questioned the licence fee, with Bradshaw putting the principle of the licence fee up for debate only this week. By contrast, David Cameron has written, in the Sun of all places, that he supports the BBC and the principle of the fee. And we have explicitly ruled out privatising Radio 1.

In fact we listen to all sorts of people about media policies – including your own Guardian Media Group, who have expressed concerns about the size and scope of the BBC’s website.

Freedland also raises “the Murdochs’ hatred of Ofcom”, quoting David Cameron as wanting to cut the regulator “by a huge amount”. We do want to slim down quangos, and do believe media policy should be decided by elected ministers not unelected officials. However, we have explicitly made it clear that Ofcom would continue to regulate on competition issues – including pay TV – at arm’s length.

Freedland says: “Sky wants to keep exclusive access to the Ashes, rather than seeing them return, free to air, to the BBC or C4, and the Conservatives agree.” Actually, all we have said is that any decision should take account of the financial impact on grassroots sport. It is not Murdoch’s lobbying that has held us to this conclusion – but the genuine concerns of county cricket boards all over the country that any change would mean less money available to get more young people playing sport.

The general election is coming and political smears will obviously be par for the course. But the debate needs to be based on the facts. The Labour government bases its approach around regulation and subsidy; a modern Conservative approach wants to preserve what is best about British broadcasting while updating regulations to take account of the new media world we live in.

That means support for the BBC as a great national institution – but also a new network of city-based local television stations, superfast broadband for the whole country, and a thriving independent sector that drives on choice and quality for everyone. In this area, Jonathan and I would perhaps agree on one thing: there is a real choice.’ As published in today’s Guardian HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

News Summary: 4th March 2010

March 4th, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , , ,

Broadcasting

In the name of equality, the Guardian has left BBC 6 Music for the day, in order to ask ‘Where’s the Save Asian Network campaign?’ And then to respond that the majority of the Asian Network audience comes from the Midlands (around 70%) listens on the AM frequency, not on digital radio; you’re unlikely to find them in media-friendly places such as Twitter – ‘The Asian Network’s inability to generate its own noise seems to stem from the fact that it doesn’t appeal to middle-class male tweeters with a love of Suede B-sides.’ More in The Guardian  HERE, with the idea that breaking up the BBC Asian Network will better serve diverse communities dismissed as absurd HERE.

The Times reports the fact that 3,000 complaints have been made to the BBC regarding 6 Music, and a senior BBC executive’s report that Mark Thompson:

‘… told us he is not concerned about the outcry, because it sends a message to politicians that even if you want to close a small, niche station there’s such a large outcry; imagine what would happen if you tried to close BBC One or Two.’ More in The Times HERE, whilst The Independent focuses on new controversy around the BBC giving free sporting event tickets to celebrities HERE.

ITV chairman, Archie Norman has said ITV gains nothing from the proposed BBC cutbacks:

‘I don’t see any benefit… The savings the BBC will make on cutting back on peripheral activities will be re-invested in programming. I can’t see how that will be of any benefit to ITV.’

Speaking of ITV’s own strategic review, which will be run by chief executive Adam Crozier for his arrival on 26 April with support from consultants LEK, he said what was needed was a ‘cold-eyed, realistic’ look at ITV’s position in the marketplace and that ‘today is very much day zero’. Norman, who has in the past said that a move to pay-TV services was not on the cards, seems to be viewing the idea more favourably of late, although maintaining that ITV currently has ‘no suitable product for a pay platform’. More in The Guardian HERE and more on ITV’s profits announcements in The Independent HERE.

City of Culture

Derry was last week one of four cities shortlisted for the title of UK City of Culture, 2013, good news which at the time seemed straight-forward enough; until Sinn Féin demanded that ‘UK’ be stripped from the title if the city wins. Maeve McLaughlin, the party’s leader on Derry city council, has said:

‘I have yet to be convinced this bid, as it currently stands, reflects the views of Irish nationalists and republicans… While we are a city of culture there has to be a recognition that we’re not part of the UK. We are not opposing the bid, but… There is a huge onus on the team that’s been put together to lead this bid to put in writing how they will address the issue of the tens of thousands of nationalists and republicans in this city and region who do not recognise themselves as part of the UK.’

Speaking yesterday at a reception to launch Derry’s bid in the House of Lords, the SDLP MP Mark Durkan said Sinn Féin protests over the title were putting the city’s application in peril:

‘This bid is an opportunity for Derry to promote itself as a city and to promote the wider region. It is about our civic ambition. It is about our cultural ambition. It is nothing to do with political aspiration – in which the people of this city have very clear views and differences about wanting to be part of a united Ireland or United Kingdom… Are we going to say that any other funding or opportunity that is set up on a UK basis we count ourselves out of? We should not be disabling ourselves from making the most of any opportunity to which we are as entitled as anyone else… And we can do that without compromising any of our political beliefs, any of our interests and identities that we hold very dearly at a political level.” More in The Guardian HERE.

Tech

Ed Richards, chief executive of Ofcom, has said that several media companies had raised concerns about the issue of net neutrality in the last few months and that Ofcom is scrutinising traffic management techniques, to publish its initial findings in the spring. Whilst arguing that traffic management policies must be clearly explained and transparent, Richards has indicated that the highly interventionist approach seen in the United States might not be appropriate for the UK and Europe, and that it was:

‘… even harder to justify blanket net neutrality rules when we consider the risks they could pose to potential collaborative and desirable investment in networks… In the US, limited competition, both at the network and the ISP level, means that the potential for consumer detriment through traffic management is greater… In Europe, as recent research for the FCC indicates, the mixed model — investment in infrastructure complemented by unbundling of the local loop — has delivered a more competitive market structure from the exchange back into the network.’ More in The Telegraph HERE.

Publishing

Mills and Boon’s novels were launched in India exactly two years ago and have doubled their sales in the past year. The publisher, Harlequin Mills & Boon, is far from the only beneficiary of a boom in book sales that is sweeping India; Dan Brown’s sequel to The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, has already sold 100,000 in hardback alone; Aravind Adiga’s Man Booker winner The White Tiger has sold more than 200,000 copies since its publication in 2008.

Driving the demand is the country’s continuing economic boom – 6.7% growth in 2009 despite the global crisis – and the tastes of the new Indian middle class. Manish Singh, Mills & Boon’s country manager for India has said:

‘It is a forward looking generation… The low hanging fruit for us is the single working woman who has money in her hands, the liberty to read, no responsibilities yet, no husband, children and so on.’

In the next decade, publishers forecast that India will become the biggest English language book-buying market in the world. New distribution networks and an increasing presence of chains of major bookstores are also fuelling the expansion. More in The Guardian HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

News Summary: 23rd February 2010

February 23rd, 2010 - 
No Comments
Tags:
, , , , , , ,

Art

Tate Britain’s important retrospective of Henry Moore’s work, opens today to reveal, say curators, his demons; that this is a man much darker, edgier and more complex than has been realised hitherto. It also reveals an unexpected twist to Moore’s career pattern; he is unusual in that even when his best work was behind him, in every subsequent decade he continued to make individual pieces of sculpture as original and powerful as any he had done; The “five-to-10 good years” phenomenon, appears not quite to apply, as noted in The Telegraph HERE. More in The Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; and Times HERE.

Literature

Michael Morpurgo, the former children’s laureate, is spearheading a writing award for children that launches today. The award is a reincarnation of the much-loved WH Smith’s Young Writers’ competition, which more than a million children entered until it was discontinued 20 years ago. Previous winners included the biographer Hermione Lee, the playwright Neil Bartlett and the actresses Helena Bonham Carter and Kate Beckinsale, who won twice, for poetry and a short story.

Morpurgo said that the new award was aimed at children whose parents “do not go to literary festivals” and offers them a creative antidote to the culture of testing prevalent in schools:

“I know this sounds just like any other campaign, but it’s not… It’s about saying that children matter on a national scale. They make art and poetry just like anybody else does.” More in The Times HERE.

Advertising

In response to Ofcom’s ruling that the Curry’s sponsorship of The Simpsons on Sky1 breached broadcasting regulations, Sky has said it had sought Ofcom’s informal guidance on the campaign and was of the view that “Ofcom had confirmed the credits were compliant”. Ofcom has rejected Sky’s response, issuing a note to broadcasters reminding them that:

“Ofcom does not accept Sky’s view that, in advance of transmission, Ofcom had ‘confirmed that the credits were compliant’… Ofcom is a post-transmission regulator and has always made clear to its licensees that it does not offer pre-transmission clearance or compliance approval… Ofcom does not and cannot clear material prior to broadcast… Any [pre-broadcast] advice is given on the strict understanding that it will not affect Ofcom’s discretion to judge cases and complaints after transmission and will not affect the exercise of Ofcom’s regulatory responsibilities. More in The Guardian HERE.

Theatre

High praise indeed for the British theatre from the theatre editor of Time Out New York who writes of how the excitement over the transfer to Broadway from the West End of Enron, is mitigated by the shame that no one stateside had thought of it first. He argues “American artistic directors are shockingly unimaginative.” More in the Guardian HERE.

Librarians

As Marilyn Johnson explains in This Book is Overdue!: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All HERE, a new generation of young, hip and occasionally tattooed librarians, calling themselves “guybrarians”, “cybrarians” and “information specialists”, and to be found blogging at sites like The Free Range Librarian HERE and The Lipstick Librarian HERE. Who else is going to help us formulate the questions Google doesn’t understand, or show non-English speakers how to apply for jobs online, or sympathize with your need to research the ancient origins of cockfighting? There’s a great Salon article HERE, finding answers to questions such as Aren’t libraries and librarians obsolete in the age of Google?/ What does a librarian look like today?/ and, perhaps most interestingly of all; is the library the last place, other than your home, where information comes free of charge and you don’t have to be ‘on guard’ against the big sell?

Journalism

The Pulitzer committee have decided that the National Enquirer will be eligible to be considered for their investigative reporting and national news reporting awards. The magazine’s executive editor, Barry Levine, who just a few days previously had been telling Pulitzer committee-members that they needed “to get their heads out of the sand”, is jubilant:

“That persistence, that old-fashioned shoe-leather reporting that we exhibited on [the John Edwards affair] story, at the end of the day, is what the Pulitzer committee recognised”

Washington politics blogger, Emily Miller led a grassroots campaign to lobby the Pulitzer committee and says:

“The National Enquirer is a supermarket tabloid, but the time has come for the media elite to admit that it has an excellent investigative reporting team, which broke the biggest political scandal of 2009.”

The Guardian notes that some serious caveats are in order HERE; and a Guardian journalist tells of how the Statesman:

“… shaped my journalistic ambitions. It teaches one to be cynical (yup), sarcastic (tick), and to believe that anyone who is a celebrity is definitely an idiot and probably full-on doolally” HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

News Summary: January 19th 2010

January 19th, 2010 - 
Comments Off
Tags:
, , , , , , ,

Ofcom said yesterday that it is committed to “removing unnecessary burdens” from TV broadcasters; its current review is looking at rules surrounding advertising minutes. Ofcom’s CEO Ed Richards said:

‘[in the context of] substantial increases in the takeup of digital services and in the number of available channels, and consolidation in the advertising buying sector… If regulations have no public interest then they should be removed. That is what we will be considering here.’

ITV responded: ‘ITV welcomes Ofcom’s proposed review of the advertising sales and scheduling rules and its recognition that further deregulation may be necessary’ More in the Guardian HERE; Times HERE; Telegraph  HERE; and FT HERE.

A report by Deloitte has expressed optimism for the future of ‘traditional’ television advertising consumption, saying that, contrary to the findings of ‘misleading’ self-report research: ‘In 2010 most consumers of content are likely to remain happily beholden to the schedule, rather than resentful of what some pundits have labelled the “tyranny of the schedule”… Linear is likely to remain dominant not just in 2010 but for many years to come.’ More HERE

The Googlecn drama continues to unfold, with latest reports flagging the fact that Google might have fallen victim to an ‘inside job’, wherein the firm’s own employees assisted hackers who then launched the cyber-attack from China prompting Google’s threats last week to leave the country. Google has responded: ‘We’re not commenting on rumour and speculation. This is an ongoing investigation, and we simply cannot comment on the details.’ More in the Guardian HERE; Independent HERE; Times HERE; and Telegraph HERE.

And finally… ‘Best Original Video Game Score goes to…’

Video games, congratulations! Excellent kick off to the year as the Ivor Novello awards are to introduce a new category — best original video game score, in recognition of the increasing sophistication of game soundtracks and their importance as a new revenue stream for the music industry, on which you might like to read more HERE.

But that’s not all – video games are also being congratulated for raising social and political awareness; for discovering ‘virtuous reality’. This in response to ‘serious’ games such as ‘Dying in Darfur’, intended to depict the reality of life in Sudan. Read more HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary

News Summary: January 18th 2009

January 18th, 2010 - 
Comments Off
Tags:
, , , , ,

Ofcom’s pay-TV review – the final statement from which is due to be published in March – has set rolling predictions that the ‘cost of TV sport set to tumble’. More in the Guardian HERE; Independent HERE and Telegraph HERE.

Google is making the headlines again, this week in response to an action lodged by German news publishers regarding copyright. Germany‘s justice minister has also joined the debate, complaining that the firm is becoming ‘a giant monopoly, similar to Microsoft’. More HERE.

Last week’s big all-change of radio talent - Chris Evans, the new Terry; Simon Mayo the new Chris; Richard Bacon the new Simon… – is under review HERE, whilst television’s Simon vs. Simon is analysed HERE.

The National Youth Jazz Orchestra is facing bankruptcy. Its plight has emerged after the cancellation of this year’s Festival of British Youth Orchestras because of a shortfall of £50,000. The orchestra’s chairman estimates that he needs to raise £105,000 by April to secure the band’s survival:

‘If we fail to raise the money we need, one of two things would happen. Either the NYJO would have to fold more or less instantly, or it might limp along for a bit but still eventually fold. If we don’t raise it, it’s a tragedy: a national cultural jewel down the tubes.’ More HERE.

And finally… ‘You ever heard of this amazing Stravinsky bloke?’

The Roundhouse – famous Camden-cool nurturer of young music and performance talent – looks set to make in-roads in the struggle to get kids into classical. A new series called ‘Reverb at Roundhouse’ features everything from Beethoven to cutting-edge new works, bringing classical music into a venue that has a devoted following among young fans of only the coolest rock and pop gigs. Roundhouse’s Creative Director reports the kids have been ‘absolutely blown away’, asking ‘You ever heard of this amazing Stravinsky bloke?’ More in the Independent HERE and FT HERE.

Posted in:
Daily News Summary
« Older Entries