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The BBC and Marketing Speak
Yesterday a BBC blog entry from Daniel Danker, the Programme and On Demand General Manager at the BBC, caused something of a stir. It referred to a new “product” and there was much gnashing of teeth and concern as a result. I’ve got to say that I think that this probably isn’t the clearest communication…
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Sexism and Sky Sports
Tonight Richard Keys has resigned from Sky Sports following a last ditch attempt to apologise in the form of an interview on Talksport this afternoon (Kudos to Talksport for getting that interview). He joins Andy Gray who’s already gone. There are lots of interesting question raised in this affair. How sexist is the regime at…
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10 O’Clock Live
So what to make of Channel 4’s new “it’s not The Daily Show that we just cancelled” comedy current affairs series? Well it’s not all bad, and it’s not all good. There seemed to be quite a few first night nerves and a generally quite disjointed feel to the programme, but that’s something that will…
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Groupon’s Having a Laugh!
A report in the New York Times recently revealed that Groupon, the social buying site, is looking at generating $15bn in a prospective IPO. We’re surely back in internet bubble days with valuations like that! If Facebook’s valuation of $50bn is questionable, then it’s surely not even remotely credible that a business built around coupons…
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Local TV
Today, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt gave his backing to a new network of local TV stations built around the hub of a national spine. In other words, it’ll be a national service with local opt-outs at various times of the day. Hunt has been talking about this for ages, often with hackneyed references to Birmingham…
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World Cup 2018 Redux
Broadcast magazine has a really interesting story relating to England’s failed bid for the 2018 World Cup. The story is here (behind a paywall). In summary, it seems that in its bid proposal, England agreed to remove the 2018 World Cup tournament from the Listed Events which would have effectively let companies like Sky and…
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Ed Reardon’s Week: Series 7
Photo: BBC Radio 4 Have I mentioned that Ed Reardon’s Week is back for a new series? I have? Oh well, there’s no harm in mentioning it again. Every Monday at 11:30 and then on the iPlayer. In The Current Climate is available until Monday. And a single episode will be available in Radio 4’s…
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More On Cars (And Mobile Data)
CES has been taking place recently and one of the themes seems to have been the increased amount of sophistication in the in-car audio market. In particular Pandora is getting a lot of support from major manufacturers like Toyota and Ford. But there are plenty more besides. Last month I wrote a piece about in-car…
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Musicality
I must admit that I enjoyed taking the new BBC Radio 3 Musicality Test. In a series of questions both written and based around audio, your musical knowledge is tested. Not in the sense of who composed what, or who was in which band, but whether you can determine melodies or tempo, as well as…
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Data Reductions Hurt Mobile Media
The news that T-Mobile is dropping its mobile data usage limit to 500MB from 1GB is not great news. This is not just about one operator, but a trend across the industry. While T-Mobile says that “over 90%” of its customers use less than this a month (does this include customers without smartphones?), it’s not…
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Television I Have Been Watching
A few programmes that did or didn’t entertain me in the last few days: Penn and Teller’s Fool Us was everything The Magicians wasn’t. With the straight magic show being considered far too straightforward for a 21st century audience, producers are constantly looking for spins that’ll make programming “acceptable”. Sadly, for BBC1’s The Magicians, the…
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Analogue Afternoon
Sadly my DSLR is winging its way back to Sony to be repaired. I could have reverted to my old camera, but there were a shots at the end of a pack in my Polaroid, so I thought I’d shoot them. Clearly they’re well out of date and these images have been tidied up digitally…
Podcasts, Radio, TV, Books, Cycling, Photography and More
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Yellowface/All The Lovers In The Night
Yellowface by R F Kuang I first came across R F Kuang with last year’s very enjoyable Babel, an alternate history of the British Empire told in a world where magic exists and is controlled by an elite group of individuals. Yellowface is very different, but no less enjoyable. It’s a book about books, and…
Hadrian’s Wall
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