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Posts tagged ‘broadcasting’

19
Nov

iPlayer pick: I’m sorry I haven’t a clue

I’m Sorry I haven’t a clue is one of the best comedy shows on radio, in fact it is one of the best things being broadcast on either radio, television or online.

Well now it’s back and it is finally settling into itself with a permanent host in the form of Jack Dee for the whole of series 52 and jokes that don’t sound like they were written with Humph in mind.

Good start to the series and high hopes for the next five episodes.

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11
Nov

Desert Island Discs goes digital but I have ideas

Most of the BBC’s radio and television output is available on the iPlayer for at least seven days after broadcast – some of the TV is even available for download.

The iPlayer team are now introducing a number of other features like linking to a specific point and chapters – next up I’d love to see comments and ratings.

But one of the shows missing from iPlayer, a major part of the BBC Radio 4 output is Desert Island Discs – as a format there is so much you could do with it online.

But there has always been a rights issue around it as it was created in a pre-digital era by someone obviously not under a BBC staff contract.

However that problem seems to be solved with an announcement on the BBC Radio 4 blog that not only will DDI be available on the iPlayer but will also eventually be a podcast and there will be some cool web features surrounding it.

The suggestion on the original Radio 4 blog post said: “we have plans to make the website an all-singing, all-dancing affair – encouraging people to compare their choices with the choices of castaways, looking at the most selected tracks etc.”

Which all sounds brilliant – but I hope it amounts to more than just a list of people that have been on the show with details of the songs the songs and selection – that is great content but not ‘all singing and all dancing’.

You can see an example of this approach in place on the pre-March 2009 Desert Island Discs BBC site.

That information still exists, it’s just that now you go to the /programme site for that edition of DID – which means that in theory this info exists in a data form somewhere.

So what I’d like to see is a cool web app – let me sign in with my BBC iD account, let me enter my choices (songs, book, luxury item) and then match me to the closest DID guest.

In fact this could be expanded to match me with other DID users with the data posted to my BBC iD profile page along with my iPlayer viewing et al.

And finally – on the new DID site, as well as this cool matching app, how about linking the song titles to Spotify so they can be listened to again while splitting out the music and making the interview portion available for ever.

If a link straight to spotify isn’t possible (for legal/impartial reasons) why not create a version of the Buyer’s Guide (currently being trialled with The Archers Audiobooks) and have a page for every song (tied to /music) with details of all legal online sources for that song including last.fm and Spotify.

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23
Apr

Using Beeb data to buy stuff

I’m a big fan of the various BBC data services and the way they all integrate with each other. Both the services themselves and the standard identifier codes they use.

The Archers
Image via Wikipedia

What this basically means is that, when these services roll out more widely across the BBC site (remembering that the BBC site is a lot more than one big website – it is a collection of fiefdoms, held tightly and with a passion by a number of different teams and departments.

The data sites like /programmes, /music, /iplayer (although that is really based around /programmes and in future /events basically allow for persistent and constant content in a human and machine readable way.

For example a BBC programme will have a unique idetifies such as, we’ll use mine for this example: p001d7vp.

If you follow the link underneath that code it will take you to the /programmes page for my show ‘BBC Jersey Introducing’. The show does have its own section of the BBC Jersey website and you could argue that, as it is part of the Introducing family – it could do with being in the Introducing look and feel – but as it is broadcast on BBC Radio Jersey – that’s how it looks.

However, what /programmes and this seperate of data, design and structure provides is the flexibility to use the data contained underneath p001d7vp in a number of different ways.

For example it could be tied into /music (and probably will in the future) so that I can publish my playlist, you can click on the bands I played, find out who else has played them, listen to that show, find out more about the band and their other songs – see where they are being played.

This could also then in future tie into /events and show you when they’re playing on BBC Shows or when they HAVE played on BBC Shows which in turn could be tied into the new /buyersguide (currently Archers only) to show where you can buy tracks from those sessions on the internet.

Which actually brings me on to the point of this blog post – the newly launched BBC Buyers Guide. Something that seems so logical, and would be logical if it wasn’t for the way the BBC is funded.

BBC Radio 5 Live keyring (2008)
Image by radiothings.com via Flickr

Basically it uses the standard PIP identifier for a show to tell you where you can buy audio/video/book content associated with that particular programme – although right now its only The Archers.

But don’t worry the BBC gets no kick backs from the companies they list. Mark Friend wrote on the BBC Internet Blog: “And just to reassure you suppliers do not make any payments to the BBC, either for listing as part of this service or for any click-throughs.”

Mark went on to say that: “We hope that the ‘Buyer’s Guide’ will go some way to providing users with the opportunity to find out more about their favourite BBC content.”

I’m guessing the plan is that I’ll be able to go to the /programmes page for say Top Gear and then from there I’ll see a Buyers Guide link where I can find out all the sites online selling downloads, books, dvd’s, music etc associated with that programme.

It’s basically a BBC only version of Kelkoo but without ANY recommendations – it is a list of all the places you can get the product online – at least all the places that meet a set of strict, pre-published criteria for listing.

These include purchasing security, data protection and customer support.

In fact there is more information on why this is a justified new area for the BBC to go into on the Buyer’s Guide about page.

The BBC’s Public Purposes state that “the BBC is a trusted guide to the digital world for the inexperienced or unsure, a safe place to be for the young, a reliable and accurate on-air and online source for the information seeker, and a challenging and involving partner for the more advanced user.”

Research conducted on behalf of the BBC revealed that buying and consuming media online can be a confusing and daunting experience for new users, particularly those with concerns around security and legality.

Those of us that are familiar with and regular users of sites like Audible or the iTunes store might find that a little odd but there are people, more than not, who aren’t comfortable buying things online or even necessarily know you CAN buy BBC programmes online.

My only concern is that it might bring the ‘why should I pay again for BBC content that I’ve paid for with my licence fee‘ lot out of the woodwork.

The response to that of course is that the BBC pays a fee for a limited number of plays of the content using the licence fee and has to pay again to do other things with it.

A broadcasting center at a TV Studio in Olympi...
Image via Wikipedia

That money goes to writers, directors, musicians, songwriters, actors etc…

So if the Beeb wanted to make something (there are some exceptions to this – non scripted content, wholly BBC owned content – but not many) available to download for ever so you could do what you like with it, or wanted to replay it online for ever – they would have to pay again.

That isn’t really a great use of the licence fee – it would be much better to play it within the agreed limits (e.g. two airings and seven day catchup) and then make it available at a reasonable price for people that want it outside that window and to keep for everl.

As the /buyersguide site expands, and as all the other data sites expand – there’s going to be some interesting pieces of digital content coming out – show pages that pull in details of the number of plays a track has received and where, links to places you can buy a copy of live bands performing on the BBC and where else on the BBC they have or will be playing in the future.

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1
Jan

My Media Tips for 2008

Happy New Year to everyone, it’s 2008 – I’m not sure what happened to 2007 to be honest as it all went by so quickly – but here’s hoping for a slightly slower year this time.

For me 2008 is personally going to be a year of nappies, sick and screaming – and that’s just the weekends – our new baby is due on 11 January although looking at my wife it will probably arrive any time in the next few days.

For everyone else, especially in media terms, I think 2008 is going to be the Time-Shift year. I know people having been time-shifting for ages but this is the year it will get a LOT easier.

The BBC iPlayer has launched as a streaming service – complete with heavy promotion and people seem to be finding it fairly easy to use – ITV will probably heavily advertise ITV.com now as well and I’m hoping Channel 4 will drop the application and offer streamed shows through their website.

iPlayer will also be launching through Cable and IPTV companies this year – BT and Virgin will be offering iPlayer shows over the air which will bring it to the attention of even more people.

We’re probably going to find out more about Kangaroo – the commercial version of iPlayer, ITV.com and 4OD combined. And I’ll carry on using SKY+ to avoid adverts.

But this will probably also be a year of more creative forms of advertising – as more people time-shift the pressure will be put on OfCom to allow commercial broadcasters to advertise in other ways – such as in vision adverts, product placements and fewer adverts shown more frequently during a show.

I also think we’ll see podcasts grow in popularity, especially video podcasts with the increasing popularity of the iPod Nano (video).

The BBC Trust will probably allow the BBC to publish video podcasts which will probably take the form of cut-down versions of TV shows they own the full rights to (Top Gear, Newsnight etc).

This will then prompt the commercial to up their game and start offering more video podcasts of their shows – maybe with embedded adverts to cover costs and make money.

I also think we’ll see a lot of fuss made over home grown children’s television in 2008 – money will be made available to the commercial operators to produce children’s television here in the UK and to develop British ideas.

There will also be talk, off the back of Australia planning to filter ‘unsavoury’ websites at ISP level, of the UK doing the same thing and of regulation of the internet as major UK broadcasters use it more.

I’ll publish more ideas for the new year as I think of them. Until then – Happy 2008.

3
Oct

Childrens Television

According to BBC News just 17% of Childrens Television broadcast in the UK is actually produced in the UK – which is nice.

Ok so I know the PC thing to say right now is that children shouldn’t be watching too much television anyway and so if only 17% of hundreds of hours of programming a week is produced in the UK then that should be enough.

But thats just bollocks.

I have two young children, a six year old and a four year old – both of whom have the same healthy interest in television and being entertained that I did at their age.

They get to watch TV for about two hours after school (nursery for the four year old) and about 30 minutes before bed and after dinner – television serves as another tool in the education of children and is an important part of social development.

As is the internet and I’m pleased to say that both my children have a firm grasp of the computer, mouse skills and in my six year olds case keyboard skills – they can both navigate the Cbeebies website comfortably and my daughter wants to write a blog – which should be interesting!

That aside – when I was in my pre-teen years my post school television consisted of switching between CITV and CBBC and apart from the odd American cartoon was primarily made up of home grown shows.

Although I have to say I spent most of my time switching to the channel showing the cartoon – but that’s beside the point.

Now my children have a choice of dozens of childrens channels showing a wide range of American programming – in fact apart from Horrid Henry and a few others on CITV and the odd re-make of an American show on other networks – British Childrens productions are mainly coming from Aunty.

CBBC and Cbeebies still have their share of American shows or shows made in America but dubbed with British accents but they are still the only channels with a majority of home grown shows.

In fact here are the figures for the most popular childrens shows between 24 September and 01 October (according to BARB).

Newsround (CBBC One) – 1.7m

Sarah Jane Adventures (CBBC One) – 1.3m (pictured)

Blue Peter (CBBC One) – 0.9m

Shaun The Sheep (CBBC One) – 0.8m

So – where shows are home grown and have a reasonably large budget and are on one of the main networks – they can get reasonable ratings – the fifth most popular was Lizzie McGuire but the less said about that the better.

 

The problem is – with the exception of merchandising and brand licences – there isn’t that much money in Children’s Televison – it’s only the really big stuff (that isn’t really aimed at young children) that gets anything near an audience that can recoup its money in advertising.

So OfCom are calling for a national debate on the future of home grown childrens programming – suggesting other ways are found to encourage the commercial sector to start producing shows for younger audiences.

According to the OfCom report investment in childrens television by the big commercial broadcasters, Channel 4, ITV, and five has more or less halved since 1998 and it was already declining by that point.

So whats the answer? How do you get a commercial sector facing declining revenue from advertising, no trust in premium phone lines and a reducing revenue across the board to spend MONEY on something that isn’t likely to make a great deal back.

One answer might be tax breaks or similar incentives from the government – so any broadcaster producing a recommended qouta of childrens TV a week gets X amount.

But I’m not sure that will be enough of a long term incentive – other ideas put forward have included using some of the proposed Public Service Broadcasting money (non-BBC) being given to indies to make childrens shows or even programmes for podcast.

Something needs to be done though – my children are bright and intelligent but after a couple of hours in front of crap American shows my daughter has started developing a twang to her accent and an attitude not becomming of a clever British girl.

In fact an icon of Playschool – Floella Benhamin agrees.

She told BBC Breakfast “We don’t want our children to grow up with American accents, we want them to learnabout the culture and diversity around them”.

Plus – if we emmerse pre-teens in British made television then they may well grow up to become the next generation of great programme makers – like those in their 20s and 30s making some of the best British television of all time RIGHT NOW.

If we don’t do something about this desire to ‘buy American’ by broadcasters as it’s the cheapest option – the next generation of great programme makers might just be making the same, sanitised television that litters the US networks.