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Posts tagged ‘Channel 4’

18
Jun
seesaw

SeeSaw gets premium comedy shows

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of SeeSaw. All opinions are 100% mine. I would not take a sponsorship opportunity unless I genuinely believe in the product and have written about it before without sponsorship.

Where can you find South Park, Only Fools and Horses, The IT Crowd, The Thick of It, Summer Heights High, Man To Man, Lab Rats and many more great comedies all in one place? Read moreRead more

29
Jan

See how SeeSaw could soon be seen in CI

SeeSaw is the name of the online video service that was born out of the ashes of the fallen Project Kangaroo – purchased from the consortium of broadcast partners by the telecommunications infrastructure company Arqiva.

Arqiva was born out of a history in broadcast infrastructure running transmission faciltities as Crown Castle. Now they’ve moved into online transmission with the launch of SeeSaw, a service that will allow you to watch a raft of old and new television shows online.

The shows are displayed through a flash player, streamed and at the moment support by either advertising or pay per play.

SeeSaw wasn’t the first of its kind to launch in this space, beaten by offerings from both Google (YouTube) and Microsoft (MSN Video Player).

The YouTube offering has content deals with a number of content providers, most notable are Five and Channel 4 and for MSN their content deals are with BBC Worldwide and Channel 4.

SeeSaw has content deals in place with the BBC, Channel 4 and Demand Five as well as hints at a much wider range of content in the future.

Not to mention my favourite of all the online video services, BlinkBox, which has a huge range of content from the BBC, Channel 4 and American networks to view for free, pay per view or to keep forever for a fee.

And then there’s iTunes – a download you can put on your iPod, iPad (more on this in my next post) or iPhone and watch when you like.

This all sounds amazing, something I could easily spend hours using, catching up on shows I already own on DVD but can never be bothered to open – or shows I would like to watch but don’t want to spend money on the DVD.

Six different video players

But it isn’t that simple for me – because I live in the Channel Islands.

I’m not complaining about the fact that I live in the Channel Islands – I love it, I chose to live here and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else – but the perculiar political situation means some things work …. differently.

One of those things is content rights.

Yes we have the BBC in the Channel Islands, we have Channel 4, Sky and pretty much everything people in the mainland UK have – our television and radio is more or less the same.

However, when it comes to the internet things get a little bit more complicated.

For the iPlayer, 4OD (on the Channel 4 website) and Demand Five things are fine – we can access and watch shows on all of those services as if we were in the mainland.

But when those shows move across to YouTube, MSN or SeeSaw – things are a little different.

I recently got a beta invite to SeeSaw – very exciting, couldn’t wait and first impression were good – it’s usable, easy to navigate and seems to have a reasonable selection of content for a beta service.

But when I went to click play I got the same message I’ve become used to from Hulu, MSN and YouTube shows – they allow follow the ‘sorry this content isn’t available in your location’ structure.

My intitial reaction to this message, something I’ve not had confirmed despite several e-mails, is that it’s down to the fact that they’re using a GeoIP list that doesn’t include Channel Island IP addresses.

However, a little bit of research and an actual response from one of the companies involved (SeeSaw) suggests that in fact it is a rights issue.

This isn’t the first time I’ve come across ‘rights’ being used as a reason why a service isn’t available in the Channel Islands.

iTunes isn’t officially available here and an Apple spokesperson told me late last year that it was because they haven’t got rights agreements in place for the streaming of samples for the Channel Islands.

The e-mail from SeeSaw explained that: “Unfortunately, SeeSaw is not currently available in the Channel Islands (or the Isle of Man) as we don’t yet have the rights to show programmes there.”

However all is not lost as the next paragraph in that e-mail explained that they were in negotations with rights holders.

“The good news is that we are currently in negotiations to make our service available to you, so hopefully you’ll soon be able to watch your favourite programmes on SeeSaw.”

What I don’t understand is how I can easily watch the full range of 4OD shows on the Channel 4 website – with 4OD actively going out of their way to fix an issue that blocked access to CI users last year – but I can’t watch it on YouTube, MSN or SeeSaw.

Fortunately I work for a large UK corporation so my computer at work is behind a proxy that IS in the UK – so I got to try SeeSaw out, even if I didn’t have enough time to watch a full show.

My second impressions are that, although it is completely lacking in ANY social or sharing functionality it does have some nice features.

It is EXCEPTIONALLY easy to use and has a couple of nice touches like a fade to back on the background on the player page when focus moves away.

It has a lot of information on the programme you’re watching, the advertising isn’t OTT and it is very easy to find previous and future episodes of the same series.

So for a beta service with a limited user base and no external access (where sharing and social stuff wouldn’t be that useful anyway) I’d say it is pretty impressive.

As long as they work towards introducing social and sharing for launch in March I’d say this is a real contender for the television site of choice crown – especially as they’ve launched so far ahead of a UK release of Hulu.

But if they want to compete with Hulu when it launches - the social, sharing and ratings content will become increasingly important.

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15
Dec

How I managed to avoid the X-Factor

I’m writing this post listening to a Spotify Playlist I created specifically for blogging (it inspires me to actually write instead of thinking about writing) and praising myself for having avoided the X-Factor and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here this year.

And I don’t mean just avoid watching it – I mean avoid it almost completely (with the exception of the odd photo of the stupid haired jedtwins thing) – I’ve not seen a single episode or video clip, I’ve not heard a song by or seen performance from ANY of the two shows.

But to achieve this I’ve had to pretty much avoid all of the main television networks, all television news, YouTube, shop windows, electronics shops and more – I’ve even had to avoid looking at the plasma on the wall in the BBC Jersey newsroom.

I haven’t watched a single show on ITV, the television at home has not been set to the channel once in the last few months and I only watch shows on the BBC or Channel 4 recorded through Sky+ or through iPlayer/4OD.

This isn’t so much because I’ve got a moral objection to the show – talent shows have been around for decades – more than I know I’ll get sucked into the crap and hate myself for it afterwards.

However, I have now heard the winner singing his version of the Miley Cyrus song, The Climb (heard not watched) – so I could comment with a tiny bit of knowledge and …. It’s rubbish.

He sounds like a poorer version of Gareth Gates, he has no feeling or emotion invested in the song and just dies.

I’m not a massive Miley fan but as I have a 9 year old Hannah Montana obsessed daughter I do know her music well (was dragged to see the film) and at least she has an interesting twang to her voice, a unique element and a bit of passion – the X-Factor one is just rubbish.

I can’t bring myself to come up with anything more creative than that because his voice and interpretation doesn’t deserve anything more creative.

Yes it will probably go to number one this week and so be Christmas number one (hopefully Rage Against the Machine will be at number two) but that doesn’t mean it isn’t rubbish – it’s just another item of merchandising that the fans of the television drama that is X-Factor have brought to support and show alliegence to their favourite show.

I’ve got no problem with that at all, in the same way that I’ve got no problem with the charts being manipulated by Facebook fans – the charts are meaningless and have been for a long time.

What matters is the songs/artists my friends suggest – the songs I discover myself through hours of scouring Spotify (like tonight) and the playlists I find hidden around the blogosphere.

Than and the charts in iTunes around specific genres. But that hasn’t stopped me getting the Rage Against the Machine song or listening to the rubbish X-Factor song.

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3
Aug

Who needs Kangaroo

When ‘Project Kangaroo‘ was first announced I got all excited, I love watching TV, I love watching old TV shows but I like to watch them on my terms – and buying DVDs can get overly expensive for something you might watch once in a year.

Part of the whole ‘watching TV on my terms’ thing was resolved in a legally grey way in the first instance with sites like UKNova and Pirate Bay and then later, in a simpler, easier to use and legal way by first 4OD and later the BBC iPlayer – now all the main ‘original content’ networks in the UK have their own on demand player.

But that still didn’t solve my DVD problem, my desire to watch a show that suddenly jumps back into my head at short notice. This hasn’t been a problem for Channel 4 programmes, and to some extent ITV shows – but for the BBC it’s always been a case of relying on DVDs and to a small extent iTunes.

And at the point I first started taking an interest ITV Player didn’t exist or was Windows Media only and Channel 4′s 4OD was either pay per play behind a horrible app you had to download and keep running.

What I was looking for was plain and simple, I want to have an idea for a show I wanted to watch, go to a website and click play – a few seconds later I’m watching it.

Fortunately attitudes have changed with technology, demand and an increasingly cheaper supply of broadband to the home and the server.

Lack of community

In a bit I’ll go through each of the main on demand sites in turn but before that there is one major thing missing from ALL the British on demand sites, something that exists brilliantly on Hulu, MSN Video uses and is the lifeblood of sites like YouTube – community.

The problem with all the UK broadcasters is that their sites exist a player, a place to come, watch what you want and move on – the idea being that if you want to discuss then do it somewhere else.

But, what I really want is to watch a programme and then write my thoughts on it in review form, maybe join a linked discussion thread and even have the ability to embed that video on my own site where I can write a full review – in fact they COULD allow me to write the review on their site under the video and include a ‘post to your blog’ option for registered users.

Working in a similar way to Digg and Flickr – this would let me post the video and my review, created on say the BBC iPlayer site – directly to my blog with all embed and links in place automatically.

But if you can’t wait for that you can get the iPlayer embed code, in a bit of a crude fashion, from my iPlayer PIP tool – go to http://upyourego.com/pip/

Hulu (Most major US networks)

A great example of how to merge social, community and online video is Hulu – not available in the UK at the moment and with a player that isn’t really as good as the iPlayer, Hulu does have a couple of tricks up its sleeve.

Image representing hulu as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase

The navigation is far better than any UK broadcaster giving users a lot more information about the show on the first page than any UK broadcaster does. It also allows for debate, review AND embedding of the content on another site.

On its homepage it has featured video, popular video and editors picks – making it closer to iTunes in navigation concept than iPlayer – but then you can also break it down by Channel, collections and more.

It includes links to share your content on social media sites and if registered you can see your friends viewing and rating activity (which to be honest could get a bit embarrasing if you’re friend is watching a lot of BBC Three).

The British broadcasters could learn a lot in the social sphere from Hulu and will learn a lot when they bring their technology to the UK in the near future.

LIVE: No
SOCIAL: Yes
EMBED: Yes

http://www.hulu.com

BBC (BBC iPlayer)

So I can now go to BBC iPlayer and watch what I want for around seven days after broadcast, or longer in the case of series linked shows.

BBC iPlayer
Image via Wikipedia

The iPlayer is easily the best player of all the UK broadcaster sites and has the easiest to use navigation and layout.

It also has the best range of features, the highest quality video, the option of downloads and no ads – but then it IS funded by the licence fee so no commercial constraints to worry about.

It’s all the little bits as well that make the iPlayer as special and useful as it is, things like the listings, the recommendations (the incredible volume of programming makes this useful) and the live search tips.

LIVE: Yes
SOCIAL: No
EMBED: See here

http://bbc.co.uk/iplayer

ITV (ITV Player)

I could also now go to the ITV Player to watch new and archive content in what is becoming an easier to use site and player.

But it is still a little clunky and I’d say, unless you’re looking for a flagship programme like Coronation Street or Britains Got Talent – has the worst navigation and ‘findability’ of the UK on demand sites.

The fact that ITV are opening up their archive but ad supported is a pretty big deal because, although there are VERY FEW shows on ITV I watch now, there was once a considerable number of good quality programmes coming out of the multiple broadcasters that USED to make up this now massive national entity.

LIVE: Yes
SOCIAL: No
EMBED: No

http://www.itv.com/player

4OD (Channel 4)

Then there is Channel 4, whose player I think probably takes the longest to load but is fairly glitch free on a reasonable broadband line, it’s also pretty easy to use, certainly easier than ITV Player but nowhere near as easy as the BBC Player.

C4 is another broadcaster opening up its archive, and interestingly marrying that archive with clips as well – so if you don’t want to sit through a whole show, you can find a clip with the segment that you remember and just watch that.

I would say Channel 4 have some really interesting navigation ideas on their site – including the live search where you can start typing the name of a show and it will give you the link – but again that is one of the almost ‘hidden features’ of the BBC iPlayer – just try it by starting to type into the search box.

LIVE: No
SOCIAL: No
EMBED: No

http://www.channel4.com/

Demand Five (Channel 5)

Channel 5 is a really interesting case, they have the weakest content set of the UK broadcasters but, thanks to some fairly recent developments – have an increasingly impressive on demand service.

Their player isn’t great but the navigation isn’t bad and they’re the only UK broadcaster to have any form of social interactivity – ok so it is just star ratings and social media sharing – but it’s better than the rest of them.

LIVE: No
SOCIAL: Some
EMBED: No

http://demand.five.tv

Sky (Multiple networks)

It could be argued that Sky were the first company to launch a multiple network on demand site in the UK – beating Hulu, MSN and Kangaroo.

It’s a really impressive piece of technology allowing Sky subscribers to watch most of the channels in their subscription package online as well as a number of shows, movies and sports (depending on whether you have those premium packages or not) on demand.

This is brilliant for me, and makes much more sense than having Sky+ in multiple rooms as my wife can watch her shows on the TV in the living room while at the same time I can sit at the computer and watch a movie or a TV show (like Eureka) with headphones.

Now some shows do cost money, but it is a fairly small amount and you have to have Sky Multiroom or Sky Player Multiroom to watch live – but I don’t see why you shouldn’t be prepared to pay for on demand content – it costs money to make and screen.

I’d rather pay a small fee/top up subscription than have adverts.

LIVE: No
SOCIAL: No
EMBED: No

http://www.sky.com/player/

Aggregators

Of course the individual sites are becoming increasingly irrelevant as sites like TeeV pull all the shows together in one place and allow you to find it easier.

Then when you get Hulu UK and MSN Video launching over the next few months – you’ll have the archive content after the networks time-out window and I’m sure an integration of the ‘new’ content through feeds.

And of course there is sharing through Facebook and Twitter and the new TestTubeTelly from Channel 4 – pulling their shows together and adding an interactive layer.

Now the BBC is starting to make more of its video content available on other sites, but at this stage only through a branded player on signed up newspaper partner sites.

But, if its through a branded player anyway – why not just add an embed link to ALL their online video content and let people use and display it as they like (within the confines of a T&C agreement and refer blocking if necessary)?

That way anyone that wants to use to a)illustrate an article, b) improve their AV content or even c) look good – can! If it’s BBC branded with links back to the originating BBC article – I don’t see why it shouldn’t be accessible everywhere – same goes for the BBC iPlayer video.

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29
Dec

A media year

Just under a year ago (three days under a year ago in fact) I wrote a blog post with the title ‘My Media Tips for 2008‘. As we’re now approaching the end of 2008 I thought it might be worth looking back.

So lets work our way through the original post, pointing out what I got wrong, what I got right and what I wouldn’t right now even on the bleakest of motivation days.

My Media Tips for 2008

Paragraphs from the original blog post are in quote boxes and my comments are directly below them. I’ll try to post a few tips for 2009 while I’m at it.

I think 2008 is going to be the Time-Shift year. I know people have been time-shifting for ages but this is the year it will get a LOT easier.

Well I hit that one pretty squarly on the nose – although to be honest even a monkey living in a remote part of the remotest island on the earth could probably have predicted that.

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.

Well the iPlayer went from stregnth to stregnth, improved streaming quality and became the gold standard in on demand video – it also became properly mainstream.

ITV did indeed increase publicity of itv.com but not to a massive extent until the end of the year when they rebranded it ITV Player – expect a lot more from ITV in 2009 (god I sound like Mystic Meg).

Oh and Channel 4 dropped the 4OD application (OK they didn’t really drop it but it did become less important) and did introduce streaming video on demand through the website.

More of this in 2009 and hopefully a move to flash or at least silverlight streaming from Channel 4 and ITV – moving away from Windows Media. You never know – if the BBC Air Desktop App works out we may see ITV and Channel 4 versions of that.

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.

Well iPlayer DID launch on Virgin and it seems to work pretty well (although I haven’t really tried it), it also launched on the iPhone, the Wii, PS3 and a selection of mobile devices (although if you have the Skyfire browser you can use it on almost any Windows Mobile device).

iPlayer will also be launched on BT soon and I predict that at some point in 2009 we’ll see the iPlayer on Apple TV (or equivalent) devices and on specially designed Freesat boxes.

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.

It has been an interesting year for Project Kangaroo – a new chief who left for Microsoft, an anti-competive review, a whole host of complaints, a very limited beta launch and new start date in sight.

Oh and I’ve had to hand over control of Sky+ to my wife who regularly fills it with soaps, reality TV and other wonderful examples of programming excellence.

I now almost exclusively watch television through my computer – either live (using Zattoo, Livestation or the broadcasters own websites) or on demand.

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.

OfCom seem to be moving in this direction ualthoughgh we didn’t really see the launch of this in 2008 – I expect that won’t really start to come into force until 2010.

Although, after recent codes of conduct have been agreed on – we may well see paid for product placement introduced in selected shows in 2009.

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

Podcasts did grow in popularity but not nearly to the extent I expected them to – although an interesting trend of ‘talent’ producing their own shows did take off in 2008.

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.

Well I go this one wrong – I’m not even sure the BBC put video podcasts to the trust in 2008 – but it probably will come 2009 – either that or a deal with be struck with Apple to allow downloads of DRMd BBC video shows to the iPod (maybe with the licencing of Fairplay) that could be pulled in like a podcast thanks to RSS feeds.

However video podcasts DID become more popular in 2008 with the introducing of the iTunes Video Podcast section, an increasing number of original indie video podcast production companies (Rev3, ChannelFlip) and more commercial companies getting on board (Sky News, HBO).

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 was a lot of fuss made over Childrens television, of regional news and of public service content as a whole – including a lot of talk about how to fund it.

As yet no real decision has been made but I expect something will happen on this in 2009 (whether it is actual money available or the promise of money at a set point in the future).

The money will either come from free spectrum or services for the commercial operators, a portion of the license fee, tax money or some other magical pot – but it will come.

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.

There was a lot of talk but it never really made the mainstream forums – but that doesn’t mean it won’t next year – however I think it will be at European level as I don’t think there is stomach or desire for internet regulation in the UK.

Oh and a couple of quickies for 2009 – I think digital radio will be a big story, I think digital switchover will be a big story and also the decline of the newspaper industry.

What are your 2009 tips?

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22
Dec

Move over iTunes

Every evening my wife and I sit together in the living room to watch television – but we rarely ever watch the same show at the same time.

Instead my wife sits on the sofa to catch up on the soaps she’s recorded with Sky+ and I sit at my desk (right next to the sofa) to watch whatever I feel like at that moment on the iPlayer.

But this suits us perfectly – she gets to watch her soaps, I get to watch Charlie Brooker and we then meet in the middle with the amazingly brilliant Outnumbered (god is that show scarily realistic).

Outnumbered

But what’s this got to do with iTunes I hear you screaming – well I’ll tell you – in a minute. First I want to explain some of the ways I get my visual media fix while avoiding the strange world of Weatherford and Walfield.

Obviously there is the iPlayer (when I can get a decent enough internet connection to watch the streams – I don’t like downloading using the p2p client or even having it on my computer as it is a massive resource and bandwidth hog).

Then there is the other British broadcasters websites (Channel 4, ITV Player, Five) and even the Sky Player but they all have one thing or another wrong with them – none of them work as easily and seamlessly as the iPlayer – but at least they exist.

Sky Player

All bar the iPlayer require either the Windows Media Player plugin or the Silverlight plugin – now Silverlight will allow play on pretty much any platform but I find it is a dog to install and not as slick as Flash.

Demand Five

And now, with the launch of the new iPlayer Desktop app – that lets you download in Adobe Air/flash format straight to your desktop (with no P2P in sight) it has got even better.

If I’m going to rank Britains six big broadcasters in order of the usefulness and quality of their online video offerings it would go like this:

BBC iPlayer
ITV Player
Sky Player
Channel4
Demand Five

ITV is only JUST above Channel 4 – because of the silverlight option which is narrowly better than Windows Media – Sky is there because of the ease of use of their Live TV streams and some of the interesting innovations.

ITV Player

But they drop down below ITV purely on the grounds that there isn’t enough Free content on the platform – they get a big bonus for Live Streaming but lose out because of a lack of free on demand streams.

But again that isn’t really the point of the post. I’ve outlined how I watch live streaming video (I also occasionally use Side Reel VERY occasionally when there is nothing on one of the British broadcasters and will buy the odd show from iTunes where I’ve missed the seven day deadline and it isn’t series linked.

START READING FROM HERE TO AVOID RAMBLE PAIN

But for now lets move on to the iPlayer Desktop – the main reason I started writing this rambling shambles of a blog post.

iPlayer Body

Basically there is an all new version of the BBC Download Manager (if you’re a BBC Labs user that is) that drops p2p, drops Windows Media and moves to the ever increasingly brilliant (whatever Linux nuts might think) Adobe AIR platform.

At the moment the iPlayer Desktop is just that – a download manager. You select a show on the iPlayer, tell it to download to desktop, it puts it in a list and you click on it to watch it – simple.

But future versions of the application could get much more exciting. A future version could allow you to download radio podcasts, stream live TV and Radio (straight from within the application) and even allow you to find the content within the Desktop itself.

In fact that is the thing I’m most looking forward to – if I could just full screen the iPlayer Desktop and use it as a full environment to download, stream and do everything I need with the BBCs on demand content – then I could build a computer with the iPlayer Desktop running full screen and connect it to the TV.

I could then use it as a separate AV Channel on the TV and tune into it when there is nothing on Sky+ or when I get a chance to use the TV for a change.

As the new Desktop app has a series booking/scheduling coming soon (the ability to request every episode of a series downloaded directly when it becomes available) this would become even more useful.

I could just leave it running in the background, subscribe the shows I want and then dip in/out whenever I feel like it.

AND if the series booking was associated with a BBC login instead of with the application itself I could book shows from work and have them there when I got home that evening.

Obviously I could already do the streaming part with the iPlayer but there is something extra special associated with having an application full screened designed to do nothing but that.

After all – that’s why iTunes is so successful.

It would also be nice, at some point in the future when the BBC can negotiate a deal with Apple to allow them to use Apple DRM on files, to be able to sync with iTunes/iPod/iPhone/Apple TV throught the iPlayer Desktop – but we can dream.

3
Oct

Go On Dave an Alibi to Watch and Laugh Daily

There’s more to the headline above than an excess of capital letters that would have my English teacher steaming at the ears and some of the pedantic readers of bbc.co.uk/jersey knawing their teeth.

There is a reason I filled it with caps – you see it’s full of new television channel names – well one is an old television channel name – but it’s part of the same family.

The words in the headline that aren’t either a television channel name or part of one are ‘and’, ‘to’ and ‘an’.

Go On Laugh Daily (or G.O.L.D.), Alibi and Watch are all new channels (or at least re-brands of existing channels) that are being launched on 7 October by the UKTV network.

The UKTV brand will remain for the subject specific channels (at least for now). So that is Documentary, History, People, Style, Homes, Gardens and Food.

Dave is the other consistent – but that was given its new non-UKTV brand not very long ago and is already a ‘personality’ channel.

UKTV Gold, previously UKGold is set to become G.O.L.D. or Go On Laugh Daily – a channel moving from being an all round UK repeats network to a comedy network – that I’m guessing will play shows from around the world.

G.O.L.D. is on Sky 110 (laughdaily.co.uk)

GOLD

Drama seems to be evolving into Alibi – a network specifically showing crime dramas – its tag line is ‘The Deadliest Place on TV’.

Alibi is on SKY 132 (theperfectalibi.co.uk)

Alibi

And then there is Watch. tagline ‘simply good TV’ that seems to be the place that will include Richard and Judy.

Watch is on SKY 109 (justwatch.co.uk)

Watch

On first glance I’d say this is a womens network but actually it looks like it will include everything not included on the new look UKTV as well as a load of other stuff from around the world – as well as movies. This looks like its going to be one of my new favourite channels.

And it’s brilliant that these newly branded channels are creating a new identity, that they will make it easier to see some of the best programmes made (of all time and of recent years) but, and this is a big giant great huge but – what about the new stuff?

I mean it’s great that they are putting emphasis on showing great content but they are showing great content made by other broadcasters (with the exception of a few cheap to make shows).

At the moment the only big budget dramas, comedies and daring shows are being made by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

BBC is fully public service – funded by the licence fee. Channel 4 doesn’t have to make a profit as its state owned and ITV has the background of being the ‘third’ channel and the second major British network.

It also has a unique place as the third channel on all platforms so can demand more advertising revenue – and has that background to draw from.

Maybe we will start to see more dramas and comedies (original ones) coming out of the likes of UKTV, Virgin, Sky et al after digital switchover – but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Why make something new and spend huge amounts of money on a series that might not be successful when you could buy it in from the USA or Canada – when you guy buy a repeat from BBC or ITV or when you could make something relatively cheap but high impact that would get as good a ratings.

After all – in a advertising funded world where the advertising revenue is directly reflected by the number of viewers – you’ll do anything possible to get viewing numbers up for as cheaply as possible.

So if you can make a chat show that will get 2 million viewers but only cost £10k per episode and bring in £50k – you’re hardly going to spend £30k on a drama or comedy series (even a cheap one) that will get the same viewing figures and the same advertising revenue.

That is why the BBC is important – that is why incentivising ITV to keep making high impact dramas and comedies (as well as local news and childrens) is important and why some kind of public funding should be found for Channel 4.

Maybe the BBC could give the revenue from the sale of ‘formats’ to Channel 4. Not the whole of BBC Worldwide just the international format rights – so ‘Strictly Come Dancing’, ‘Weakest Link’ and even ‘Top Gear’.

I’m not saying give the SHOWS THEMSELVES to Channel 4 (especially not TopGear – that needs to stay on a commercial free network for Clarkson alone) but the revenue from international deals – oh and maybe a share of magazine and merchandising revenue on those shows as well.

Let the BBC keep the money from DVD sales of dramas, comedies and other shows – let it keep international sale rights for those shows – just give C4 the formats.

Just an idea. But also slightly off the point – public service broadcasting is essential to retain a high standard of local television commissions – to retain investment in British broadcasting and production as a whole.

If it were left to the market we would see lots of self help, chat shows and imports – with the occasional big budget drama or comedy every year – instead of the dozens of dramas and comedies we see today.

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