The date has finally been set after which users of the BBC iPlayer catch-up TV service will require a TV Licence. From 1 September, viewers will need to have a licence if they are to use iPlayer legally, just as they do to watch live television. I think that is fair enough. The only reason […]
As expected, the government have decided that the BBC should meet the cost of providing free TV Licences for over-75s. Also as expected, to soften the blow of an effective £600m a year cut in revenue, the BBC has been promised a change in legislation to allow the TV Licence to cover the BBC iPlayer. […]
A few years ago, Sky Television ran a viral advertising campaign that featured a live action version of the famous opening sequence from The Simpsons, filmed at various locations in the UK, promoting Sky One as the home of The Simpsons on British television. The animated version begins with the camera swooping over the Springfield […]
Imagine if the Sunday evening broadcast of one of the top drama series on TV failed to go ahead without explanation, with viewers left to stare at a static image for an hour. Pretty unthinkable, isn’t it? In fact, that’s exactly what happened yesterday evening. Of course, it didn’t happen on over-the-air broadcast TV. It […]
The furore over phone hacking has once again put Rupert Murdoch’s proposed takeover of BSkyB into the spotlight. In the past, many people, including both me and Vince Cable’s fake constituent, might have assumed that Murdoch already owned Sky. So how did it come about that he only owns part of it? The answer is […]
Like many people I was in two minds about whether the BNP‘s leader should appear on the BBC’s Question Time. Free speech is important, but you have to draw the line somewhere. However, after seeing Nick Griffin’s performance, I think his appearance has only made him look a fool. I came as little surprise to […]
Until yesterday, I’d never heard of the person called J.P. Morgan, but then two references came along at once. Of course, I’d heard the names of financial companies such as JPMorgan Asset Management. But who was it named after? Yesterday I was watching an old ’70s episode of Columbo, as I’m currently working my way through […]
Earlier this month, it was announced that the TV game show, Going for Gold, is to be brought back to TV screens by Channel Five. The first programme is tomorrow. Instead of Henry Kelly, it will be presented by another former Classic FM presenter, John Suchet. There will be some notable changes to the show, […]
With CERN‘s new machine, the Large Hadron Collider, very much in the news at the moment, it made me think back to the television series, Channel Four’s Reality on the Rocks, broadcast in 1995, which first made me interested in visiting CERN, and no doubt played a part in me eventually working with large scientific […]
Many people have blamed both sides in the dispute between BSkyB and Virgin Media, but over the last week or two it appears that Sky have launched a vendetta against their competitor. First, to fill in the background: the two companies couldn’t agree on the price that Virgin pays Sky to show Sky’s “basic channels” […]
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