It is good to have some positive news to report in these weird and wonderful economic times. The BBC Trust has sanctioned an increase (27%) in their online budget to £145m per year over the next 3 years.
This is hopefully very good news for those of us at the cutting edge of the digital/broadcast space, as the BBC simply spends money that other broadcasters cannot at the current time, and it has a mandate to spend this (in some part) with external companies.
I know from sources within the BBC that this is less than they asked for internally, but given they are looking at making £400m of cuts in the wider business, this is still extremely good darts.
It also follows my thinking that ITV should have considered something similar. Rather than reducing spend and targets, it should have increased digital spend, and pushed the targets out further... as it has a unique opportunity over the next 2 years to take significant market share in the digital content space... but hey ho, they won't be told :0)
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Monday, 23 March 2009
SKY HD, month 2...
So, I would love to report on a shiny new Sky HD service and how it has transformed my viewing experience, but I can't, as yet, get my hands on one of the damn things...
is it me, or is it completely wrong to offer something for sale that you have no chance of fulfilling? It is quite frustrating to be told I only have '2 months to go' before I can have the exciting opportunity to actually order my new Sky HD box... god knows how long after that the installation will be.
COME ON SKY - GET IT TOGETHER!
I suspect I'm not alone here, and I am quite close to writing an 'angry from Tunbridge Wells' letter...
is it me, or is it completely wrong to offer something for sale that you have no chance of fulfilling? It is quite frustrating to be told I only have '2 months to go' before I can have the exciting opportunity to actually order my new Sky HD box... god knows how long after that the installation will be.
COME ON SKY - GET IT TOGETHER!
I suspect I'm not alone here, and I am quite close to writing an 'angry from Tunbridge Wells' letter...
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
shameless plug for www.digitalrednose.com
we have recently been lucky enough to develop the first ever digital red nose for Comic Relief in the UK. This is a high profile project and starting to pick up nicely in a viral way.
We are adding a number of other social media features over the next week or so, on the run up to the TV event on March the 13th, but in the meantime please go and get yourself a digital red nose at:
www.digitalrednose.com
We are adding a number of other social media features over the next week or so, on the run up to the TV event on March the 13th, but in the meantime please go and get yourself a digital red nose at:
www.digitalrednose.com
all change at ITV
hello everyone, I hope you are keeping your respective chins up!
Today ITV announced big cuts across the business (with a reduction in of 41%) , with a return to core services and a reduction in targets for the coming 3 years. No real suprise here, everyone knew that big changes were coming. I guess it puts paid to the original content strategy that Michael Grade had penned, but these are unusual times and they call for unusual measures.
Now the announcement has been made, and hopefully all remaining staff at ITV know where they stand, I for one am looking forward to seeing how we can get together and take the industy forwards. ITV remains the major commercial player in the market and they have a unique opportunity to 'update' they core offering in a reasonably dynamic way with a mixture of content, interaction and offline activity.
Today ITV announced big cuts across the business (with a reduction in of 41%) , with a return to core services and a reduction in targets for the coming 3 years. No real suprise here, everyone knew that big changes were coming. I guess it puts paid to the original content strategy that Michael Grade had penned, but these are unusual times and they call for unusual measures.
Now the announcement has been made, and hopefully all remaining staff at ITV know where they stand, I for one am looking forward to seeing how we can get together and take the industy forwards. ITV remains the major commercial player in the market and they have a unique opportunity to 'update' they core offering in a reasonably dynamic way with a mixture of content, interaction and offline activity.
Thursday, 26 February 2009
a year of many players
Morning! Well today I have been thinking about taking the web to our living rooms...
We had a very interesting presentation last week from a company called miniweb (www.miniweb.tv), who have a really good take on preserving the 'TV' experience and adding interactivity around it, rather than creating a whole new way of watching TV. I like this approach, as I for one don't like having to switch my computer on which is joined to the TV, switch inputs on my TV remote, fanny around with the wireless keyboard on my lap, load iPlayer and then have to wiggle the mouse every 20 minutes while I'm watching something (sound familiar?). I would rather just watch TV in the way I do it now (i.e. lying on the sofa with a bag of crisps and a remote control on my tummy) and click a couple of buttons on my remote to access on demand video, interactivity or the latest Kings of Leon Mp3...
It helps that their founder (Ian Valentine) knows a thing or two about interactivity from his days at Sky. They treat the TV experience as the default status (i.e. you don't access the TV elements from yet another panel or menu), and everything springs from that.
Miniweb's point of difference is that they use and XML standard to be device agnostic, and provide a consistant semantic across all devices... some have more whiz-o features but they degrade gracefully. Importantly they are providing a solution which works on today's hardware, which I think is key in driving this type of technology forwards. Yes, Canvas and Virgin Media may offer something more interactive down the line, but they both require the user to buy and connect new hardward (something I have commented on before in this blog).
There are a lot of players emerging in this space, although not quite as many as the 'online video platform' space, and I think it is going to be very interesting to see who comes out on top. I suspect that the TV manufactures themselves will provide strong competition to traditional STB solutions, and if a company like Miniweb provides a one-stop software solution that they can integrate, then they may be onto a winner. As with a lot of these things, I suspect it will come down to who gains the quickest market share, and with that in mind I wouldn't count out the 'cool' of Apple or money of Microsoft to steal the thunder of the ailing telcos, media companies or broadcasters in the current climate. watch this space.
We had a very interesting presentation last week from a company called miniweb (www.miniweb.tv), who have a really good take on preserving the 'TV' experience and adding interactivity around it, rather than creating a whole new way of watching TV. I like this approach, as I for one don't like having to switch my computer on which is joined to the TV, switch inputs on my TV remote, fanny around with the wireless keyboard on my lap, load iPlayer and then have to wiggle the mouse every 20 minutes while I'm watching something (sound familiar?). I would rather just watch TV in the way I do it now (i.e. lying on the sofa with a bag of crisps and a remote control on my tummy) and click a couple of buttons on my remote to access on demand video, interactivity or the latest Kings of Leon Mp3...
It helps that their founder (Ian Valentine) knows a thing or two about interactivity from his days at Sky. They treat the TV experience as the default status (i.e. you don't access the TV elements from yet another panel or menu), and everything springs from that.
Miniweb's point of difference is that they use and XML standard to be device agnostic, and provide a consistant semantic across all devices... some have more whiz-o features but they degrade gracefully. Importantly they are providing a solution which works on today's hardware, which I think is key in driving this type of technology forwards. Yes, Canvas and Virgin Media may offer something more interactive down the line, but they both require the user to buy and connect new hardward (something I have commented on before in this blog).
There are a lot of players emerging in this space, although not quite as many as the 'online video platform' space, and I think it is going to be very interesting to see who comes out on top. I suspect that the TV manufactures themselves will provide strong competition to traditional STB solutions, and if a company like Miniweb provides a one-stop software solution that they can integrate, then they may be onto a winner. As with a lot of these things, I suspect it will come down to who gains the quickest market share, and with that in mind I wouldn't count out the 'cool' of Apple or money of Microsoft to steal the thunder of the ailing telcos, media companies or broadcasters in the current climate. watch this space.
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
ITV WTF!
Radical times call for radical thinking, or so it seems at ITV, where a possible merger of C4, Five and ITV has been put on the table. Of course this might never go through, as there are anti-competition laws to be by-passed and I can't see Sky allowing it, as it would provide major competition for them (and the BBC, although that is a different arguement), but it is an interesting idea... change C4 into a pure public broadcasting service with no ad-funding, and divert all their funds to the other 2 channels, this could work. Plus it would provide the most adventurous sea-change in the industry in many many years... something it probably needs.
I for one wouldn't be too apposed to this, it would provide the cash for all three channels to start spending with indies again and actually all three have a good idea about the future of TV in the digital space, as they all have great IP to exploit, so let's see how this progresses.
I don't have any silver bullets on how to keep ITV from their downward spiral, but this could be one solution, so it shouldn't be discarded out of hand.
I for one wouldn't be too apposed to this, it would provide the cash for all three channels to start spending with indies again and actually all three have a good idea about the future of TV in the digital space, as they all have great IP to exploit, so let's see how this progresses.
I don't have any silver bullets on how to keep ITV from their downward spiral, but this could be one solution, so it shouldn't be discarded out of hand.
Friday, 13 February 2009
ITV staff braced for hundreds more job cuts
Proof if proof be need be (as someone once said). I was talking about things being hard for the TV industry not 2 days ago and today the Guardian publishes a story on ITV's troubles with their pension pot and their plan to 'slash jobs' as a reaction to the economic difficulties.
(See full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/feb/13/itv-staff-hundreds-job-cuts)
This is pretty bad news for ITV, although I suspect they will weather the storm, but for independent producers it is really tough. I imagine that we will see a number put to the sword this year, unless the government steps up and changes legislation in product placement or loosens their requirements (as they have in the states) on other areas of revenue generation.
On the other hand, if there are cuts in the ITV productions team, we may actually see a slight increase in the amount of external content they commissioning. I know from a digital point of view that this is an exciting opportunity right now.
So what does ITV need from suppliers? I suspect the following critera wouldn't go a miss:
1. Agility
2. Financial stability
3. Creativity
4. Diversity
5. Practicality
I think point #5 is cruicial, as above all we all want to be here in 2010 onwards, so we must work together to pull through this. The industry has shown that small players can make a big impact, and this is true of content, strategy and digital delivery, so it is up to us in the industry to not bury our head in our hands, but to take agile, profitable, creative, diverse and practical ideas to the broadcasters in order to improve not only the business, but also the end user experience. After all, that is what we are all here for, to make money, and to entertain people - not neccessrily in that order!
Chin up people, we can do it!
(See full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/feb/13/itv-staff-hundreds-job-cuts)
This is pretty bad news for ITV, although I suspect they will weather the storm, but for independent producers it is really tough. I imagine that we will see a number put to the sword this year, unless the government steps up and changes legislation in product placement or loosens their requirements (as they have in the states) on other areas of revenue generation.
On the other hand, if there are cuts in the ITV productions team, we may actually see a slight increase in the amount of external content they commissioning. I know from a digital point of view that this is an exciting opportunity right now.
So what does ITV need from suppliers? I suspect the following critera wouldn't go a miss:
1. Agility
2. Financial stability
3. Creativity
4. Diversity
5. Practicality
I think point #5 is cruicial, as above all we all want to be here in 2010 onwards, so we must work together to pull through this. The industry has shown that small players can make a big impact, and this is true of content, strategy and digital delivery, so it is up to us in the industry to not bury our head in our hands, but to take agile, profitable, creative, diverse and practical ideas to the broadcasters in order to improve not only the business, but also the end user experience. After all, that is what we are all here for, to make money, and to entertain people - not neccessrily in that order!
Chin up people, we can do it!
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