Sunday, January 31, 2010

Window closing ?

The Sunday Times takes a punt at the forthcoming strategic review due from the BBC, and says taking more independent productions is an option - surrendering something clumsily called "The Window of Creative Competition". The WOCC means that 50% of commissions are guaranteed to BBC in-house teams; 25% to indies; and they all get a chance to pitch for the remainder. If the BBC is paying a fair price to indies, and its own internal costs are competitive, then this shouldn't save money. If it happens, it's a concession to a Tory agenda.

Meanwhile, the title "strategic" review is gone; everyone's trying to get "creative" back there - which might be difficult, if the cuts are of the scale predicted in The Times.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

JT central defender

The John Terry super-injunction came about because the News of the World had a story; they fought the injunction, but other hacks seem to have "benefited" from the midweek court verdict. So the News of the World website has the basics, but sticks to promising more revelations on Sunday. But the length of the Mail's version suggests there might not be much more to say....

There's speculation about the role of John Terry's management company in trying to keep a lid on things. Elite Management offer a range of services, including "creating meaningful brands". John Terry's endorsement reads "‘Elite are very aware of the needs of a modern day sportsman and have a unique awareness of the needs of a high profile individual."

Friday, January 29, 2010

Time changes everything

The Twitterati have laid into Rod Liddle over his featurette on This Week on BBC1 last night. "Subo", "Gordon Brown in a BoJo wig" and "the albino from The Princess Bride" were some of the kinder comments about his hospital-bed appearance. Rod's self-image used to be, I think, somewhere between Jean Paul Belmondo and Tony Cascarino. Last night a new role model emerged.


Friday music - 29 January 2010



Top bolero by probably the greatest Cuban singer, Beny More. And his big band. He couldn't read music, but sang the notes he wanted to his arrangers. (Ry Cooder and Ibrahim Ferrer pulled out this arrangement for the Buenavista Social Club version). The song was written by Ernesto Duarte Brito.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

It was meant to be

In a 1999 interview with The Independent, Adam Crozier, then with Saatchi and Saatchi , was asked who he most admired in business. He offered two - Archie Norman, then chairman of Asda: "What he took Asda through was superb".

His other choice was Sir Brian Pitman, chairman of Lloyds TSB Group, who "runs a fantastic company".

Come outside

The review of major BBC outside broadcasts by the NAO is pretty gentle on the Executive - and, as ever, most of the recommendations for change "have already been adopted". The NAO says Sport and Audio & Music were weak on formal benefit analysis, alternative options, and benchmarking costs.

6 events in 2008 were scrutinised; Radio 1's Big Weekend came in 5% over-budget. Glastonbury (2009) was 1% over-budget. Wimbledon was less than 1% over-budget. The Proms and Euro 2008 were both 1% under forecast, and the Beijing Olympics 4% under. But, as the NAO says, the budgets were largely set on "what happened last time", rather than re-drawn bottom up.

Sleeping in the kitchen

Building Design says plans for the London Olympic Village will "cram" 17,350 athletes and officials into 2,819 "units" - an average of six per flat. The trick is apparently to leave the "kitchen" in each flat/house unequipped and use it as a bedroom. The kitchen then goes in when the flats are sold on after 2012.

The athletes, it's hoped, will eat in communal dining halls, and there will be some vending machines. I reckon shops selling toasters, kettles and microwaves in Stratford will do storming business in week 1.



"I am a trusted guide !"

BBC executives love "trust" surveys. Though missing from the current set of mission statements, programme promises etc, the idea of being a "trusted guide" to a difficult and complex world is a strongly-held ambition in news. So the strategists will be looking very carefully at this poll in the United States, which ranks Fox News as the most trusted television news provider. Indeed, Fox News was the only network with more people trusting than distrusting. Maybe it's simple - if you just assert you're "fair and balanced", some people will always believe you.

Rapper's Delight

HipHopera is a semi-viral piece of work (spoiler alert) from BBC Comedy. And it's genuinely funny. But will it, and other non-broadcast ventures like it, survive the BBC's Strategic Review ?

Filling A Blank Canvas

I confess to a major knowledge hole in the field of product launches, but it seems odd to pick an ad agency before you've got the product and its capabilities sorted. But Brand Republic says that's what the Project Canvas team are doing. A successful pitch could win a slice of a £50m marketing budget.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Eating habits

The BBC Trustees don't seem to travel far when they're paying for a meal. Odin's, The Union Cafe, Langan's Bistro, Getti and 108 Marylebone Lane all crop up in their latest list of expenses - all a short step from the old offices at 35 Marylebone High Street. Chairman Sir Michael Lyons did venture further twice - to The Cinnamon Club in Westminster. Next year, expect the venues to change, with the Trust now ensconced in Great Portland Street.

Trust Director Nicholas Kroll seems to like doing business over coffee as well as lunch - 13 claims for some Java, one reaching over £16 at Le Pain Quotidienne.

Night vision

Nightime photo antics at MediaCity: two "urban adventurers" managed to get to the top of one building on the site, and have recorded some of how they did it, and the pictures, on blogs. "Jim Gillette" and "Gone" are their noms-de-guerre.

Found via MediaCityUK Blog.

The price of a wall

The excellent Nieman Journalism Lab has made life much easier for Rupert, Rusbridger etc with their "Paywall Game". Put your current CPM and circulation figures in, and then calculate profit and loss when the wall goes up. Sadly, so far, it only reports in dollars.

Booked

The Tories' media shifter, Jeremy Hunt MP has, belatedly, started a Facebook account. His first "friends" include Ollie Cromwell.

In the spirit of balance, here's a link to the "Force Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt To Resign" group.

Hold on, you Spurs

Meanwhile (see below) Make Architects are one of three design teams in the firing line of building-watchdog CABE over the planned re-development of White Hart Lane and its surroundings. The others are KSS Design Group and Martha Schwartz Partners.















CABE's report says the stadium element is ok, but the housing proposals are “eccentric and counterintuitive” and an overdevelopment of the site, while the supermarket is “not sufficiently ambitious”. And “The public open space around the stadium has the feeling of left over space… rather than positively moulded public realm.” Pic and full story in Building Design.

Who lives in a house like this ?













Good question, Loyd.

Tinky Winky ? La La ? Po ? Dipsy ? Gary ?

Gary would like to. It's Manchester United's Gary Neville, who's commissioned Make Architects to design this semi-submerged carbon-neutral eco-home (pic from Building Design). He's asking Bolton Council to let him build on a piece of green belt, because the scheme is "truly outstanding and ground-breaking". Gary's previous piece of ground-breaking architecture is below - a 12-bedroom mansion on the same piece of land (he demolished the Top O'th Knotts farmstead, on the moors between Bolton and Bury). Architects AEW Manchester.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

News maker

Congratulations to Andrew Whitehead, who's been chosen to fill the role of Editor, World Service News and Current Affairs, after Liliane Landor's move to run Arabic services. Andy has bounced between the UK and India in his journalistic career, but is a good thing, widely read; and probably not many people know he is a holder of the Hovey Bowl.

He's done his time - here's a photo of Andy at work in the World Service Newsroom in 1988, on the left, keeping his head down...

(photo from the excellent Bushlog archive, maintained by Ian Richardson)



Apple bing-o

Old style buzz-word bingo has been revamped by the Bits team at the New York Times ahead of the latest Apple launch, later this week. You need a printer and some techy friends to play.

That was Charmin

Charmin toilet paper is being relabelled Cushelle next month (a name chosen "for its sound"), and the bear is being downsized to a koala, says Brand Republic.

Making Bacon

The move of Richard Bacon into the 5live daytime slot vacated by Simon Mayo is dividing opinions. And, though 5Live hosted forums are a thing of the past, the texts and emails piled in yesterday when Richard asked the audience if they thought he was irritating.

This was in response to a comment from Vinnie Jones on Celebrity Big Brother. At one stage, Bacon was thought to be a possible inmate - but Vinnie felt he wouldn't have added to the "quality" of the show; despite Bacon's adulation of Vinnie, the hard man in return finds him "irritating".

Certainly Mr Bacon loves talking about himself; he's one of the UK's most followed-twitterers, with 1.3m+ hanging on his tweets. And reading the tweets of the past day or so, it's almost as if Richard knew the "irritating" word was coming.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Office competition

English Cities Fund has been given planning approval for a huge redevelopment in Salford - 849 homes, 390 hotel rooms, 250,000 sq ft of retail and leisure, and 2m sq ft of office space, reports Place. As one commenter says on the site, "be hilarious if they build and fill 2m sq ft of offices before another company signs at MediaCity...". Commenter's sign in: Yosueme.

Cereal killers

The Daily Mirror is still trusting its source/s at ITN/GMTV, now suggesting that Stapleton (John) and Smith (Penny) may depart the breakfast scene in a merged team, as well as the jobs of between 50 and 100 other journalists.

Identity crisis

The cultural strength of Berlin is on the up, and its economy is beginning to follow, if an article in The Guardian is to be believed. The city is beginning to live up to the slogan coined by its mayor, Klaus Wowereit, "Berlin: arm, aber sexy" (poor, but sexy).

Meanwhile Design Week believes that the contract to deliver a new London "identity", paid for by the GLA, has gone to Saffron Brand Consultants, and its boss Wally Olins. Gawd knows what the brief is, but you can bet even BoJo won't be as pithy and to-the-point as Klaus. Who needs consultants when you've got a phrase-maker like Herr Wowereit ?

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Magazines for sale ?

The Sunday Times floats the idea that BBC Worldwide could sell its magazine division (including Radio Times, Gardeners' World, Olive, etc) as part of the "strategic review".

Click on Crick

In the midst of the 30th birthday celebrations for Newsnight, Michael Crick offers current folk memory of former staff who have gone on to "greater" things in this blogpost. I feel sure there should be something more comprehensive...

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Sharing out

Google's young founders have announced a five year plan to sell shares and loosen their direct voting control of the company, says Paid Content. The phased release is apparently a common thing; if they sold all now, shares would dive - in theory Larry Page and Sergey Brin could share around $5.5bn at today's prices.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Creole for Haiti

Pretty nippy work by Peter Horrocks and his team; I think I was in a bar only on Thursday when I heard it mooted, and a now a World Service Creole programme (if only brief) starts for Haiti on Saturday.

"Dave" David Abraham

Channel 4 are trying someone with roots in advertising rather than marketing as their next chief executive. David Abraham studied Modern History at Oxford, entered the world of work as a trainee at Benton and Bowles, on to CDP, then Chiat Day, where became part of the team that bought out the London operation and set it up as St Luke's.

At UKTV he went re-branding mad; after setting up Dave, we now have Alibi, Blighty, Yesterday, Really, Eden, etc.

Channel 4 will shortly become known as Two Plus Two, or perhaps Lefty, or perhaps Public, or perhaps Davina, or Horseferry. You can almost hear the brainstorm.

28 days

February looks set to be a busy month at the BBC. The strategic review, something more on salaries/pay, and the publication of a National Audit Office report on BBC building projects could all be on the way.

On the strategic review, The Guardian has been reporting leaks as if it were still underway. It's more than likely done and dusted, with discussions between the Trust and the Executive underway on how (and what) to release (and when). It's possible that the BBC will risk a few "flyers" in the report - hoping that the audience and MPs say "That's a step too far". But it's certain that the strategists will be trying to do something to win favour with David Cameron, still the most likely person to determine the next licence fee. So there'll be pain beyond chopping off some of the long tail of BBC websites.

The success of Radio 1 and Radio 2 remains a problem with the Tories, so there might be something cute to be done there; the poor listening trends of the BBC local radio audience put that spend under the spotlight; and, in television, somebody's got to re-balance daytime scheduling of repeats against the current preference for cheap fillers about house buying/animals/policemen etc. Plus, if the theme of the review is to be a "laser sharp focus on quality", money will have to shift internally - so even the big beasts of Vision, News, and Radio 4 will face another set of year-by-year job cuts.

And someone's going to have to try to put a positive spin on it.


Top Rank

Check out your Twitter "grade" with this website. (Twitter Grader ranks me 2,615,809 out of 5,908,427 accounts measured)

Friday music - 22 January



This proves older men can groove. Ok, it looks long, but you only have to listen to the first 5.30. The rest is funny, and explains why Eddie Harris plays funky sax in a positively immobile fashion. If you can get hold of Ray Charles' version, you have a dance floor classic.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Oh, Kay !

Staff at Sky News are suffering a frisson of anticipation as publication of Kay Burley's novel comes closer. She told the Mail "it's not so much a love triangle as a very messy love square". Any suggestion that the hacks are prurient is, of course, denied, but senior figures have been assured that, as far as bonking goes, the descriptive prose of messiness stops outside the bedroom door.

Meanwhile, the Wigan Observer continues to promote Kay's career opportunities.

On the road again

Caroline Thomson, down to speak at the Oxford Media Conference later today, is clearly going to major on the BBC-commissioned Deloitte report, which attempts to quantify the indirect financial benefits the Corporation delivers to UK plc. There's no sign of revelation on the strategic review, simply to say that it will bring "a laser focus on quality". (Also no disclaimer about how much Deloitte might be earning from the BBC).

Meanwhile a "senior source" has told the Guardian that BBC3 and BBC4 are safe. There was. they say, discussion about merging BBC2 and BBC4.

BBC3 has probably been saved by the unlikely figure of David Davies, recommending that Ashes tests here should be free-to-air "Crown Jewels". No current controller really fancies it...

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Capability

Twitter is returning an increasing number of screens saying "Over capacity".

Shouldn't that read "Twitter - Under capacity" ?


Topsy

These bids to produce regional tv news output where ITV says it can't make money are getting out of hand. The Press Gazette reports that Teesside University and Newcastle College have joined the Trinity Mirror-led partnership seeking the north-east England slots, to "bring training expertise".

It's a pilot, isn't it ? Ofcom (and ideally the viewers) should see a pilot from each team, rather than engaging in "detailed dialogue" about each group's credentials to make a decision about a winner.

Howard's End

Former colleague and friend Howard Benson deserves a mention - he's won a sort of "unsung hero" award within BBC News.

I worked with Howard at both Newsbeat and 5Live, and we still meet up for a light refreshment - increasingly lighter as age takes its toll. Howard's place in radio history ought to be confirmed as the longest-serving editor of Up All Night on 5Live, which he's leaving at the end of March. It's a job he's done with his own style and enthusiasm, with a diminishing budget, but true invention, built round the talents of the estimable Rhod Sharp (is a legend). On the way, he's recruited an eclectic bunch of staff prepared to face the difficult shifts, many of whom have gone on to find success in other, more lauded parts of BBC News. And on shoe-string funds, his teams have broadcast on a combination of lap-tops, broadband and hope, on some of the most important news stories of the decade - producing fresh insights and perspectives rare in the rest of radio news and current affairs. Give the show a try while he's still there. Or some of its bits, like Pods and Blogs.

From April, Howard will be devoting more time here. It takes all sorts.


More reviews

As January slips away, and February rushes on, more emerges on bits of the strategic review underway at the BBC. The Guardian says Sharon Baylay, Jay Hunt and Andy Parfitt have got the task of deciding how big "Marketing, Communications and Audiences" should be.

The numbers in the department seems odd, by the Guardian's analysis. Tim Davie joined in 2005, when a department of 480 staff was trying to make savings of 25% over the years ahead. Now the department is a mere 496-strong.

Easy, Tiger (Bay)

BBC Wales seems to be about to build a new "drama production centre", in the Roath Basin redevelopment area, according to Property Week.

This is a project that has been a long time in gestation, and has evolved along the way. In October 2008, the Western Mail reported that Roath Basin was among "options" for a new headquarters for BBC Wales. Headquarters changed to "drama village" with a planning application in December 2009 - but I suspect the BBC Taffia management will also move in. Uncannily, they'll end up with waterside offices, like BBC Scotland at Pacific Quay and BBC North at Salford Quays.

BBC Wales will house production for Casualty, Dr Who and its spin offs, Pobol Y Cwm, at Roath, pointing to a commitment to double drama production in the principality by 2016. Let's hope that Mark Thompson's strategic review sticks to that, and that productions currently made in leased warehouses and old schools don't lose their sparkle when brought back into studios.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Another advert...


...and while were at it, can someone open a wine bar here ? Please ? Just off the Highbury Corner roundabout, started as a Gill Wing Cafe, vaguely ran as an Italian restaurant/jazz venue called Osso until closing last year. A mere £45k a year for 2200 sq feet...




Advert

My nice neighbours in Corsica Street have gone, so there is a vacancy at 49. Single-story office - room for 10+ workstations, central heating, toilets and kitchen - suit media, designers, software etc. £20k a year for 1300 square foot. Bargain (and we need someone to pick up our packages)
- see currell.com.

Moths

There are a huge number of BBC blogs. I expect them to be fewer from February. Today, we note the "moth-balling" of the BBC Knowledge Exchange blog ("Collaborative innovation between the BBC and Academia"). 11 posts, 16 comments since April 2009.

Expect to see more of this.


Correction fluid

He's an expert on Greek vase painting, psychology, oral poetry, and epistemology, as well as journalism. That's what Kevin Marsh asserts in his blog, as the story of alterations to the Wikipedia entries for Andrew Gilligan and Rod Liddle re-surfaces in the Mail On Sunday.

Rod and Andrew seem relaxed about it; nothing yet in their blogs.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Dry run

Sir Terence Wogan and his team are in the BBC Radio Theatre today, piloting the forthcoming live Sunday Radio 2 show - with audience. If you want to know how it's going, follow Hellenbach, long-established TOG, on Twitter.

Side order

Regular users of the Ocado service in London have just received messages that their customary free copy of The Times with each order ceases from Monday 18th January. No word on the Indie moving in... Hat-tip to Tim.

Papers

The Sunday Times says New Zealand company Metra is in the running for the contract to provide BBC weather forecasts and could unseat the Met Office. If I knew how to bet on these things, I'd gamble that the Met Office will hang on...

The Mail on Sunday says Mark Thompson is resigned to selling a minority stake in BBC Worldwide, as part of the current strategy review about the size of the BBC in general. And I suspect he'd prefer that stake to go to a Channel 4 that still had a public service remit; maybe a Channel 4 led by his own current COO, Caroline Thomson, if the interviews progress....

The Mirror says Christine Bleakley wants to move on from The One Show this year.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Banking advice

The world's of architecture and inextricably linked, but some will be less than pleased that architects RMJM have hired former RBS chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin, as reported by the Daily Telegraph.

RMJM
say they hope he'll help them with work abroad - there's no set contract; he'll advise as and when required. I sort of know the feeling...

Friday, January 15, 2010

Friday music -15 January 2010



Produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, for their label Philadelphia International in 1975. Written by Gene McFadden, John Whitehead and keyboard player Victor Carstarphen (former Temptations' MD). Vocal - the late Teddy Pendergrass, who died this week.

McFadden and Whitehead wrote "Backstabbers" for the O'Jays, and went on to have their own hit with "Ain't No Stopping Us Now". Both are dead - Whitehead was shot working a car in Philadelphia in 2004. McFadden died from cancer in 2006. Can't track down Victor - anyone else help ?

Food at work

The US approach to transparency is often much better than ours.

Take this article, on the dirtiest and cleanest cafeterias in media organisations, ranked by "violation points" issued during kitchen inspections, pulled together by Daily Finance.

Still on catering, the boss of BBC Radio Scotland has breached procurement rules at the Beeb, and I trust that rigour will be applied. He has to go, or the catering contract must be reviewed. Inaction is unacceptable.

Market news

Relations between local councils, central government and Tesco over planning issues are quite often tense. Property Week reports a new row in Liverpool. Sir Terry Leahy is still presumably miffed about decisions that blocked his superstore-come-football-ground for Everton FC in Kirkby.

Meanwhile Jeremy Hunt MP (Tory media guru) is still waiting to see what impact his "concern" will have on a proposed Tesco Express in Milford, near Godalming.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Karaoke Kev


UK twittersphere full of tweets from News Rewired, a conference on journalism underway at the City University - just search for #newsrw. Current peak of tweets may be because Kevin Marsh is on (and on ?). He's Editor of the BBC College of Journalism.

If Mr Byford catches him with his tie undone....

Rigour 2

The BBC's editorial complaints unit, in response to the commercial radio pressure group, The Radio Centre, says guidelines were broken in the coverage given to U2's album launch at Broadcasting House. It said the use of the slogan U2=BBC "gave an inappropriate impression of endorsement", and said a reference to the BBC being "part of launching this new album", in an interview between Zane Lowe and Bono, was inappropriate.

Follow-up action ? The complaints unit said its findings had been discussed at the Radio 1 and sister station 1Xtra editorial meetings. "In addition, the Radio 1 leadership team have reminded executive producers and presenters about the issues to be considered in relation to judgments about undue prominence, and the distinction between the reporting of new artistic work and commercial promotion".

"The management of BBC marketing, communication and audiences (the division responsible for the U2=BBC graphic) has reminded all staff of the need to consult the editorial policy team in a timely manner for advice when potentially sensitive issues such as commercial interests are involved. A session on working with third parties will be included in marketing, communication and audiences monthly editorial issues training programme."

"We acknowledge the findings and have taken note for the future," a BBC spokesman told the Guardian.

Meanwhile another BBC internal watchdog, The Fair Trading Committee, will now return to the U2 issue. A range of issues brought by the Radio Centre are being investigated by the Controller of Fair Trading.


Rigour 1

The Western Mail reports that BBC Wales have sacked tv reporter Steve Jones, because he acted as a spokesman for the organisers of the Bulldog Bash, a Hell's Angel gathering at Long Marston - presumably without telling his bosses. He's said to be planning an appeal. The comments in the Western Mail are mildly amusing; I can't find the story reported by BBC News Online's Welsh section.

You can see Steve (under the name Echo) in action 1 min 30 seconds into this video from the Birmingham Mail.


Wednesday, January 13, 2010

News and anger

Time blogger Michael Scherer has produced an excellent review of Sarah Palin's first outing as a Fox News commentator - and why "Fox News creator Roger Ailes is a genius. His peers in the executive suites of rival networks, newspapers and media conglomerates still hire talent for their abilities. Ailes knows you can also hire talent for who they anger, who they unite and what they represent".

The whole thing is worth a read.

Promo code

Wind-up DJ Steve Penk, who's career has tracked Chris Evans (Picadilly and Virgin), but with slightly less success, has written to the BBC Trust, saying the free promotion of Chris's Radio 2 launch was in breach of something...

Mr Penk notes appearances by Evans on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, The One Show and The Andrew Marr Show. “I was half expecting to see him on Songs of Praise.” Reported by How Do.

Over to you, Michael

Below, a copy of a letter to The Guardian...

This may be the director general's "duck house" moment (Report, 9 January). To blithely compare his own worth to that of a county council chief executive, whose average pay is much less, is crass and insensitive. He is right that the BBC is not a county council: it does not provide key social services and schools that affect millions of lives every day. Is he seriously suggesting the BBC's director of audio and music deserves to be paid more than double the salary of my local council chief executive? The BBC needs to be led by a man with a firmer grip on the current economic reality, with rising unemployment and pay freezes. Perhaps Mr Thompson has provided a public service by highlighting the issue again; maybe he will follow some of his colleagues to the higher salaries and job security of ITV.

G Routledge
Tickhill, South Yorkshire

It's worth noting here previous career of Sir Michael Lyons, chair of the BBC Trust, and the man who believes, as audience champion, he keeps Thommo on the straight and narrow. Let's hope, as a previous chief executive of Wolverhampton Borough Council, Nottinghamshire County Council, and Birmingham City Council, someone gets his views soon on comparative pay levels in public service...

Google and China

The Times reports that Google have switched off whatever system they've used to censor what China-based users of their search engine can read and see - saying that for the first time, the image search will allow through pictures of the events in Tianamen Square in 1989.

It'll be interesting to see how quickly the Chinese might be able to pull the plug on Google. Let's hope action is not taken against Google employees there.

It's also worth highlighting that the trigger for this was not (just ?) frustration at censorship but a clear belief that Chinese authorities were hacking Gmail accounts around the world of anyone they thought might be campaigning on human rights. Worth reading the full Google Blog post by David Drummond, titled, in a rather understated way "A New Approach to China".

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

It's not just Cameron

Some strategist at the BBC has caught "family".

The Education section of the news website is to be renamed Education and Family, writes editor Steve Herrman.

The Asian Network is moving Sonia Deol to weekday mornings. Andy Parfitt tells the BBC Press Office: "These changes are part of our long-term strategy for the Asian Network to re-focus the station on a broader family audience."

Kirsty Young presents The British Family on BBC2

BBC News' Sunday preview of the Chris Evans Breakfast show on Radio 2 "Referring to Sir Terry's loyal band of listeners, Evans said it would be a "family show for everyone""

Even Jonathan Ross left for the sake of his family, according to The Times.

Films looking cheaper

M2 Research, specialising in analysing the computer games industry, says the average cost of producing a "next generation" multi-platform game is around $23m. Reported by The Escapist.

Fits with Blizzard Entertainment - a games website - hitting the top of the Nielsen Ratings as "stickiest" brand in the USA. 2.5m unique users in November 2009, with average time on site standing at an extraordinary 22 hours 30 minutes. Reported by ClickZ.

Fox and football

Paid Content reports that Fox is setting up a premium HD soccer channel in the States - seemingly edging out Setanta from the market.

(Can't be related to Fox signing Sarah Palin as a political pundit, and chasing Conan O'Brien as a host - can it ?)

T-t-t-twitter

Interesting analysis on Mashable, that Twitter is "flatlining" in the USA. The stats, however, don't capture people who maybe reading tweets or tweeting via other applications.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Fingered

A Cambridge-based company, Light Blue Optics, made some waves at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas, with demonstrations of Light Touch, a mini-projector which turns any flat surface into a touch screen.


The short tail

Not much new to be learned in Urmee Khan and Stephen Adams' Telegraph article on cutting back the BBC's web offerings. Apart from the fact that John Tate (not Tait, as per the Telegraph) , ex- McKinsey and PA Consulting, is leading the review (the only John Tait I can find with a BBC link is a floor manager on Dr Who).

It's all here. Apart from the fact that these cuts will come this year, with other elements of the "strategic review" signposted for after full digital switchover in 2012, in the hope that the political and media landscape changes in the BBC's favour by then.

Tempo

Terry Wogan had better writers. Chris Evans doesn't seem to have any, which may be a mistake.

The first show was just too fast (shades of Timmy Mallett), which also infected Johnny Saunders and Lynn Bowles, with the odd oasis of calm around Moira Stewart. The elderly will flee unless someone persuades our hero to ease up.

It will take the pressure off other new shows starting today - Gabby Logan's weekday slot on 5Live, and the new Manchester late-night on the same network with Tony Livesey. If you fancy a job working alongside them in Salford Quays from 2011, there's a glossy new website launched today.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Jay walking

The Hollywood Reporter seems to have been first with a blow-by-blow account of NBC exec Jeff Gaspin wriggling as he confirmed that Jay Leno is moving out of US prime-time. Now time for BBC Worldwide to get on the phone offering..... Cranford ? Laugh-a-minute Wallander ?

Haggling

The Guardian reports that Bryan Gray, Chairman of Peel Media has offered ITV an improved package to move from central Manchester to Salford Quays. Negotiations on a deal foundered in March; the Guardian hints that the arrival of new ITV chairman Archie Norman might have made a difference, and brought both sides round the table again.

MediaCity is still looking for major commercial tenants - the Rugby Football League are reported to be considering moving some staff from Leeds in 2011, but they'll hardly be big earners for Peel.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Politicking

Iain Dale, the political blogger who really tries to drive traffic, always seeks to be ahead of the curve. Like many, he reckons that BBC Political Editor Nick Robinson will move on after the General Election (I'm pretty certain to Today). So Mr Dale has alreay set up a poll for readers to vote on potential replacements. Here's his shortlist.

Tom Bradby ITN
Gary Gibbon Channel 4
Adam Boulton Sky News
Robert Peston BBC
Ben Wright BBC
James Landale BBC
Huw Edwards BBC
Andrew Porter Daily Telegraph
Rita Chakrabarti BBC
Martha Kearney BBC
Carole Walker BBC
Andy Bell Five News
Michael Crick BBC
Eddie Mair BBC
Joey Jones Sky News
Mark Mardell BBC
John Pienaar BBC
Laura Kuenssberg BBC
Jon Craig Sky News

Mr Dale's exercise is just a poll, but if we look at recent incumbents, we could shorten a betting list. Since John Cole, ex-Observer, BBC Political Editors have come in from "outside". Robin Oakley from The Times, Andrew Marr, The Indie as editor, then columnist for the Observer - even Nick Robinson had been away at ITN. And they all were already "editors", with presumably a special and existing level of access to top sources. Applying those principles, the list drops to..

Tom Bradby ITN
Gary Gibbon Channel 4
Adam Boulton Sky News
Andrew Porter Daily Telegraph
Andy Bell Five News

That's probably too short, because they'd have to consider Robert Peston if he wanted it (outside experience and top political sources). But it feels like we're missing others. Suggestions welcome..




Doodling

Still snowed in ? I've found a better free snowflake maker to while away the hours - Flurrious.
Allows more effects than the Cogapps tool.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Dull

The Guardian reports that Richard Hooper (ex BBC, BT, Radio Authority and Ofcom) will chair the panel selecting from the various consortia that have bid to run pilot regional tv services on ITV for Wales, Scotland, and the North East of England. Alongside will be Val Atkinson, former deputy head of news and current affairs at BBC Scotland; Fru Hazlitt, former chief executive of GCap, and Virgin Media and Yahoo executive; Glyn Mathias, former ITN political editor and member of Ofcom's advisory committee for Wales; William Perrin, of the community website talkaboutlocal and a former adviser to Tony Blair; and Marc Reeves, former editor of the Birmingham Post.

On hand with advice: Stewart Purvis, the Ofcom partner for content and standards, former ITN chief executive, and architect of the regional news consortiums plan.

This process looks old fashioned. It cries out for an X-Factor treatment. Sion Simon as Simon Cowell, etc - and a public vote, please.

Friday music - 8 January 2010



Just had my guitars "set-up" for 2010, and by around 2060, I'll be as good as Cornell Dupree was in 1989, with Jon Hammond on Hammond and Bernard "Pretty" Purdie on drums.

As you were...

The New York Times reports moves to put the late night schedule at NBC back where it was. Affiliate stations say the new Jay Leno show is giving them a poor inheritance for their main news - which provides most of their local advertising revenue.

Stokey

I made a daytime visit to Stoke Newington yesterday. The young-ish mums were all braving the treacherous pavements with their buggies, and woe betide anyone who a) gets in their way when they are in motion or b) harrumphs when a cluster of mewling prams blocks a pavement entirely.

Mother to infant on bus "Another rice cracker, Phoebe ?"

First question

Interviews for the vacancy as boss at Channel 4 come next week, and it's a reasonable bet that candidates will be asked if they'd take Jonathan Ross, and at what price.

The Guardian says the job-seekers are Lorraine Heggessey, Caroline Thomson, Kevin Lygo, Alex Graham and David Abraham, with decision-maker Lord Burns flanked by a rather large panel - Luke Johnson, Lord Puttnam, Tony Hall and Martha Lane Fox.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Woss loss

Jonathan Ross says he'll leave the BBC when his current contract ends in July.

So it looks like Graham Norton (who has signed a reduced deal) will get the Friday Night BBC1 slot; Mark Kermode, at some stage, will get Film 2010 (or 2011). And at Radio 2, Mr Shennan should have someone lined up by the summer.

And now will Charles Moore pay his licence fee ?

Smaller sofas

The Daily Mirror reports that the January transfer window is now open at GMTV, where it says new managers ITV want to part with one male and one female presenter out of five. The Mirror believes latest arrival Emma Crosby, brought in from Sky, will survive, but...

'Andrew Castle, 46, John Stapleton, 63, Kate Garraway, 42, Ben Shephard, 35, and Penny Smith, 51, are said to be “anxious beyond belief”.'

If it's money to be saved, the salaries apparently run at...

Stapleton £220,000
Garraway £200,000
Shephard £200,000
Castle £200,000
Smith £175,000
(Crosby £160,000)

Final call is probably with Alison Sharman. If the Mirror is right about Penny Smith's age (notoriously difficult), she could be eligible for shifts at the BBC News channel.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Unscientific

A London-based broadcasting ginger group, otherwise known as the BBC Trust, is at it again. A proposed review of BBC science output will have special assistants all round news, tv, radio and online, preparing stats long into the night designed to prove there's been more output - and it's better.

I'm not convinced the Trust's postbag is stuffed with complaints about the BBC's science coverage (second to none in the broadcasting world, asserted without the need for stats), except those driven by those with a different agenda - such as Biased BBC, and a range of Tory bloggers - who will try to drive the review to scrutinise the work of Roger Harrabin, David Shukman and Richard Black.

Let's hope the result of the 2010 election, if nothing else, cuts out this layer of quasi-academic, quasi-judicial scrutiny, and allows BBC editors to edit again. The science review is due to report in 2011.

Snow on the uptake

On December 22nd, a frustrated wag in Manchester (probably a journalist) opened a Twitter account as GMPTE (the initials of the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive). First Tweet: "It's snowing and we have no idea what's going on".

In the recent recurrence of the white stuff, his/her tweets have been a mixture of useful links to more efficient and updated sources of news about transport running/or not, and other, more barbed offerings.....

Stuck in the city centre? Feel free to snowball our office, Piccadilly Gardens #Manchester, i'll be dressed as a penguin #uksnow

We've let everyone down in #Manchester with a lack of info early today. Just as well you didn't vote for the congestion charge

The GMPTE office is now officially out of biscuits, panic stations !

Manchester media site How Do followed up, and got this statement from the real GMPTE: “People should not regard this unverified account as a means of obtaining official travel information; it has nothing to do with GMPTE and we have contacted Twitter accordingly. We are currently reviewing our new media strategy, including Twitter, to ensure we are providing the best level of service possible to our customers.”

Still the wrong answer - get an account and get on with !

P.S. If you're in the Manchester area, baby Kai Wayne (Rooney ?) is enjoying the snow nearly as much as his dad.






Points of View

BBC News staff will be looking for a "form of words" to tag the Taxpayer's Alliance, after complaints by John Prescott to Helen Boaden, Director of News.

Tropical in Chester







Chester Zoo, fondly remembered by me for school trips in the late fifties, is going high-tech with plans for a bio-dome bigger than the Eden Project. "The Heart of Africa" will house gorillas, chimpanzees, reptiles and insects under a full jungle canopy, in over 16,000m2. It goes for detailed planning this week, says Building Design, and could open in 2014. Architects are Proctor and Matthews, whose other work includes 'Lions of the Serengeti' at Whipsnade, and Gorilla Kingdom at London Zoo.


Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Neat

A Twitter-fed snow map of the UK. Hat-tip to Catharine.

No view

A budget hotel, with 495 "windowless" rooms between 12m2 and 17m2, is the latest plan for The Trocadero overlooking Picadilly Circus, London, according to Building Design. The first three floors will be kept for "retail and leisure" - not clear what might replace Planet Hollywood.












Architects Dexter Moren have made something of a speciality of mid-price hotels around London - the nicest exterior being provided for the new Novotel at Paddington. The facade of the Trocadero, however, will be retained. It's likely that flats with get the windows on the upper floors.



Mmmmm

If childhood obesity seems intractable in the UK, it is still a bigger problem in the USA - and sometimes the reasons are unsurprising. The Chicago Tribune has reviewed local school meal menus, triggered by the discovery of one item on offer at Evanston Township High School last year - "Brunch For Lunch" consisted of pancakes, a tub of maple-flavored high-fructose corn syrup and a side of cookies.

The Tribune survey of menus in Illinois' 10 largest districts found some changes - but to UK eyes, they look too little too late. "Several districts serve only fruit for dessert four days of the week; some restrict nachos entrees to once a week; one has done away with breakfast Pop-Tarts; and some offer daily cold bars full of sliced fruits and vegetables".

Mmm, nachos entrees.....

It's a concept

Why not make the power bar work as a table leg as well ? Red Dot gave their 2009 home furniture design concept award to this idea from Choi Won Seok and Kim Do Yeop. Found via Gizmodo.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Moving on

Richard Sambrook, in The Guardian, revels in the prospect of a life outside the BBC. Still no clue as to who he's "signed for" in the January transfer window. But we'll try to narrow it down...

The show goes on

The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is seen by some as a more reliable indicator of new technology trends than other, more geeky events. Manufacturers show things you might actually be able to buy.

The San Francisco Chronicle says this year's event, opening on Thursday, will see a continuing decline in attendance, but a rise in the number of new exhibitors. The hot products are e-readers, tablets, 3-D displays, internet-connected cars, netbooks than work like smartphones, and smartphones that work like netbooks.


Sunday, January 3, 2010

The creative urge

Engadget says it's got the new Google-phone, which will be called the Nexus One.

An exponential growth in the number of competing devices means the "think of a new name" department in most technology companies is struggling. Nexus has already been bagged by the Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive (amongst others). Then again, they did call their train system Metro, which was hardly a first...

And, according to her Twitter posts, creative genius Mariah Carey is scratching around a little for new pet names. The latest dog will be called Dolomite. Presumably after the rock, rather than the Triumph Dolomite.

Any suggestion that I'm scratching around for post topics so early in 2010 is utterly refuted.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Eye ball

I was extremely puzzled to see a Bible reference hit the "Top web search" on Alexa today. To be precise, Ephesians 2:8-10.

Then I found that American footballer Tim Tebow was using his eye black to spread the word.


Picture from AP found via The Huffington Post.

Over the rainbow

A simple New Year resolution isn't sexy enough for slogan-driven America. It has to be a "dream". So there's a social media site that aims to help you achieve your "dream", called Dorthy. If you can stomach the house-style of "personal goals"(more below), it may actually be useful...

"The company was founded in 2007 by a group of kids living together in a loft near Wall Street in New York City. In addition, the company has a “rock star” list of advisors and active directors from companies like About.com, AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo, Time Inc, and Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners. Its mission is to spark a new paradigm in discovery and place the tools for that discovery in the fabric of everyday life".

Other people who read this.......