Hold 'em

It's not clear who has got the best hand in a new poker game spotted by the Daily Telegraph. It reports that the BBC is concerned (on behalf, of course, of all public service broadcasters) about how far down, in the various pages of menus, plain old live tv is to be found when you switch on a smart tv.

Take, for example, a tv linked to Sky's new top range offering, Sky Q (entry level annual cost £528+). The concern is that all the goodies in the Sky sweet shop are there to distract you before you dutifully click through to the distinctive oatmeal BBC offering (as defined by Whittingdale and policed by Ofcom).

Lord Hall would like something on the front page, that says 'BBC'. He may need Government elbow to achieve this. Meanwhile, at another card table, the BBC is offering its first pre-broadcast opportunity for binge viewing via the iPlayer, in an attempt to create its own sweet shop, to match Sky Q, Netflix and Amazon Prime. The new six part drama from the Life On Mars team, "The Living and The Dead", in gestation since August 2014, is available all-in-one-go from Friday, before the first episode hits BBC1 on 28th June.