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Monday 10 August 2009, AM

Half UK viewers will be able to watch 2010 World Cup on HD ITV |Media |guardian.co.uk

England's Theo Walcott in action against Croatia in a qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup. A BBC Freeview HD service is due to launch later this year. A detailed plan of the Freeview HD roll-out will be made available in September. - guardian.co.uk

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ITV CEO frontrunner Fox says staying at HMV-report| Industries| Technology, Media Telecommunications| Reuters

The report said Fox, who was the frontrunner to replace chief executive Michael Grade, told the HMV board that he thinks it is too early to leave the company after only two years into a three-year turnaround plan. - reuters.com

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Friday 07 August 2009, PM

ITV HD will relaunch for Freeview HD

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Grades successor at ITV needs to reunite it with profits - Telegraph

Many in advertising believe technology for the 3.3bn television industry needs to move as quickly as the internet, or sales will decline in the long run. It has, however, realised that its key strength lies in delivering moving content, signalling that ITV has learned the mistake of buying FriendsReunited. Adam Smith, head of futures at GroupM, has noted that online advertising for video-on-demand VOD generates more than the television equivalent. - telegraph.co.uk

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ITV strike deal with BBC for Freeview HD | News | Broadcast

It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. - broadcastnow.co.uk

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Friday 07 August 2009, AM

Consumers prefer communications over celebrations in recession: People taking control and getting good deals in downturn

Independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industries. 4G auction bidders announced December 20, 2012 Ofcom has today announced the bidders in the forthcoming 4G mobile spectrum auction the largest ever sale of mobile airwaves in the UK. npower fined for making abandoned calls December 6, 2012 The conclusion of an Ofcom investigation has today found npower, the gas and electricity supplier, to be in breach of rules on abandoned calls. - ofcom.org.uk

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15% of internet users watch iPlayer

Ofcom said that nearly a quarter of households were watching catch-up TV online in 2008, compared to 17 in 2007. Around a fifth 19 of viewing in Sky homes is timeshifted, more than for subscribers to Virgin Media's V service who timeshifted 12 of viewing. Some 9 of viewing in Freeview DVR homes was time-shifted programmes. - dtg.org.uk

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Chances to make money that ITV missed |Media |guardian.co.uk

ITV remained too reliant on advertising as a result and was vulnerable to the downturn. It made far too little of its 175m acquisition of Friends Reunited, which was sold yesterday for 25m. Programme and format sales ITV's production department geared too much of its output to supplying the ITV network, while ambitious targets for international sales had to be abandoned. - guardian.co.uk

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BDO: ITV needs new blood to prosper - Digital Spy

The commercial public service broadcaster today published its financial results for the first half of 2009, which revealed that it incurred a 105 million pre-tax loss for the period, with total revenues falling by 12 to 909m. As part of efforts to cut its costs by 155m by the end of the year, ITV has confirmed the sale of its social networking website Friends Reunited to Brightsolid for a total cash consideration of 25m, representing a substantial loss on the sum it paid for the site in 2005. - digitalspy.co.uk

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Michael Grade: ITV could name chief exec from outside TV |Media |guardian.co.uk

To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editormediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. To find out more information about driving traffic to your content or to place this widget on your site, visit outbrain.com. - guardian.co.uk

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Metronic launches Freesat's first DIY kit

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DTG :: News :: Virgin announce highest ever average VOD views

Virgin Media received average VoD views of 62m per month in the second quarter of 2009their highest ever according to the cable broadcaster. Virgins financial results for the quarter identified that VoD usage on the platform rose to 55 of digital customers during the quarter, compared to 48 for last years quarter. Virgins TV subscriber base increased by 20,400 to 3.67m, while the number of Broadband customers grew to 3.74m, compared with last years 3.56m for the quarter. - dtg.org.uk

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ITV records pre-tax loss of 105m - and no word on new chief executive |Media |guardian.co.uk

ITV has reported a pre-tax loss of 105m in the first six months of the year with ad revenue falling 15, as the broadcaster said that the hunt for a chief executive is progressing. ITV reported an 11 fall in revenue year on year to 909m, adding that net debt stayed at 728m, ahead of some analysts' forecasts of a deterioration. However the broadcaster admitted that its pension deficit had ballooned from 178m at the end of 2008 to 538m at the end of June. - guardian.co.uk

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Thursday 06 August 2009, PM

The Communications Market 2009 (August) | Ofcom

1 - The market in context Introduction and structure This section of the Communications Market Report 2009 summarises a range of communications market developments over the last twelve months. It is organised into four sections Key market trends This section summarises developments in communications services availability and take-up. Communications markets and the recession The UK moved into recession in the final quarter of 2008, and its impact is being felt by consumers and industry. - ofcom.org.uk

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ITV digital channels may leave Freeview | News | Broadcast

It takes just 2 minutes and offers full, instant access to the Broadcast website along with a copy of the magazine delivered every week. Broadcast Subscribers If you are a Broadcast subscriber please sign in with your email address and click submit - broadcastnow.co.uk

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DVR explosion changing UK TV watching | News | TechRadar UK

More than a quarter of UK homes have a digital video recorder and 15 per cent of all television viewing is now 'time shifted' - according to latest research from Ofcom. The communications watchdog has just released its sixth Communications Market Report, which shows a massive change in the way that Brits watch television. By the end of March, 27 per cent of homes had a DVR staggeringly, that's nearly a third more than did in September 2008 , just six months previously. - techradar.com

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How to get the best sounding radio |Technology |guardian.co.uk

Which one of these gives the best quality sound from, say, a Radio 3 concert First, it uses a higher-quality codec than the other digital systems. Second, it and does not have any dynamic range compression DRC, which means the loud parts are louder while the quiet parts are quieter. - guardian.co.uk

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Thursday 06 August 2009, AM

Communications not dented by downturn | Ofcom

You might like to try one of the following to help find what you were looking for Make sure the address of the page you are looking for is spelled correctly. Try submitting a question to our FAQ system Go to the Ofcom homepage and navigate to the information you want. Click the 'back' button to try another link. - ofcom.org.uk

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Sky viewers left in the lurch after Satellite Direct UK collapses - Investigations

Paul noticed in March that the company had taken 65 from his account. That's because it's gone bust with eye-watering debts of 27million, including 4.6million owed in tax. Its phone lines are now being answered by a company called Satcover - run by the same director as Satellite Direct. - blogs.mirror.co.uk

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ITV HD Latest Schedule | Join Freesat

- joinfreesat.co.uk

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BBC The Media Show: 05/08/2009

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Wednesday 05 August 2009, PM

Yentob: BBC Managers expense claims reasonable - TV Radio, Media - The Independent

BBC executive Alan Yentob hit out at the corporation's critics today and attacked ministers for trying to interfere in its affairs. Figures released in recent weeks showed high level managers at the corporation claimed 400,000 on expenses over the last three years, spending public money on champagne, cigars, flowers, luxury cosmetics, food hampers and even a Doctor Who action figure. The lunch was held for three people, including agents, Mr Yentob said, to discuss future series of Lawson's show, and he said entertaining people in this way was a means of bringing in more business for the corporation. - independent.co.uk

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Final West Country region prepares for switchover

With just days to go until the last analogue signals in the region begin to be switched off, Digital UK is launching the final stage of its information campaign for the 255,000 households served by the Caradon Hill transmitter group. Stage two will take place four weeks later on 9 September. On each switchover day, all terrestrial TV services will be off air during the night and are expected to be restored in most areas by morning. - dtg.org.uk

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Channel 4 to axe News at Noon and More4 News |Media |guardian.co.uk

Krishnan Guru-Murthy staying with Channel 4 Channel 4 is axing its lunchtime news bulletin and More4 News as part of a cost-cutting move that will lead to up to 20 job losses. Staff at ITN, which produces Channel 4's news output, were told of the decision at lunchtime today. Channel 4 said the aim of the cuts was to protect the flagship 7pm bulletin, presented by Jon Snow. - guardian.co.uk

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Whitehaven News | News | Hiccups for Digit Al as viewers lose TV reception

Digital UK says they are now working with Ofcom and the broadcasters to fix the problem. The size of the problem was first flagged up by independent electrical retailer, Brooks, of Duke Street, Whitehaven. One possible workround is to manually tune your set-top box to the channel numbers 53, 57 and 60. - whitehaven-news.co.uk

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Wednesday 05 August 2009, AM

Jana Bennett: BBC1 controller Jay Hunt has nothing to apologise for |Media |guardian.co.uk

Jay Hunt came under attack for a potential conflict of interest the BBC has ruled out any further investigation. I was reminded of this moment when reading the attack that the controller of BBC1, Jay Hunt, was subjected to in one paper yesterday. Jay is in the news because her husband runs a media training business, and like many home-based family businesses Jay is its company secretary. - guardian.co.uk

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Set-top shipments to exceed 200 million by 2013

Annual worldwide set-top box shipments are to increase to over 200 million by 2013, according to Parks Associates. Carriers and manufacturers will replace their current installed base of set-tops with advanced models capable of supporting applications such as time and place-shifting and Internet-based offerings, according to the report. While less than ten percent are willing to pay a monthly fee, demand is still on an upward trend, especially as the set-top connects to more and more services. - dtg.org.uk

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Your own personal satellite for five grand - What Satellite Digital TV

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ESPN strikes deals with Top Up TV and BT Vision |Media |guardian.co.uk

Freeview consumers need a pay-TV compatible set-top box to access the matches provided by Top Up TV. To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editormediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. - guardian.co.uk

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Sean Batty promotes digital switchover awareness | The Sun |Home Scotland|Scottish News

The kind-hearted STV star popped round to his nan Fays house to rig up her new cable telly. Sean, who is from Paisley like his gran, laughed Shes got cable and the biggest telly youve ever seen, so shes more than ready for when the analogue signal is turned off in 2011. He said Its pretty straightforward ten to 15 minutes going through set-up menus on your TV but its great that help is there for old people if they need it. - thesun.co.uk

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Media Talk USA: Google hits back at the Associated Press

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Tuesday 04 August 2009, PM

Top Up TV secures ESPN carriage deal - Digital Spy

The platform holder will also offer the channel for free to all of its customers for the whole of August. - digitalspy.co.uk

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Viewers would support ITV pay model | Broadband TV News

Such a move would call into question ITVs commitment to both Freesat and Freeview, not to mention the undermining of the Pay once, no subscription message delivered by the two free-to-air platforms. The figure rises to 40 in the unlikely scenario of ITV1 also becoming pay. The survey also found one third of households with terrestrial television would be likely to move to pay-TV in the future. - broadbandtvnews.com

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Monday 03 August 2009, PM

National retune will be the first step to Freeview HD

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Monday 03 August 2009, AM

Microsoft Windows 7 Media Center review from TechRadar UKs expert reviews of Home and reference software

Also see our full Windows 7 review. Media centre PCs are an increasingly popular option, thanks to the low cost of storage, memory and processors powerful enough to decode and record multiple high-definition TV channels. Setup and searching When Media Center is first fired up from the Windows 7 desktop it launches a setup wizard for your display, speaker configuration, recording storage, media libraries and TV tuners. You can choose where to record TV and how much space to allow for recordings 10 per cent is automatically set aside for a live TV cache. - techradar.com

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get_iplayer | Linuxcentre

I no longer develop or maintain get_iplayer see my reasons here. The same goes for the iPhone MP3 radio streams. get_iplayer also allows recording of the high-quality even HD 720p flash based content using flvstreamer. None of the above content is protected by DRM. get_iplayer cannot remove DRM. - linuxcentre.net

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Auction off Radio 1, Ed says

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Stephen Glover: I fear that this BBC benevolence is a cynical act of self-promotion - Stephen G

Its bosses are understandably alarmed by these attacks, and they realise a Tory government may be less sympathetic. This explains why they agreed last week to share online video news content with newspaper websites. The Corporation knows its very successful free website is seen by papers as unfair competition the most egregious example of the recession-proof BBC sticking its greedy fingers into other people's crumbling pies. - independent.co.uk

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Why 5 Live thinks Colin Murray is the man for the new season - TV Radio, Media - The Independ

In between, he will continue to host the Saturday-morning quiz Fighting Talk, which has grown into Britain's most popular sports podcast. I like having to prove myself to guys who've done it for 30 years, and as an ex-news journalist, I'm all about the research. Like Born Ruffians, 10 months after I played it, it goes on the playlist. - independent.co.uk

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A trawl around the web on August 1st - blog - James Cridland

The latest in a list of things you might find interesting if youre a regular reader of my blog. If you're a synchronised short-form text producer some of those exist in the BBC, hello then this is a good read for you. Relevancy can ensure radio's future, and this is really interesting research. - james.cridland.net

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Peter Preston: EU fiddling fails to let freedom reign on television |Media |The Observer

He is, in fact, a member of its press office. Yet here I am in Croatia, the next country primed to join, listening to journalists from all over the Balkans talking about press freedom, or rather, press repression. Television presenters suddenly out of a job because they turned over the wrong stones specialist correspondents shelved for digging too deep newsroom culls that consign independent minds to redundancy first and, of course, violence, intimidation, threats, even murder. - guardian.co.uk

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Carole Cadwalladr: A malign show on a bankrupt TV channel |Comment is free |The Observer

We've all made shopping mistakes, those never-to-be-worn impulse purchases left mouldering in a plastic bag at the bottom of the wardrobe, but in ITV's case, it would have to be a pretty big bag, large enough to hold a 175m website and not the sort of thing MS will give you a credit note for. Four years ago, it bought Friends Reunited, which was, even then, the internet's version of the poncho, briefly fashionable, already hopelessly dated, paying 175m or, as it turns out, around 160m too much. And, last week, it was doing the corporate equivalent of sticking it on eBay, crossing its hot little corporate fingers and hoping for a buyer. - guardian.co.uk

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No laughing matter

This year things may feel different, as television comedy grapples with growing problems. They might have also mentioned hits such as Outnumbered. Whether that is a likely transformation is a moot point, given that last week 36 of people said they were thinking of cutting back or cancelling pay-TV services and Sky's previous foray into comedy in 2000 ended in defeat. - guardian.co.uk

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Will 3D television be a hit?

Is it a gimmick or will 3DTV take viewers by storm When you look at it on a domestic screen it looks good but you've got to wear the glasses - it's not necessarily a done deal that it will be the next big thing. The issue is how 3D will perform in the shops - will the public pick up on it - guardian.co.uk

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Saturday 01 August 2009, AM

Mio Navman Spirit V735 TV review | Electricpig

Gogglebox ogling doesnt stop there, with a microSD slot letting you check out snaps and playback video and music via the Spirit V735 TV. And, of course, itll help you get from A to B courtesy of 3D junction views, uptodate traffic news, lane guidance and even handy city guides. The Spirit V735 TVs big draw is its inbuilt Freeview tuner. - electricpig.co.uk

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Why the platform question for radio remains unanswered | Blogging Nick Piggott

WiMax - is it really the platform for radio Nobody, but nobody, cares about how they get content. Podcasts, online, downloads, on-demand, live, streaming, FM theyre all just ways for our audience to get great content. - nick.piggott.name

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BBC Trust chair: Ross and receptionists deserve equal privacy on pay |Media |guardian.co.uk

He was interrupted by presenter Roger Bolton after he appeared to suggest that he did not know much Ross was paid. He's not told you how much Jonathan Ross is paid For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. - guardian.co.uk

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BBC to show more regional news bulletins at weekends |Media |guardian.co.uk

The BBC is to increase the number of regional news bulletins it airs at the weekend and improve its services at breakfast and in the late evenings as part of proposals costing nearly 50m to improve its output in the UK nations and regions. The new proposals from BBC management follow the trust's rejection in February of a 68m scheme to create local video-on-demand websites in the nations and regions, following fierce opposition from rival media companies. Viewers will also see two additional weekend news bulletins in each nation and English region, and improved local news provision at breakfast and late evening. - guardian.co.uk

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BBC Trust - Trust approves local services proposals

In February, following a Public Value Test, the Trust rejected the Executive's plans to provide an on-demand local video news service, concluding that there was inadequate public value generated by the proposal, and that the likely public value did not outweigh potential negative market impact. Unlike the local video proposal, the new plans build upon the BBC's existing linear services, and improve the range and quality of regional television and radio output. After very careful consideration, the Trust is satisfied that the revised plans meet this challenge with minimal impact on commercial providers. - bbc.co.uk

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New iPlayer marketing campaign

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