Blogging the Beeb

Programme Promises

The BBC's Programme Promises were published yesterday.

BBC and Digital

Apparently the public doesn't want the BBC to carry the Governent's digital burden.

BBC Online breaks records

Over 8 million people listened to BBC radio online in January.

It's the Product, stupid

Ever since Mark Thompson and Greg Dyke highlighted the role of personal video recorders in the year 2000, advertsiing publications have been full of fears about the end of spot advertising as viewers hurtle through the ad breaks - with the obvious conclusion that ad-funded TV is in decline and in future there will have to be more sponsored programming and product placement.

Wired points out that writers for US TV are now having to insert product references, and their unions are calling for a Code of Conduct.

Product Placement rules are to be revised in the new TV Without Frontiers Directive, and OFCOM is consulting on this.

Commercial TV programmes will be even more commercial - a good reason why we need the BBC to provide an alternative.

Various

Too busy to blog recently. As an update, the BBC plans to reduce finance jobs and move some to Cardiff, there's been a restructuring of the BBC senior board by Mark Thompson, and there are plans to split the BBC's Kingswood Warren research team and move part of it to Manchester.

David Elstein is interviewed about the BBC by Digital Spy. Via.

Interesting post on ReinventTV about the economics of TV in the Video on Demand age.

BBC Audience

The BBC has suffered further falls in its audience share. Still higher than John Birt feared in the early '90s though.

In response, the BBC rightly stresses the importance of its audience reach - how many people overall access its services. The reach of BBC3 and BBC4 is expanding as well.

Round-up

Blogging has been a bit light recently, due to real-life commitments.

The Guardian reported that the BBC White Paper would be delayed, partly due to disputes about the BBCTrust. OfComwatch reports on a lunch with BBC D-G Mark Thompson.

Sky News is preferred by opinion-formers to BBC News 24 according to an internal BBC leak.

Meanwhile, the BBC News college for journalists is getting underway. I'm looking forward to it tackiling the issue of post-devolution Britain, as BBC Controller of Nations and Regions Pat Loughrey told us it would when he came before the Assembly's Culture Committee.

BBC Digital Developments

Digital Lifestyles (DL) has a number of articles about the BBC's digital plans.

First it questions whether Freesat will be anything more than a spoiler for BSkyB. Judging by my constituency, where most people cannot get Freeview, Freesat is a goer, but the BBC needs to get on with it. The hostility to the Corporation's recent licence fee bid was significant: there is a real sense of injustice that those who can't get Freeview are expected to pay the same as those who can.

DL also reviews the BBC's Interative Media Player:

My verdict - I give it a thumbs up as long as a large enough library of content can be made available.

There is also coverage of the BBC's online film showcase, and some commentary on Radio One's plans for broadcasting video content on digital TV:

This is the first time Radio 1 has delivered visual content on demand for TV and takes the BBC's plans to visualise radio up a gear.

BBC Web TV

As Apple launches its video I-Pod, the BBC expands its web-preview service for TV programmes.

On Apple, this is worth reading. So's this review of the hype. And here's a test-drive report.

BBC IMP

Ofcomwatch has a discussion on the politics of the BBC's Interactive Media Player, and last week's article by Emily Bell in the Guardian.