Bank Holiday Monday

this is a test

Charles Allen slags off C4

The TV festival in Edinburgh gives TV 'luvvys' a chance to speak about the industry

Interesting that Charles Allen the outgoing ITV CEO has decided to have a go at C4 and the BBC in this year's keynote address.

Andy Duncan who I think is doing a remarkably good job at Horseferry Road has ruled himself out of the race to succeed the departing Allen and the ITV hot seat is looking a bit of a poisoned chalice.

Now I personally have thought that there are questions about C4’s status as a quasi- commercial broadcaster but having seen the disaster commercially and critically that ITV has become I’m thinking twice about ITV’s own version of market failure.

The backdrop to ITV's commercial failure is that a key report has shown that ITV advertising is actually cheaper than it was ten years ago in 1996


The new boss will have one chance to correct the errors of recent times with a new ITV branding proposition key to any recovery.

Charles's address is avialble here

and now I've the new groovy blogger format here's a funny video...

CBS’s innertube streams primetime shows free

There’s been an awful lot of talk about youtube and the like (Sony bought Guba this week).

The US TV networks are fighting back against the proliferation of video content on the web with their major asset –content some of this content is original and some recently broadcast network shows.

CBS has an internet TV portal innertube with the obligatory lack of capitalisation (not the money the letter) and to promote this and their shows a number of top programmes, like CSI and some stuff from Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox are being posted there for free.

This is going to run and run while traditional TV circles round and sniffs the bottom of new media before deciding who’s the boss.

One TV Gone TV

If you’re troubled by the plethora of TV shopping channels there’s a bit of good news from OFCOM who earlier today revoked One TV’s UK licence to broadcast.

One TV has been in business since January 2005 and consumers have been experiencing problems with the supply of ordered goods since the start of 2006.

Amongst their products were the standard fare of cameras, DVDs and the keep fit machines so loved by credit card toting couch potatoes.

One TV is not the first of the UK shopping channels to have besmirched the business, Auctionworld got an overwhelming vote of no confidence from OFCOM to the tune of a £450,000 fine at the back end of 2004 and it and it's partner channel Chase it TV are no longer in the business of foisting tasteless tat on the British digital viewer. (but QVC are still going strong)

Videoblooging hits the headlines

so this week we've learnt about geriatric1927 - what does this tell us about anything?
1) that the technology is not too difficult to use
2) that bores come in all ages
3) that youtube's hit the mainstream

here's my current fave from youtube there's a bit of a story there.

making a little go along way

just finished reading The Long Tail and it makes a good argument for the landscape of abundancy we find ourelves in, living in a free market economy at the start of the 21st century - but I can't help feeling that it's a magazine article stretched to a book. I'm now on the Undercover economist and I'm hoping this has a little more to it but I'm fearing it's a similarly over ploughed furrow.

Fear of flying (and the tube too)

It's strange what the recent terror alerts have done - why should we be scared of flying? We're coming up to the 5th aniversary of the Twin Towers atrocity and it'll be interesting to see how people's feeling mainfest themselves - in a way it feels like a loss of inocence and for folks in the UK there has been more soul searching as we wonder what people who we live side by side with might consider because they feel no kinship with the majority population, is it connected with youth and rebeliousness, some of the perpetrators of last years tube bombing had wives and young children, how is this connected with faith?

Why and how can such things be done -I honestly don't understand, and find it as irritating as people who claim God gives us sunny days but not murderous hurricanes.

Perhaps this guy has some answers?

Online Comment

I made a correction to a point raised here but although my comment remains the one that triggered it has gone -not sure that this is how it should be but hey life goes on (as JohnCougar Mellancamp would say).

Interesting stuff

A great black and white film - Guns at Batasi, this is a really neglected film with great acting by Dickie Attenborough (easy to forget what a talent he was as a youngish actor - Brighton Rock is another good example) and was written by Robert Holles whose son I went to school with. (and Richard Attenborough went to the same school as my dad)

Interesting book Baghdad Business School - read it and then say that liberating Iraq wasn't the right thing to do. A good advert' for DHL too.

& a Super CD- White bread black beer- a finally happy Green (51) produces a solo album under the name Scritti Politti, worth a listen 'The Boom Boom Bap' is a great track and a brilliant title, my advice take a listen to the Times podcast interview with the man and then go and buy the disc.