i![bbc-iplayer[1].jpg](http://www.tvscoop.tv/assets_c/2008/12/bbc-iplayer[1]-thumb-140x120-66211.jpg)
Some bloke called Ashley Highfield, a former BBC digital bigwig, has today said something that is almost guaranteed to make him unpopular. Basically, he’s putting forward the argument that the BBC should charge for the BBC iPlayer. Speaking at the government’s digital creative industry conference C&binet, he said that Auntie should capitalise on its position as market leader of VoD. Surely this could never work and bring into question what the TV license actually pays for?
Archive for the ‘Telly Tech’ Category
Should the BBC charge for iPlayer?
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009Why we should all mourn TV snow
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
I love this story, and it makes total sense to me. An American website (the San Francisco Chronicle to be exact) ran a piece about the demise of TV snow. Not the weathery-type stuff you see Michael Fish telling you won’t appear, but the poor picture we all used to get on our TVs. Normally a good bang on the side of the set used to do the trick, but not any more. It’s all digital receivers and powerful aerials and satellite dishes. If, like me, you like relatively high up, trying give the satellite dish a good bash cold turn into a Rod Hull-type scenario. But why is this human person lamenting the demise of something that used to be such an annoyance?
Channel 4 to put back catalogue online
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
Channel 4 have seemingly just realised the huge potential of online content for the station. Anyone who used 4oD last year will know how irritating it was and how it just didn’t work properly. However, now it’s cooking up a storm and becoming every bit as useful as the BBC iPlayer. The latest news from Camp Channel 4 is even more exciting and could see them leap-frogging Auntie. Basically, Channel 4 is going to give us their entire back catalogue, completely free of charge as they become the first UK broadcaster to put all their old shows online. How great is that? From July, roughly 10,000 programmes from the archives will be available to view! So, this means we can all watch Queer As Folk, Vic Reeves Big Night Out, The Adam and Joe Show, Brasseye, Teachers and more! Not only that, we’ll be able to see the best episodes of Brookside (The Lesbian One, The Patio One).
BBC Worldwide YouTube launch new channels
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
BBC Worldwide and YouTube have tag teamed up again to put loads of your favourite shows online, forever and ever amen. Basically, this means that, if you’re a massive fan of Doctor Who, Top Gear and The Mighty Boosh, you’ll be able to watch them long after they’ve vanished from iPlayer. Ace! So, to do that, there’s been new channels launched, complete with very nice graphics (click on the image above, it looks very nice)… when? Today! Debuting is new YouTube channel Explore with BBC Worldwide which will feature things like the brilliant Bruce Parry shows and Louis Theroux. There’ll also be Food from BBC Worldwide which will show clips from classic cookery programmes. Click over for the links and the like.
Related: Amazon with Bruce Parry | Why I Love The Mighty Boosh
Freesat celebrates its first birthday and promises new channels
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
I went along to watch the big football match in a room above a north London pub last night, courtesy of Freesat. The company, which showed the game in glorious HD, was keen to flag up its first birthday and celebrate a very successful first year. This is all well and good, but does Freesat really provide the best value out there?
ITV Player: It just doesn’t work
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009
This article is change to the listings. You will now find the review of Hell’s Kitchen on TV Scoop 2 at a later date…
Yep. Initially, I was going to cover Hell’s Kitchen. I was going to talk about who won and how it all unfolded, presumably with a few crass jokes and some lame comment about that thing on Marco Pierre White’s head. However, as I was out celebrating a mate’s birthday last night, I didn’t manage to catch it live and on the box, instead, choosing to rely on the new-and-improved ITV Player. What a dummy. The fact is, ITV Player doesn’t really work… and for many, many reasons. It’s obvious why ITV needed to create a catch-up service because the BBC iPlayer is such a rousing success. Sadly, ITV don’t seem to have thought it through properly.
TV Tech news: Flash on your TV and iPlayer in HD
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
It’s a mad world when you can watch the internet on your TV and TV on your tinternettles. Who’d have thought that could happen 10 years ago? As we all know, thanks to loads of techie whizzie things you’re able to pretty much do what you want with TV, watch it where you want and on whatever medium comes to hand. The only thing you can’t do these days is make toast via your computer. Actually, thanks to fancy home control systems you can do that. And now streaming stuff from the internet on your TV just got a whole lot better.
4oD now available to Mac users… about ruddy time
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
I got an email this morning from a Channel 4 PR person who explained that he had seen my original rant about the channel’s on demand being total rubbish. Now, I’m not taking credit for anything here, but it seems (from the 1 April) it has sorted itself out, with specific benefits for Mac users. I know the BBC has loads of cash and it has managed to make the iPlayer brilliant – and online catch-up in general services are now so important – but I was worried that Channel 4, with all its excellent content, were missing out on valuable sources of online viewer numbers. Read on for the skinny…
Related: Why is 4oD so rubbish?
BBC goes live over Wi-Fi and straight to your smartphone
Monday, April 6th, 2009
Do you have a smartphone? Is that what they call iPhones and that new Nokia Xpress thing? I’m such a technological retard, that it’s a wonder I get a single article up in a day. Anyway, if you’ve got one of those posh phones that you can get the proper internet on, you might be glad to know that the BBC are streaming shows live and specially designed for you. TV Scoop reader, and Tweeter @nightsun73, gave me the nod about Auntie’s newest offshoot. Even though it’s still in beta (which essentially means it could still be a bit glitchy), the BBC Live TV service will enable you to watch a selection of TV channels, including One, Two and BBC News (and some BBC radio stations) live over a Wi-Fi connection. There’ll be no need to install any applications or anything like that. Just hit the button and go.
Related: More TV Technology Here.
TV on Google Maps’ ‘Street View’
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Google’s new Street View application on Google Maps has got everyone rather excited at the prospect of showing off where they live, on a 3D map. Of course, there are incredibly boring people all carrying the same argument – ‘Why would anyone want to see a picture on a house?’ or whatever. One. Cheer up. Two. It is very useful as it gives you a floor level 3D map, like StaNav for people who walk places. Also, it’s full of famous people, funny images and more! This being a TV site, I thought I’d have a look for some TV people and places… and found some really cool stuff!
Rudeness on TV? David Mitchell gets on his soapbox
Friday, March 20th, 2009
Whether you like it or not, TV is melded with the internet. You’ll be seeing more and more TV stars doing stuff online because… well… there’s more freedoms for a start. Which is why I’ve been enjoying David Mitchell’s Soapbox on MeetTheBulldog.com The latest video (which you can see over the jump) sees Mitchell discussing rudeness on TV. We’re not talking bums and wonks, but rather, people being rude and nasty for the sake of being rude and nasty. Click over and have a look.
Childline wants you to create your own shows for Channel 4!
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
Young people of Britain! What is in your head? No. Don’t be so bloody mucky! What else is in your head? I know your bored already but hear me out. See, Channel 4 have teamed up with Childline so you can empty your head on the screen. Basically, you can share what makes you tick with the world and as a result, end up getting whisked off to London (not that exciting if you already live in London, granted) to work on a cool new online TV show. Interested now? You’re so fickle. Just like I was. You could end up working on the show… appearing on screen, working backstage, or writing alongside the writers of Skins. So what do you have to do? Well…
Forget HD! 3DTV is on the way!
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
I’m a bit of a technophobe. That doesn’t mean I don’t like techno music, but rather, when it comes to new technology, I tend to shut down, essentially sticking my fingers in my ears for a few years until the technology is so simple to use and understand that even Fearne Cotton could understand it. That said, I do get excited by developments. HD television came along and promised amazing clarity, but to be honest, clarity is not something that ever interested me. I mean, why would I yearn to see every blade of grass at Wimbledon? The prospect of seeing the ball shrieking out of the screen toward my head however, is a different kettle of fish as 3D television lurks on the horizon.
Related: TV Technology on TV Scoop
BBC to transmit live, simulcast style, via iPlayer
Thursday, November 20th, 2008
Great news! TV fans will be able to watch BBC One and BBC Two live online from 27th November! This is particularly cool news for me who sometimes misses things because of a dicky connection in my digibox, and has to wait until stuff is freed up on iPlayer. It’ll be nice to have an instant alternative! This, you’ll be glad to know, will roll out on all the BBC channels!
Related: Visit our Telly Tech section
Freeview HD for London next year?
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
Before I even start (as you should already have some kind of gist from the headline), let’s talk about the image used in this article. I mean, how on earth do you convey HDTV? I figured using a Japanese woman pointing at a telly with some futuristic robots on screen would do it because, as we all know, Japan is actually set in the future. So anyway, what’s all this about London getting HDTV on freeview?
Michael Parkinson 2.0
Monday, September 29th, 2008
(Sir) Michael Parkinson is staying hip-to-the-lip by going all 2.0. Now, for those of you that don’t know what 2.0 means, don’t ask me. From what I can gather, it’s the new catch-all phrase for anything remotely modern like video on internet sites and houses made from plastic. Possibly. Anyway, Parkinson is making his most famous and memorable interviews available on his own website, which just so happens to have launched today (god bless press releases or I would’ve never known).
Noel Edmonds boycotts TV licence
Monday, September 15th, 2008
You may have heard about Noel Edmonds. No, not the gunge and the mystical space lists that he does… but rather, his boycotting of the TV licence. Why is he folding his arms and saying ‘no dice’? Well, he doesn’t like the way the BBC threaten everyone. “Auntie’s put boxing gloves on. I’m so incensed by the idea that I’m guilty of something that I actually cancelled my licence fee a few months ago,” he said. And who is gonna catch him and take him down? “They haven’t found me, and nobody’s come knocking on the door,” he added. Weirdly, Noely E has chosen to have a strop about this at the exact time the BBC has announced their review of how the licence is collected (more on that here).
TV Scoop does its bit for the environment
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
An article in today’s Guardian got me thinking. Yes, very funny at the back there. Settle down. As someone who’s been greenwashed by various claims and counterclaims over the years, I try to do my bit for the environment. You know the kind of thing: only buying white bog roll, using low-energy bulbs, making sure my potatoes aren’t flown in from New Zealand, that kind of thing. And, perhaps more pertinent to a TV site, making sure I don’t leave my TV on standby. So far, that puts me ahead of quite a sizeable chunk of the population, but there’s at least one bit of kit that I never think to turn off: the set-top box. And that, my friends, could be costing me a packet in the pocket, not to mention contributing to an entire unnecessary power station.
Digital Switchover ‘confusing and stressful’
Monday, August 4th, 2008
Manufacturers and consumer groups have criticised the government for their scheme which was designed to help elderly and vulnerable viewers switch to digital television. With the switchover underway, it’s time this got sorted.
The Office of Fair Trading are unhappy about Kangaroo TV
Monday, June 30th, 2008
Do you remember me telling you about Kangaroo? If not, click here and have look. It’s exciting I promise. Well, The Office of Fair Trading aren’t as excited about it as I am and instead of patting everyone on the back and saying ‘what a good idea’, they’ve instead referred the proposed video-on-demand joint venture between BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 to the Competition Commission.
The OFT said it had concerns about how the project could lead to a concentration of the three broadcasters’ programming libraries that “may give market power to the joint venture”. This could enable Kangaroo to “charge higher prices in syndicating content to wholesale customers”, potentially raise prices paid by video-on-demand customers and “limit the range of ways in which viewers can watch the parties’ content on demand”. So what have the people behind it got to say about the whole thing? Well, thankfully, I got send a statement by them in my inbox… would you like to know what it says?
From:Coronation Street fans apply here