It's been announced that Liberty Global has bought Virgin Media, the UK cable operator, for around £10billion. According to one report I read, some analysts were predicting that Liberty might actually invest in new cable infrastructure to increase the reach of Virgin Media here in the UK, which is currently 55% of the population.
I sincerely hope those analysts are right. Virgin Media has 4.9million subscribers, whilst Sky, the only competition for Virgin Media, has over 10 million subscribers and covers almost all of the UK. If Virgin Media is to be truly competitive with Sky, then it needs more cable layed to cover the 45% of the UK that it doesn't already cover.
Of course, this will require many tens of billions of pounds in order to provide that extra coverage, as all the areas that need to be covered are mainly rural areas. All the main cities have been cabled already. Areas like Cornwall have no cable infrastructure at all, and some areas like North and East Devon and Somerset have areas nearby that have been cabled, such as Exeter and Bristol. But in all those areas, and many others, Sky is the only choice for Subscription Television.
If Liberty Global do invest in new cable infrastructure, then Sky will have a proper competitor for the first time since On Digital folded back in 2002. There is no doubt that the recent phone hacking scandal has weakened Sky and more especially, parent company NewsCorp, so it will be interesting to see how they handle a stronger competition in the Liberty Global owned Virgin Media.
Showing posts with label BSkyB. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BSkyB. Show all posts
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Leveson Inquiry, Murdoch and Jeremy Hunt
We have had an explosive day at the Leveson Inquiry, and quite frankly, this one damages not just James Murdoch, who continues to sound like an executive trying to get round claims of dodgy dealings by claiming incompetence, in which case he shouldn't have been in the role in the first place; it not only damages the Con-Dem government, by showing that Jeremy Hunt and his office and advisers had had contacts with BSkyB, News International and James Murdoch, and thus also damages the credibility and position of Jeremy Hunt to the point where he has no option but to resign; but also damages the whole newspaper industry and the Conservative Party.
Not surprisingly, Conservative Central Office have sent out the party loyalists to both BBC and Sky to defend Jeremy Hunt, but quite frankly, what we are talking about is indefensible. Before he went into DCMS, he was pro-BSkyB, aggressively so, and his actions during the NewsCorp bid to gain full control of BSkyB do absolutely nothing to change the perception that he was a Murdoch puppet, and as such, he was the wrong person to rule on the takeover.
JEREMY HUNT MUST RESIGN!
Not surprisingly, Conservative Central Office have sent out the party loyalists to both BBC and Sky to defend Jeremy Hunt, but quite frankly, what we are talking about is indefensible. Before he went into DCMS, he was pro-BSkyB, aggressively so, and his actions during the NewsCorp bid to gain full control of BSkyB do absolutely nothing to change the perception that he was a Murdoch puppet, and as such, he was the wrong person to rule on the takeover.
JEREMY HUNT MUST RESIGN!
Friday, 6 April 2012
My "Countdown" of today's top stories.
In homage to Keith Olbermann, who has filed a lawsuit against Current TV for wrongful termination, I present to you my "Countdown" of the top stories. So I suppose I ought to begin with the immortal words...
...Which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow?
5: George Zimmerman's lawyers and a forensic audio expert, both claim that Zimmerman used the word "punks" on that now infamous cellphone call. CNN aired the "cleaned-up" audio, which if I'm honest, as an audio man myself, didn't sound that different to the original, but on listening back to it myself, I can't hear the word punk. What I do distinctly detect is an "ooo" sound, that might come from a particular racial slur, and that "ooo" sound definitely is not present when you pronounce the word "punk". Listen to it yourself, and see if you agree.
4: Sky News has become the latest part of the NewsCorp clan to have been caught up in hacking. Now we know why James Murdoch resigned this week. Sky News today confirmed that two email accounts, one belonging to a suspected paedophile,and one belonging to 'canoe man' John Darwin were hacked. Both resulted in information that was passed onto the police. Sky News claimed the hacking was done in the public interest, but hacking emails is a crime under the Computer Misuse Act, and that act does NOT have a public interest defence attached to it.
With Ofcom investigating British Sky Broadcasting, there is a number of possibilities now rearing their heads, and I'll talk about them in a future post.
3: Rick Santorum obviously doesn't know when to quit, or indeed how to lose with good grace. The Republican Party establishment has been telling him to leave the race, but Santorum, much like Newt Gingrich, has stuck two fingers up to the establishment. And he met with supporters to discuss the way forward.
Mathematically, it's getting beyond the realms of possibility, especially given that the only remaining state with a winner takes all race, California, looks like a certainty for Mitt Romney. But it does appear right now that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are both in line for a fairly major Republican Party smackdown, before we get to Tampa, maybe even before we get to the end of the primary process.
2: Is it ethical for a journalist to express their own political viewpoints through signing a petition? Apparently, some TV stations in Milwaukee don't think it is. WTMJ, WISN and WITI have confirmed that journalists on their payrolls have signed the recall petition against controversial Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. WTMJ went as far as to say that they took this matter seriously and would be dealing with it internally. Apparently, one of the people who signed the petition was an on-air anchor at WTMJ.
One thing is for certain, Scott Walker has done incredible damage to Wisconsin. Any attempt by these stations to censure their staff for signing the petition would be a direct contravention of the First Amendment. And no news station, no matter how good their checks and balances are, could ever claim to be totally unbiased.
1: Current maybe now being sued by Keith Olbermann, but they may soon have bigger problems. A report from Reuters indicates that Current needs to hit ratings benchmarks every quarter. Should they miss those benchmarks two quarters in a row, they could be dropped by Time Warner Cable. So far they have not missed those benchmarks, thanks to Keith Olbermann, but with his sudden departure last week, Current's ability to hit those benchmarks consitently maybe in doubt.
...Which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow?
5: George Zimmerman's lawyers and a forensic audio expert, both claim that Zimmerman used the word "punks" on that now infamous cellphone call. CNN aired the "cleaned-up" audio, which if I'm honest, as an audio man myself, didn't sound that different to the original, but on listening back to it myself, I can't hear the word punk. What I do distinctly detect is an "ooo" sound, that might come from a particular racial slur, and that "ooo" sound definitely is not present when you pronounce the word "punk". Listen to it yourself, and see if you agree.
4: Sky News has become the latest part of the NewsCorp clan to have been caught up in hacking. Now we know why James Murdoch resigned this week. Sky News today confirmed that two email accounts, one belonging to a suspected paedophile,and one belonging to 'canoe man' John Darwin were hacked. Both resulted in information that was passed onto the police. Sky News claimed the hacking was done in the public interest, but hacking emails is a crime under the Computer Misuse Act, and that act does NOT have a public interest defence attached to it.
With Ofcom investigating British Sky Broadcasting, there is a number of possibilities now rearing their heads, and I'll talk about them in a future post.
3: Rick Santorum obviously doesn't know when to quit, or indeed how to lose with good grace. The Republican Party establishment has been telling him to leave the race, but Santorum, much like Newt Gingrich, has stuck two fingers up to the establishment. And he met with supporters to discuss the way forward.
Mathematically, it's getting beyond the realms of possibility, especially given that the only remaining state with a winner takes all race, California, looks like a certainty for Mitt Romney. But it does appear right now that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are both in line for a fairly major Republican Party smackdown, before we get to Tampa, maybe even before we get to the end of the primary process.
2: Is it ethical for a journalist to express their own political viewpoints through signing a petition? Apparently, some TV stations in Milwaukee don't think it is. WTMJ, WISN and WITI have confirmed that journalists on their payrolls have signed the recall petition against controversial Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. WTMJ went as far as to say that they took this matter seriously and would be dealing with it internally. Apparently, one of the people who signed the petition was an on-air anchor at WTMJ.
One thing is for certain, Scott Walker has done incredible damage to Wisconsin. Any attempt by these stations to censure their staff for signing the petition would be a direct contravention of the First Amendment. And no news station, no matter how good their checks and balances are, could ever claim to be totally unbiased.
1: Current maybe now being sued by Keith Olbermann, but they may soon have bigger problems. A report from Reuters indicates that Current needs to hit ratings benchmarks every quarter. Should they miss those benchmarks two quarters in a row, they could be dropped by Time Warner Cable. So far they have not missed those benchmarks, thanks to Keith Olbermann, but with his sudden departure last week, Current's ability to hit those benchmarks consitently maybe in doubt.
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
James Murdoch resigns as Chairman of BSkyB
When this broke in the 1pm BST hour today, I was stunned. I was not expecting this to have happened today. In fact, I wasn't expecting it at all. James wil stay on as a member of the board, but he's no longer Chairman.
Ofcom is investigating whether NewsCorp is a fit and proper company to hold a broadcasting licence. There are many investigations in the UK, the USA and Australia right now. But I cannot honestly see how NewsCorp can continue to own assets like British Sky Broadcasting, Foxtel and Fox Broadcasting Company.
I also think the FCC should take this as an opportunity to finally regulate the cable broadcasting market in the US.
Of course, James's resignation is another line of firewall, designed to protect Rupert Murdoch and NewsCorp's investments across the world. Just last week, Panorama on BBC1 reported how NewsCorp subsidiary company NDS had been invloved in breaking the Canal Plus encryption system that On/ITV Digital was using. Then the Australian Financial Review released emails detailing NDS's involvement in breaking other encryption systems of competitors. Currently, Cisco Systems is seeking to acquire NDS Group.
No matter how many levels of firewalls Rupert Murdoch puts in, everything goes back to him, one way or another. Murdoch is well known for handling things himself and being very hands on. Because of that reputation, he will not be able to wash his hands of all the controversies that now dog him.
Ofcom is investigating whether NewsCorp is a fit and proper company to hold a broadcasting licence. There are many investigations in the UK, the USA and Australia right now. But I cannot honestly see how NewsCorp can continue to own assets like British Sky Broadcasting, Foxtel and Fox Broadcasting Company.
I also think the FCC should take this as an opportunity to finally regulate the cable broadcasting market in the US.
Of course, James's resignation is another line of firewall, designed to protect Rupert Murdoch and NewsCorp's investments across the world. Just last week, Panorama on BBC1 reported how NewsCorp subsidiary company NDS had been invloved in breaking the Canal Plus encryption system that On/ITV Digital was using. Then the Australian Financial Review released emails detailing NDS's involvement in breaking other encryption systems of competitors. Currently, Cisco Systems is seeking to acquire NDS Group.
No matter how many levels of firewalls Rupert Murdoch puts in, everything goes back to him, one way or another. Murdoch is well known for handling things himself and being very hands on. Because of that reputation, he will not be able to wash his hands of all the controversies that now dog him.
Friday, 28 August 2009
Murdoch claims independent journalism threatened by "dominant" BBC.
So James Murdoch, the head of NewsCorp in Europe, says a dominant BBC damages independent journalism in the UK.
The hypocrisy of that statement is positively drooling out of his mouth even as he says it.
NewsCorp has never been interested in independent journalism. All they are interested in is making sure that the conservative viewpoint is the dominant viewpoint. All other viewpoints are to be disparaged, dismissed, and generally made fun of. To them, there is only one truth, the one they manufacture to fit their own prejudices, whether it happens to fit the facts or not.
It gets better! Giving the MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival, he said "The expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision."
He said this with no sense of being a hypocrite, no sense of irony, seemingly no sense of anything. If he had, he wouldn't have said what he said.
News provision has been dominated by conservative media over the years, especially in newspapers. UK newspapers are predominantly conservative in political bias, and that bias has been getting steadily more pronounced over the years, especially since the 1990s.
Broadcast news has less choice, with BBC, Sky and ITN basically dominating the market, and no other provider really stepping up to the plate since the demise of BSB back in 1990.
NewsCorp really wants to dominate news provision over here, in the way that FOX News Channel dominates cable news in the US. They see the BBC as a barrier to that kind of dominance, a barrier that doesn't exist in the same way in the US.
There's another fact that renders his statement factually incorrect. You're reading it. A blog. There are millions of them, across the world. There is also Twitter, which I consider to be the digest version of the blog. Tweets of no more than 140 characters, meaning you have to be very concise with your text.
If I were to tweet this, it would come out something like "Murdoch says BBC threatens independent journalism. Massive hypocrisy, blogs and tweets are the new independent journalism." That comes out at 123 characters. You'd be surprised what you can say in 140 characters or less.
Blogs and tweets are the new independent journalism that anyone can do, and best of all, anyone can read you. My own blogs and tweets have been followed and read by state governments, multinational companies, broadcasters, and politicians. I can't pretend that I am a major influence, but it is fascinating to know these people are interested enough in what you write to read it.
So you see, it just goes to prove that James Murdoch's statement was not only factually wrong, but way behind the times. Sky is not the new kid on the block anymore. There are media moguls a plenty out there on the web, and some of them may well be the next Rupert Murdoch in the next 10-20 years.
The hypocrisy of that statement is positively drooling out of his mouth even as he says it.
NewsCorp has never been interested in independent journalism. All they are interested in is making sure that the conservative viewpoint is the dominant viewpoint. All other viewpoints are to be disparaged, dismissed, and generally made fun of. To them, there is only one truth, the one they manufacture to fit their own prejudices, whether it happens to fit the facts or not.
It gets better! Giving the MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival, he said "The expansion of state-sponsored journalism is a threat to the plurality and independence of news provision."
He said this with no sense of being a hypocrite, no sense of irony, seemingly no sense of anything. If he had, he wouldn't have said what he said.
News provision has been dominated by conservative media over the years, especially in newspapers. UK newspapers are predominantly conservative in political bias, and that bias has been getting steadily more pronounced over the years, especially since the 1990s.
Broadcast news has less choice, with BBC, Sky and ITN basically dominating the market, and no other provider really stepping up to the plate since the demise of BSB back in 1990.
NewsCorp really wants to dominate news provision over here, in the way that FOX News Channel dominates cable news in the US. They see the BBC as a barrier to that kind of dominance, a barrier that doesn't exist in the same way in the US.
There's another fact that renders his statement factually incorrect. You're reading it. A blog. There are millions of them, across the world. There is also Twitter, which I consider to be the digest version of the blog. Tweets of no more than 140 characters, meaning you have to be very concise with your text.
If I were to tweet this, it would come out something like "Murdoch says BBC threatens independent journalism. Massive hypocrisy, blogs and tweets are the new independent journalism." That comes out at 123 characters. You'd be surprised what you can say in 140 characters or less.
Blogs and tweets are the new independent journalism that anyone can do, and best of all, anyone can read you. My own blogs and tweets have been followed and read by state governments, multinational companies, broadcasters, and politicians. I can't pretend that I am a major influence, but it is fascinating to know these people are interested enough in what you write to read it.
So you see, it just goes to prove that James Murdoch's statement was not only factually wrong, but way behind the times. Sky is not the new kid on the block anymore. There are media moguls a plenty out there on the web, and some of them may well be the next Rupert Murdoch in the next 10-20 years.
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
Ratings Review: BARB Week Ending 16th September 2007
The latest publically released viewing figures from BARB reveal some interesting facts. The first one to catch my eye, was this...
Sky Three is watched by more people than Sky One!
It's true. Check the Weekly Reach figures, which shows how many people tuned into the channel for at least 3 continuous minutes. Sky One was watched by over 6.4 million people. Sky Three was watched by over 7.7 million people.
This little factoid should be setting off alarm bells at BSkyB headquarters in Isleworth. It should be saying to them, do the deal with Virgin Media and get Sky One back on Cable. The only other alternative is to make Sky One a Freeview channel replacing Sky Three. That is not likely to happen, given the fact that they do not own FTA rights for all their programmes, only some of them.
If you look at the top rating digital channels, that's excluding the big 5 terrestrials, the most popular digital channel is ITV2, with a 2.4 share / 32.9 weekly reach. That is a huge set of numbers. If you look at ITV2's top 10 rated programmes, you'll see The X Factor and The Xtra Factor hold 5 of the top 10 slots, but all of the top 10 programmes score better than half a million viewers. That is a pretty rare sight, and one worth noting.
Coming in behind ITV2 is Sky Sports 1, with a 1.9 / 13.1. Whilst Sky Sports 1 is only 0.5 behind ITV2 in share, it's 19 percent plus behind on weekly reach. Behind them are BBC3 with a 1.3 / 27.2, ITV4 with a 1.3 /20.2 and ITV3 with a 1.3 / 14.8. ITV4 was helped by Rugby World Cup coverage which has brought more people to the channel than ever before, whilst BBC3 was helped in no small measure by some stellar numbers for Eastenders repeats and Heroes.
Once you get outside the Top 5, it gets a little close but also more interesting. CBeebies comes in next with 1.2 / 10.3, followed by E4 with 1.1 / 19.6, and then, BBC News 24, with a 1.0 / 16.8. Now, these numbers for BBC News 24, should really scare BSkyB. Because, not only does it beat Sky News by quite a margin (0.7 / 11.4), but with a weekyl reach of over 7.9 million viewers...
BBC News 24 was watched by more people than Sky One.
If that doesn't make Sky want to improve Sky One, then I don't know what it will take.
Rounding out the top 10, Sky Sports 3 with a 0.9 / 7.9, helped by Live Twenty20 World Cup Cricket, and finally, Sky One just sneaks in to the top 10 with a 0.8 / 13.6. Whilst ITV2's top 10 all rated above half a million viewers, not one of Sky One's top 10 programmes managed to score half a million viewers. Looking at these ratings, I just have to say this...
If I were in charge of Sky One right now, I would be seriously worried about my job, and would be seriously considering just what can be done to turn Sky One around.
Having been just a couple of years ago, the most watched digital channel, and now, struggling to remain in the top 10 most watched digital channels, Sky One has gone from being must see TV, to an also-ran channel. That, truly, is a scary thought.
My regular weekly check of the worst performers of the week, reveals some of the usual suspects in the lower levels of the ratings league, where if relegation was a worry, then these guys would have been biting nails to the bone! As it happens, just the usual dose of humiliation via the ratings numbers.In no particular order, as they're all pretty bad anyway...
Sky Travel Shop - 49,000
The Business Channel - 52,000
Hollywood TV - 85,000
Life One - 83,000
MusFlash - 55,000
MUTV - 66,000
Overseas Property TV - 78,000
Rockworld TV - 84,000
Simply TV - 5,000
The Baby Channel - 43,000
XLeague.TV - 77,000
Every single one of these channels should look at their ratings and feel ashamed. These are not the channelsof the premier league that I talked about earlier. No,these channels are some 12-15 leagues below that level, equivalent to one of the local amateur leagues, and as for Simply TV, I cannot honestly remember a channel ever scoring that low, except when a channel was closing down or going into receivership that week. Simply TV is still on the air, though how, I'm not sure.
If Sky One's performance of the past couple of years has been disappointing, then Simply TV's performance in it's entire life, has been a complete disaster. And this week's performance is simply, the lowest of an incredibly low bunch. If Simply TV are to make any kind of ratings, they will have to put together something a hell of lot better than what is being aired currently.
The weekly Hall Of Shame is one thing I look forward to reporting, but I too realise that there are people's livelihoods at stake when channels are in trouble and shutting down. The reason I report these figures, is not, as I sometimes say, for the ritual humiliation, but as a way of saying to these channels, whatever you're doing, it ain't good enough yet, do better. It's an easy thing to say, but a difficult thing to do.
Sky Three is watched by more people than Sky One!
It's true. Check the Weekly Reach figures, which shows how many people tuned into the channel for at least 3 continuous minutes. Sky One was watched by over 6.4 million people. Sky Three was watched by over 7.7 million people.
This little factoid should be setting off alarm bells at BSkyB headquarters in Isleworth. It should be saying to them, do the deal with Virgin Media and get Sky One back on Cable. The only other alternative is to make Sky One a Freeview channel replacing Sky Three. That is not likely to happen, given the fact that they do not own FTA rights for all their programmes, only some of them.
If you look at the top rating digital channels, that's excluding the big 5 terrestrials, the most popular digital channel is ITV2, with a 2.4 share / 32.9 weekly reach. That is a huge set of numbers. If you look at ITV2's top 10 rated programmes, you'll see The X Factor and The Xtra Factor hold 5 of the top 10 slots, but all of the top 10 programmes score better than half a million viewers. That is a pretty rare sight, and one worth noting.
Coming in behind ITV2 is Sky Sports 1, with a 1.9 / 13.1. Whilst Sky Sports 1 is only 0.5 behind ITV2 in share, it's 19 percent plus behind on weekly reach. Behind them are BBC3 with a 1.3 / 27.2, ITV4 with a 1.3 /20.2 and ITV3 with a 1.3 / 14.8. ITV4 was helped by Rugby World Cup coverage which has brought more people to the channel than ever before, whilst BBC3 was helped in no small measure by some stellar numbers for Eastenders repeats and Heroes.
Once you get outside the Top 5, it gets a little close but also more interesting. CBeebies comes in next with 1.2 / 10.3, followed by E4 with 1.1 / 19.6, and then, BBC News 24, with a 1.0 / 16.8. Now, these numbers for BBC News 24, should really scare BSkyB. Because, not only does it beat Sky News by quite a margin (0.7 / 11.4), but with a weekyl reach of over 7.9 million viewers...
BBC News 24 was watched by more people than Sky One.
If that doesn't make Sky want to improve Sky One, then I don't know what it will take.
Rounding out the top 10, Sky Sports 3 with a 0.9 / 7.9, helped by Live Twenty20 World Cup Cricket, and finally, Sky One just sneaks in to the top 10 with a 0.8 / 13.6. Whilst ITV2's top 10 all rated above half a million viewers, not one of Sky One's top 10 programmes managed to score half a million viewers. Looking at these ratings, I just have to say this...
If I were in charge of Sky One right now, I would be seriously worried about my job, and would be seriously considering just what can be done to turn Sky One around.
Having been just a couple of years ago, the most watched digital channel, and now, struggling to remain in the top 10 most watched digital channels, Sky One has gone from being must see TV, to an also-ran channel. That, truly, is a scary thought.
My regular weekly check of the worst performers of the week, reveals some of the usual suspects in the lower levels of the ratings league, where if relegation was a worry, then these guys would have been biting nails to the bone! As it happens, just the usual dose of humiliation via the ratings numbers.In no particular order, as they're all pretty bad anyway...
Sky Travel Shop - 49,000
The Business Channel - 52,000
Hollywood TV - 85,000
Life One - 83,000
MusFlash - 55,000
MUTV - 66,000
Overseas Property TV - 78,000
Rockworld TV - 84,000
Simply TV - 5,000
The Baby Channel - 43,000
XLeague.TV - 77,000
Every single one of these channels should look at their ratings and feel ashamed. These are not the channelsof the premier league that I talked about earlier. No,these channels are some 12-15 leagues below that level, equivalent to one of the local amateur leagues, and as for Simply TV, I cannot honestly remember a channel ever scoring that low, except when a channel was closing down or going into receivership that week. Simply TV is still on the air, though how, I'm not sure.
If Sky One's performance of the past couple of years has been disappointing, then Simply TV's performance in it's entire life, has been a complete disaster. And this week's performance is simply, the lowest of an incredibly low bunch. If Simply TV are to make any kind of ratings, they will have to put together something a hell of lot better than what is being aired currently.
The weekly Hall Of Shame is one thing I look forward to reporting, but I too realise that there are people's livelihoods at stake when channels are in trouble and shutting down. The reason I report these figures, is not, as I sometimes say, for the ritual humiliation, but as a way of saying to these channels, whatever you're doing, it ain't good enough yet, do better. It's an easy thing to say, but a difficult thing to do.
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