Blog

You know that the BBC is in serious financial trouble when it’s now floating an idea to replace daytime BBC Two with rolling news, aka BBC News 24 or the…

Yesterday may have been seen by some as a day to bury news. Maybe that’s why the BBC Press Office snook out a press release about QI.

Admit it to yourself, this isn’t a surprise even if you initially thought it was. It seemed obvious that Sky News was going to be the sacrificial lamb in a…

To some outside observers, the loss of people like Pete Clifton from the BBC’s online news operation may seem relatively trivial from a day-to-day basis because it’s the journalists and…

Ever feel that you’ve been had? Some viewers of BBC Three’s reality-cum-consumer advice show The Real Hustle might conceivably feel that they have been duped themselves with the revelation that…

Every time I hear anything about Jeremy Hunt’s plans for a new local TV network, I have this tendency to roll my eyes and sigh. His dream of a network of local TV stations, broadcasting to cities and regions sounds all very grand and good – and desirable. Yet Mr Hunt seems oblivious to the fact that it almost inevitably seems dooned to faliure. Local TV has never worked in Britain.

Apologies in advance to regular Media Blog readers for sounding like a stuck record here, but this sort of thing really shouldn’t be done at all. I’m talking here about…

— Not for publication until further notice — And you thought that the days of the BBC junking its supposedly ‘unwanted’ output instead of preserving it in some form –…

At first glance, the axing of the BBC’s Electric Proms may superficially seem regrettable but perhaps understandable from a financial perspective given that major cuts have to be made. But…

There will no doubt be a lot of people looking at Jeremy Hunt today and drawing a lot of negative conclusions.

I’m no particular fan of this present government. I’m hardly unique in this, but I’m still finding it hard to accept that we appear to have got both the furthest-to-the-right…

So the BBC has finally revealed a list of its online services for trimming or closure in order to meet its 25% budget cut, which broadly correlates with a similar…

Just like other long-established media sectors such as the music industry, television seems to have its own set of unwritten rules in terms of how people are handled within its…

Television companies are quite keen on showing you who their stars are be it Channel 4 getting people to tap on glass, or Thames showing what we’d miss as it headed off in to history

Transdiffusion’s annual list of those we have loved and lost in the past year – broadcasting personalities of one degree of fame or another who have transmitted for the last time.

A review of the year seen through the eyes of a Wordle.

Merry Christmas and a happy new year from all of us at Transdiffusion

Judging by the reaction from some media commentators, the removal of Vince Cable from making the decision as to whether or not News Corp can take over BSkyB (it’s bound…

Major news provision costs money. Of all people, Mark Thompson ought to know a thing or two when it comes to such matters, as well as the roles and responsibilities…

Don’t forget to have your pen and paper handy to write down the address!

The BBC Trust has predictably had a rough ride since its inception, especially as it was initially created through political expediency as opposed to a natural requirement for change, therefore…

Much has been said about ITV1’s Daybreak, the replacement for GMTV which, it has to be said, hasn’t got off to the greatest of starts. None of what’s been said has been said by me as frankly I’m a Today programme listener and not even my natural interest could beat my early morning, groggy inertia and make me put the television on. However whilst much has been said in the press and by other commentators, not a huge amount as been said by its stars. Until now.

Whilst everyone else is currently thinking about other, much more pressing matters such as the economy, student fees or a certain wedding, the UK radio industry is still fretting to…

The news that Channel 5’s new owner Richard Desmond wants to make a more popularist, celebrity led news service, just makes me want to shrug and go “meh”.

Want something to read that’s simultaneously both amusing and sinister at the same time? Then head over to the Sky website and download the PDF of BSkyB’s submission to Ofcom…

As well as a certain dispute involving a group of disgruntled journalists, there’s another ongoing BBC-related row in the form of employment tribunal action taken by ex-Countryfile presenter Miriam O’Reilly…

Strikes are never nice things even when you have 100% support from all concerned, but when it affects a group of people who appear to have relatively secure and reasonably…

As I type it’s about two hours to go before the start of a 48 hour walkout by BBC members of the NUJ union as part of a protest about pension changes at the broadcaster. The walkout is expected to affect most of the Corporation’s news and current affairs output with high profile casualties likely to include the Today Programme and Newsnight, as well as BBC One’s news bulletins and the BBC News Channel.

Nearly everyone seems to agree that some form of video-on-demand represents the future of television, so naturally there’s a race on between established UK providers (BSkyB, Virgin Media) and broadcasters/producers…

Given the pro-BBC lobby’s near-meltdown at the merest thought of yesterday’s licence fee settlement (not only frozen but with additional expenditure tacked on as well), it’s rather perplexing to still…

It’s true that the BBC has now managed to secure licence fee funding for another six years, but only the most pessimistic would have thought anything otherwise under the circumstances;…

Since The Bill ended earlier this year, it’s studios in South West London have been rather quiet, as I wrote about in my recent article, The Bill Stops Here.

Well Mitch Benn is. So proud he’s made a song to tell everyone.

Whilst the media world awaits Vince Cable’s crucial decision on whether News Corp. should be permitted to further extend its influence with a full takeover of BSkyB, there’s a political…

Here’s a story and a half. Back in 2006 Mark Damazer, then controller of BBC Radio 4, axed the piece of music that had heralded the start of the broadcasting…

After the Tories’ manifesto pledge that Labour’s ITV regional news provider proposal will be swiftly replaced with something that’s city-centric (despite the alarmingly high failure rate for local television), it…

Anyone who ever visited Manchester city centre will know there’s plenty of great delights to admire. And I’m not talking about the Arndale Centre here.

Following on from my blog post Is Chris Blumer the Hardest Working Presenter in Radio, Bridge FM have been in touch and it turns out Chris Blumer isn’t actually as…

From Wales Town and Country Broadcasting operates eight radio stations, mostly clustered along the south of the country, Many of its stations share presenters. Notably they’re generally not networking, but several of its presenters do shows on different stations, sometimes at the same time.

Russ J Graham on what lessons can be learned from ITV making great drama for the BBC

Perhaps a very predictable thing to happen to the TV licence fee given recent events, but the decision to freeze the fee until at least 2013 further highlights ongoing weaknesses…

Well here’s something we didn’t expect to be saying. Just over a month after it was announced that Virgin One would becoming Channel One after Sky bought it and other channels from Virgin Media, and just a few weeks after the station rebrand went ahead and… err… well… Sky decide to close it down completely…

For those children of the 80s the sight of Phillip Schofield in a cupboard will always be one that will hold a special place in our hearts. CBBC launched at 3:55 on 9 September 1985 and has been hanging around ever since.

Now is not a good time for Welsh television broadcaster S4/C, which has just been given an ultimatum by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt to draw up a financial plan for…

It has taken a year after the infamous (and highly predictable, especially in retrospect) James Murdoch speech at the Edinburgh International Television Festival for the official “right to reply” from…