UK media not keen on Hunt ideas about local TV

Today's media Guardian confirms the impression that UK media are not that interested in Hunt's proposals last week for local TV based on cities as in the USA. There is some information now, but mixed with a lot of rerasons why nothing much should happen.

Google blog search finds the Guardian through Newsbucket. Steve Hewlett states that the promise is "near impossible to deliver". Not enough resource and not enough reason for existing players to support another national choice that local could drop into.

Other things could be possible in future but that would depend on the availability of fast broadband to provide low-cost distribution. 

This seems to be the view in the briefing as well. So online will follow maybe in 2015 or sometime later. It is probably true that UK bandwidth is not uniform throughout the UK at reasonable speed. But if the new channels will start in the main cities anyway then fibre is possible. I think the little bits of video that turn up on YouTube could develop further over the next three years or so. Rougemont Global Broadcasting could become some sort of demo if I can load up more stuff. It is actually global as some viewers are outside the UK. If Hunt is assuming UK broadband is not urgent, then this could be moreso.

I think the BBC should stay in the mix. On BBC News 24 Hunt seemed to be suggesting the BBC should just get out of the way and then the market would solve all the issues. But if the BBC is expected to provide the resources then this could take the form of support for local video efforts. Some training perhaps and a sound track from major events. The Web is not based on monopolies such as the only evening newspaper in Manchester. There is a lot of space for the BBC and stuff online. I remember the Guardian very opposed to the BBC providing materials for schools. Then the BBC backed out of BETT. But the Guardian stand just got smaller.

On the Web, the BBC is the only UK brand on any sort of scale. Knocking the BBC is not going to help much for other media.

Anyway, back to some other links from Google blogsearch

Based on the economic models that Mr Hunt seems to be adopting, each hour of local news will have to be provided for somewhere around £2,000. That is a fraction of what ITV and the BBC spend on their regional news operations. And all the cheap new technology in the world can’t replace some of the things that the traditional TV channels spend that money on: properly trained journalists and editors with seasoned judgment.
It has been suggested that students or volunteers could man these new local services. What happens, I wonder, when one of those volunteers commits a contempt of court live on air by saying too much about someone who has been accused of a crime in the local area? What happens when one of those students inadvertently libels someone? What happens when an overenthusiastic – and unpaid – presenter jeopardises a local service’s impartiality by being too tough in an interview with a city councillor?

Should the venture launch in 2015 as planned,  newspapers will taunt the government with early viewing figures registering “zero” on Barb and the lack of original programming – only two hours of regional “opt-outs” are expected a day with the channel running on repeats donated, it is hoped, by terrestrial broadcasters.
You can imagine headlines asking why the BBC is wasting millions of pounds on “channel zero” – it happened when BBC Three and Four launched and even those channels still only have around 90 minutes of first-run, originated programming a night.

At a later panel session there were a number of sceptical responses to the idea, balanced by enthusiasm from local television companies such as Channel Six. Tim Brooks, managing director of Guardian News & Media said the idea that the network could be commercially viable was "sheer fantasy". 

He said: "Let's be real. The largest television company in Europe [RTL] couldn't make enough money out of Channel Five, the third network to make a go of it.

"I think the idea that there's room in this market for a fourth network whose peaktime would be occupied by the kind of low grade programming that the panel discussed is sheer fantasy.

"That's why you won't see Jeremy Hunt bowled over in the rush of people with money wanting to get involved in his project."

It seems to me that if there is so much instant rejection there may be a basis of something that might take some advertising revenue. So worth investigating.

Greg Dyke is mentioned as interested. i wonder what happened to the BBC Archive ideas, as in content that would be free for reuse? This is the sort of thing the BBC should be doing. The "big society" could be not just about chaos and handing over public money to companies. Especially for projects in which they are not very interested.

Haymarket finances revealed but who checks out the Guardian?

Today the Media Guardian features an interview with and some tough questions about debt, losses, and adjusting to a digital future. The information is certainly interesting and is background for assessing the views in Printweek about the ebook and tablets. 

But what could be said about the Guardian? Is the situation very different? They may be further into a web approach but the print may still have some issues.

Content is the thing. But is there a viable model to continually create content without a different attitude to the punters?

More about me. I started a couple of topics on Guardian Talk, about PDF and OhmyNews. No contributions from Guardian staff on either. OhmyNews was only ever a tech story for a Thursday so that has vanished. Fair enough, no longer published through an English language site but the model continues and the theory is still relevant, imho.

Jo's Helpline recently included a guide to the Kindle, reluctantly accepting that ebooks have some sort of role. I added a comment requesting further help on what software to use for creating an ebook. Once the Printweek audience have been told that the Kindle has arrived they might as well offer a service along with the rest of the pre media, whatever that means. No comment on this yet from Jo but she has responded previously so something may turn up  

My conclusion at the moment is that print journalism is not as secure as it appears. There may be a shift in the future. Peter Preston may say something polite about bloggers. Time will tell.

Animated Exeter has landed at Spacex

Animated Exeter mostly starts next month but the Landings exhibition has started at Spacex. There are three screens so all the display is digital. "Re-viewing the world" indicates forms of landscape, mostly urban. Inger Lisa Hansen has three, each from a camera travelling across the frame upside down. This is close to stills photography. 13 by Simon Faithful is close to illustration. The original drawings were on a Palm Pilot along the A13. Tal Rosner is closest to abstraction and a demoscene feel in some sections. It is based on images from within ten miles of Charing Cross. The cutting and zoom levels achieve various effects, slightly avoided by the choice of the smallest screen on display.

http://www.spacex.co.uk/pl98.html

All three artists are using post production on computer. There are no flat static images as part of this exhibit. This is a very interesting contribution from a gallery for an animation festival. So far there is one display inspired by the upside down approach, collage from illustration. One room is set aside for use as a studio, mostly scheduled for the main  Animated Exeter dates. Sometimes ages 12-15 but sometimes no age limit. Often the approach is illustration and stop frame. But how much digital process is allowed? Will the grownups be inspired to do something on  complex kit as available around the city? Suggest an early view and start to think about this. The books available cover video as well as animation. Available software is often not easy to split between the two.

I am working another talk as last year on early computer animation and the demoscene. There are two hours available so the later part will relate to other events during Animated Exeter. This includes a VJ set on the Saturday evening. Landings is supported by Animate Projects who also support Edwina Ashton's work at the Phoenix. This starts later but continues through to Vibraphonic and the Analog2Digital show.

The sound in galleries seems to be usually ambient, perhaps so as not to divert attention from the visuals. A VJ set has to offer beats that can be recognised. Still, there must be a crossover for discussion.

Print backs Online for Training

Jo's Helpline in Printweek is useful in itself and as a guide to industry opinion. This week the question is about distance courses. Local print colleges are few and far between now. The London College of Communication features Design and Media but where hard skills fit in is not obvious to everyone.

Jo suggests several online courses that would suit.

Next week Learning Technologies at Olympia will not offer many books. There will be some but probably more emphasis on video conferencing and soforth. I have left a comment on the Helpline page welcoming the way that print industry training can use whatever media are useful. Gradually the name change to London College of Communication is making sense.

Earlier there was a help request on which Kindle to buy. It was wrapped up in some talk about reluctance and the longstanding authority of the printed page, but the change was there to accepting that digital devices have a role. I added acomment asking if the Helpline could suggest software to allow comps to work on ebooks. No response so far.

Repeat the Past : Something Happened

Another sign that social media have been recognised by mainstream media, but it come in a context with other views.

Today's Observer has some comment by Jon Naughton on Facebook in Tunisia

What is happening is that connectedness is becoming a relatively mundane part of people's lives. So when significant things happen – riots, strikes, elections, conflicts and social upheavals of all kinds – it's only to be expected that they will use the communication tools with which they are familiar. The message for dictators, elected politicians and newspaper editors alike is simple. This is the way things are: get used to it.

This seems fair enough. But there is also the Media page where Peter Preston is disappointed in the income so far from apps on tablets.  

My impression has been that digital publishing devices were under reported until the iPad, seen by print journalists as a chance to charge on the classic model for newspapers. This may not work out so they might consider the OhmyNews model of citizen journalism - more respect for the readers and an emphasis on editing and training. Preston mentions circulation declines of around ten percent, with or without a web paywall. This cannot go on for ever.

On the one hand, then, we all know what we're doing and where we're going. On the other hand, search me! I haven't a clue.

On another page

Social networking under fresh attack as tide of cyber-scepticism sweeps US

Another book from another expert. No wonder people are deserting newspapers and contribute less online to the sites that insult them.

It is still possible that Guardian Media  will include websites that work out. But print media could continue in classic mode till the circulation just stops making sense.

However, I shall treat the views of Jon Naughton as marking a significant date.

News of the World story on George Galloway from OhmyNews in 2006

Missing OhmyNews. Previous post about phone hacks could have been edited into a suitable story I think.

Previously, about George Galloway. He is one of the people building a legal case. So there may be more stories later. George could be an impressive witness if he gets to court.

Meanwhile blogs can be just be links to other blogs. Daily Beast for example.

Tina Brown has got a point, continued #coulson

Trying out Google news and blogsearch to check the claim in the print Guardian that the Coulson resignation is under reported. According to Brian Cathcart

News International used to tell us, until a week ago, that it had had one rogue journalist and that was the end of it. When the Commons media committee heard these things it snorted with derision, so why haven't these people been called to account?

One reason is that the tabloid press has ignored the story. Miller must be amazed: she has finally found something she can do in her private life that red-tops won't feast on. But for most of the newspaper-reading public this story does not exist: they have never been confronted with the strange claims of the Met and News International.

More below on some links, but first breaking news from Sky. Phone-Hacking Row 'Involves Other Papers'. 

The phone-hacking scandal that cost the Prime Minister's head of communications, Andy Coulson, his job involves a string of newspapers - not just the News of the World, a lawyer has told Sky News.

Mark Lewis said he is representing clients preparing to bring civil court cases against several newspaper groups over allegations of phone tapping.
His claims suggest the practice of illegal eavesdropping is much more commonplace than first thought.

"I am absolutely positive - and I am not an advocate for the News of the World - that this wasn't a practice for one newspaper or even one newspaper group," Mr Lewis said. "It's fair to say that over the past 10 years or so most entertainment stories will have had some element of subterfuge."

Can all the red-tops ignore this sort of claim? This is Saturday afternoon so here in the UK we are all looking forward to the sunday papers.

I am not going to buy much print. I already get the Observer on subscription. The FT I bought this week for details on local TV actually had less than the Guardian. But the web versions show there is some coverage.

Evening Standard

It emerged earlier this month that News of the World executive Ian Edmondson has been suspended as a result of claims in a case brought by actress Sienna Miller. Police subsequently wrote to the newspaper asking for any new evidence staff had on the case.

Peter Oborne in Telegraph

The House of Commons Media Culture and Sport Committee need to reopen their enquiry into the phone hacking affair. Some of the evidence presented by Coulson last time he appeared in front of it now makes no sense (for instance his claim to the MP Adam Price that ‘I am absolutely sure that Clive’s case was a very unfortunate rogue case’) now appears nonsensical.

But the most interesting writing so far is in the Daily Beast.

The humiliating scene at 10 Downing Street was also a victory for The New York Times over Rupert Murdoch—not that anyone in Arthur Sulzberger’s employ would be so petty as to point that out, unless you eavesdropped on their phone calls

Could it be that News International has reached a position of such influence that some other media will choose not to ignore the associated issues? This may become clearer over the next few months. The New York Times did publish statement that were later repeated in the UK Guardian. 

Recent NYT reporting probes the official story but also leaves open the question of how widespread "outlandish practices" may be.

Britain’s sharp-elbowed tabloids seem to have abandoned some of their more outlandish practices since Mr. Coulson worked at The News of the World. But politicians and many British reporters and editors say that few standards apply in a world where reporters think nothing of concealing their identities when pursuing stories and tabloids routinely pay thousands of dollars to sources willing to provide evidence of celebrities’ extramarital affairs.

Tabloid editors are also known to keep close watch over their reporters.

“No one who knows how a newspaper works, let alone a well-run British newspaper, has ever been able to understand for one second why a very effective editor wouldn’t have at least asked his royal reporter where a stream of very strong scoops had come from,” said an editor at another tabloid who asked not to be quoted by name because he was not authorized to speak publicly to the press.

Perhaps you are still reading this for the Tina Brown link. Previously she wrote about Coulson and the Diana tape from long ago. "Did Murdoch's Hacks Bug Diana, Too?"

Without getting into the credibility of the various stories, it just seems surprising to me that the UK press has not picked up on this. It may not have been "Murdoch hacks", it might have been some other newspaper. Or just chance for a couple of individuals. But this blog in the Daily Beast is surely worth a link or two?

FT news re Pearson : digital learning is viable #LT11UK

Having bought an FT to find out about local TV, see previous post, I discovered a report about Pearson earnings also found online.

(You may need to register to follow this link. you are allowed 10 stories a month I think)

It appears that e learning is viable. 

Please respect FT.com's ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a9ffa950-239d-11e0-8bb1-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1Bb2M57s1

In North America, where Pearson makes just more than 40 per cent of its annual revenues and is expanding market share, sales were buoyed by demand for computer- and internet-based learning materials as well as software for school and university administration.

Well I hope that is ok. Without another cut and paste it is also reported that for Penguin sales in electronic books are expected to balance out some other problems.

I am still looking for some sort of evidence that digital media have arrived. At BETT I followed some links to the TLRP resources including response to questions from the BIZ Department. Is elearning too expensive? Or a bit cheaper? More research needed apparently. Nobody from BIZ or the Department of Education on a stand at BETT so maybe they missed it all anyway. At Learning Technologies there could be some clear evidence that digital learning is now widely used and is part of a viable system.

Local TV in UK by 2015? plenty of time for social media in Exeter #EX1to4

Found this online that seems a reasonable explanation of the news as in what was announced.

My Guardian in print this morning had very little on what was on offer. Much more on how ITV might save money by dropping local news and this may be allowed if the local TV ideas work out. I bought an FT but this even has less. Just how Murdoch might let go of Sky News, currently losing money, and be allowed to buy more of BSkyB. FT sources believe the cost of BSkyB will go up over time so there is some urgency. What do the other shareholders think?

Anyway my main interest is in local news / video as in Rougemont Global Broadcasting and Exeter TV. I did manage to find the PDF on the consultation site

So what I gather is that web TV is seen as not quite ready and will follow the launch on cable and Freeview. It seems the first wave will be in big cities, maybe just 10 or 12 channels. This seems to ignore all the video on YouTube etc. and the Facebook copy with video links. The original idea for Exeter TV was to use the cable option as in the USA. The online aspect has just developed by default. Rougemont Global Broadcasting has always been just online but is a demo only. It shows what might be possible. It could scale with suitable tags that allowed search over many sources. #EX1to4 for example though promotion of this has failed so far.

The BBC is expected to share out some funding. I still think it would help if Radio Devon took care of sound recording and then shared a decent tape with all the shaky video from local events. During Animated Exeter there will be spectacle at Exeter Cathedral. Presumably lots of cameras, but what about the sound? 

2012 is the year when all UK media will explode, given the news agenda. Such is the theory. But most local UK media will be far away from London so have much in common with each other. Maybe blog level content could be shared?

By the way, Bristol could be in the top 10 or 12. Not too far away for some links.