Digital TV Blog

Illiteracy in the UK

Believe it or not, 5 million adults in the UK have a reading age below 12 or, worse, can’t read at all. Even the simplest of tasks – paying the bills, going shopping, applying for a job, helping the children with their homework – become a daily struggle, and many illiterate or partially literate adults are too embarrassed to confront the issue, hiding it from even their own families.

In tonight’s documentary, the first of a three-part series that addresses the topic of illiteracy in Britain, “controversial and award-winning teacher” Phil Beadle takes nine illiterate adults through a six-month reading course. All of them have spent over ten years in the British education system but have failed to learn even the most basic skills. Beadle, a trained adult literacy teacher, describes Government adult literacy materials as “worse than useless”.

Though he hasn’t been in the profession for long, Beadle is a born teacher. Charismatic and encouraging, he believes all his pupils can achieve their goal of literacy and never gives up on them. One particularly moving moment is when 58-year-old Teresa, who burst into tears when first asked to read out loud, manages after three weeks of lessons to stutter her way through a children’s book.

Can’t Read, Can’t Write, tonight Channel 4, 9pm.

in spite of poor financial management

The BBC Trust has approved a 48% rise in the budget allocation for the BBC website, to £110 million. The increase comes after a review by the corporation’s regulator found that BBC websites cost over 50% more than had been budgeted for last year, due to misallocation of funds and “poor financial management.”

The BBC had planned to spend £74 million on its websites last year, but ended up spending a whopping £110 million because it did not properly account for the cost of maintaining its large collection of sites, which include online local, national and international news, as well as sports commentary pages and weather. £13.8 million of spending for IT support for the websites was misallocated, while staffing costs were £11.1 million higher than had been planned for.

The overspending displayed a “lack of financial accountability” in BBC institutions which resulted in a “serious breach,” according to the trust.

In response to the report, the BBC has said that it will adopt a “cautious approach to new investments” this year. However, in addition to the corporation’s current online services, it wants £39 million extra cash next year for local video news services and educational websites for primary school children, taking the BBC online budget to over £150 million. The iPlayer catch-up service comes under a separate budget.

In a statement the BBC management said that the poor budgeting was “regrettable and we recognise the need to address this.” It is currently drafting a timetable to apply for fresh investment.

Doctor Who and Dot Cotton top downloads

The BBC iPlayer service on Virgin Media saw more than 10m viewers make use of its service in June, according to the first batch of figures released by the quad play company. The June figures are significantly up from the 1.4 million views of BBC content via Virgin when the service was launched in May.

Virgin Media, the first Digital TV platform to give the BBC iPlayer catch-up service its own stand alone menu, managed to attract half as many viewings as the iPlayer website did in June.

Pressing the ‘red button’ on remotes whilst watching a BBC channel on Virgin Media TV brings up the iPlayer menu, without the user having to directly access the internet. Among the top viewings were repeats of EastEnders, Doctor Who and the frankly disturbing kids show In the Night Garden.

Malcolm Wall, the chief executive of content at Virgin Media, said that the figures underlined the “continued success of our on-demand offering,” a sentiment echoed by Rahul Chakkara, the BBC controller for TV platforms, who said: “The initial success on Virgin Media underlines the multiplatform appeal of the BBC iPlayer proposition.”

The iPlayer, which is available to all UK viewers who have an internet connection, has been running fully since Christmas and pulls in an average of 1.5 million users each week.

Sky set-top box boob

Sky have been accused of exploiting vulnerable viewers, after it sent letters to customers demanding payment for installation of a set-top box which had been advertised as free.

Sky had won the contract for a BBC run help scheme, costing the tax payer £603million, which entitled elderly and disabled people to a free set-top box at a one off installation fee of £40, or free for those on benefits. Sky receives licence fee money for the scheme, which is being run in the ITV borders region, where the analogue signal will first be switched off.

However, 50-60 customers in the region have received letters from the satellite giant demanding payment for the installation. Sky said this was an administrative error which has now been dealt with.

The figure demanded was around the £250 mark – the amount Sky normally charges to install their Sky+ system. MPs are worried that Sky has an ulterior motive for accepting the contract. Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat MP for the Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency claims that the oversight shows that Sky TV have been keeping customers’ names on a database for marketing purposes: “It is appalling. It’s exactly what we feared might happen, that Sky would exploit license fee payers’ money to market to vulnerable people,” he said.

Sky is offering its Sky+ service and subscription service free for two months, at which point viewers decide whether they wish to pay for continuation of the service or opt out of it.

Sky said that the erroneous letters were a mistake resulting from the introduction of new systems. “As soon as the mistake was realised steps were taken to contact the affected customers, and almost all have now been reached and reassured they do not have to pay any more than they expected,” a spokesperson said.

However the charity Help the Aged said that the oversight was “completely contrary to the spirit of the help scheme because it was set up to make digital switchover easier and less stressful for vulnerable people”.

Is it cos I is white?

Some of the UK’s most popular TV shows have been deemed “too white” in a report commissioned by Channel 4 and headed by race equalities chief Trevor Phillips.

The study followed a race row last year when Jade Goody and glamour model Danielle Lloyd - “the world’s thickest coven,” according to Charlie Brooker - shouted racist abuse at Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.

The report reveals that ethnic minority viewers still feel underrepresented on television, despite the growing number of people from ethnic minorities living in the UK. When ethnic minorities do appear on soap operas and dramas, they are often cast into “tokenistic” and “stereotyped” roles, such as Asian corner shop owners in Coronation Street and the black single mother Denise in Eastenders who has children by two different fathers.

One respondent said: “We would like to see a more realistic view of Asians. A lot of Asians are professionals and educated and we don’t just work in corner shops.” A man from the Caribbean said: “They don’t portray black people doing different roles and in every aspect of every field, like doctors, lawyers and architects.”

Shows such as the X-Factor, Strictly Come Dancing and The Apprentice were praised because they chose contestants on the basis of “talent, not skin colour”.

However, a number of mainstream TV shows fared badly, with Channel 4’s Hollyoaks, ITV’s Emmerdale and Australian soaps Neighbours and Home and Away criticised for having almost no ethnic minority characters. The Vicar of Dibley was taken to task for having an “all white” cast, while US sitcom Friends was also deemed “very white”.

Mr Phillips echoed the comments of Dr Samir Shah, a non-executive director, who accused the BBC of rampant tokenism in its programmes this month. Like Dr Shah, he believes this is because the corporation’s decision makers are predominantly “hideously white”. Dr Shah had previously expressed irritation at the “tick-box” attitude of some BBC producers.

The report conceded that Channel 4’s Big Brother had a wide range of ethnicities in the house, but expressed concern that the “extreme personalities” chosen for the programme might reflect badly on the communities they represent.

However, not everyone has taken Mr Phillips’ comments kindly, with some rural viewers baffled by his comments on the Vicar of Dibley which is set in the Oxfordshire countryside, an area that is predominantly white.

That’s not a sequel… THIS is a sequel

1988 was a vintage year for sequels – Caddyshack II, Rambo III and Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master to name but a few – but this one stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Paul Hogan, AKA Mick Dundee, the original Crocodile Hunter, returns to the bush in this entertaining romp which sees him forced to leave his adopted New York after the ex-husband of love interest Sue Charlton (Linda Kozlowski’s character) is murdered by a Columbian drugs cartel after taking pictures of their illicit trade – after mailing the pictures back to Sue, the drug runners turn up looking for the evidence.

Old Mick senses that its best to take the fight back to familiar territory, and so wild crocodile chase across the outback ensues. Gesturing nothing more than contempt for continuity, Kozlowski’s hair changes from being soaking wet one minute and then casting couch perfect, with not a strand out of place the next.

If you’ve any Australian friends, invite them round, for 9:00 tomorrow night (Saturday, E4) crack open a case of Fosters, put another shrimp on the barbie and watch them get uncomfortable. Then add insult to injury by following it up with “Bart vs. Australia” from the Season 6 boxset of The Simpsons. Mate.

Get your Five a Day with Five

Kicking off with an advert about “TV indulgence” terrestrial TV’s fifth channel launched a promotional campaign for its TV catch-up service yesterday. Called Demand Five, the service is sponsored by Dell. In last night’s advert, three people are portrayed barely being able to keep their eyes open at work after an indulgent night spent watching shows available on Demand Five. Two versions of the advert, lasting 20 and 40 seconds, will be aired during a three-week promotional campaign.

Australian soaps Neighbours and Home and Away, entertainment programmes such as The Gadget Show and Superstars, as well as reality shows Banged Up and The Gadget Show are all free to download on Demand Five. US imports such as CSI: New York and Grey’s Anatomy will cost 99p an episode, and will be available for 48 hours after download, while HD programmes carry a price-tag of £1.99.

“Five is the last of the UK’s major terrestrial broadcasters to offer an online catch-up service and in some respects it is the most advanced service available,” says Arash Amel, head of broadband media at media analyst firm Screen Digest. “Video is higher quality than many comparable offers [and] it provides a good range of key US shows, and the integration of rating and reviewing provides a level of interaction that other services lack.”

Nonetheless, Demand Five is unlikely to attract the high ratings enjoyed by the BBC iPlayer. Whereas all iPlayer programmes can be downloaded free of charge, some of the content on Demand Five carries a charge, and customers have to go through a registration process each time they download a show. Five is the last of the UK’s main terrestrial channels to offer a full TV catch-up service.

The BBC get a big Hug

Erik Huggers has been chosen as the BBC’s director of future media and technology, replacing Ashley Highfield, it was announced today. He will start his new job on August 1^st.

A Dutch national, Mr Huggers joined the corporation last year as group controller of future media and technology, after switching from Microsoft where he had worked in a number of business roles for nine years. Since he started at the BBC he has been widely tipped for the role of department director. He will be responsible for all new media output over the internet, mobile platforms and interactive TV, and will as well as the development and performance of the BBC’s iPlayer broadband catch-up service.

Mr Huggers said he will help the corporation “respond to audience demands in providing exciting and innovative new ways of delivering the BBC’s content across a range of media”.

BBC Director General Mark Thompson said that Mr Huggers had shown “great commitment” in promoting the iPlayer. “I look forward to him bringing his drive and determination to this new role, helping ensure the BBC is fit for the digital future,” he said.

Because of criticism centering around weak management within the department, the BBC is also likely to recruit a head of editorial strategy who will work alongside Mr Huggers.

Paws for though

The BBC is to install cameras in the Kenyan Masai Mara desert which will follow leopards and cheetahs around the clock. The ambitious multimedia project aims to capture the “danger and exhilaration” in the lives of big cats and other African wildlife.

Big Cat Live will broadcast three weeks of live video streaming on their website, and use live footage in a week of nature programmes on BBC1. Dedicated children’s channel CBeebies will run the series Little Big Cat, with a cheetah, leopard or lion cub as the star of each show.

Neil Nightingale, head of the BBC Natural History Unit, said: “Big Cat Live is the BBC’s most ambitious ever live international wildlife event. Audiences will be transported into the heart of wild Africa to experience the action in one of the world’s most dramatic wildlife locations.”

Presenter Kate Silverton and local Masai guide Jackson Looseyia will join wildlife photographers Simon King and Jonathan Scott as they camp by the Mara river, surrounded by elephants, zebras, crocodiles and buffalos among others.

During the day the team will observe cheetahs and leopards as they go about their daily lives, as well as hyenas, baboons, elephants and aardvarks. Night-time images will come from remote cameras specifically designed to capture images in the dark. Sara Ford, executive producer of the show, said: “For the first time we invite the audience to feel part of the big cat operation as we share with them the logistics and fieldcraft required to launch such a bold live project.”

Sky sizes up for the 2008-09 season

Sky Sports have pulled out all the stops to deliver what they believe is the best start to a footballing season they’ve seen in the 17 years since they began broadcasting. Having negotiated closely with the big Premiership clubs, the first four months of Sky Sports during the 2008-09 season will feature each of the 21 clubs in action, including five massive head-to-head clashes between last year’s top four teams.

Liverpool will entertain Manchester United on Saturday the 13th of September, after which Chelsea will face off against the previous seasons’ winners on the 21st at Stamford Bridge. The Blues then face Liverpool at home on the 26th of October, after which Arsenal face Manchester United on the 8th of November before facing fellow Londoners Chelsea away from home on the 30th.

As well as this, Sky will be serving up eight major derbies between local rivals including; West Bromwich Albion vs Aston Villa (21st Sept), Everton vs Liverpool (27th Sept), Arsenal vs Tottenham Hotspur (29th Oct), Manchester City vs Manchester United (30th Nov) and the aforementioned Chelsea vs Arsenal London derby (30th Nov).

Vic Wakeling, Managing Director of Sky Sports, said: “We think this is our best start to a season in 17 years of Premier League football on Sky. We see last season’s top three on the first weekend - we see five Big Four head-to-heads - eight big derby matches - and, most important of all, all 20 clubs are live in the first four months of the season.”

Sky Sports offer 92 live matches from the Barclays Premier League this season and will show delayed ‘near live’ coverage of another 242 games with Sky digital viewers able to choose highlights from a range of games on Football First: Match Choice, and of course, Sky+ every upcoming game at the touch of a button.