Archive for the ‘BT Vision’ Category

The BBC has announced it will tighten up the procedure for dealing with complaints about party election broadcasts, in anticipation of an outcry from viewers over airtime given to the British National Party ahead of next year’s general election.

New rules will require complainants to clearly state their objections and back them up with evidence. Previously, people who made complaints were not required to meet these requirements as part of a formal process.

Today the BBC Trust published a consultation paper on the proposed changes, which it expects to put into effect before the 2010 general election.

Following the huge furore provoked by the appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question Time, the BBC is expecting a large volume of complaints about the amount of air time given to BNP election broadcasts.

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One of the biggest dance events based on the High School Musical franchise is to be filmed in London for a new Disney Channel UK series.

In Club High School Musical: Make It Happen, four Disney fans are given four days to persuade 500 people to strut their stuff in a dance performance of a song from the show. The children have to find a venue in London for the final performance, helped by the show’s presenter and former Fame Academy choreographer Kevin Adams.

The four episode show will air later this month on Disney Channel UK. The show is being made by independent production company The Foundation, part of the RDF Group.

Nigel Pickard, the executive producer, said: “This is the first time that RDF Media Group has worked with Disney Channel UK.

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If you’re a Freeview user, don’t be surprised to find Channel Five missing from it’s usual slot when you turn your TV on tomorrow.But don’t worry it’s not gone forever - all you need to do is retune your Freeview box.

As well as Channel Five, you’ll also need to retune your Freeview box to get ITV3, ITV4 and some radio stations back on your TV.

This is happening because despite many customers switching over to Freeview from analogue, there are still some half a million UK homes which cannot receive Channel Five.

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BSkyB is to make an official complaint to Ofcom in response to proposals that would force the broadcaster to sell its premium sports and movie channels to rivals such as Virgin Media at prices dictated by the media regulator.

BSkyB chief executive Jeremy Daroch said that if Ofcom’s proposals are pushed through, its pay-TV rivals will get Sky’s premium services “on the cheap”.

“These guys want a free ride. Intervention like this is not a good incentive to encourage people to invest in the UK,” Darroch said.

“[Ofcom] is proposing an unprecedented level of interference in commercial markets. Good regulation does not involve micro-management. Nor does it mean tinkering to reshape an industry so that it matches a spreadsheet in a regulator’s office,” he added.

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Communications regulator Ofcom today said that BSkyB should cap the cost of its premium sport and movie channels and make it available to more broadcasters to increase consumer choice.

In its latest consultation on the pay-TV market, Ofcom said that offering Sky’s premium content to other retailers on a wholesale basis was the best way of ensuring fair and effective competition.

The regulator also outlined plans to investigate Sky’s television rights agreement with the FA Premier League. It is concerned that new platforms for watching league games, such as the internet, will be cut off to consumers without cheaper access to content.

Ofcom said that its proposals should not have a disproportionate impact on Sky’s profits, since the prices put forward in its latest consultation would still allow the company to reap a reasonable return.

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BSkyB is to offer gamers access to its programmes without a satellite dish through the Xbox 360 games console. The broadcaster has teamed up Microsoft to enable video gamers to watch its channels, including live Premier League football, through the console.

Due to be launched in the autumn, the service will stream live and on-demand content through the Xbox’s internet connection, helping Sky meet its target of 10 million customers by 2010. Sports fans will also be able to see which events their friends are watching and sit with them in a virtual sports lounge to watch the game.

This is the first time the Microsoft has offered live television through its Xbox 360 console, which is used by more than £30 million people worldwide. However, the deal with Sky is not exclusive. Microsoft has also been in talks with BT to discuss the possibility of making BT Vision available to customers through the Xbox. It is also in negotiations with a number of broadcasters in other countries.

However, Sky’s Xbox deal will allow the broadcaster to reach customers who do not want, or cannot have a satellite dish. The broadcaster also hopes that the service will be taken up by its existing customers, increasing the number of households signed up to Sky multiroom.

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Comedian Steve Coogan is the latest British TV star to announce a cinema appearance, as he confirmed plans to bring Alan Partridge to the big screen.

Speaking to Radio 1, the Night At The Museum actor disclosed that “there are plans afoot” to create a movie about the hapless chat show host.

“We are planning on making a movie,” he said. “We’re talking at the moment. What it is we’re not quite sure.”

Coogan admitted that a storyline had already been drafted, but refused to disclose further details. When asked whether he was worried about sustaining humour throughout a feature-length film rather than a half hour programme, the 43-year-old said that he would have to approach his character in a different way for the big screen.

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BT Vision has increased its subscription charges and now plans to charge customers for its digital recorder.

The newly renamed BT Vision+ box will be free for the first year to customers who sign up to a BT broadband package. However, customers who choose not to renew their broadband subscription after a year will be charged a whopping £194.76 for the unit, while those who continue their subscription will face a £90 charge.

Speaking on its forums, BT explained, “The higher price only applies to customers that are out-of-contract for broadband and choose not to commit to us for a further 12 months.

“We previously provided a VBox and Powerline set for free, only to see these sold again on auction sites.

“To keep the prices down for customers that are willing to make a commitment to us we felt it was fair to ask a reasonable price from those that choose not to commit.”

BT is also hiking up the price of its Bronze viewing package, from £13.70 to £14.68 a month. The company argues that the increased price reflects significant additions to its OnDemand content and its TVReplay service, which now covers all five terrestrial channels.

BT’s Silver and Gold packages will remain at their current price of £17.61 and £19.57 respectively.

On demand content from Living TV, the station which styles itself as the unofficial ’sixth channel’ of the UK, is now available for viewing on BT Vision’s roster of on-demand programming.

Initially, 38 hours of content from six of the Virgin Media Television-owned channel’s shows including Most Haunted, Dirty Dancing, Living with the Cheeky Girls, Extreme: Skinny Celebrities, and Ibiza 2008, will be added at launch.

New titles - Britain’s Next Top Model, Grey’s Anatomy, Lipstick Jungle, etc - will be added each month, up to a total of some 25 titles, which represents over 100 hours of on-demand content.

“Living is a strong and well known entertainment brand and we are pleased to add it to BT Vision,” said BT in a statement.

Subscribers taking the BT Vision TV and Value Packs will be able to view the entire above line-up at no extra cost, whilst those who want to watch programmes on a pay-per-view basis can do so; prices start at 77p per episode.

This move, if successful, is thought to pave the way for more Virgin Media owned content being made available on BT’s IPTV platform.

Personal Services Required gets personal

RDF Media, the TV production company that sparked a row after falsely portraying the Queen as storming out of a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz when, in fact, she had been walking in, has again been accused of misrepresenting the truth. Participants in the Channel 4 reality show Personal Services Required claimed that the production company made them look “ridiculous.”

The show films families seeking to employ a housekeeper, and follows them through the recruitment process. Headhunters Gabriella and Danny Grasso claim that when looking for a housekeeper, they were wrongly depicted as offering someone a job below the minimum wage. They are worried that the slur will have a negative impact on their business and are considering suing for libel.

“For us this was a serious process, but RDF belittled us and tried to make us look ridiculous on television,” said Danny Grasso. “They’ve given us unfair representation and made us look like people who are exploiting other people for entertainment. Had I known about them and their reputation, I wouldn’t have agreed to it.”

Well, the whole BBC/Queen/photoshoot/apology fiasco was pretty big news last year Danny, and Wife Swap is one of Channel 4’s biggest pulls. RDF Media are also responsible for shows such as Location Location Location, Rock School, and Shipwrecked. You might have heard of them. You might want to check them out.

The Grassos were approached by RDF, when they posted an advert for a housekeeper on the website Gumtree. They initially declined the offer because they were living in Dubai at the time, but later accepted when RDF offered to fly the couple and their 13-year-old daughter back to Britain first-class. Three housekeepers were interviewed and filmed at the couple’s five-bedroom home near Flitwick, Bedfordshire, having been chosen by the production company, supposedly on the basis of their suitability and experience.

37-year-old Danny Grasso said: “We were told the housekeepers would be qualified and vetted, so it would be a service to us. But when they sent in the first one it was clear they had chosen people who were ‘entertaining’.”

The couple ended up employing Wendy-Anne Passmore, but at the end of last week’s programme she said she doubted whether she was being paid even the minimum wage, at £250 a week. However Danny insists this is a ludicrous claim. “We were offering separate living accommodation and food with all utility bills paid; there’s no way that’s below the minimum wage.”

However, RDF maintains the episode gave “a fair and accurate representation of what happened”. Another applicant for the position of housekeeper called the couple “chavvy Lottery winners” to the camera. The last RDF fiasco, which showed the Queen apparently storming out of a photo shoot, prompted the BBC and ITV to stop commissioning productions from the company for a limited period. It also led to the dismissal of RDF’s creative director Stephen Lambert and the controller of BBC1 Peter Fincham.