Digital TV Blog

Satcaster fed up with regulatory heel draggage

Sky have temporarily put the kibosh on their proposed Picnic digital TV service, following the non-emergence of the Ofcom report that was due to be published this spring.

“The blunt truth is that Ofcom has spent 18 months looking at our proposals and there is no end in sight. The Picnic team have done everything they can to prepare for launch and there’s nothing left to be achieved until Ofcom makes its mind up,” said a Sky spokesperson, who added that “no business can go on like that.”

With Picnic, Sky had intended to replace its current line up of channels on the Freeview platform – that’s Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Three – with premium Sky Movies and Sky Sports content, and the flagship channel Sky One. Picnic would be available either on its own, or as part of a bundle deal including fixed-line calls and broadband services in the same vein to its See Speak Surf bundles, and would require potential customers to purchase a new MPEG4 compatible set-top box.

The proposal was initially submitted back in February 2007, on the eve of the missing channel hoo-hah with Virgin Media, and prompted a response from rival providers Setanta and Top-Up TV.

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.

Trouble in the Jackson family

Soap opera EastEnders will tackle the issue of child sex abuse in what could potentially be a controversial storyline, the BBC has announced.

The plot will involve Bianca Jackson’s 15 year old stepdaughter Whitney, played by Shona McGarty - pictured right - and her stepfather Tony who has not yet appeared on screen.

Full details of the storyline have not yet been released but commentators think that it will kick off when Tony is released from prison and appears in Albert Square.

A spokeswoman for EastEnders said the programme was working closely with the children’s charity the NSPCC to portray accurately the devastating effect of child abuse. “EastEnders is a contemporary drama which aims to tackle and reflect real life issues together with raising awareness of the sensitivities that sometimes accompany them,” she said. “EastEnders has successfully drawn attention in the past to a number of sensitive issues including domestic violence, rape and HIV.”

The NSPCC’s director of communications, John Grounds, said that programmes like EastEnders help raise awareness of the horrors of sexual abuse, which usually happens behind closed doors. “The NSPCC’s work with the BBC on the forthcoming EastEnders storyline is aimed at ensuring the portrayal of child abuse accurately reflects the damage it can do to the victim, their family and the wider community,” he said. “This is vital in persuading people to take action to stop it and encouraging children to speak out.”

The soap has been criticised in recent months by Ofcom for airing controversial storylines before the 9pm watershed. The regulator ruled that a story aired in February portraying a gang attack in the Queen Vic and a girl who went into premature labour, had shown “sustained violence, intimidation and menace”.

1080p for all, at last

Word on the street is that since the launch of Freesat a couple of months ago, take up of HD TV equipment has really started to take off. According to sales figures, there are approximately 10 million HD TV sets currently in use in British households, half a million of which are being used in conjunction with the Sky HD service, which, incidentally, is set to take a price tumble tomorrow.

Virgin, which has proudly boasted its own V+ HD digital TV service since inception, also commands a portion of this figure. However, it is thought until now, the majority of HD Ready TV sets have been purchases with the purposes of enjoying next-gen home entertainment in the form of Blu-Ray and HD DVD players, not to mention the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Yes, and the Wii, although we realise it’s technically not a next-gen console…

Anyway. Just as Freeview and Freeview Playback drove the increase in sales of switchover-ready Digital TV sets, Freesat looks all set to do the same for HD-compatible kit. Like Freeview, the main selling point of the Freesat package is the one-off install fee, no subscription deal which sees punters able to sign up for a whole bunch of HD channels all in one go.

If that wasn’t enough HD access to keep people happy, the BBC are reportedly trialling HD transmissions over Freeview, using the Guildford transmitter as a test bed, putting paid to rumours that HD on Freeview would never happen. The broadcast utilised the newfangled DVB-T2 spec, which apparently offers 30% more capacity than the standard DVB-T, on which the existing Freeview equipment runs.

Justin Mitchell, head of the DVB-T2 development team at the BBC, said: “This is a big step forward in enabling the introduction of full HD terrestrial on Freeview by the end of 2009.”

The DVB-T2 specification means that Freeview punters will almost certainly have to buy a new set-top box, which prompts the question why bother waiting when you could just shell out for Freesat now? Well, the problem with Freesat is that it requires a dish to be fitted to the side of a property, and for structural and contractual reasons, this isn’t an option.

2009 is also well in advance of the 2012 switchover and just in time for the Olympic Games, meaning that every British household ought to be able to see that high-watermark acheivement of graphic design that is the London 2012 Olympics logo in super-high 1080 progressive scan resolution.

I have a cunning plan…

Cate Blanchett delivers one of her most memorable roles as Elizabeth (9:00pm Tonight, More4), which documents the rise of one of the most prominent figures from British history, and the early years of her reign.

As a Protestant and a reformist, she has more enemies than she realises both at home and
abroad – the fervent political and religious backdrop is set right at the very beginning of the film, where three Lutheran ‘heretics’ are roughly shaven before being burned at the stake. Criticised for portraying Catholics in a bad light, the film is nonetheless enjoyable as a kind of English Renaissance-based thriller – much of the film is spent clandestine locations, with conspiratorial whisperings abound.

The costumes and settings are vibrant, lush and lavishly rendered, and the supporting cast is equally star-studded, featuring La Haine star Vin Cassel appears as Henri of Anjou, a would be suitor of Her Maj, future Pirate of the Carribean Geoffrey Rush as spymaster Francis Walsingham,  post-Man United Eric Cantona as the French ambassador, a pre-Doctor Who Christopher Ecclestone as the conniving dastardly Catholic Duke of Norfolk and a pre-James Bond Daniel Craig as fanatical, head-stoving Jesuit assassin John Ballard.

Its hard to believe that Elizabeth is now ten years old, probably because of the fairly recently release of (not quite as good) follow-up Elizabeth: The Golden Age still relatively fresh in people’s minds.

More Prime Time Reality Family Fun

Amateur choir is to be given a prime-time face-lift on a new show hosted by Myleen Klass and Nick Knowles. Last Choir Standing, to be shown on BBC1, will scour the country for the choir with the most talent, passion and pizzazz. The two presenters will be joined by a panel of judges, X-factor style – the much-loved Tenor Russell Watson, Holby City actress and west-end singer Sharon D. Clarke, and seasoned choral conductor Suzi Digby OBE. The 27 choirs who make it onto the programme will gradually be whittled down to six, when the audience decide who to keep and who to boot.

The choirs couldn’t be more diverse, from a group of hip-hop street kids who struggle to follow the music or the conductor and the all-male Hertfordshire Police Choir to a group of handbag-wielding housewives singing Britney Spears.

Singing in choirs is apparently one of Britain’s favourite pastimes with over 25,000 registered choirs and at least half a million members. “It’s one of the things the UK truly excels at,” says Suzi. “More than any other country, we have an amazing amateur tradition. We are the only country with a 1,000-year unbroken tradition of cathedral choir schools. It is one of the things we really do well.”

Nonetheless, choirs have not always been seen as cool and many of us hold back from singing in public. “There was this idea that if you were going off to choir practice, you were a sad loser,” Suzi continues.

“People also get a psychological block about singing. Parents say their children can’t, siblings laugh – it doesn’t take much for it all to shut down.”

Still, the programme aims to raise the profile of choral Singing. Co-host Nick Knowles, better known as the host of DIY SOS and City Hospital, enthuses that “The public will be treated to some fantastic performances from all the choirs, and it will ultimately be up to them to decide who will be the Last Choir Standing. This will be entertainment television at its best – getting the whole country involved.”
Last Choir Standing will air on Saturday Nights on BBC1 next month.

Satcaster in Scottish Switchover Stink-up

The decision to award Sky the contract for a digital switchover help scheme has been criticized by a Scottish MP.

The scheme, set up by the British government, helps elderly and disabled people make the switch to digital TV by converting one of their televisions to digital. Individuals aged 75 or over as well as those eligible for certain benefits will be offered digital equipment fully installed by Sky at a cost of £40, or free for the less well off, enabling them to access over 200 Freeview television and radio channels without subscription. They will also receive extra Sky channels and the Sky Plus digital recording facility free for two months, after which period they can opt to pay for the additional service or simply retain their Freeview channels.

However, the Liberal Democrat MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk has criticized the scheme sharply, saying that the digital market is no long a level playing field for Sky’s competitors: “What it fundamentally does take away is the idea that the transfer to digital television is done on a neutral basis, without any particular choice between the different television platforms. This is giving Sky an unprecedented marketing opportunity to some of people who are the most vulnerable in our Borders’ communities.”

He said that people on the scheme would have to pay for installation if they opted for an alternative provider which “seems to me absolutely crazy”.

However, chief operating officer of the Switchover Help Scheme Tony Noakes insisted that the decision to award the contract to Sky was a fair one: “The Help Scheme chose Sky as the standard offer because it represents best value for money and a high-quality service for eligible people. People using the Help Scheme in Scottish Borders will be free to choose from a range of other ways of going digital.”

BBC iPlayer and 4oD come bundled gratis

BT Vision has introduced a monthly subscription for its previously free on-demand digital TV content.

BT Vision who want to make use of the 7-day catch up service now have to sign up for the new £3 a month Replay service for their IPTV demand/Freeview hybrid. However, the subscription also covers the 4oD and BBC iPlayer online services, allowing viewers to enjoy on-demand content on big, widescreens in the living room as opposed to grainy, pixellated flatscreen monitor displays.

Virgin Media, which also offers all its TV customers free catch up TV from the BBC and 4oD said it had no plans to start charging its customers for this content – bearing in mind that Virgin who already charge a premium for their souped-up cable service can probably afford to absorb the cost of on-demand downloads.

TV Tuners for your lappy

Anyone remember the TV Tuner which came out for the Sega Game Gear? On the surface, it was amazing; cheap portable TV! In colour! In reality, it was a shoddy dissapointment, with intermittent reception, crap sound and wrong colours – and that was at the best of times. Plus, the already battery draining nature of the Game Gear, which normally ate up a massive 6 AA’s in the space of four hours, was amplified by this non-functioning monstrosity to the point where you couldn’t actually watch an entire 90 minutes of a football match plus the attendant commentary without the power dying halfway through. It was all well and good if you plugged it in via the mains adapter, but chances are if you were anywhere near a mains socket, then you’d be close to a proper TV set as well, sort of defeating the TV Tuner’s USP.

Fortunately, things have moved on a lot since 1991, no pun intended. A number of a companies have recently started churning out tiny DVB Digital TV tuners which connect to laptops via a USB port, allowing for Freeview channels to be viewed on the move. For about a tenner, you get a Tuner/USB Dongle thingy which comes with an aerial and a remote control – simply run the install CD on your laptop, plug it in and watch it go.

Of the devices currently available, the punchily titled Lupo Digital TV DVB-T USB Adapter Freeview Receiver for PC and Laptop is the most popular, costing a mere £9.99. HD fanatics will be pleased to know that an 1080i HDTV Ready option is available for £15.95 from ebuyer.com.

Whilst TV cards have been available for computers for years now, the release of these plug and play style devices, along with platforms like 4oD and BBC iPlayer, only goes to show how the role of the computer in the household is changing, occupying areas traditionally held by other devices. How long will it be before we can link up our computers to sensors in fridges, which automatically send out orders to the local supermarket when we get a bit low on milk? How long before the Talkie Toaster from Red Dwarf becomes a reality?

Rock docs on the Beeb

BBC4 are tonight showing a trio of documentaries on British rock relics Pink Floyd, after initial runs proved successful in the ratings department.  First broadcast earlier this year to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the release of debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and shown again a couple of weeks ago, The Pink Floyd Story: Which One’s Pink? (BBC4, 9:30pm) traces the formative years of the band from their underground psychedelic roots to their laser-light display world-conquering tours.

The documentary features plenty of rare footage, with clips from the infamous Pompeii concert (which was released in British cinemas – when does that happen these days?) and interviews with the four surviving members – Roger Waters, Dave Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. This is followed up by a Classic Albums doc (BBC4, 10:30pm), which takes a look at The Dark Side of the Moon, the bands most well-known and biggest selling record.

Much of the focus on the late Syd Barrett, the original frontman and chief songwriter of the band in its formative incarnation is reserved for the Omnibus documentary (BBC4, 11:20pm) shown later. The programme charts Barrett’s rise, how he transformed the band from a pop rock covers act into a powerful artistic force, and his eventual drug-fuelled decline, becoming a poster boy for rock casualties in the process.

After having played Keith Richards to perfection in Pirates of the Caribbean, Johnny Depp announced in an interview sometime last year that he’d be interested in playing Barrett in a film – this has sparked a heated online debate, with Petition Online playing host to two for and against petitions, which can be found here and here.

EDIT: we’re sorry to report that none of these programmes were shown last night; a cock-up on our office’s Freeview box was incorrectly displaying programmes from last week - we realised this when we saw that the same programmes were displayed on the EPG this morning. Technology eh?