Tuesday 24 March 2009

The two major changes that will occur


Two major changes are upon us, the advent of Digital only Broadcasting and the new standard of HD ( High Definition ).
Also the current 'credit crunch' will have quite an impact on the choices people make when purchasing their new TV and service. Sky tv has had a good run and gained many customers over the last 8 years of digital broadcasting, but as the bills keep coming in , I can see customers choosing free television every time.


The recent introduction of a built in FreeSat unit in a range of Panasonic flat screen tvs, shows that major manufacturers are taking FreeSat seriously too. The set top boxes are being produced by Bush, Goodmans, Grundig, Humax and others, in both standard definition and high definition types.



The BBC and the future of Broadcasting

There are many who see the digital world as threatening for 'big media' organisations like the BBC. The Web 2.0 world of Flickr and Facebook brings with it new business models, new forms of content, new ways of audiences connecting with that content, and with each other, and we risk being left behind, becoming increasingly irrelevant to our audiences.

BBC iPlayer is a service for everyone in the UK. The BBC earns over £500m from the international exploitation of its content, every penny of which goes back into making better programmes for the British public. We therefore needed to ensure, through the use of digital rights management, DRM, that our programmes could be viewed, in high quality, in the UK, for free, but not get instantly distributed around the world and undermine our international licensing and syndication deals.



Tuesday 3 March 2009

Media Issues and Debates

Television - British Broadcasting Future

What is broadcasting?

Broadcasting is distribution of audio and video signals which transmit programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience, such as children or young adults.
The sequencing of content in a broadcast is called a schedule. As with all technological endeavours, a number of technical terms and slang have developed. A list of these terms can be found at list of broadcasting terms. Television and radio programs are distributed through radio broadcasting or cable, often both simultaneously. By coding signals and having decoding equipment in homes, the latter also enables subscription-based channels and pay-per-view services.
The term "broadcast" originally referred to the sowing of seeds by scattering them over a wide field. It was adopted by early radio engineers from the Midwestern United States to refer to the analogous dissemination of radio signals. Broadcasting forms a very large segment of the mass media. Broadcasting to a very narrow range of audience is called narrowcasting.
Economically there are a few ways in which stations are able to continually broadcast.


The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 defines a broadcast as a transmission by wireless telegraphy of visual images, sounds, or other information which is capable of lawful reception by the public or which is made for presentation to the public. It thus covers radio, television, teletext etc.