October 2015
I’ve won an EU deal to keep filters for porn, says Cameron
David Cameron last night promised a new law to protect children from damaging online porn after Brussels ruled the existing measures were illegal. The Prime Minister said he ‘spluttered over my cornflakes’ after reading the Mail’s revelation yesterday that new EU rules will outlaw porn filters.
But on Tuesday the European Parliament voted for a new law that means companies must not interfere with online traffic, regardless of its content, providing it is legal. It means the voluntary regime will be unlawful at the end of next year. However, Mr Cameron said yesterday he had secured an ‘opt-out’ allowing the Government to bring in a law that would keep the filters in place in the UK. Downing Street aides said the Prime Minister would bring forward ‘copper-bottomed’ legislation on an issue that was ‘clearly very important’ to him.
But the new law could still face a challenge in the European Court of Justice and be ruled illegal because it is more restrictive than the EU regime.
MailOnline 29/10/2015
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Ofcom launches probe after Jekyll And Hyde complaints
Ofcom is opening an investigation into complaints about an episode of ITV’s Jekyll And Hyde that was deemed “too scary” by some viewers. A spokesperson for the broadcast watchdog said: ” Ofcom has carefully assessed a number of complaints about Jekyll And Hyde on ITV.
“We are opening an investigation into whether the programme complied with our rules on appropriate scheduling and violent content before the watershed.”
MailOnline 29/10/2015
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ITV refuses to reschedule Jekyll and Hyde despite more than 500 complaints
ITV’s has refused to bow to pressure to move its teatime drama Jekyll and Hyde to a later slot after the watershed, despite more than 500 complaints about violent scenes in the broadcast on Sunday evening. Ofcom is expected to assess whether to investigate Jekyll and Hyde under rules governing the protection of under-18s and clauses about programming that causes harm and offence. The regulator cannot order a broadcaster to change the time of broadcast, but takes the watershed seriously in assessing whether to impose sanctions.
An Ofcom spokesperson said: “We will assess these complaints before deciding whether to investigate or not.”
MediaGuardian 26/10/2015
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‘Worrying fall in investment’ in TV arts, news and drama, says Lord Puttnam
Oscar-winning film producer Lord Puttnam has warned of a “worrying fall in investment” in arts, news and drama on television ahead of a new inquiry he will spearhead into the future of UK broadcasting. The Labour peer and former Channel 4 deputy chairman spoke out with the future of the BBC uncertain as part of its 10-yearly charter renewal and the prospect of privatisation looming over Channel 4.
Puttnam will chair an independent inquiry set up by Goldsmiths, University of London, to look into the future of public service broadcasting and the entire TV landscape in the age of on-demand services such as House of Cards broadcaster Netflix.
MediaGuardian 26/10/2015
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ITV’s Jekyll and Hyde draws more than 500 complaints over teatime ‘gore’
ITV’s attempt to reinvigorate its Sunday teatime viewing with fantasy drama Jekyll and Hyde has run into trouble after more than 500 people complained about the level of violence and disturbing imagery in the pre-watershed broadcast. The drama, shown at 6:30pm, featured scenes of a man being bludgeoned to death within the first minute.
ITV said it had received 280 complaints, while 263 people contacted broadcasting regulator Ofcom to express their concern about the show. The show is currently available on ITV’s video on-demand service but comes with a warning saying the content would usually be broadcast after the watershed or “contains content or themes that may be unsuitable for some viewers”.
mediaGuardian 26/10/2015
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Professor Green ‘can’t watch’ suicide documentary
Rap star Professor Green says he cannot bear to watch a documentary he has made for the BBC about his father’s suicide. Suicide and Me, which airs on Tuesday, sees the musician explore the circumstances of his father’s death seven years ago, at the age of 43. The rapper is frequently in tears during the documentary, and says that putting those moments on screen frightened him.
BBCOnline 26/10/2015
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Facebook photos of Hollie Gazzard with her killer ‘causing distress’
A refusal by Facebook to delete photographs of a murdered woman posing with her killer ex-boyfriend is causing her father to “feel sick”. Images of Hollie Gazzard with Asher Maslin, who stabbed her 14 times in February last year, are still view able on Miss Gazzard’s Facebook profile. Nick Gazzard said the nine pictures were causing distress and attempts to have them removed had failed. Facebook told the BBC it was unable to help in this circumstance.
BBCOnline 26/10/2015
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ITV’s violent new teatime drama sees a man beaten to death… but the show’s writer mocks worried parents with foul-mouthed jibe
Twisted monsters, vicious murders, brutal torture and even a family burned alive in their home – it is hardly family-friendly viewing. But all of this can be found in just the first episode of Jekyll and Hyde which is set to broadcast on ITV in the pre-9pm watershed slot of 6.30pm. The show’s writer said ‘**** them’ to concerns parents might be worried about the content and claimed TV had to push boundaries because the internet had desensitised children to violence.
The remarks angered campaigners. Vivienne Pattison, of Mediawatch-UK, said: ‘I think it does show a lack of respect for the audience, telling them to f-off. We know children are seeing media that isn’t age-appropriate but that doesn’t justify it. At that point we might as well just throw our hands in the air and say “whatever” and that isn’t an acceptable attitude because we want to protect our children.
MailOnline 24/10/2015
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Dear old people: why should I turn off my phone?
Last week in assembly we were told about the art of letter writing. And when my teacher was reminiscing about how she wrote letters when she was our age, she had an undertone of bitterness towards how we send texts instead of letters nowadays. And this made me realise that this is not an uncommon opinion towards my generation, and I am not sure that is quite fair.
Telegraph 23/10/2015
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TalkTalk cyber-attack: Boss ‘very sorry for security breach’
The head of TalkTalk says she is “very sorry” for the frustration and worry caused to customers after a major cyber-attack on the firm on Wednesday. The phone and broadband provider said personal and banking details of up to four million customers may have been accessed in the “significant” attack. Chief executive Dido Harding said the company had been working through the night to try to contact all customers. TalkTalk said it was too early to know exactly who had been affected. “I’m very sorry for all the frustration, worry and concern this will inevitably be causing all of our customers,” Ms Harding told BBC News.
BBC News Online 23/10/2015
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TalkTalk hack: What should I do?
Telecoms provider TalkTalk is investigating a “significant and sustained cyber-attack” on its website in which some of its customer data may have been accessed. The phone and broadband provider said it was too early to know what data had been stolen. Unfortunately, many attackers target the vulnerable in the wake of a big cyber-attack, trying to trick them into handing over more of their personal information. So what can you do to try to protect yourself from danger?
BBC News Online 23/10/2015
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Sesame Street introduces new character who has autism
The newest Sesame Street character, Julia, is a little girl who also has autism. The Sesame Workshop says she is being introduced as part of a campaign to take the stigma away from the disorder. They also hope Julia will help those who are dealing with autism.
BBC Newsbeat 22/10/2015
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Disney to launch Netflix video streaming rival in UK
Disney is to launch its own subscription-based video streaming service in the UK. Disney Life will feature many of the company’s films, music, books and television programmes in a single app. However films from its Star Wars and Marvel franchises will be absent at launch. The service will mount a challenge to rival services like Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Now TV.
BBCOnline 22/10/2015
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YouTube to launch subscription service
YouTube is to launch a subscription service offering original, exclusive videos - including feature-length films starring high-profile vloggers. Initially only available in the US, YouTube Red will cost $9.99 (£6.50) a month and have no adverts. PewDiePie, Rooster Teeth and Lilly Singh are among the well-known names involved. Analysts suggested it could be difficult to turn millions of fans who expect free access to pay up. “It’s great to see YouTube offer an alternative to an ad-only model,” said Brian Blau, an analyst with Gartner. “Consumers want choice and options.”
BBC News Online 21/10/2015
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Three hours a day on social media ‘is as bad for children as being bullied’: Youngsters much more likely to be anxious or depressed if they spend long periods online
Heavy use of social media is as bad for children as bullying or a troubled home, an official report said yesterday. It found that youngsters who browsed the internet for more than three hours a day were much more likely to be anxious or depressed. The study – by the Office for National Statistics – adds to a large body of research showing a negative association between screen time and mental wellbeing.
It said the evidence showed that: ‘Children who spend more time on computers, watching TV and playing video games tend to experience higher levels of emotional distress, anxiety and depression.
The Daily Mail 21/10/2015
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BBC does not crowd out competitors, report says
The BBC does not “crowd out” rival TV channels or local newspapers, according to a report released by the BBC Trust. In a recent green paper, the government questioned whether licence fee-funded programmes and websites have a negative impact on commercial media companies. The BBC Trust asked accountants KPMG to examine whether that was the case.
The report said the recession and rise in internet usage - rather than the BBC’s local news websites - have hurt local newspaper revenues since 2007. In recent years, newspaper publishers have criticised the scale of the corporation’s online news presence, saying it amounts to unfair competition.
BBC News Online 21/10/2015
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Naked ‘tombstoning’ advert for Hostelworld banned in UK
Ads showing people jumping off a cliff into an open water pool have been banned in the UK following complaints they condoned the potentially deadly activity of tombstoning. The two TV ads and a cinema ad for Hostelworld.com drew 20 complaints from viewers that the footage of young adults leaping naked into the pool in Mexico depicted tombstoning, which could result in serious injury or death.
The Guardian 21/10/2015
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Your online pornography browsing history could be made public… because of your Facebook account
Your online pornography browsing history could be made public thanks to your FACEBOOK account, an expert has warned. Brett Thomas, a software engineer, wrote this week on his blog that teenagers who want to wreak havoc would easily be able to set up websites that share your online history by exploiting simple security loopholes. All users would have to do is type in your Facebook name, and your browsing history - even if you’ve taken security measures such as going into ‘Incognito’ mode - will be exposed.
Mr Thomas said: “If you are watching/viewing porn online in 2015, even in Incognito mode, you should expect that at some point your porn viewing history will be publicly released and attached to your name.”
Mirror 20/10/2015
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Revealed: One in three women admit they watch porn at least once a week - and most say they use their cell phones to view the X-rated footage
Men aren’t the only ones with a porn habit - as one in three women admit to watching X-rated videos at least once a week - and many confess that they are using their cell phones to view it. British photographer Amanda de Cadenet, 43, teamed up with Marie Claire to create a comprehensive survey exploring modern women’s relationships with porn - and the results indicate that the majority of female porn fans are viewing the erotic videos alone, for their own pleasure, rather than with a partner. ‘Using porn to cultivate one’s own sexual agency is very different from what we often hear: that women feel threatened by it or watch it reluctantly in order to please their partner,’ Amanda explained.
The Daily Mail 20/10/2015
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EE unveils new tablet for children with parental controls
EE has unveiled a new tablet that is designed especially for children, including built-in children’s entertainment as well as parental controls that limit internet access. The new tablet, which is called the Robin, comes with security software called Kurio that runs on top of the Android operating system, which filters out inappropriate content that could be accessed on other devices. The telecoms firm says the aim is to give parents the ability to monitor their child’s internet use more easily, while fulfilling an increasing demand for tablets among the younger generation. According to new research from ICM, more than a third of parents are considering buying a tablet for their child.
Press Association 20/10/2015
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Playboy’s big cover-up is anything but a victory for women
Last week, Playboy magazine announced that it would no longer be featuring naked women in its pages. When it comes to pornography, the internet has stolen the magazine’s audience – so forgive me for not jumping with glee at the decision. This is no victory for feminism. This is a warning that the proliferation of pornography is one of the most pressing and urgent cultural battles of our time. Girls and boys, women and men, are living in a culture saturated with pornography. The insidious reach of pornography is not limited to the internet.
Pornography has sexualised mainstream culture and media. Bare-breasted women are splashed across the Daily Star newspaper, while men surrounded by “pussy” rap about violent sex in chart-topping music videos. The Blurred Lines single, which has been banned from some educational institutions for apparently glorifying rape, was one of the bestselling singles of all time, with sales of 14.8m in 2013. The moral of the story is: sex has always been used to sell, now it seems rape makes sales soar.
The Guardian 19/10/2015
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Your porn browsing history could soon be available for all the world to see
If you’ve never looked up porn then don’t worry, you have absolutely nothing to be concerned about. Nothing to see here, no sir. But if on the other hand you have ever been known to browse for some adult entertainment, you could be the next target for hackers. The warning comes from software engineer Brett Thomas, who said on his blog: ‘If you are watching/viewing porn online in 2015, even in Incognito mode, you should expect that at some point your porn viewing history will be publicly released and attached to your name.’
Metro 18/10/2015
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Would YOU track your child’s every move? Three very sceptical mums test £80 GPS watch on their kids
Watching children becoming independent is just part of parenthood, but for many mothers it is fraught with worry. Now a new gadget by Moochies aims to help calm parents’ nerves when their offspring take their first journeys on their own, by tracking children’s every move and giving them the option to call their kids in case of emergency. So is this a saving grace that will ensure youngsters’ safety or an Orwellian act of over-protectiveness? FEMAIL asked three mothers to put the gizmo to their test…
The Daily Mail 18/10/2015
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Police warn parents over Facebook pictures of children
A German police force has warned parents against posting photographs of their children to Facebook publicly. The pictures could be copied and altered by paedophiles or simply prove embarrassing to the children in later life, Hagen Police said, in a message on their own Facebook page. Parents were advised to ensure that privacy settings allowed only their Facebook friends to view the photos. The advice has been shared nearly 200,000 times.
BBC News Online 16/10/2015
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There is a “very strong argument” for banning adverts for junk food before TV watershed
There is a “very strong argument” for banning adverts for junk food before the TV watershed, the Scottish Health Secretary said. Shona Robison said ministers at Holyrood had been calling for “some years” for adverts for unhealthy food and drink to only be allowed to be shown after 9pm, when young children are less likely to be watching television. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health wants junk food adverts to be taken off the screens before 9pm.
The Herald Scotland 15/10/2015
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Hyatt hotels scraps on-demand pornographic movies as demand drops
Hyatt Hotels will no longer offer on-demand pornographic movies in its rooms, the company said on Wednesday. “This content will not be introduced to any new Hyatt hotels, and it will be discontinued or phased out at all hotels,” the company said. Hyatt is the latest hotel company to remove on-demand adult entertainment from its rooms.
Guardian 15/10/2015
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Ofcom to take on regulation of video-on-demand services
Video-on-demand services including Channel 4’s All4 and Sky’s Now TV will be regulated by broadcast and communications regulator Ofcom. Currently TV-like services delivered over the internet are regulated by a separate body authorised by Ofcom, the Authority for Television On Demand (ATVOD), which follows similar rules. These rules will still apply, but be overseen by Ofcom.
The change, which will come into force in January will mean more resources are available to cover video-on-demand issues. However, taking on ATVOD’s responsibilities is unlikely to mean a significantly increased workload for Ofcom, as ATVOD only covers TV-like services based in the UK, such as those run by UK broadcasters and smaller niche services. Most of the body’s work to date has concerned adult content.
Guardian 14/10/2015
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Ofcom brings regulation of ‘video-on-demand’ in-house
The regulation of ‘video-on-demand’ programme services is being brought fully within Ofcom to sit alongside its regulation of broadcast content. The move follows an Ofcom review to ensure regulation of broadcast and on-demand content remains as effective and efficient as possible for the benefit of consumers, audiences and industry. The review included the current co-regulatory arrangements for video-on-demand services. These can include catch-up TV and on-demand services on the TV and the internet. Ofcom designated the Authority for Television On Demand (ATVOD) in 2010 as a co-regulator to take the lead in regulating editorial content for video-on-demand services.
Ofcom 14/10/2015
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Video game use linked to worse GCSEs, study suggests
Children who play video games twice a day are less likely to achieve five good GCSE grades, a study suggests. The National Children’s Bureau Northern Ireland research involved more than 600 14 to 16-year-olds from 2012-14. It found 41% of children who used portable gaming devices at least twice a day achieved at least five GCSE A* to C grades, compared with 77% of those who used them less than once a week. The research does not establish why this might be the case.
BBCOnline 13/10/2015
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Why Playboy’s going prudish: It was the magazine that brought sex into the open. Sixty years on, it’s banning nudes - a victim of the porn culture it helped create
How do you explain to anyone who is young today how sexually repressed, monochrome, uptight, judgmental, narrow-minded, earnest and fundamentally furtive the Fifties were? It’s impossible. Unable, and unwilling, to compete with the galaxies of porn available on the internet, where every imaginable sexual position is brutally available for any boy with a smartphone, 89-year-old Hugh Hefner has decided that from March next year there will be no more nudity in Playboy. Whether he’s happy with that, we don’t know. He holds only a 30 per cent stake in his creation, and the magazine itself hasn’t made money for years, with its U.S. sales down to 800,000 a month. Indeed, most of the Playboy income comes from licensing its brand for bath products, clothing and other merchandising. In all likelihood, it was probably a decision forced on him. Advertisers, it seems, no longer want their products appearing in a girly, if slightly old-fashioned, magazine. Strange to think that Hugh Hefner, the anti-establishment figure who took on the prudes of America, should now be seen as old-fashioned.
The Daily Mail 13/10/2015
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Tech companies urged to protect young from dangers of excessive screen time
Technology firms risk repeating the mistakes of tobacco companies if they fail to take responsibility for the threats that their products and services pose to young people’s mental health. This provocative claim comes from a thinktank which wants the firms to establish guidelines for the recommended daily use of their technology. It is made in Screened Out, a report to be published on Thursday by the Strategic Society Centre (SSC), which says smartphone manufacturers and online social networking sites need to consider how young people are affected by their businesses – and potentially redesign their products and services accordingly.
Guardian 10/10/2015
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Key trends to watch from Mipcom: social TV, virtual reality and remaking classics
If you had a pound for every time an executive said “this is a golden age of television” at the Mipcom industry conference in Cannes, you could probably finance the next series of House of Cards yourself. Beyond the cliches, though, the annual event offers a snapshot of the uneasy relationship between the TV and tech industries, and what it might mean for our viewing habits.
Broadcasters were optimistic. “For us as an industry, and particularly for us as content creators, we have never had it so good,” said Sophie Turner Laing, boss of production group Endemol Shine. “Maybe TV was a little late in coming to the digital party, but let’s face it, it wouldn’t be a good party without us.” Tech firms, even those that pride themselves on being friendly partners to the TV business, delivered warnings. “TV is facing some of its greatest challenges,” said Twitter executive Dan Biddle. “How the industry reacts to those challenges in the next few years will affect how the audience experiences TV for many, many years to come.”
The Guardian 9/10/2015
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Under fives spend almost SEVEN hours a day watching TV says survey
Britain is raising a generation of gogglebox addicts as a study reveals under fives spend almost seven hours a day watching TV. And parents are to blame for using the screen as a babysitter to keep the kids quiet while they get on with chores or grab some “me time”. According to research, more than three quarters of mums and dads said they did not limit or monitor the amount of time their pre-school kids spent watching telly. And they revealed Netflix and cartoons were the youngsters’ must-see channels with the average daily viewing time six hours and 48 minutes.
The Daily Mirror 8/10/2015
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Geena Davis: Gender parity on screen can be changed overnight
At the rate of recent growth, it will take 700 years for women’s representation in the media to reach gender equality. That’s not good enough for Geena Davis, the Oscar-winning American actress and founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. “I don’t think it’s going to take 700 years for this change to happen. From what I’ve seen we’re going to be able to take off both the zeros and move the needle very soon,” she said today at her Institute’s first international symposium, presented in London during the BFI London Film Festival in collaboration with the BFI and WFTV.
“The ratio of male and female characters has been exactly the same since 1946,” she lamented of male roles outnumbering females by three to one in most children’s film and TV shows. Davis noted that this is a global issue across society. For example, it’s hard to change overnight the fact that only 17% of business leaders are women, but it’s easier and quicker to change female representation on screen…”The change must be immediate and dramatic,” she said.
Screen Daily 8/10/2015
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BBC to screen live e-sports tournament
The BBC is to stream live coverage of a major e-gaming contest for the first time. BBC Three will show highlights of the quarter-finals of the League of Legends World Championships on its website. The event, at Wembley Stadium next week, will be presented by BBC Radio 1 DJ Dev Griffin. League of Legends is an online role-playing battle game played by some 27 million users every day, according to US developers Riot Games.
BBC News Online 8/10/2015
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Google speeds up news article downloads on mobile devices
Dozens of leading news organisations, including the BBC, are taking part in a scheme that will allow their web-based articles to load more quickly on smartphones and tablets. Leaders of the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) initiative promise that the stripped-back versions of the pages will be “lightning fast” to load. The move has been led by Google, which is providing use of its servers. Participants believe it may discourage the use of ad-blocking plug-ins. AMP works by simplifying the technical underpinnings of the pages involved. Much of the Javascript code used on normal webpages is absent, meaning articles should not only appear faster but use less battery power.
BBC New Online 8/10/2015
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Playing on tablets can make toddlers more creative
THE MAJORITY of children under the age of five with access to a tablet can swipe the screen, trace shapes with their fingers, move between different programmes and turn the device on and off without any help, a new study has found. New research published today suggests that playing on certain apps on a hand held computer can boost a toddler or young child’s creativity but others are less beneficial. And the study, which involved Sheffield University, also found that in households with tablets almost a third of children under the age of five already have their own device.
The Yorkshire Post 6/10/2015
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ASA bans Strongbow ad for suggesting alcohol as important as relationship
A YouTube ad for Heineken-owned Strongbow cider has been banned for implying that alcohol is as important in life as having a relationship. The ad was based around a spoof awards ceremony with a winning category called “best Strongbow as my other half”, and showed a picture of winner Carl holding up a can of Strongbow in front of his face. In a message read out on Carl’s behalf accepting the award he praised Strongbow as his “other half”. “I love you,” he said. “I’ve loved you since the first day I met ya. And I always will do. My dear Strongbow.”
The Guardian 6/10/2015
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Third of pre-school children have their own iPad, says study
A third of pre-school children in the UK have their own iPad or a similar tablet that they use for an average of one hour and 19 minutes every weekday, often on their own without a parent or guardian, according to research. The study found that in households that have tablets, 31% of children aged five and under have their own tablet; among even the youngest children ownership is widespread with a quarter of those under three having a tablet of their own.
Researchers are now calling for further support and guidance for parents, and are proposing “family digital literacy programmes” in early years settings and schools, to help parents support their children’s use of apps and tablets.
The Guardian 6/10/2015
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EU Court Says Data-Transfer Pact With U.S. Violates Privacy
The European Union’s highest court on Tuesday struck down a trans-Atlantic data pact used by thousands of firms to transfer Europeans’ personal data to the U.S., throwing into jeopardy data traffic that underpins the world’s largest trading relationship. In a victory for privacy advocates, the European Court of Justice ruled that national regulators in the EU can override the 15-year-old “Safe Harbor” pact used by around 4,500 companies, including Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc., because it violates the privacy rights of Europeans by exposing them to allegedly indiscriminate surveillance by the U.S. government.
The Wall Street Journal 6/10/2015
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Facing a strong backlash, person-rating app Peeple seemingly vanishes
The online presence of the widely lampooned purported app Peeple, which apparently allows people to rate individuals, has been pulled from the Internet. As of Monday, its website has been removed, as have its Facebook and Twitter accounts. Meanwhile, the company’s Instagram account has been set to private as of Sunday. Its previous YouTube videos have also been yanked except for one, released on Saturday, entitled “Peeple Watching Ep11 - Viral & Global in 24 Hours.” It features the company’s cofounder, Julia Cordray, essentially congratulating herself on garnering so much media attention. Cordray did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment.
Ars Technica.com 6/10/2015
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Social media companies ‘undermining’ terror investigations
Counter-terrorism investigations are being “undermined” by social media companies which do not co-operate fully with police, the UK’s most senior counter-terrorism officer has said. Mark Rowley, from the Met, said some firms had told suspects when police had requested their communications data. He said social media companies were effectively providing terrorists with a “safe operating environment”. The way some behaved would not be tolerated in other sectors, he said.
BBC News Online 5/10/2015
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CBeebies called on to help the government tackle child obesity by saying ‘chips are bad’ on TV
Children’s shows on the BBC should tell youngsters that chips are bad, the Health Secretary said yesterday. Jeremy Hunt said it is shameful that one in five children leave primary school obese and he highlighted the ‘very close correlation’ between social class and child health. Mr Hunt warned it is a ‘national disgrace’ that 10 per cent of children aged seven to 11 are becoming clinically obese, adding this could dent their self-confidence and academic performance.
Mr Hunt said traditional Conservative wariness about the ‘nanny state’ should not apply when it comes to children and said he believes the Government could be more draconian over child health. He called on broadcasters to use the CBeebies channel, for children aged up to six, to issue healthy eating messages during programmes and tackle the ‘national disgrace’ of child obesity.
The Daily Mail 5/10/2015
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BBC sees danger of losing young viewers distracted by devices
The BBC is worrying less about competition from over-the-top (OTT) streaming-video service like Netflix, and more about the danger of losing the attention of young viewers distracted by their devices, according to director of audiences, Nick North. “What we’re thinking about is OTT: is this a threat to TV, is Netflix a threat to TV? No it isn’t. It represents a small part of what people want from TV,” said North, speaking on a panel at the Mipcom conference in Cannes. “But social will grow and become the primary activity: the kid sitting there with the TV on, but they’re on their [mobile] screen. So it’s where the attention lies from screen to screen.”
The Guardian 5/10/2015
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BBC ‘should have told’ viewers of doctored volcano video
A volcano eruption shown on a BBC Two programme actually used footage from two different volcanoes taken four years apart, the corporation has said. The eruption of the Calbuco volcano in Chile in April was shown in the first episode of Patagonia: Earth’s Secret Paradise last month. But a dramatic lightning storm seen above the volcano was actually shot at a different location in 2011.
The BBC said viewers should have been told a “composite image” was used. The programme showed a violent “dirty thunderstorm”, in which lightning strikes are seen within the ash clouds from an erupting volcano. In a blog post, the show’s producer Tuppence Stone said such events could be difficult to capture on film and so “it requires special techniques to reveal and portray their true extraordinary nature”.
BBC News Online 4/10/2015
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Rise of ad-blockers shows advertising does not understand mobile, say experts
Everyone hates mobile ads – even advertisers. In the midst of the advertising industry’s annual summit in New York last week, agency directors, media buyers and other ad-world professionals were up in arms about ad-blocking software expanding and improving beyond their capability to defeat it. Many admitted they have no one to blame but themselves. As executives prepared to descend on Manhattan for Advertising Week, there was one topic of conversation: Apple had just made ad-blocking mainstream.
The company’s shiny new mobile operating system, iOS 9, allows anyone using an iPhone to cut out ads, taking a bite out of the $31.9bn mobile ad market, not long ago touted as the savior of the publishing industry. But don’t shoot the message-blockers, said Constantine Kamaras, chairman of the board of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Europe. They aren’t the real problem.
The Guardian 3/10/2015
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Amazon bars the sale of Apple and Google TV devices
Amazon is to stop selling video-streaming TV devices from Google and Apple because they don’t “interact well” with its own media service. The online retailer said it had made the decision to avoid “customer confusion” and the devices will be removed from sale by 29 October. Amazon wants to sell products that work with its in-house streaming video service known as Prime Video. Prime Video is not available on Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast. But it can be watched via an app on Apple and Android smartphones and tablets.
Amazon said along with its own Fire TV, it will continue to sell other companies’ devices that are compatible with Prime Video. These include Microsoft’s Xbox, and Sony’s Playstation.
BBC News Online 2/10/2015
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Peeple app for rating human beings causes uproar
A new app that promises to let users review individuals has caused controversy before it has even launched. Peeple will allow members to give star ratings to people they know via the app, much as restaurants and hotels are rated on sites such as Yelp. The app has caused uproar online, with web users describing it as “creepy” and “terrifying”. Peeple’s founders say they will pre-screen for negative abuse. However, users will not be able to delete comments made about them. Nor will they be able to remove themselves from the site once on it.
BBC News Online 1/10/2015
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Teen romance usually digitally enhanced, says US study
Technology plays a key role in teenage romance from initial encounters to eventual break-ups, says a US study. Teenagers rarely meet online but do use technology for flirting, asking out, meeting up and parting, American think tank, the Pew Research Center, found. A survey of 1,060 US teenagers aged 13 to 17 revealed that technology brings them closer but also breeds jealousy. “Digital platforms are powerful tools for teens,” said Amanda Lenhart, lead author of the report from Pew. “But even as teens enjoy greater closeness with partners and a chance to display their relationships for others to see, mobile and social media can also be tools for jealousy, meddling and even troubling behaviour.”
BBC News Online 1/10/2015
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