BBC Trust to open up on star salaries

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment_and_arts/10468055.stm

Hmmm, from a business point of view, do you really want to let your rivals know just what you are paying contractors, which I’d think 99.9% of actors, performers, presenters and such like would be in the professional relationship between the parties involved?

But then on the other side, agents who may have been screwing the BBC and ITV for years over their ‘stars’ might have to adopt a different approach in the future to get the best possible deal for themselves, sorry their clients, no matter what TV station they would have a golden handcuffs deal with.

It strikes me that the BBC Trust is worried about the intentions of the new coalition government to both the BBC as an entity and OFCOM, the regulator of communications in Britain and are firing first with openness and transparency before the government imposes something totally different on them.

The Finale, Doctor Who, Initial Thoughts, Spoilers!

Well, Steven Moffatt threw the kitchen sink at the end of episode 12, The Pandorica Opens, but didn’t need that flippantry in the finale episode.  Even the Stone Dalek that strangely suited the new design extremely well fitted into a plot jam packed and fast moving but with everything making perfect sense.  This Doctor, the raggady Doctor, who lived this raggady life, dotted in and out of time throughout.

Some of the episodes have been hit and miss, but the positive count outweighs the minor problems.  The series has shown the broad stories that it can do and at least two, tonight and Vincent and the Doctor, outright classics.

Can’t wait for more.

Plans for the Pass The Remote Podcast

These are still ongoing, but it all depends on my own personal situation, which is being sorted out as I go.

One of the things I want to do above all else is encourage ‘listener participation’, and I suppose as the Podcast will be Television focused, a little ‘viewer participation’ too.

With a Podcast, you are only really fixed to the size of the file, with the right encoding, a lot more minutes can be included in a sizeable, yet fair, Podcast and it still sounds fine.  I want a Podcast that encompasses a lot of Television that people watch, and that perhaps I don’t.  It can be freeform for an hour, going by the interactions of others, and then focused for another hour or two.  All time is relative though, as the good Doctor says.

The iPhone

A little off topic this, but the iPhone is fast becoming a superb tool for citizen journalism. I use a 3G, so it’s not as well endowed as some of the later ones, like the 3Gs or the 4, but with it is such an amazing array of software, given free with the phone to help.

Voice Memo – very useful and high gain at times for recording interviews, meetings and even streetscapes. I did something like this the other week which I will include here shortly.

Photo – OK it’s a basic 1 or 2 Megapixel camera but it’s certainly enough for outside stuff, which is what most citizen journos want.

There are obviously other bits of software you can purchase from the iTunes store to help, but the fact that the phone serves theses purposes so well is enough for me.

Sorry for the blatant iPhone ad, but it’s a phone to really evangelise over.

Axes and Returns?

So Heartbeat has finally got the axe from ITV tonight, according to Digital Spy.  They have about 5,000 odd episodes already in the can so to speak so I’m sure it will last until the next millennium.

An intriguing other news item tonight from the same site suggests that Gene Hunt could return in another series – with Hunt’s policing focusing on modern life as opposed to the 1970s and 1980s.  Possibly flogging a dead Audi Quattro, but it might just work.

Thames TV Tribute Site

Just a plug for a site I’ve found today – http://www.thames-tv.com/ which covers the great ITV London station Thames Television in some depth with some nice video clips too.  Great work guys.

Appointment to Who?

Been looking around the forums today who are arguing the toss about the latest Doctor Who rating for last nights episode, The Lodger, which the overnight figure is 4.6m.

Heres a post I made to one that sums up my feelings about it:

No show is appointment viewing any more, bar the soaps due to the fact that if you miss one you are scuppered for the next episode.

The reason for that is because of PVRs, time-shifting and iPlayer. Audiences don’t want to be patronised (in a good sense) by a schedule that doesn’t fit in with themselves. Technology has allowed them to pick and choose when to watch a programme to fit in with their lifestyle and Doctor Who is now a lifestyle programme as opposed to one that you have to book an appointment with your TV and BBC1 to see, particularly the fact that it’s scheduled at a time when people are either coming back from a day’s outing or getting ready to go out for the evening.

ITV Blunder Number 338328383283

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/world-of-sport/article/6184/

So for those who have invested in the full HD experience, the Sky HD+ or Freesat or whatever, a blunder at Network Control led to an incident where instead of seeing Steven Gerrard score a 4th minute goal to put England 1-0 up against the USA, they got an advert instead.

Maybe BP have been put in charge of ITV’s engineering and control section?

Doctor Who – The Lodger

Quick thoughts – genuinely creepy territory with the figure at the top of the stairs, enough for a number of childhood nightmares.  Nicely plotted, with Craig and Sophie finally coming together to save the day.

Corden was tolerable, he does do this pleasant young bloke type thing well, despite his reported argument with Jean-Luc Picard last week.  But I think this ‘perception filter’ thing is being done a death now… it’s a bit of a cop out to explain things and assumes that every single alien race will use that technology.

After the wonderful Vincent and the Doctor last week, nothing was ever going to beat that, but the change of pace and seeing the Doctor being forced into acting ‘English Human’ for a time was a nice touch.  The football bits were probably something you couldn’t imagine any other Doctor doing, apart from the cricketing 5th Doctor.

OBEs Awarded to Clemens and Dineage

The Queen’s birthday honours list sees Brian Clemens, the TV scriptwriter responsible for The Avengers and Fred Dineage, current presenter on Meridian Tonight but also seen on How and Gambit, both getting the Order of the British Empire gongs.