There’s been three weeks of hoo-har in the UK about television stations using Premium Rate Telephone Services (PRS) to extract income from the phone-willing programme viewer. Whole TV channels have been stopped in the process.
Ofcom has just announced that it will be carrying out an inquiry into the whole area.
It sounds like there’s going to be a few feathers ruffled. Viewers and a range of other stakeholders have raised serious concerns with Ofcom regarding apparent systematic compliance failure on the part of a number of broadcasters, whose actions appear to contravene existing consumer protection rules.
Hearing how serious this is, does give clues as to why the TV stations acted so swiftly in suspending the availability of their PRS.
Many have criticised some UK broadcasters for creating programs whose sole driver appears to be collecting as much money as possible from the viewers.
The inquiry will be led by Richard Ayre, a former Deputy Chief Executive of BBC News. He is expected to receive extensive input from the premium rate services regulator, ICSTIS, who are already investigating a number of individual cases.
The fragile relationship between TV viewer and the TV stations appears to have been damaged further by the PRS announcements over the recent weeks.
Ofcom Chief Executive, Ed Richards said: “Widespread concern about the use of premium rate telephone lines by broadcasters and editorial standards in those programmes has raised serious questions about trust between broadcasters and viewers.”
The scope of the inquiry includes
- Consumer protection issues and audiences’ attitudes to the use of PRS in television programmes;
- The benefits and risks to broadcasters in the use of PRS in programmes;
- The respective compliance and editorial responsibilities of broadcasters, producers and telecoms network operators and others involved in those programmes;
- The effectiveness of broadcasters’ and telecoms operators’ internal compliance procedures, guidelines and arrangements to ensure compliance with Ofcom and ICSTIS codes;
- The inquiry will also propose recommendations on actions necessary to restore confidence and trust.
Ayre expects to report his findings to the Ofcom Board and the Content Board by early summer.
2007 has started at quite a pace for DigiTV. We have seen unprecedented growth in usage traffic following the introduction of a new job search plugin from Job Centre Plus. 
A great shame to hear that ZipTV has had to enter receivership.
They way it worked was, as the punters were watching ‘normal’ TV and an advert from one of ZipTV’s clients was shown, a press of the Red button on the remote control (the UK standard for interaction), would take the punter away from the ‘normal’ TV show, to a dedicated TV channel. This gave the advertiser the opportunity to show an 8 minute video advert, but just pay for a 30-second spot-ad to get them there.
You see Sky, and it’s very competent employees and owner, Rupert Murdoch don’t muck around. If they see some bright young things coming along with a super wheeze they will drain their income – it will get their attention – and not in a good, cuddly way.
Web browser company Opera today announce they’re bring their Web browser with AJAX support to chips for use in Consumer Electronics (CE) applications.
They’ve been putting their browsers on different platforms for a while, like the 
Clearly looking to tread on Intel’s toes, Sigma say the SMP8630 family of chipsets can be used in digital media adapters, IPTV set-top boxes and networked DVD players that OEM’s may want to build.
We’re sure you, dear reader, know what AJAX is, but just incase – it stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. This translates to being able to use a Web browser more like a computer-based application. 
The most often cited example is Google’s Gmail. 
The BBC is hoping to get Dr Who fans reaching for their red buttons en masse with a video-rich interactive TV application scheduled to run straight after the airing of the Christmas Day special (7:00PM GMT).
It looks that the BBC has invested muchos cash into the venture, employing live-action video and “state-of-the-art” special effects produced at the high end visual effects studio, The Mill. 
Produced in Cardiff by BBC New Media and BBC Wales, producer Sophie Fante commented, “Attack of the Graske gives the viewer the unique opportunity to immerse themselves fully in the world of Doctor Who.” 
We can’t wait to watch this latest installment of the highly rated Dr Who series and are hoping to witness another kind of winter wonderland the day after when the mighty Cardiff City FC take on Plymouth.
In a sure sign that TV to the mobile is the new European media battleground, 3G mobile operator 3 Italia have announced its plans to purchase the Italian national broadcaster, Canale 7. Reports have put the price of the acquisition at between €30-35m. 
The company intends to offer a DVB-H mobile TV service from the second half of 2006. Indications are that there will be a minimum of 20 channels, although no line up has yet been decided. 3 Italia already carries Playboy adult entertainment and football via existing technology, and has worked with Mediaset and News Corp’s Sky Italia pay-TV operator. 
A project starting early next year in East London hopes to bridge the digital divide by broadband-enabling a number of housing estates.
Happily, this project is focused on the original residents, not the ones who live in the £1/2m flats – sorry, apartments.
Additional services include a Health channel allowing patients to book GP appointments, provide virtual consultations and on-line health and diagnosis information; a Consumer Channel, allowing on-line group buying of common services such as gas, electricity and mobile phone tariffs; and an Employment Channel, providing on-line NVQ courses, local jobs Websites and virtual interview mentoring.
BBC Three viewers will be able to schedule their own Sunday night viewing in a pioneering multi-screen application trial starting on 1 May 2005. 
Emma Somerville, the BBC’s Head of Interactive Programming, added: “Interactive TV can really help our audiences engage with the BBC’s TV channels.” 
MTV in Germany has been demonstrating an interactive TV portal that combines satellite and broadband services. 
MTV is using Alticast for the technical implementation and broadcast of the interactive service. 
The opening page (example right) has a video background running on the right and a small number of highlighted options on the left hand side. The layout and links on this page change throughout the day, to match the audience that they think will be looking at it. Currently changing twice it will feature items like horoscopes and lifestyles links during the day and betting and dating in the evening.
Another way to access the content is via a mosaic layout (example right). This shows a checkerboard of 16 video pieces running on loops. As the viewer uses their remote control to navigate between the videos, bring it in to focus, the audio channel associated with that video loop plays. This short-form video programming is designed to draw people in to the interactive content that lies behind and on pressing the Select key takes them to the content.