BBC accused of wasting millions on props, costumes and catering

The BBC is wasting millions of pounds of licence payers' money every year by dealing with more than 17,000 suppliers, a committee of MPs warns today.
The Commons public accounts committee attacks the BBC for the expensive way it procures some £531m of equipment every year, when savings could be made by using more central contracts.
The equipment covers everything from make-up, props, costumes and stage scenery to audio-visual aids and studio cameras. It also includes catering, office stationery, market research, security contracts , and courier services.
The committee's report reveals that a new central electronic purchasing system has failed to cut costs as much as had been hoped. The system - which cost the BBC £150,000 a year to install across 4,500 computers - allowed staff to make purchases online.
But licences on about 2,000 machines were never used and some 780 staff have now been removed from the system because it was costing more to license them to use it than any savings they were making.
The system cut the cost of placing orders from £38 to £6. However, the BBC spent more than £200m on buying equipment outside the system, through local deals, and it made almost 38,000 individual purchases from suppliers with which it had no central contract.
The MPs' report says the BBC may be on target to save £75m over three years but questions whether the savings are as high as claimed. It points out that a 4.8% cut in temporary procurement staff to cut the total bill by £2.5m came a year after the BBC had doubled its spending on temporary staff from £26.3m to £52.8m. The BBC blamed exceptional circumstances, including hiring technical staff to set up the new iPlayer for TV programmes for that year's steep rise in staff costs.
Edward Leigh, the committee's chairman, said: "I welcome the finding that the BBC is on course to hit its own target of saving a total of £75m over three years in respect of its spending on goods and services. A closer analysis reveals, however, that the percentage savings were lowest in the areas where the BBC spends the most. There is a lot more that the BBC can do to trim its procurement bill. It should make sure that its staff are fully aware that buying under central contracts can save a lot of money. It should look for further opportunities to use electronic auctions so that potential suppliers can compete online for business."
A BBC Trust spokesman said: "The BBC is committed to achieving the highest levels of efficiency to deliver licence fee payers value for money. To that end, we have already accepted the [National Audit Office's] specific recommendations to improve processes further in order to deliver even more savings and will review carefully the additional recommendations made today by the PAC."

'Too loud' TV ads to be banned

The days of having to dive for the remote control to turn down noisy TV commercials look to be numbered, with new rules set to be introduced banning excessively loud ads.

Guidelines on sound levels will be introduced into the TV advertising code on July 7, stating that "advertisements must not be excessively noisy or strident".

The move to tighten rules governing the sounds levels in TV ads comes after the Advertising Standards Authority received more than 100 complaints in 2007 from viewers complaining that some commercials were too loud.

"Often the problem arises because the audio files used in the ads have been compressed, making quieter sounds more pronounced or 'punchy'," said the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice, the body responsible for writing the TV ad code.

"The result is that ads can sound subjectively louder than the programmes around which they appear."

To guard against this the new BCAP guidelines will state, specifically, that the "maximum subjective loudness of advertisements must be consistent and in line with the maximum loudness of programmes and junction material".

The body has held a full public consultation on the issue with the aim for the new rules to "provide more certainty for broadcasters" and minimise the annoyance "that can be caused to viewers".

"BCAP were acutely aware of the frustration that excessively loud or seemingly noisy ads were causing consumers," said a spokesman for the Committee for Advertising Practice.
"The consultation has taken account of their concerns and will ensure a level playing field across all ads in the same commercial break. This should help prevent consumers having to turn down the volume during ad breaks."

Sky subscribers near 9 million

This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Wednesday April 30 2008. It was last updated at 08:32 on April 30 2008.

Satellite group BSkyB added 56,000 new customers in the first quarter of 2008 to take its customer base to almost 9 million.

It was the best performance in the new year quarter, a traditionally slack time for sales, for three years.

Sky now has a total of 8,888,000 pay-TV customers in the UK and Ireland, keeping it on track to hit 10 million by 2010.

The company said that it had signed up another 262,000 customers to its personal video recorder service Sky+, putting it in 3,393,000 households, or 38% of its overall base.
Sky Broadband customer numbers were up 229,000 to reach 1,428,000 at the end of March, less than two years after the service was launched.

The company aims to have 3 million broadband customers, or 30% of its subscriber base, by 2010.

Sky said it added 43,000 high-definition subscribers, taking its tally to 465,000 at the end of March. Its Sky Talk telephone business grew by 180,000 to 1,095,000.
Churn, a measure of how many customers left the service, was 10.5%, while Arpu - average revenue per user - hit a record £424.

The company reported a loss of £118m over the nine months to the end of March, factoring in a £474m impairment resulting from the fall in the value of its 17.9% stake in ITV.
This impairment charge included £131m added in the January and March quarter to reflect the continuing decline in ITV's share price.

Sky bought its shares in November 2006 at 135p, more than double the stock's closing price last night of 64.4p.

Sky also reported that revenues were up 10% over the same period to £3.706bn, while its operating profit for the period was £504m, down 18% on last year.

1950's

-First broadcast from the house of commons
-Colour television introduced in the US
-The adventures of robin hood
-TV broadcasters begin to make more than radio broadcasters
-Festival of Britian
-Television takes advertising from newspapers
-TV begins to affect movie attendance
-TV's development forces radio to use music format
-Cable television systems begins

1960's

- Kennedy elected president
-Coronation Street begins
-Mariyln Monroe found dead
-JFK assassinated
-Top of the Pops lauches
-BBC2 launches
- England win world cup
-Man lands on moon
-Hitchcocoks ‘Pyscho’ thriller shocks the audience
-'The Sound of Music' released and becomes known as one of the best musicals of all time
-Martin Luther King Jr. Makes His "I Have a Dream" Speech
-Beatles become popular
-Networks begin showing movies during prime time
-Colour TV becomes more common
-Film industy begins using rating system

1970's

-The Beatles split
-Newsround begins
-Fawlty towers
-Microsoft founded
-Sony introduces the walkman
-Video cassette recoreder developed
-Weekly newspaper circulation grows dramatically
-Niche magazines begin boom that continues into 1990s
-HBO (home Box Office) is first subscription cable channel

1980's

-Children in need
-Prince Charles and Princess Diana wed
-Channel 4 launches
-Eastenders begins
-Satelite TV
-Compact disk invented
-CNN(cable news Network) begins operation
-MTV begins to broadcast
-USA’s national science foundation creates basis of the internet

1990's

- The Simpsons begin
-Channel 5 launches
-Teletubbies
-Titanic the most successful film ever
-News24 launches
-Newspapers go onto the internet
-Magazines begin publishing on the internet
-Cable systems experiment with movies on demand
-Talk shows gain listeners and national attention
-Total television advertising exceeds that of newspapers

2000's

-Big Brother begins
-George Bush becomes president

-Strictly come Dancing- a huge family hit
-Footballers Wives begin

-World trade center attack
-Desperate Housewives
- Walt Disney buys Pixar Animation Studios

-ITN news channel launched

MPs attack Google's web vetting record

Google's vice-president, Kent Walker, came under fire from MPs today after admitting that his company does not employ a single person to proactively vet online content and for failing to censor a YouTube video of a gang rape.
One member of the Commons culture, media and sport committee called Walker "objectionable" after he attempted to defend the mistake by YouTube, the popular video sharing website owned by Google, over the gang rape.
Walker admitted that footage of a gang rape, reported to be of a woman in south London being set upon by a group of teenagers, received 600 page views before it was taken down from YouTube last month.
He said that the incident was "clearly a mistake on our part", adding that it was one of a "tiny, tiny number of mistakes" when the company's record on censoring inappropriate content was good.
"Once flagged, more than 50% is removed within half an hour; a large majority is removed within an hour," Walker added, giving evidence to the select committee's inquiry into harmful content on the internet and in video games.
He also drew criticism from MPs on the committee after revealing that Google did not employ anyone to proactively monitor footage on YouTube.
Walker added that he was unable to disclose how many staff were currently paid by Google to reactively monitor footage flagged up by YouTube users.
His remarks prompted one committee member, Paul Farrelly, to describe Walker's defence as "incredible" and to say: "Do you know how absurd you are sounding?"
Another MP, Adam Price, went on to describe Walker's defence of his company as "deeply objectionable". He said: "It surely shows your system is completely inadequate. How can you defend that?"
Walker replied that "no system is perfect but in most cases we do get to these incidents quickly".
He added that 600 page views did not necessarily represent 600 individual viewers and went on to resist repeated calls from the committee for all submitted content to be pre-vetted, saying it would go against the spirit of the internet and stifle creativity.
"If you tried to take that vast amount of content and pre-screen all of it, it's neither efficient nor effective and would burden the process of creativity," Walker said.
"It's not a price for us I would be concerned about but a price for the user. You do not have a policeman on every street corner to stop things from happening, you have policemen responding very quickly when things do happen," he added.
Walker said that most material is not posted on YouTube for personal gain and that innocent footage posted online, such as film of a baby's first steps, would have to be scrutinised unnecessarily and at great cost.
He also defended Google's decision to allow the Chinese government to restrict content on the search engine in China.
Walker said there was a balance to strike between meeting the demands of the Chinese government and allowing his company to operate in the country.
He added that Google was promoting "free speech" in China and that it was preferable to operate there than to be banned.
Walker said that assessing the nature of content in each country where Google operated was "incredibly complicated".
He added that in Germany images of Nazi paraphernalia would be more offensive than in other countries, while in India content criticising a figure such as Mahatma Gandhi would be deemed far more offensive than elsewhere.

eastenders complaints

The BBC has said sorry to viewers who complained about the Easter holiday episodes of EastEnders in which philanderer Max Branning was buried alive.However, the BBC staunchly defended the storyline and said it had taken "great care" to flag up the nature of the scenes in the advance publicity and pre-programme announcements.The BBC stopped short of a full apology, but said sorry to viewers who "did not enjoy" the EastEnders episodes featuring the buried-alive storyline on Good Friday and Easter Monday.Friday's scene, in which character Branning was put unconscious into a coffin by his wife Tanya and her lover, prompted 167 complaints.Viewers complained that the scene, broadcast just before 8.30pm on BBC1, should not have been shown before the 9pm watershed.Complainants also said it was inappropriate for a soap which is watched by a family audience.The BBC, in a statement on its complaints website today, said it had taken "great care to signal the nature of the content to the audience through pre-programme announcements, billings and programme publicity in order to prepare viewers for what to expect"."Whilst we appreciate that these episodes were dramatic, they were carefully filmed and edited in order that Max's ordeal was in the main implicit, rather than explicit, whilst still retaining their powerfulness. It's also important to note that Max made it out alive after Tanya realised she couldn't go through with her plan to leave him for dead," the BBC added."The burial is in no way glamorised or glorified, rather we see that when pushed to the edge, Tanya's behaviour becomes out of character, and indeed that it's Tanya herself who ultimately suffers because of her actions. Once again we are sorry that you did not enjoy these episodes."Friday's controversial episode featured Tanya, played by Jo Joyner, spiking Max's drink before driving him into Epping Forest with her lover, Sean Slater. Max, played by Jake Wood, was then buried alive in a coffin before later regaining consciousness.In its response to last Friday's episode, the BBC said: "Regular viewers will be aware that for some weeks now Tanya has been plotting her revenge against Max for his affair with Stacey, whilst at the same time lulling Max into a false sense of security, and convincing him that she has put the affair behind them."We believe the audience will have been expecting the culmination of these past few weeks to bring something particularly dramatic. Having been outsmarted by Max when she tried to deal with his adultery through the divorce courts, Tanya feels she has no option but to exact her own revenge."Given the story so far, Tanya's mode of revenge is entirely apposite; in an episode which transmitted last year, we saw Max confide in Tanya that when he was a child Jim had punished him for hanging around with some boys he disapproved of by shutting him alive in a coffin. It's an experience that clearly scarred him, and therefore - in Tanya's mind - an ideal way to wreak revenge on her husband."But one viewer said: "I know Max did a lot of horrible things, but that as a story line of getting buried alive was very inappropriate for a soap."Guardian TV critic Nancy Banks-Smith, in her review of the following episode, broadcast on Monday, commented: "Complaints to the BBC seem to be along the lines of it's-not-very-nice-to-bury-someone-alive-before-the-watershed-is-it? Personally, I think the director general should be walking to Canterbury with dried peas in his shoes."EastEnders was censured by Ofcom last month for an episode showing a gang attack the Queen Vic pub in which one of the characters went into premature labour.The media regulator said the soap had shown "sustained violence, intimidation and menace" inappropriate for a pre-watershed audience in the scene.

eastenders complaints

The BBC has said sorry to viewers who complained about the Easter holiday episodes of EastEnders in which philanderer Max Branning was buried alive.However, the BBC staunchly defended the storyline and said it had taken "great care" to flag up the nature of the scenes in the advance publicity and pre-programme announcements.The BBC stopped short of a full apology, but said sorry to viewers who "did not enjoy" the EastEnders episodes featuring the buried-alive storyline on Good Friday and Easter Monday.Friday's scene, in which character Branning was put unconscious into a coffin by his wife Tanya and her lover, prompted 167 complaints.Viewers complained that the scene, broadcast just before 8.30pm on BBC1, should not have been shown before the 9pm watershed.Complainants also said it was inappropriate for a soap which is watched by a family audience.The BBC, in a statement on its complaints website today, said it had taken "great care to signal the nature of the content to the audience through pre-programme announcements, billings and programme publicity in order to prepare viewers for what to expect"."Whilst we appreciate that these episodes were dramatic, they were carefully filmed and edited in order that Max's ordeal was in the main implicit, rather than explicit, whilst still retaining their powerfulness. It's also important to note that Max made it out alive after Tanya realised she couldn't go through with her plan to leave him for dead," the BBC added."The burial is in no way glamorised or glorified, rather we see that when pushed to the edge, Tanya's behaviour becomes out of character, and indeed that it's Tanya herself who ultimately suffers because of her actions. Once again we are sorry that you did not enjoy these episodes."Friday's controversial episode featured Tanya, played by Jo Joyner, spiking Max's drink before driving him into Epping Forest with her lover, Sean Slater. Max, played by Jake Wood, was then buried alive in a coffin before later regaining consciousness.In its response to last Friday's episode, the BBC said: "Regular viewers will be aware that for some weeks now Tanya has been plotting her revenge against Max for his affair with Stacey, whilst at the same time lulling Max into a false sense of security, and convincing him that she has put the affair behind them."We believe the audience will have been expecting the culmination of these past few weeks to bring something particularly dramatic. Having been outsmarted by Max when she tried to deal with his adultery through the divorce courts, Tanya feels she has no option but to exact her own revenge."Given the story so far, Tanya's mode of revenge is entirely apposite; in an episode which transmitted last year, we saw Max confide in Tanya that when he was a child Jim had punished him for hanging around with some boys he disapproved of by shutting him alive in a coffin. It's an experience that clearly scarred him, and therefore - in Tanya's mind - an ideal way to wreak revenge on her husband."But one viewer said: "I know Max did a lot of horrible things, but that as a story line of getting buried alive was very inappropriate for a soap."Guardian TV critic Nancy Banks-Smith, in her review of the following episode, broadcast on Monday, commented: "Complaints to the BBC seem to be along the lines of it's-not-very-nice-to-bury-someone-alive-before-the-watershed-is-it? Personally, I think the director general should be walking to Canterbury with dried peas in his shoes."EastEnders was censured by Ofcom last month for an episode showing a gang attack the Queen Vic pub in which one of the characters went into premature labour.The media regulator said the soap had shown "sustained violence, intimidation and menace" inappropriate for a pre-watershed audience in the scene.

Ban junk food advertising on internet, say campaigners

Food and drink companies should be banned from marketing unhealthy snacks and drinks to young children via new media such as social networking sites and text messaging, a coalition of international consumer groups and health bodies recommends today.

The group is urging governments to adopt a code that they say would curb the rising obesity rates among children. The code would restrict junk food marketing, including outlawing the use of cartoon characters, celebrity tie-ins, free gifts and competitions aimed at younger audiences.
The federation of consumer organisations - including the UK group Which? - wants its code to be adopted by governments as part of the World Health Organisation's broader strategy to tackle obesity and diet-related disease.

There are 177 million children worldwide threatened by obesity-related diseases. The code, which will be recommended to the WHO's decision-making body, the World Health Assembly in May, tackles the failures of the food industry to regulate itself.

Leading food, soft drink and confectionery companies spent $13bn (about £6.4bn) on advertising in 2006, the coalition says. But that excludes undisclosed sums spent on things as online games, cartoon characters and celebrity tie-ins.

Some of the world's leading food manufacturers market to children on social networking websites and internet chat programmes.

In the UK, popular brands such as McDonald's, Starburst, Haribo and Skittles have switched to the internet to target children since new rules from the media regulator Ofcom have made it difficult to advertise during children's television.

The proposed code specifically targets the marketing of foods that are poor in nutrients and high in fat, sugar and salt.

It also demands a ban on radio or TV adverts promoting unhealthy food between 6am and 9pm, any promotion of unhealthy food in schools, and the inclusion of free gifts, toys or collectable items which appeal to children to promote unhealthy foods.

Sue Davies, chief policy officer of Which? UK, said: "With rising rates of obesity and diet-related disease escalating globally, food companies need to take a more responsible approach to the way they market their foods to children, whichever part of the world they are trading in. This new code sets out the approach that we hope the WHO, national governments and the companies themselves will adopt to curb unhealthy food promotions and instead help to promote healthier messages."

The code is being launched worldwide today to mark World Consumer Rights Day. Over 50 national consumer groups will be undertaking campaign activities to highlight the damage done by junk food marketing and to urge government ministers to support the code ahead of the World Health Assembly.

Cosmo website to get glossy makeover

Cosmopolitan.co.uk: aiming to attract 500,000 unique users a month
The National Magazine Company is to relaunch Cosmopolitan magazine's website with a host of new features, including online video service Cosmo TV, with the aim of tripling visitor numbers within a year.
Cosmopolitan's online relaunch is earmarked for April 1, although it is expected that a "soft" version of cosmopolitan.co.uk will go live later this month.
The Cosmo website currently attracts around 176,000 unique users each month and the goal of the new-look website is to attract 500,000 within a year of relaunch.
A key development will be the launch of an online video channel, featuring a mixture of clips from "red carpet" events and shows as well as video made in-house by NatMags.
Duncan Edwards, the chief executive of NatMags, said that most of the content on Cosmo TV would be made in-house - including "How to…" videos such as a hair and makeup masterclass with Cosmopolitan staff. Some video content will also be acquired or licensed.
Edwards added that NatMags had looked at getting content from a third party such as VideoJug, but had decided to build its own capability in this area.
A key aim of the relaunch is to combine a better experience for readers as well as providing advertisers with new opportunities.
Cosmo TV will open the door for Hearst Digital, the new media arm of Nat Mags, to sell a range of premium-priced advertising around videos.
Stuart Flint, the Hearst Digital sales director, said that the company would offer ad options around Cosmo TV content including sponsorship, pre-roll ads, ad-funded programming for the service and, in the future, in-video ads.
The website will have a range of channels, which are also open for sponsorship, including Love and Sex, Men, Your Life and Fashion and Style.
Cosmopolitan.co.uk will also be developed to use technology platform provider Pluck to ramp up community elements including blogging and uploading user-generated content.
Following the relaunch of Cosmopolitan.co.uk, Hearst Digital will set about ramping up Allaboutyou.com, the portal for content from magazine titles House Beautiful, Coast, Prima, Good Housekeeping, Country Living and She.

FILM TRAILERS

Psycho Trailer (1960) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTkrSlsNfxQ&feature=related

It is a horror film trailer, it exists to promote the film to its audience, it is vital that the trailer is good so the audience are attracted to the film and want to go watch the film.

M the music is very slow at the beggining and then during the trailer as the narrative develops the music begins to go more faster and becomes more dramatic- the effect of this is that it then is clear what the genre of the film is.
Also there is no voice over in the trailer, writing appears from time to time and diolouge is mostly used. the trailer thus leaves the audience to make their own interpretation of what is happening. also as the diolouge cuts off many times it leaves the audience curous of what may happen next thus may attract them to watch the film.
The shots tend to begin off slow but then over time they go faster building up the tension.
The ending is significantly disturbing, the woman is screaming which is alarming for the audience. this is therefore what the audience would potentially remember the most.
'Psycho' appears right at the end, which is also memorable, it appears in the colour red which connotes, danger, blood and violence.


I 'Alfred Hitchcock presents' it appears that he is imporatant for it to be shown central to the film trailer. He was known particularly for as being a highly influential director and producer.

G the genre is horror, this is recognised by the music, the characters expressions, the diolouge, murder that happens and the screaming.

R It is interesting too see how the woman is the victim and the man is the killer and the pyscho
also how the old woman is seen to be the murderer in the trailer when it is really not the woman.

A the audience would be those who are familiar with Hitchcock's work and are fans. Also those whom enjot the horror genre.

I the woman is shown as the victim and the men in control and power. when the woman is stabbed with a knife that could be seena s a phallic symbol. The voice over also appears to be significant as it is of a man.

N is in chronological order, this therefore does not confuce the audience also it helps bulid up the tension.

Halloween Trailer (2007) :

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Kww5KSqzV9U

M

fast montage
voice over
it has text and a voice over of a man ...
dark mise on scene
mintage at the beggining
it has a striking ending after holloween a

I

institution appeasr foirst emphasising its importance

G

horror- the continous reminder of the man in the mask...reinforces the genre, the screamiong also

R

the voiceover is of a male, suggesting patriachal idealogies

when a young woman is shown her legs are shown also. #

A

are likely to be teenagers

ESSAY:

Film trailers, Psycho (1960) and Halloween (2007) both show similarities and differences, both being of the same genre consist of generic conventions to establish the horror genre however there time differences in which they were made shows significant changes.

Ultimately Psycho appears to be a subtle horror trailer in comparison to Halloween. The string music contributes to the intensity the audience feel as they watch the trailer. As the trailer develops the music also tends to and ultimately leads the end when the title of the film appears. The title appearing at the end remains particularly significant as it remains memorable to the audience. ‘Psycho’ actually appears in the colour red which connotes blood, violence and death, which is appropriate to the film. Alternatively Halloween consists of sounds at the beginning, which is then followed by a heart beat which engages its audience as though something intense shocking would happen. The music then develops and helps emphasises what goes on onscreen. Furthermore it them becomes silent when towards the end when the title appears in green, initially green connotes gruesome and slime suggesting the film would be brutal.

There is no voice over in the trailer of Psycho and it only consists of text and dialogue from the film this therefore allows the audience to interpret what is on screen themselves, and allowing them to concentrate more. Also as at times the dialogue cuts off it leaves the audience curious to what may happen next thus this fulfils the trailers objectives of attracting the audience to watch the film. Halloween however consists of dialogue and text which essentially reinforces what it says and also brings the audience’s attention. The voice over in Halloween is a deep voice of a man’s suggesting patriarchal ideologies. In addition in the representation of women within the trailer is shown as weak and victims, as they are the ones shown to be attacked. Also there is one particular shot showing young girls legs which seems unnecessary. Psycho is also guilty of this as the woman is the victim and the man is ultimately the one in power. It is also interesting that in the trailer the ‘mother’ is seen as the psycho when all along it was the man.

The edits in Psycho begin of slow which contributes to its intensity, then the edits begin to develop and go faster and faster which eventually leads to the disturbing sounds the audience witness. The woman screaming is alarming and distressing for the audience and it being the last scene is memorable. The audience thus want a proper conclusion as the end does not provide them closure; ultimately they would then go watch the film. Halloween also finishes its trailer with similar intensions. The title of the film appears slowly and then a scene reappears slowly which then shocks the audience with the character screaming and the pace of the edits being extremely fast. Alfred Hitchcock was known particularly for being a highly influential director and producer thus the trailer does not consist of his name perhaps as he was so established that he felt it was not necessary. Halloween’s trailer however consists of the institution appearing first which emphasises its importance to the film and how much the film relies on its institution to promote the film. The narrative in the trailer Psycho appears in chronological order thus the audience easily follow it all the way through as it builds up. In Halloween however the narrative id not in any particular order and the trailer is shown as a montage with quick clips from the film. Between clips however the trailer consists of an emphasis on the man with the mask which reinforces the genre of the film.

Both trailers consist of a dark atmosphere which is typical conventions of the genre. Psycho consists of a particularly isolated area with emphasises on the dark mysterious house on the hill. It seems appropriate at the time of when it was made as gruesome scenes were not allowed to be shown thus typical conventions of the horror genre had to be emphasised as a reminder to the audience. Halloween being made recently in 2007 obviously had different intentions, as more brutality and extreme horror is more accepted the film is set in more of a ‘normal’ area, which may not seem to be particularly scary. The actually narrative therefore compensates for it. The audience of the film are most likely to be teenagers and the trailer consists of teenagers. The shot showing the young woman’s legs suggests perhaps an audience of young men. Psycho’s audience is most likely to be Alfred Hitchcock’s fans, those whom at the time understood his intentions as an artist.

Phone-in scandal hits ITV profits

ITV lost £58m from the call-TV crisis last year, as tumbling revenues from premium-rate services contributed to a 5% decline in revenues and a 35% slide in pre-tax profits.
The broadcaster today reported revenues of £2.08bn in 2007, down 5% on £2.18bn the year before, while profits before tax were £188m, 35% down on the £288m recorded in 2006.
The company said revenues from premium-rate services - including the now discontinued ITV Play channel and late-night strand - were down by £58m.
Last year ITV uncovered a number of incidents where viewers had been misled by programmes involving call-TV and is now co-operating with an investigation by media watchdog Ofcom.
"Such incidents for the most part appeared to stem from misguided editorial judgments taken with a view to maximising viewer enjoyment, not from any desire to maximise PRS revenues," the ITV executive chairman, Michael Grade, said today.
"Nonetheless we let our viewers down and that is inexcusable."
He said the board's remuneration committee of the board had "taken account of PRS issues" in calculating the annual bonuses awarded to the executive team.
Another area in which ITV reported declining revenues was in the content division, where revenues were down £37m.
Net advertising revenue - ITV's main revenue stream - held steady at £1.49bn, while revenues from the company's digital channels rose by 33% to £209m.
Ad revenues are estimated to be up 1.9% for the first quarter of 2008, the company added.

Ryanair gets easyJet ad banned

An ad campaign by easyJet promising the lowest price flights has been banned by the advertising regulator after a complaint from rival low-cost airline Ryanair.
EasyJet ran a series of four internet banner ads and a press ad promoting a range of cheap summer fares.
Within the ads it said that consumers would receive a refund doubling the difference in price if they could find a better deal elsewhere.
However, in the terms and conditions easyJet stipulated that a range of restrictions applied to its cheapest price offer.
These included the stipulation that comparisons could only be made with fares from rivals with flights from the same departure and destination airport within an hour of easyJet's own scheduled services.
Ryanair lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority objecting that there were too many restrictions around easyJet's cheapest fare offer for customers to be able to find comparable flights with competitors.
The rival airline said that the hefty level of restrictions meant that the ads were therefore misleading.
In its ruling the ASA said that the ads implied that the "double the difference" refund offer was easy to obtain when it in reality "very restricting terms and conditions suggested it was not".
The ASA ruled that the ads should not be shown again.
Ryanair has had a tempestuous relationship with the advertising watchdog when decisions have gone against it - such as over the recent Britney ad - but seems to have no qualms using the system to attack rival's ad campaigns.
The ASA recently upheld another complaint made by Ryanair over an ad campaign run by rival Jet2.com.

News 24 launches showbiz news show

Leigh Holmwood
guardian.co.uk,
Tuesday February 12 2008

BBC News 24 is to launch its first regular entertainment news show since Zero30 in the late 1990s, with a weekly programme co-hosted by Blue Peter presenter Gethin Jones.
E24 will be a weekly roundup of news from the world of film, television and music with behind-the-scenes reports and interviews with stars of that week's shows, gigs and events.

Jones, who became a household name following his stint on BBC1's reality show Strictly Come Dancing, will front the programme alongside News 24 presenter James Dagwell.

The 15-minute show has been commissioned for a six-week pilot run and will air weekly on Saturdays at 10.45am and 5.45pm from February 16, with a repeat at 5.45pm and 9.45pm on Sundays. E24 will also be available on demand from the BBC's website.

The new show follows in the footsteps of Zero30, which morphed into Liquid News and moved to BBC Choice in 2000 and then onto BBC3 in 2003.

Liquid News, which featured a wry take on entertainment and showbiz, was originally presented by Christopher Price until his untimely death in April 2002, when Paddy O'Connell took over.
It was axed in November 2003 following a rejig of BBC3's schedule.

BBC News 24 currently provides entertainment news updates twice nightly from Monday to Thursday at 6.30pm and 9.30pm.

Sky+ takeup hits 3 million

This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Wednesday February 06 2008. It was last updated at 08:31 on February 06 2008.
Satellite group BSkyB set another record for customer growth for personal video recorder service Sky+ in the three months to the end of December, with takeup pushing through the 3 million barrier.
The company said today 3,131,000 households in the UK and Ireland had the service at the end of September, after unprecedented growth of 434,000.
This was more than 100,000 up on the earlier record of 327,000, set in the previous quarter.
Sky now has a total of 8,832,000 pay-TV customers, with 167,000 net additions made in October, November and December, keeping it on track to hit 10 million by 2010.
The pre-Christmas period is always Sky's best performing quarter, although takeup was the lowest recorded since Sky became a digital-only service in 2001, down from 183,000 in the same period in 2006.
BSkyB's chief executive, Jeremy Darroch, who took over from James Murdoch in December, said Sky was achieving its goal of drawing more customers to its range of products - including high-definition TV, broadband and telephony.
Sky Broadband customer numbers were up 260,000 or 28%, to reach 1,199,000 at the end of the December, just 18 months after the service was launched.
The company aims to have 3 million broadband customers, or 30% of its subscriber base, by 2010. Darroch said the company was "moving beyond the peak" of its £400m investment in the venture.
Sky said it added 64,000 high-definition subscribers, taking its tally to 422,000 at the end of September. Its Sky Talk telephone business grew by a record 236,000 to 915,000.
Churn - a measure of how many customers left the service - fell to 10%, while Arpu - average revenue per user - hit a record £421.
Sky also reported that revenues over the six months to the end of December were up 11% to £2.458bn.
The company made a loss of £112m, factoring in a £343m impairment resulting from the fall in the value of its 17.9% stake in ITV. Its operating profit for the period was £307m.
Darroch said today that the group was considering its options following last week's government decision that Sky should sell down its stake to below 7.5% on competition grounds.
It has another three weeks to decide whether to appeal against the ruling, which followed the advice of the Competition Commission.

BBC3 says goodbye to its blobs

BBC3 said it had spent £380,000 on its new pink logo and idents after ditching the talking blobs that currently appear between programmes because audiences found them "cold and shouty".
The new pink "whimsical" logo and idents, which were unveiled today and which will hit screens in the next few weeks, will be used across the TV channel and its website as part of a new multiplatform approach to BBC3 content.
BBC3's current blue logo and talking blobs have been a mainstay since it replaced BBC Choice nearly five years ago and have become a hit with viewers.
However, a BBC spokeswoman said that audience research had found that many viewers who dipped in and out of the channel found the blobs confusing and "cold and shouty".
A series of six final idents have been filmed featuring the blobs singing goodbye songs.
These include one voiced by Little Britain's Matt Lucas as his character Dafydd from Little Britain, in which he says his "I'm the only gay in the village" catchphrase before bursting into I Will Survive.
Other idents will see the blobs singing the Goodbye, Farewell song from The Sound of Music and James Blunt's Goodbye My Lover.
"They are off," the BBC3 controller, Danny Cohen, confirmed at the BBC3 winter and spring season press launch today.
"We have got some really fun trails where the blobs sing goodbye. The blobs have served us well but it has been five years and the channel hasn't had a refresh."
Cohen said the channel had spent "relatively little" on the rebrand, which was created by Red Bee, costing £380,000 in total.
He added that the new logo had cost £35,000 while each new ident worked out as £50 "in terms if its life cycle", which he said he hoped would be five years.
The price is much lower than the recent BBC1 rebrand, which cost £1.2m.
Cohen said he was still in discussions about increasing BBC3's broadcast hours, which are currently 7pm to 4.30am, although no decision had yet been taken.
"I would still like us to have longer hours and we have had some discussions about that but there are no firm plans," he added.
Cohen said there would not be a big increase in repeats on BBC3, despite £10m being shorn from its and teen content brand Switch's budget.
"We have no particular intention to increase repeats massively," he added. "We repeat a fair amount already. It is a newer thing for other channels."
Meanwhile, Cohen said pop singer Lily Allen would go ahead and film the non-broadcast pilot of her new social networking series Lily Allen and Friends tomorrow night, despite suffering a miscarriage.
"We are very sad she has had that experience," she added. "We have sent her our best."