Review

Looking back a year it’s interesting to see where I was and what I thought (tomorrow I’ll do some thoughts on 2007) here’s a look back on 2006.

David Cameron – looks like he’ll be the next prime minister after a Gordon interlude.
ITV – still needs to be resolved and Michael Grade will just make it more saleable.
Pete Doherty -think the jury is still out

Recycling/de-clutter and accumulating less – I’ve been trying to keep my resolution on this and with help of e-bay and BookMooch I could be getting close but need to do more – here are some links (from the independent newspaper) that might help me in 2007.

www.swapz.co.uk Site for those who want to exchange unwanted stuff with one another.
www.freecycle.org/
A group of local societies dedicated to swap­ping items that are no longer wanted, to keep things out of landfill.
www.bookmooch.com
Are your shelves past capacity with nov­els you've already read, and-have no intention of re-reading? This exchange service will find them a deserving home - and get you something else to read.

Book review

I read John Peel:Margrave Of The Marshes during my holiday (actually a Christmas 2005 present that I got from two different people) .

Reading it I was reminded of how significant Peel was and also how grounded he remained (or so it seems at least from the book).
I have some slight Peel connections I was at School with someone (still racking my brains to recall his name) whose father was a builder who worked on John Peels house in Suffolk in the 1970s.
My Cousin Tom Fawcett is writing a book about music of the Rough Trade type DIY and visited Peel to help him in this project – Tom was in a band called ‘And the Native Hipsters’ who had minor rumblings with Oh Look there goes Concord again which was played by Peely.
I saw John ambling along Charlotte Street London a few years back.
A bit more tenuous is that I worked with Ray Hendriksen at Euronews (TV Channel) in France, Ray worked with Marc ‘T Rex’ Bolan championed in his early career by one Mr Peel.

I suppose there are many Students over the years who have listened to his broadcasts, I certainly recall the Damned’s New Rose and other punk tracks that blew away the cobwebs he was though also responsible for early plays of O Superman and Uptown Top Ranking by Althea and Donna and goodness knows how many other great tracks.
Certainly a trawl on the Internet reflect Peels musical significance. Even without all of the above the book’s a really nice warm read- 5tar from me.

Also read Ad worlds by Greg Myers

Not only is Ad worlds a useful academic book but it is also engaging in the way the author relates the subject to the every day (which it undoubtedly is), I had a purpose in reading this book but I think the area covered is of interest to the general reader in aiding a critical understanding of the practices and effects of advertising another 5tar from me.

Christmas in Trinidad

I had Christmas in Trinidad, it’s an interesting place here are ten or so Trini facts

1, Columbus went there and claimed it for Spain in 1498.
2. Crime is a big problem particularly kidnap and ransom of businesses people
3. Trinidad and Tobago society is defined to a large extent by race
4. Trinidad has a warm climate with wet and dry seasons.
5. Politics in Trinidad is considered by many as corrupt with a former prime minister serving time in prison
6. Trinidadians socialise in bars known as rum shops.
7. Trinidad is rich in natural resources and has a population around 1 million.
8. Trinidadians love to eat and have a very special Christmas cake.
9. Trinidad roads are crowded and poorly maintained a rail system is proposed
10. Sport is a love of Trinidadians with fine cricketers and a Soccer team that brought credit to their country in 2006’s world cup.

bah humbug etc..

So Christmas is almost here and some thoughts on how busy the shops are (or aren’t) On Saturday we went into the heart of London’s fashionable west end to visit the theatre (see below) on the way in we accidentally met up with a former colleague who was going to Liberty’s with his wife to do some shopping (not really last minute).

Now I was under the impression that Christmas was a damp squib this year and whatever shopping was being done was at Amazon or e-bay so I assured them it’d be a breeze- well imagine my consternation on emerging from the theatre and after suggesting a walk down Regent Street finding solid gridlock on the pavement. What seems to have happened is that the high streets now denuded of quality shops are deserted and destination retail outlets (Brent Cross, BlueWater etc. and Regent's Street/Oxford Street) have gone Crazy -Sorry David and Virginia

Cabaret

We went to see the stage show of Cabaret on Saturday and it was a much darker piece than the 70’s film –very clever set generally a good show. We were up in the dress circle and generally we go for the stalls but these were all sold out – perhaps a bit of a shame as there was some gratuitous nudity not a problem for me particularly but there was a bit of an intake of breath when the  first unclad member (- of the cast ) appeared in the buff.

Christmas (W)rapping

Why is it that you can no longer buy a little bag with half a dozen or so sheets of Christmas paper and a similar number of tags – paper now comes on rolls which I find a real pain (bah humbug)?

Bond movie

We went to see the latest portrayal of James Bond where Daniel Craig plays a somewhat brutal 007 in the re-make of Casino Royale, the original Ian Fleming licence to kill story.

Perhaps because of the times the film is less a celebration of technology there’s no Q gimmickry and a lid is kept on the excessive humour.

It occurs to me that much as the Mars bar (or perhaps the big Mac) has become a measure of the economy so Bond films have become a reflection of the world’s security concerns from a UK perspective.

The first Bond films showed a confidence, although Britain was not what it had been it still demanded respect (Connery) when Great Britain was considered a basket case the irony was there in spades (Moore) now we’re significant again but it doesn’t necessarily feel too good.

Away from this high faulting consideration commerce is as ever part of the franchise and the Product Placement is a joy to behold- how can we shoehorn Ford into the deal- give Bond a Ford hire car – Sony too must have paid well for their on screen checks.

Despite the prolonged advertising it’s a good (Great in places) film, well shot and with a pace that hardly let’s up.

More on ITV

So just when you think ITV has lost the plot they bring a rabbit from out of the hat. BBC now facing some issues (chief one being licence fee but also approval for the iplayer to sort out).

Mr. Grade is charismatic and was not suited; in my view to the very political post that chairman of the BBC Trust would be - I tip Portillo for that one..

Here's a piece I wrote before the bombshell was dropped, it sort of stands up but one of the best players has just joined the other side and the game's a bit more even (my own go at a dodgy football analogy).

The battle for ITV’s Control.

ITV has in the last couple of weeks seen a flurry of activity resulting in the TV network’s share price being driven to a peak of around 115p the price has now settled to a little over 111p still a considerable improvement on mid-September when it was hovering around the £1.00 mark. So why the increase and interest in ITV and how is it likely to affect the UK’s TV viewers over the next few years?

The UK’s top commercial broadcaster has suffered a loss of audience while the number of multi channel digital TV homes has leapt over the last 4 years to over 18 million homes but it remains the first stop for advertisers who want to reach the UK population ‘en masse’, it has a weekly reach of around 80% of the potential UK TV viewers, it has near universal coverage and a strategy that is showing signs of success in bringing its audience with it into the segmented market that now characterises broadcast TV.

Now there’s discussion if it was James Murdoch the Sky CEO or his Dad Rupert the Chairman or a combination of the two who managed the coup that delivered 17.9% of ITV to Sky but a coup it most certainly was and at present it appears successful, although Skys’ official line is that it does not want undue influence and that ‘Our investment is a long-term and supportive shareholding in ITV’ ‘ it is undoubtedly a case of Sky getting it’s retaliation in first.

The respected media commentator Raymond Snoddy has a theory which he’s floated in Brand Republic the theory goes along the lines that Sky are lining up RTL to buy ITV, RTL are historically a free to air broadcaster and won’t spoil Skys’ hold on the UK pay TV business. Sky will in time take Channel 5 off the current owner RTLs’ hands at a knock down price, this certainly has logic to it but the price for Five will have to be a heavily discounted one; it’s noticeably failing to win audience share and its own multi channel strategy has a question mark hanging over it.

The headline interest for NTL is that ITV has content and it reckons that the combination of NTL and ITV will constitute a combined operation that can give Sky a run for its money when bidding for attractive films and top notch sports. Flextech the content provider the outfit owns currently delivers profit but this is underpinned by a deal with BBC Worldwide that is favourable to the cable giant but which will in due course be renegotiated.

Sir Richard Branson the largest shareholder NTL is performing as spokesperson for the deal and is keen to be seen as the wounded party as he was in his earlier giant killer’ battles with British Airways rather than a shareholder in a US listed hostile bidder, NTL is in the process of re-branding itself as Virgin Media and in the last 12 months has merged with both Telewest and Virgin Mobile, the cable company has shown ambition in spades but historically has repeatedly failed to deliver and NTL in the past have failed to gain the subscribers it desires or address the poor service reputation it holds.

The challenge for ITV’s board is to speedily fill the whole left by Charles Allens’ departure with a CEO who can offer vision and inspiration, ITV has a number of channels and a potentially significant ‘new media’ brand in Friends Reunited but it has to look at monetizing its content as well as providing the brand that advertisers can rely on to deliver audiences to its commercials.

The next few weeks will be potentially amongst the most significant of ITV’s illustrious history and the difference between holding the number 3 button for posterity on the nations TV’s and becoming a mere also ran will be decided. Sky may prove to have delivered ITV from a fate worse than death, but the ITV board should watch its new best friend carefully, it’s pushed itself into the driving seat and it’ll be a powerful force that can grab the wheel away.

On a Carousel

Amateur Theatre?

Ealing has a theatre called the Questors which we visited this weekend and the production was of a Carousel, four points

1) Something at London’s Schools must be going well as it was a very professional production performed by School students aged 18 and younger.

2) Carousel (and some other musicals of similar vintage) is a much darker deeper piece than a lot of people may realise – I don’t think that present musical theatre has such depth

3) It is worth going out and seeing real people do things cinema, tv etc. is too sanitised.

4) London is (largely) an integrated multi racial city that has a lot of positive things going for it

What a week in media

ITV saga continues

Perhaps NTL got it right Sky have spent nearly a billion to make life difficult for those who want an ITV/NTL merger. RTL owners of Channel Five are also said to be considering a bid, this though methinks exposes the lack of value of their own channels.

Despite the bad mouthing that is going on ITV has what other companies want and need compelling content, the truth of the matter is that TV is now operating in a far more competitive market and ITV is not doing that badly (that’s not to say it couldn’t do better) –I still fancy a so called New Media company deal long term (perhaps Yahoo). The thing is Sky paid 135p per share and has put titself in the driving seat while ITV has no effective CEO.

As a sideline issue Sky can probably bring some pressure to its new best friend ITV on its involvement in the yet to be launched satellite version of Freeview which the BBC and other non Sky channels has been championing.

And amongst other blows to the BBC

The BBC’s battle for an above or even pegged at inflation rate settlement and if that was not enough it seems Channel four has outflanked it on a broadband TV vision.

Channel Four is to make content delivery on demand a paying proposition, this has ramifications for the BBC who are looking to put a fair amount of their content on the net for UK viewers for free, a free offering would certainly have implications for companies seeking to commercialise such a service. The idea that licence fee payers should super serve broadband users is also questionable

BT in deals

BT as well as being in the market for buying broadband users is moving out of satellite as seen with the sale of their Broadcast Satellite interests, what’s slightly surprising is that reports say they’ll retain the Occasional Use (Ad hoc Sports and News coverage events need these) element which had been the original trigger for them to seek a buyer.

BT could of course be another potential buyer of ITV PLC

ITV and NTL you must be joking

On the day that interest rates in the UK rose to a 5 year high of 5% the Finance story that took my fancy was that ITV and NTL are in merger talks.

Now I've been predicting an ITV takeover for nearly a year and have bought and sold shares as the rumours have ruffled the metaphorical curtains of the city but I really find this idea a bit rich.
Serial bankrupt NTL (now working as Virgin Media) to buy troubled (but profitable) ITV.

Why -so Stephen Carter can have a job where he used to (NTL)?

What's the synergy (about zero)?

To me this looks like a marriage made in hell, I'll probably be proved wrong but I've sold my ITV shares anyway.

Tube stuff and more

So looking for info on Sunday service found this site
What a great photo, anyway the plan was to visit some sort of Christmas fayre at Olympia, I'm probably getting worse as I can't fully understand why you should pay for the chance to buy things as you do here.
I'm also puzzled why the boss of the tube gets so much pay when he seems to be unable to organise a train to go from earls court to Olympia, if he had performance related pay he'd be paying us!
Having said that he has marginally more credibility than his lunatic boss Ken Livingstone who not only indulges in behaviour that discredits his office but considers lying on job applications to be okay, how anyone could vote for hinm puzzles me (as does his return to the Labour party).

On a more positive note, Fireworks at EALING cricket club last night were fantastic a real pleasure and good atmosphere.

Emotional Intelligence at the IET

Achieving High Performance through Emotional Intelligence at the IET

I went to the above titled event at Savoy Place last night (a historic radio address), not really knowing quite what to expect I was suitably over impressed. Not sure if all I heard was true summarised below but it was good to see a speaker, in this case Michael Nicholas who was very much at the top of his game.

Michael an ex air-force officer was talking very well about Emotional Intelligence (EI) which is a theme gathering traction in management speak.

The concept of EI is harnessing some of the stuff you’re not always aware of (blink which I’m currently reading covers this area too)

His 4 tips for the evening were (and I think there’s a flow/narrative here):

1) Focus on becoming much more aware of your feelings in the moment – i.e. choose your emotions (it is your choice)

2) Choose a better attitude.

3) When you take somebody else’s perspective, a result will be an increase in empathy and establishment of a rapport.

4) Nothing worthwhile ever gets done alone –Nurture your relationships

Some good points/areas to follow up and inspire you are

Cliff Young, the Australian runner

Goethe used more words than Shakespeare

Edison, who used the power of thoughts close to sleep.

Gandhi a leader who earned his leadership.

And for light relief read about the cookie thief

Sport coverage changes- notes from IIC conversations..

I went to an IIC event in the week concerning World Cup 2006 Coverage and the Web 2.0 impact on it, here are my notes.

The large World events of sport have historically been linked with the emergence of nations and the introduction of new coverage technologies and techniques.

Sport is interesting for broadcasters and media generally as it brings in those hard to deliver young males, attractive to Public Service Broadcasters and advertisers alike.

The Football world cup of 2006 was arguably the first major global online sports event and was the first such event held in the unified Germany, the technologies that were showcased were High Definition, Mobile and Web 2.0.

3 proponents spoke about the lessons learnt.

Ben Gallop of BBC Sport Interactive
What Ben said was that the numbers of web viewers are still well below those of conventional broadcast the BBC had scaled its operation to be able to cater for around 100,000 concurrent users. The largest audience was not for England games but was for South Korea against Togo which was during UK working hours, the inference being that for the big event people would view at home or communally, often in a pub.

Neil McIntosh of Guardian Unlimited
Neil spoke about the successes of the Guardian Unlimited and that online advertising is currently riding at a high with Guardian Unlimited being a growing and profitable part of the Guardian business.

Neil identified long term sports fans who were loyal and committed against those ‘major eventers’ who came out of the woodwork for the big tournaments, these were particularly fickle and were at the centre of the battle ground for eyeballs and ears.

The Guardian had used an experienced broadcaster James Richardson for podcasting, as well as minute by minute match commentaries (created while watching TV) and blogs similar to the comment is free strand.

Leon Benjamin author and co founder of Business For Good
From a more left field and IT background Leon Benjamin spoke about his involvement in an independent humorous sport podcast. Leon who is a strong proponent of community working and author of Winning by Sharing had with some colleagues launched a podcast around the World Cup 2006 –this to test the water and see if it could commercially pay its way, the feeling he had was that it probably could but advertisers and other media organisations were risk averse, Leon believed that UGC was key and untapped in such endeavours.

General

User generated content and camper vans both help bring community and involvement to such tournaments, such sporting blockbusters are not just about individual games and/or events but also about humour, news interaction and communities of interest.

The main media companies have generally secured rights and other smaller media companies or those without rights are forced to be creative around the edges often bringing a tongue in cheek perspective to the table.

The integrity of Soccer Rights are important and the BBC had used geographic blocking to ensure that content did not stray outside UK.

The conclusion is that we can expect even more exciting and stimulating coverage for Beijing 2008 than we’ve had for sporting events to date, it will also be different as there will be diverse audiences, grouping around nations, regions and types of sport. China 2008 is going to be an enormous story in so many ways.

Sheila E

I was pleased to see that Sheila E is still going strong ,touring with Ringo Starr recently- this video is from TOTP and I think you can hear David 'Kid 'Jensen introducing her at the beginning.

In the family

Must be something in the genes - my brother Nick has a blog too, learn all you ever wanted to know about the Welsh Tories here (perhaps even more than you wanted).

Strange evening

Walking back from BBC Bush House this evening towards Holborn station who should I see but the former spin master to Mr Tony Blair; the one and only Alistair Campbell. All well and good. What i saw next gave me a right old shiver down my spine and that was what I think to be a very poor taste 'London paper' showing George Bush dead -this to promote a TV show, I'm not a fan of George W but I think this was in very poor taste (and I don't blame Al). Don't buy this paper (oh it's free) well don't watch the programme.

this week ..

Cinema

I went to see the Devil wears Prada and to my surprise I really quite enjoyed it. Meryl Streep was very amusing and the craft in the film was evident- some fine use of music plus cities of  New York and Paris always make  attractive backdrops - not earth shattering but another film that I stayed awake throughout and the cinema was full.

Media
The two big media stories for the week ahead are
1) Google to take over Youtube, which I'm not sure will happen and don't think is desirable .
and
2) ITV's search for a new CEO which now seems to be turning into ITV looking for a new CEO and also a new chairman.

The other interesting development is the start of 18 Doughty Street a political news service TV delivered by IP unencumbered by OFCOM's need for a balanced view it will not be the usual muddy centre (it's a right leaning outfit). If it's well funded it could be worth watching - it could tho' be awful.

Political conference season

So we've had the Ming dynasty show and Tony's gag - this week it's David Web'Camera' on.
Can he pull it off?

The Conservatives are, as well as being the Nasty party (as described by one Ms T May) made up of an increasingly old and isolated section of the UK population- it might be fine to have a youthful and acceptable leader but the membership are so far from this to be scary and to have a realistic chance of being elected to rule the UK Dave needs to have at least one Clause four moment this week- will it happen in Bournemouth? (was this the right place to choose?).
We'll see.

Great Quote

This from PopBitch

"Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as
intolerant encourages violence" - Pakistan Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam.

Says it all

Mooching around

For some time now I've had a problem with shelves, particularly with reference to books.
They get full up - books are too cheap but I can't throw them away so what has happened is every now and then I've stuck one in the post to an old school friend in Bristol.

Now I've an alternative for books I think Kevin won't want BookMooch
It's free - you add the books you no longer want and get credits (of books) in return.

I've just had my first taker for the books I've offered up (Les tells me it's arrived) for ipod therefore I am - I'll hopefully get something interesting, we'll see. perhaps the model works for Videos/DVDs.

Home exhibition

We went to excel (London-ish trade show venue) on Sunday for property show -Bulgaria seems to be the hot spot to buy investment properties and there were plenty of people drifting around the show but for me no spark.

My Week

eating outUsually I'm positive about restaurants I visit but Friday was one of the slowest meals for a long time (poor service) - I suppose we have now been exposed to Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Hells' (or whatever it's called) and think we could do better - in the case almost certainly could it's a slow Thai eatery.You can see what others thought here.

film
Went to see the Black Dahlia (film), it was quite a ‘dense’ film but nonetheless an engaging experience and a film which I managed to stay awake through.

out of town
Yesterday when I went to get the morning paper I saw a friend of mine from University who lives locally, he took voluntary redundancy this spring and has decided to leave London, he and his girlfriend are going to build an ecological house somewhere in the country
They have their plot of land with planning permission accepted and have now got to sell their current property and start the project - the idea is to go the whole hog with producing electricity and collecting water. It’s certainly a change of lifestyle for them both.

Media week

Telegraph

the last few weeks have seen some interesting activity in traditional media amongst which is the re-invention of the good old torygraph.

Newspapers are looking to leverage their brand and as the Guardian noted on Thursday the economics of free and online are looking distinctly appealing, as economists report there's a benefit from offering a variety of cost models particularly where it's possible to get extra revenue from purchasers who are less cost conscious.

The Telegraph more than most UK newspapers faces a distinctly challenging future as its readers move into their twilight years - an online presence offers salvation and the deal with ITN looks good for both parties. ITN can offer the advantages of video and new media and the telegraph gives ITN a way out of its declining deal with ITV.

Great Video

If you need a laugh take a look - it's a scream

Progress(ive)

Nearly a year ago I was interviewed for a contract position at Eutelsat in Paris, ever since then I've been trying to get the expenses paid - Eutelsat seemed happy to pay but needed the recruitment company to invoice them- for some reason (perhaps 'cos i didn't take the job?) they seemed unable to do this.

Yesterday I had a job description from their UK operation and told them of my problem -seems it might be sorted out. So the moral is deal with UK operation not the French one.

Selling Stuff

Interesting to actually manage to sell a couple of items on ebay - not sure I'll try again- boxing things up, replying to questions - it's unlikely to make me rich but on the plus side a bit over £80.00 and it makes more sense than filling up cupboards or the local tip.

Media week

Unbox from Amazon

While Mac movies speculation has been spreading like wildfire Amazon have come up on the outside with a spectacular launch of movies that will include content from BBC Worldwide

BBC and MySpace Clone
In an unrelated (ish) development BBC Worldwide is rumoured to be on the outlook for a My Space clone – interesting that the talk is of Worldwide doing this – presumably no requirement then for the BBC board to run a public value test ?

EX BAA for ITV?
Few names in the to be itv’s new boss frame, frontrunner now looks to be Clasper but someone with a more rounded Media background could still win out.

Watch your power

What a disaster! When I got home on Monday evening I found we'd had a power outage which had knocked out the PC (bugger).

Obviously I tried to fix it but no luck, next day at work did a bit of research and that evening again tried to fix it but feared the worst (dead power supply).

The next day ordered a replacement from these folks and that evening took the old power supply out.

The next day (today) new psu arrive and PC appears to work. although this psu is 350wattes versus old one at 250 watts it is worryingly light and cost about £5 plus about the same for delivery- we'll see how long it lasts.

Conclusions
1) Too reliant on a PC.
2) Delivery amazing
3) Get a surge protector

great song FAME

I was ploughing into YouTube and thought how well this song has stood up to the test of time. A collaboration between Bowie and Lennon but another key contributor is the guitarist Carlos Alomar who supplied the riff.
It sounds like neither Bowie nor Lennon is over enthusiastic about Fame and certainly Lennon paid a high price for his.
Carlos has a Myspace page

New Phone and selling old stuff

Phones
I'm impressed with Carphone Warehouse, what they've said would happen has happened, my phone arrived ands my new contract. Seems that the move away from landlines is likely to continue, I'm a bit of a dinosaur in terms of making a phone call but many people do not feel restricted and want to use a 'proper' phone.

So what does this mean?
From my point of view I've got more minutes for less time and a more sophisticated phone - I suppose call costs will move towards being free and that Video calls will become the norm - here's a company that's (hopefully) involved in making things like this happen.

Ebay
I've launched myself on Ebay (not literally), I did say at the beginning of the year I'd try to get rid of things when I bought new ones and I've got a super new Satellite TV receiver (again) company selling was quite good. Putting the entries on Ebay seemed quite straightforward, time will tell if anyone wants the devices.
(any ideas for an old v635 Motorola phone?)

Getting a new mobile phone

Now I'm sure I'm not the only person plagued by calls telling me 'that you should change your mobile phone deal' but it feels like I'm their number one prospect.
As a result of this onslaught I visited my local shop and demanded better, they couldn't of course help me and told me to call O2, in fact I called carphone warehouse and they told me I could have more minutes a month, a cashback of £45 and the best phone around - time will tell if it's too good to be true but my advice; if you're deal is up for renewal see what you can get, it seems possible to improve your package quite easily.

For some reason I've got this new blog - my old posts are here.

Charles Allen slags off C4

Interesting that Charles Allen the outgoing ITV CEO has decided to have a go at C4 and the BBC.

Andy Duncan who I think is doing a remarkably good job at Horseferry Road has ruled himself out of the race to succeed the departing Allen and the ITV hot seat is looking a bit of a poisoned chalice.

Now I personally have thought that there are questions about C4’s status as a quasi- commercial broadcaster but having seen the disaster commercially and critically that ITV has become I’m thinking twice about ITV’s own version of market failure.

The new boss will have one chance to correct the errors of recent times with a new ITV branding proposition key to any recovery.

You can get Charles's keynote address here