Golden ? No - Balls ? Yes

I'm back in the UK for a fleeting visit and have had the misfortune to catch some of the new daytime TV shows on both ITV and Channel 4. Specifically, I'm talking about 'Goldenballs' and 'Win My Wage'. Oh dear. Talk about lowest common denominator...

Win My Wage comes across as a low rent version of Deal or No Deal and C4 clearly trying to emulate the same success. No chance. There is no sense of excitement or drama whatsoever.

As for Goldenballs, hosted by a very ropey Jasper Carrott, this is truly appalling. It's basically a glorified version of the game spoof. Poor Jasper looks uncomfortable at best and plain embarrassed at worst. The episode I watched (endured ?) also featured a contestant from Metro newspaper who giggled manically and incredibly agreed with Jaspers assessment that the paper was nothing more than "litter by 5 o'clock". Can't imagine she'll be that popular when she gets back to the office...

Deathly or Hallowed Marketing ?

A price war has erupted on the cost of the latest (and last ?) Harry Potter book. Both Asda and Morrisons have stated they aim to sell the book for around 5 quid... significantly cheaper than the RRP of about 18 pounds set by the publisher. Apparently the book costs about 9 GBP to buy from the the publisher in the first place. Talk about a loss leader...

Sign o' the Times

The title of the this Prince track could not be more apt. On the surface, the free giveaway of the latest Prince CD (Planet Earth) with the Mail on Sunday seems 'absolutely nuts' (at least that's what the CEO of HMV reckons, but then I guess he has good reason to think that). So, is the decision nuts ?

Well maybe you are thinking the album is crap, that's why they are giving it away for free. Not so according to rival newspaper The Times. They reckon it's pretty good actually although they have a little dig by claiming the album is 'too good to be sold so lightly'.

So what does the diminutive purveyor of eclectic funk put the decision down to ? Direct marketing he says (who would have thought Prince even knew the term Direct Marketing, let alone know what it means).

Actually what it does mean is that 'sales' of the album will be around 3 million. Much better than the 80,000 his last album sold. Now obviously we have no idea what he was paid by the MOS to cover the cost. What we do know is that the PR around the move is phenomenal. And the winners will inevitably be Prince (who will inevitably flog a few more tickets to his more lucrative tour of the UK), the MOS (who also benefit from all the PR and a sizeable circulation boost) and ultimately the consumer (who genuinely gets something of intrinsic and artistic value, for nothing).

This deal could indeed be a watershed in both the newspaper and music industries. As Steve Miron (MD of MOS) put it "no one has done this before... this is just setting a new level". It has implications for both industries who are both suffering from the effects of the digital revolution. Maybe by working more closely together in the future, both of them can reap the benefits.

Live Earth. Not Green ?

Clearly Live Earth was a monumental achievement (not least for the fact that Spinal Tap were reformed for the event and that has got to be a good thing in my book). However there has been a suggestion in the media over here in Asia that the event wasn't all that green...

I guess when you consider that jetting all those pampered stars around the globe may have added a few more carbon emissions into the atmosphere then you get the picture. Added to that, some of the sponsors of the event might not necessarily immediately spring to mind when you think of going green. Chevy for instance.

Still, my attitude is that we have to be realistic. It's not like we are suddenly going to give up our cars or stop flying is it ? I guess the point is about raising awareness of a growing problem with our planet and try to be a bit more eco friendly. And in that respect Live Earth did the trick.

ITV, you ruined my life

As an expat, one of the things you miss is UK telly (well, my wife does anyway). She particularly misses Coronation Street and The X Factor (theres no accounting for taste is there ?). So imagine my (sorry her) delight when I read on Brand Republic a few months ago that ITV Broadband were going to screen the previous 30 days content on the their wizzo new internet site. My wife was ecstatic when I told her... but not so thrilled last week when I had to break the news to her that the service was only going to be available in the UK. Thanks ITV.

It seems that all us expats won't be allowed to watch the 'delights' of Britains Got Talent or You've Been Framed... OK so I'm being flippant now but there is a load of great back catalogue stuff like Rising Damp, Brideshead Revisted and Cracker that I'd like to watch. Plus there is some exciting new stuff like The Dame Edna Treatment and a few new dramas which might be worth a look.

The ITV Forum is full of comments from irate expats from around the globe who are being starved of their favourite shows. At least you used to be able to get clips of the shows like Corrie prior to the new service being launched but even those now are restricted. Apparently it's something to do with copyright law. Hmmm. Well, it's not stopping them showing Tycoon on a dedicated website (the ITV video player seems to work just fine for this). Problem is I dont want to watch Tycoon. Maybe nobody else does either which is probably why they have opened it up to us expats ?

Anyway, the BBC launch their own service called iPlayer in the next month or so. I wonder if that will have the same restrictions ? Hopefully not as they have already announced plans to have links to YouTube and other distribution partners such as MSN and MySpace. Hopefully that might appease Mrs B a little (although Eastenders is a poor substitute for Corrie in her eyes). Still she might be able to get Strictly Come Dancing (like I said earlier, no accounting for taste).

UK twinned with Iran ?

The news over here in Singapore has extensively featured the attempted bombings in London and the attack at Glasgow airport this weekend. Channel News Asia has led with the story, as have CNN. The radio and press have also covered the items extensively. And one of the main stories is the fact that Australia have said that Great Britain is now classified as dangerous to visit as Iran. Along with Guatemala, Jordan, Rwanda and Uzbekistan apparently. Even my taxi driver on the way to the airport tonight was asking why the UK has turned into such a 'lawless society' (his words, not mine). Now that may be stretching things a tad but perception is reality as they say. And if that's the case then the effects on the (currently strong) economy could be devastating.