Television has long been under attack. Digital media, societal change and audience fragmentation mean that those occasions when the whole nation gathers around their set have become increasingly rare. But when they do happen it's a useful reminder of how important TV is as social glue. And one of...
In the finest traditions of British balls-ups, Freeview's attempt at successfully managing a retuning process is well up there. Fortunately I don't have Freeview - telly is too important to be restricted to its limited offering - but 18m homes do. And it's chaos - the websites giving details...
And what's more the channel more or less held my attention for nearly an hour. This might reflect more on how appalling Top Gear has become with its leaden scripts and false bonhomie as I couldn't even get to the end of the show - is the 'cool wall' really that entertaining? And what...
It's all too easy kicking someone when they are on their knees, but sometimes it's just irresistable. So apologies in advance to Five. The low-budget terrestrial channel, which has seen its share of ad revenue fall off the cliff this year, has just announced its exciting new entertainment line...
Earlier this year something quite terrible happened. You probably heard. Due to budget constraints Five ended its long running coverage of baseball, but it turns out there was an upside to all of this. If you ever watched Five's coverage it was quirky. It was hosted by TV presenter Jonny Gould and...
Talking to contacts this morning in light of ITV's £2.7 billion losses, it's hard to detect too much sympathy around for those who control the broadcaster. Plenty for those among the 600 who will lose their jobs as it restructures but beyond that there is a feeling that ITV has played a part...
Does it? A god given right? I'm not sure it does. Channel 4 needs to accept facts, embrace the future, and realise with few options left its future lies with Five. Looking at Channel 4 what's clear is that you can watch a lot of what it broadcasts on any channel. Think about it: 'Big Brother'...
Writing in today's Financial Times, BBC director-general Mark Thompson indicates that he would support a merger between Channel 4 and Five in order to save them costs and preserve his precious licence fee from any proposed top-slicing. Sadly for Trisha Goddard, who has just been dropped by Five for...
Regular readers (hello mum) may recall that I recently called into question whether Five has ever managed to shake-off its image as little more than a provider of cheap frequency to advertisers' schedules. While I still maintain that Dawn Airey has much to do upon her arrival as chairman to turn...
Oh dear. Five are upset with a media analysis that I wrote in last week's mag. In a letter they have produced lots of figures that counter the argument and the data that we published. There are some good points (see next week's Marketing to see it in full) but boasting that Five has managed to...
