Case Study Digital Media Story ..

BBC suspends CBI membership over its no campaign in Scottish referendum

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/apr/24/bbc-suspends-cbi-membership-no-campaign-scottish-referendum

The BBC has joined the exodus from the CBI after the employers' organisation registered as an official no campaign in the Scottish independence referendum. In a further blow to the CBI after more than a dozen high-profile resignations, the corporation said it was temporarily suspending its membership of the CBI to protect its neutrality, as complaints about its continued membership from independence campaigners mushroomed on Twitter.But the BBC said its suspension would only come into effect during the 16 weeks of the official referendum campaign period from 30 May to 18 September. Every other CBI member to have left, including the broadcaster STV, has done so with immediate effect. In a statement issued late on Thursday, it said: "In order to protect the BBC's neutrality, the CBI and the BBC have agreed to suspend the BBC's membership during the business group's registration period under the terms of the Scottish Referendums Act 2013."

The CBI, which has made clear it opposes independence and is now legally able to spend up to £150,000 to campaign for a no vote, issued exactly the same statement under the name of its director-general, John Cridland. The joint announcement was issued only a few hours after the BBC said it would review its membership "in our own time and on our own terms". BBC sources said the move was a corporate decision taken by executives in London. It was limited to the 16-week official campaign period because it had no material impact on the independence of the BBC's journalism, said one source. "It won't affect the way we report the referendum; it's all to do with perception, I think," he said.

A spokesman for the first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, said the BBC had "done the right thing". Asked about the much shorter period of its membership suspension, he said: "It's up to the BBC to decide exactly what the parameters are." But he added: "We're quite clear that publicly funded bodies have an obligation and in the case of the BBC, an overriding obligation, to be impartial and to be seen to be impartial."

None of the other 15 or more universities, public agencies and businesses that have so far left the CBI either to protect their neutrality or in protest at its support for the no campaign have delayed their departures. In the days since it emerged last Friday that the CBI had registered as a no campaigner after taking legal advice and formal approaches from the Electoral Commission, eight universities including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Strathclyde have quit to protect their neutrality. But two, Dundee and Edinburgh, have said they would likely rejoin after the referendum. And after initialling insisting it valued its CBI membership too highly to quit, Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen said on Thursday it too had left but only "for the time being".  However, the independent broadcaster ITV, which does not air its main Channel 3 services in Scotland, where that licence is owned by STV, said it had no plans to resign. It said: "We remain entirely impartial on the debate over Scottish independence and our coverage of the issue will, as always, be completely fair and balanced."

Weekly NDM Story ..

says it's 'a matter of time' before it overtakes Apple's iTunes in Europe

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/25/spotify-itunes-apple-europe-streaming-music

Streaming music service Spotify has added more than 1m active users in the UK in the last four months, as it tries to overtake Apple's iTunes as the biggest digital music service in Europe. "Some of our partners are saying Spotify is now generating more revenue each month across Continental Europe than iTunes," Spotify's head of label relations in Europe, Kevin Brown, told industry site Music Week. "Given that download sales are declining and Spotify is growing rapidly, particularly in the UK, it is only a matter of time before Spotify is bigger than iTunes across Europe as a whole." Brown added that a "significant amount" of the million new British Spotify users are paying for a subscription, rather than listening to its free, advertising-supported version. The growth has been sparked by marketing partnerships with Vodafone and the Sunday Times.

• Spotify said in March 2013 that globally, it had 24m active users, including 6m paying subscribers. 
• The UK is one of Spotify's biggest markets. The company's UK subsidiary published financial results for 2012 last November, when it generated £92.6m from British customers, including £64.8m from subscriptions and £9.1m from advertising. The UK accounted for just over a quarter of Spotify's global revenues in 2012.
• In 2013, streaming music services generated £103m of revenues in the UK according to figures from industry body the BPI, which said that British music fans streamed 7.4bn songs that year – double the total in 2012.
• Streaming accounted for just 10% of overall UK recorded music revenues in 2013 – just over £1bn – but Brown told Music Week that Spotify expects that proportion to rise to around one third in 2014. 

"I don’t see iTunes as our primary competitor - that’s YouTube," said Brown, criticising labels that decide to keep albums off Spotify in favour of exclusive deals with iTunes. "We’re still put in the same bucket as iTunes by some labels, whose music then appears on YouTube. That drives me nuts."The prospect of Spotify overtaking iTunes is causing concern for some musicians and songwriters, who are worried about streaming's ability to sustain artists' careers – a sale of a 99p iTunes download pays out just over 69p to rightsholders, while a Spotify stream averages a payout of between 0.35p and 0.5p. In both cases those rightsholders then pass on varying percentages of those royalties to the music's creators.

Artists like Beyoncé have clearly done well from iTunes exclusives, but Spotify's current case study is singer Kiesza, whose 'Hideaway' single was available for three weeks on the streaming service before going on sale, when it promptly topped the iTunes and official UK singles charts. For now, Spotify versus iTunes is a fairly clear streaming versus iTunes comparison. But with Apple already having a streaming radio service – iTunes Radio – in a few countries, and tipped to launch a full Spotify-style "on-demand" streaming service later this year, the two companies are likely to be even more direct competitors in the coming years.

Presentation Feedback ..

Question 13 - Presentation feedback

1) Social Media (Twitter) - 

• Most developed field.
• Gained 500 million users. 

Arab Spring.

People Rely on Twitter- Produces News and it's faster in terms of receiving news. 

Challenges traditional news sources.

"Hashtag" - become more relevant in everyday life. 

Discover Page shows BBC News and Sky News - No longer needing traditional news sites. 

Undeveloped countries were able to grow and develop because people had a say in what was happening through the use of twitter.

2) Facebook and Democracy - 

Interact with others, demographic is 25 - 34.

"Facebook was not originally created to be a company. I was built to accomplish a social mission." - Mark Zuckerberg.

"The internet is an empowering tool" - Al Gore.

-First protest - Tunisia. 

-Ben Ali was a dictator.

Cina censors foreign websites.

"The global village" - Mc Cuhan.

"Facebook could be tracking users without their knowledge or permission, with could be an unfair or deceptive business practise" - Ed Murkey.

3) Music Industry -

Spotify - 

• "Commecial music streaming service". 
• Access to 20 million songs. 
• No need to download.

Itunes -

• Apple, 2001.
• Media player & media library.
• Don't need to be professional to make music. 

Piracy -

• Illegally downloading music. 
• Hader to produce music. 
• No steady income. 

Music companies aren't making much money anymore - loosing revenue because people don't buy CD's anymore.

-Decrease in CD sales - Dropped 11.7% (Album sales have dropped.)

People use soundcloud and live streaming.

"Audiences are now the new gatekeepers."

-Justin Bieber became successful by the audience watching his videos on youtube.

-Sean Kingston - Famous through myspace 

-Soulja Boy and Conner Maynard both became famous through the audiences on youtube.

Don't need to rely on big companies to make them famous.

PIRACY - Get music for free on spotify and deezer.

Blaming google because they don't protect music sites and block illegally downloading sites.

DIGITAL ECONOMY ACT (DEA)

-Use illegal downloading sites more than 3 times and houses internet would get blocked - No internet.

4) Film Industry (Netflix)

• Netflix is a successful provider of on-demand films.
• Netfilx supplies a wide range of films, being able to watch televisions in the comfort of your own home. 
• Used to be £6.50 per month but have increased to £7.50.

Blockbuster Videos - The internet killed the video stores because content is available online for free. 

-Pluralist believe they have more power on the film industry

-Marxist believe they control the audience and even through people watch films whenever and wherever  they are still controlled by the content

Kills the idea of scheduling because of time-shifting and on-demand.

5) Smarthphones

SAMSUNG 3III VS. IPHONES.

Both very effective popular devices. 

• Business people used to use smart-phones more but it's now the younger generation. 
• Smathphones have become more productive in everyday use - Easier and quicker.
• Create moral panic because people have a stronger control of their content.
• Whatsapp allows people to communicate all around the world.
• Becoming our own producers of news.
• Using the camera to document everything that you do

The internet and new and digital media is very disruptive - destroying the traditional ways of consuming media.

6) Sky

-Rupet Murdoch owns everything.

Sky + was made in 2002.

Sky Go and Sky + -time shifting

TV isn't going to die because they keep improving it.

•  Sky Go.
• On demand & Catch up TV.
• 3D Television.

"See it First"

-Shows a film on Sky Go before showing it on Sky Movies on the normal channels.

7) Instagram 

Launched in 2010, popular in 2012.

Shares the idea of the Hashtags like Twitter.

2012 - Facebook took over instagram to make it popular & better to use.

Mark Zucheburg wanted Instagram because he knew it was on the rise and facebook was dying.

Facebook's unique selling point is sharing photos - Instagram is the new way of sharing photos. 

Case Study Digital Media Story ..

BBC to extend time programmes are available on iPlayer

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/apr/04/bbc-extend-time-programmes-iplayer-series-stacking

BBC shows including Sherlock, Doctor Who and Top Gear will soon be available to watch for up to 30 days after first transmission on online video service iPlayer, giving viewers an extra three weeks to catch up with their favourite shows. The BBC will extend the amount of time its programmes are available on its iPlayer video-on-demand service from seven to 30 days after the proposals were approved by the BBC Trust, effectively quadrupling the amount of content on offer. iPlayer, which had a record 3 billion requests for TV and radio programmes last year, with a top 20 dominated by BBC2's Top Gear, will make the change to its catch-up window in the summer.

However, a further change will mean some programmes are actually available for less time, with an end to the "series stacking" option that enable viewers to download all episodes of a series retrospectively. While the amount of TV programmes available on the iPlayer will increase fourfold, the total amount of radio content will increase around two and a half times. Diane Coyle, vice chairman of the BBC Trust, said: "With an average of 10.7 million programme requests every day, BBC iPlayer is highly valued by audiences and has been a phenomenal success since it launched six years ago. "It is important that iPlayer continues to evolve and meet the expectations of users. We have conducted a thorough assessment of these proposals, including taking independent advice from Ofcom, and concluded that this is a sensible move that will benefit audiences and provide a clearer and more consistent catch-up service."

In a statement, the BBC said: "People keep telling us they want programmes to be available on BBC iPlayer for longer – so extending availability from seven to 30 days will make iPlayer even better. "New iPlayer already has downloads, better recommendations, HD, live restart, favourites and collections, and extending the catch-up window to 30 days gives people even longer to enjoy their favourite BBC programmes. We will now set about making this happen with the aim to roll this out from the summer."

Weekly NDM Story ..

Daily Mail picture manipulation was 'an editorial mistake'

The Daily Mail has conceded that the picture manipulation I reported on yesterday was "an editorial mistake", according to Press Gazette. The image showed Tottenham footballer Emmanuel Adebayor saluting manager Tim Sherwood after he had scored a goal during Tottenham's 5-1 defeat of Sunderland. But the Mail - unlike The Guardian and the Daily Telegraph - deleted the man standing next to Sherwood, a member of Spurs' coaching squad, Chris Ramsey. A spokesman for the Daily Mail quoted by Press Gazette said it was not the paper's policy to manipulate news images and that it had been a "mistake". An internal investigation is underway. The original picture was taken by Kirsty Wigglesworth and distributed to newspapers by Associated Press, which prohibits digital manipulation of its photographs. The Daily Mirror also ran the image, choosing to obliterate Ramsey with a headline.

Weekly NDM Story ..

Newspaper publishers use e-commerce technology on website photos

The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mirror are experimenting with technology that turns online photographs into adverts, reports the Financial Times.It's an e-commerce system developed by a Finnish company, Kiosked. When people visit pages on the papers' websites, the technology scans the content and works out the most relevant advertisements to display. Then it overlays images of products that readers may wish to buy on the pictures. The FT's digital media correspondent, Robert Cookson, gives an example from Thursday's football reports on Mirror.co.uk. The image of a Bayern Munich player was overlaid with a Kiosked module offering ways to buy a replica Bayern kit. He quotes Kiosked's co-founder, Micke Paqvalén, as saying: "This is the next phase of e-commerce. It's a very powerful way for publishers to monetise their content." Paqvalén said other groups - such as The Guardian, DMGT and the Huffington Post, plus the magazine publisher Gruner+Jahr - are also planning to experiment with the technology. Evidently, the publishers do not plan to use Kiosked modules within their main news articles. They will be restricted to non-news sections, such as sport and entertainment.

NDM Case Study 10/04/14 Summary ..

How has the impact of new and digital media allow the audience to time shift and watch their programmes online such as BBC Iplayer and 4OD instead of following scheduled timing.

Saturday, 22 March 2014: Questions 1 & 2

Thursday, 27 March 2014: Question 3

Saturday, 29 March 2014: Question 4

Saturday, 29 March 2014: Questions 5 & 6

Monday, 31 March 2014: Question 7

Thursday, 10 April 2014: Questions 8 & 9

Thursday, 10 April 2014: Questions 10 & 11 

Thursday, 10 April 2014: Question 12

NDM Case Study ..

How has the impact of new and digital media allow the audience to time shift and watch their programmes online such as BBC Iplayer and 4OD instead of following scheduled timing.

12- Consider theoretical perspectives in relation to the impact of new/ digital media in your case study. E.g. Representation of certain groups as a result of changes, Marxism & Hegemony, Liberal Pluralism, colonialism, audience theories etc.

Consider theoretical perspectives in relation to the impact of new and digital media (BBC iplayer, E-Media). 

Marxist:

Marxism is the idea that hegemonic leaders have control of the audience, all the control and power is down to the media and the society. Audiences never have nor ever will have full control over watch they want and what they want to watch because sub-consciously the media have full power and control to influence the audience.

Pluralist: 

Pluralism means that audiences believe audiences have full power over what they do and what they watch, they believe because of the developments in technology such as time-shifting and BBC iplayer they have all the power, being able to watch a programme wherever and whenever. Pluralist people are quite naive in the sense that audiences can't actually have full power, the media and society will always have a huge influence on the audience.

NDM Case Study ..

How has the impact of new and digital media allow the audience to time shift and watch their programmes online such as BBC Iplayer and 4OD instead of following scheduled timing.

10- What issues may there be regarding media effects and /or regulation/ censorship as a result of changes due to new and digital media?

What issues many there be regarding regulation and censorship of the BBC because of new and digital media (BBC iplayer)?

In terms of Regulation and Censorship the BBC are still in control because people pay for the content that the BBC provides to educate, inform and entertain. 

Ofcom has certain powers to regulate the BBC's licence fee funded television and radio services aimed at audiences in the UK, but not the World Service which is grant-in-aid funded. Ofcom's Broadcasting Code applies in the following areas:

• Protection of under-18s
• Harm and Offence
• Avoidance of inciting crime or disorder
• Responsible approach to religious content
• Prohibition of use of images of very brief duration
• Fairness
• Privacy.

The Editorial Guidelines reflect the provisions of the Ofcom Broadcasting Code in these areas.

11- Are there any cross-cultural factors and /or effects of globalisation involved in the impact of new technology on your case study?

Are there any effects of globalisation involved in the impact of new technology (BBC iplayer, E-Media)? 

The internet being the new way audiences watch Television means our content has become viral, being able to watch programmes from all around the world, however, the BBC only allows their content to be seen in some countries, for example, people in Egypt aren't allowed to watch content on the BBC. This also means BBC iplayer isn't allowed either. 

"Globalisation is usually blamed, but some elements of the "modern world", especially digital technology, are pushing back against the tide." - Jonathan Amos

It could be argued that the reason Egypt and other counties aren't allowed to watch the BBC is because of democracy, England being such a diverse and democratic county will give other counties ideas like China, giving people the confidence to speak up and ask for their rights as humans therefore putting pressure on the leaders of the countries.

NDM Case Study ..

How has the impact of new and digital media allow the audience to time shift and watch their programmes online such as BBC Iplayer and 4OD instead of following scheduled timing.

8- What are the political and social implications of the new technologies and the methods of their consumption? E.g. moral panics etc?

What are the political and social suggestions of BBC iplayer and the way the audience consume Television?

Socially, people suggest that BBC iplayer is the new way of watching BBC. BBC iplayer is mainly popular with the teenage audience, it's easier and better, socially it creates the idea of being flexible, being able to go out with friends and socialising and then coming home and catching up on BBC iplayer. In terms of audiences consuming the programmes, well the website has the option to watch live which enables the audience to relax and watch it wherever, whenever they want. Also with the new download button people are now able to watch their programmes offline, no longer needing the internet.

Is there Still a Place for Public Service Television?

RECONSIDERING THE TELEVISION ENVIRONMENT

The internet offers an enormous selection of content from which consumers may satisfy informational and entertainment needs traditionally met by television. The transition to fully digital television marks an appropriate point to re-examine the economics of television broadcasting and the case for public service broadcasting. The consumer concern recognises that there may be market failures in broadcasting such that it fails to deliver the outputs that consumers themselves want to watch. These priorities are captured by the BBC’s Reithian mission to ‘inform, educate and entertain’. The TV licence fee, which supports the BBC’s public service activities, is currently frozen in nominal terms until BBC charter renewal in 2016; over the longer term multichannel households may prove resistant to substantial increases in its value or object in greater numbers to the principle of a compulsory licence fee. 

Tony Hall: BBC is admired around the world – full speech

Values of the BBC ..

• They can be informed, entertained, educated – and, I would add, inspired
• Anyone in this country who has a television, a radio, a computer, a smart device, has the best seats in the house for the Olympics, a front-row ticket for the best concerts, a box at the theatre for the greatest drama
• Because no other public service is used quite the way the BBC is. Our service reaches 96% of the population in the UK every week. Every week.
• Twenty years ago, the BBC received nearly 40% of all the revenues in broadcasting. Now the figure is around a quarter – 25% – a much smaller part of the media market.

Efficiency of the BBC ..

• Between 2008 and 2013, the BBC delivered savings at an average rate of 3.7% every year. The plans inherited seek another 20% annual savings by 2016/17 – that's an extra 4%, on average, we have to find every year
• We've made the most of our commercial income from BBC Worldwide, with returns to the BBC for investment in programmes reaching over £150m last year.

The licence fee ..

• The BBC's mission is to inform, educate and entertain. The licence fee means we must do this for all, not just for some.
• Universal access and the licence fee support each other. Because nearly everyone in the country uses us every week, we are not asking people who do not use the service to pay for it.
• Support for the licence fee is at 53% – way ahead of subscription on 17% and advertising on 26%. It's the top choice for funding the BBC across all ages, all social-economic groups and whether you're in a Freeview, Sky or Virgin household.
• Yet having no advertising is one of the characteristics that people most value about the BBC
• It's not just the interruption that people dislike. Advertising would also narrow the range of content on the BBC. And by taking advertising money away from ITV and Channel 4 it would make public service broadcasting much worse across the board.

9- Consider the effects so far, and possible effects in the future, on media institutions involved in your case study (media production).

Consider the effects on the BBC so far and the possible effects in the future because of BBC iplayer?

The BBC haven't been effected that badly because BBC iplayers controlled and owned by the BBC and is paid for through the License Fee. In the future it can only get better for the BBC because Tony Hall wants to increase the License Fee so that it covers the online bases of the BBC, at the moment the BBC charge 55p per month which doesn't really cover the amount of people that use BBC iplayer, now that it's become more popular than the traditional way of watching TV.  

There’s also been lots of talk about the availability of iPlayer, there’s news about plans for the Mac version and a US version too is apparently on the way. We, though, can give a different perspective, a bit of insight on things and maybe explode a few myths. Here’s just a few headlines:

• 5% growth in total average usage since 1st December
• 66% growth in volume of streaming traffic since 1st December
• 2% growth in the number of customers using their connection for streaming since 1st December
• 72% growth in the number of customers using over 250MB of streaming in a month since December
• 100% growth in the number of customers using over 1GB of streaming in a month since December
• Cost of carrying streaming traffic increased from £17,233 to £51,700 per month

At the moment the majority of this growth in traffic will be down to iPlayer (with some 4OD and Sky Anytime thrown in) and likely most people will be watching it on their PCs. We can only imagine what the growth will be like when that majority shifts from the PC to the TV.